From the Classifieds: 1971 Holden Torana LC

Let’s put aside for a moment that this 1971 Holden Torana SL listed for sale on carsales.com.au has apparently covered a nicely-rounded 1,234,567 kilometres.

Rather, let’s consider that, at $54,000, the asking price for an old Torana clunker sounds a bit excessive. There’s clearly a clincher here: It might look like an LC Torana GTR XU-1 – which today can bring prices well in excess of $100,000 – that’s not what this car is at all.

What we actually have here, and you might scoff, is yet another XU-1 clone. Not that rare, starting with a two-door body and adding the ephemera that defined the original Australian-built racetrack legend.

But hold it right there. It might be an XU-1 clone, but there’s actually a lot more going on with this once bog-standard 1971 Torana than a superficial first glance might suggest.

What you really need to do is look a bit more deeply than the XU-1 stickers, the Yellow Dolly paintwork, the Globe Sprintmaster wheels and the faithful-to-type air scoop nestling below the right side of the front bumper.

Underneath all of this, the owner has gone above and beyond the call of duty to legitimise this once-humble LC Torana as a genuine giant-killer, just like the original XU-1 was in its day.

Originally intended to be a track-day warrior, the replica did an about-turn when, after a couple of competition forays, the owner made the decision that what had been created was too good to “risk banging up against a wall”.

Repurposing it as a road car didn’t mean the XU-1 replica lost any of its track-focussed mumbo though. Producing flywheel power output of approximately 270kW, the 202 red-block engine was given a workover that included line-boring of the partially grout-filled block, fitting Mahle competition pistons, slotting oversize valves into a ported and polished head, while adding a solid roller camshaft, a custom-made intake manifold and extractors, a baffled sump and, naturally, a set of triple 45mm Weber carburettors.

Needless to say, the Torana’s brakes and suspension were given a complete overhaul – and beyond, with slotted and vented front rotors, rear disc brakes supplied courtesy of a VQ Statesman, in-cabin adjustable brake bias, a heavy-duty 3.36:1 differential and a comprehensive suspension upgrade.

That’s not even the half of it, but it leads one to understand why the asking price initially seems so high. One also begins to think a lot of unrecoverable cash has been poured into this particular LC Torana.

As the owner says “this is a quality car”, qualifying the statement by pointing out that the interior is the only area that could do with a bit of improvement. Mind you it’s not been forgotten in the rebuild, with SAAS bucket front seats, a custom-made alloy dash with oil pressure, temperature gauge, fuel pump switch, thermo fan switch, ignition switch and start button.

Who would be surprised to learn this replica was an altogether quicker, more brutal car than any original-spec LC XU-1?

As for that 1,234,567km odometer reading? We’re going to presume that the owner just ran the right index finger across the top keys when entering the data in the odometer field.

See previous carsales From the Classifieds