Very cool video. So much love goes in to these beautiful cars. My 10 yo believes the LX SLR is the best car ever made. So the passion will live on long after we are gone. We are absolutely custodians of these machines.

Holden's Torana: A basic car, perfectly done, Stir in performance, via a straight-six or a V8, plus the necessary bits and you have one of the most respected, feared and balanced muscle cars the world has ever seen.

Congrats Steve & Staff for showing us the passion of Torana's

Love the one with the Ford bonnet scoops - brilliant

My father would receive a company car every couple of years and one of my favourites things was when he came home with a new car. The time he came home with a Torana was my favourite car. I am not sure the type, it was in the 1970s probably 1973 to 1975, I was fairly young 4 to 5. But I do remember it was fast and noisy which was lots of fun riding in the back seat. I think it was green in colour. One of the things back then was the choice of colours in the exterior paint and interior. I remember my father coming home with the brochures to decide on the colour. It was never boring like cars these days 5-6 colours. There was hundreds of colours and so much choices. Our cars have more tech nowadays and creature comforts but in terms of the paint and interior choices they had a lot more. Great video and club.

The love for the Torana summed up perfectly great Video , Ive owned 18 Torana's Still have my favourite the ugly duckling UC had it from the age 16 Im 43 now.

Owned a SL 1998 redid all the suspension myself on a weekend handled corners perfect

Congrats Steve & Staff for showing us the passion of Torana's. I'm currently doing up my 8th little tory. 😁

Brilliant job on putting this together. Credit to all involved.

@BernieKMedia

4 ай бұрын

Thank you Simon!

Fantastic video. Not just for Toranas but a great representation of what car culture in Australia is all about. Love it

Great story . I have owned a genuine 1972 Holden Torana LJ GTR XU1 and a genuine 1974 Holden Torana LH SLR 5000 . Unless you have owned one of these and especially the 5000 you wouldn't know that they were the most wonderful drivers car you could buy at the time . Out of all the vehicles I have owned I only regret selling the 5000 and a 1978 Ducati Black and gold 900 SS .They were not perfect as no vehicles are but GOD I loved them. Thankyou.

Was fortunate to buy an LC GTR new that led to a wonderful girl,subsequently a family and traded it for a used HT wagon 253.A while later and a better job allowed another GTR,LJ new,and as time rolled on,a house became priority and the torry paid the deposit,and a HR became the hack that pulled the trailers of whatever was needed for the house and block.Never managed to get another Torana,but one day ------- 😉 Thanks for the memories.

@BernieKMedia

4 ай бұрын

What a journey! Fingers crossed you can find your way back to the torry

Great film, very nicely done. Congrats.

@BernieKMedia

4 ай бұрын

Thank you - really appreciate it!

Beautiful.

My first car was a Holden Gemini TD, but that wasn't fast enough so I went to a Torana, in the late 80's. I sold it for $650 and bought a VK Commodore. The Torana is still the best car I ever had.

Started as a.compact family sedan 4cyl ,6cyl and V8 performance ❤

Nice mate im now 58, owned 4 toranas ,even a 138 red motor,3 on the tree lj,granny spec with a sunvisor.,bought a 253lx for 1500 dollars in Kempsey,my sister went and picked it up for me,to my horror it had Datsun 180b hub caps on its steel rims,,still love Holdens,ve ss ute now, enjoyed your video mate🇭🇲

@BernieKMedia

4 ай бұрын

Thanks Mark - that's a lifetime of Holdens, you must love them!

@markhollis362

4 ай бұрын

@@BernieKMedia not many people can say they were conceived in a Holden but I was,a fc,in 1964,my parents fessed up after a few sherbets one night 🇭🇲

I could be wrong, but I think the LH Torana was the first car in the world to be available with a 4 cylinder, two 6 cylinder or two V8s engines. The very first HB Torana was a direct copy of a Vauxhall Viva/Opel Kadett. The LCs & LJs were enlarged versions of the same. The LH, LX & UC Toranas were essentially restyled Vauxhall/Opel products, engineered to take the much gruntier V8s.

@mickthomassen2887

4 ай бұрын

Not too many cars worldwide to fit this criteria but LH a worthy note. Checker cab cars did do 4s/6s and 8s from late 60s but I’m not sure if this occurred at the same time. Earliest US example is the Chevy II/nova platform. 4/6/8 cyls from 1964.

@blakedawson2129

4 ай бұрын

GM made the Chevy Monza, Buick Skyhawk, Pontiac Sunfire about the same time. pretty similar to the Torana. and the opel record.

@MelodyMan69

4 ай бұрын

I always thought the HOLDEN HURRCAINE was a futuristic prototype on which the Torana grew. ?

Great video! i'd love to join you for a cruize some day! love the video and the friendships formed.

Top story, I feel very lucky to have owned a few Toranas over the years both sedan and hatchback.

Nice one, Steve, the best thing is that you get them out on the open road and enjoy them. :)

Awesome

Rip Holden 1948- 2017 you were a legendary aussie car mate ❤️

Nothing beats the Sunbird! 😂

Iain McDougall This man can build some beautiful LSR 5000 from the ground up in his 6 meter by 4 Meter shed. In humble suburban Perth. Amazing man with that special passion.

Always been my favourite car. Unfortunately, will probably never get to own one 😢

Torana’s won Bathurst five times from 72-79. Enough said 😎

While ever there is a handful of you to keep the spirit alive those cars will survive.

As an engineer at GMH during that period I leased many Holden models, the best in my opinion being a Torana SS 5 litre manual hatchback (red, of course) Stoplight Grand Prix's were usually handled by starting in 2nd because 1st was too low geared causing wasteful wheel spin and also it saved the time-wasting change from 1st to 2nd.

@JoshPhoenix11

4 ай бұрын

So is this the right way to call a gear low or high? Its alway confused me, but I would use mountain bike gears to help remind me. I think what confuses me is how you're talking about 1st gear and 2nd, and you would say they're lower gears. But is that only correct if only talking about selecting gears? Cause if I think of a mountain bike sprocket cassette it seems more intuitive to call the largest gear and easiest to peddle to be higher geared. And so in that respect the equivalent gear with a high ratio is 1st gear. But then thats opposite to the other way of looking at it.. Where am I going wrong?

Teal Blue is my favourite colour..👀

My first car was an LC Torana that I bought for $800 in 1998. In hindsight selling it was a big mistake haha.

@BernieKMedia

4 ай бұрын

Wow, you could never have known how popular they'd be 20 years later I guess!

Aussie Aussie Aussie 👍

I really like these stories from these guys talking about what it means to them being a Holden enthusiast then you could only understand the connection with these amazing cars. I've always dreamed of having one but for me it will never be possible. I'm just lucky to own a commodore

@BernieKMedia

4 ай бұрын

Thanks Dion - we wanted to show that true enthusiast passion that these guys have. Glad you enjoyed it! Got to love a good commodore!

I purchased a 1 owner bone colour LX 6 cyl SLR auto in 2003 for $3500 , the engine was ok but boring so rebuilt a mild 308 and detailed engine to look factory fitted, drove it for a couple of years. Sold it for 10k to a guy out Botany area in Sydney.. power to weight ratio was my fond memory of that car. Another one I shouldn’t have sold.

Back in 1994 I owned a LH four door Torana with the gutless 253 and four speed. Completely stock. I don’t have fond memories of it. Kept breaking diffs as it was obviously piss weak in this area. I understand now why most people installed a ford 9 inch diff! Mine was red with blackouts and thankfully NO flares as I don’t like the look of them. The engine was reliable but quite sluggish I recall but it did have a nice sound to it. The overall look of the car was nice and I liked the interior. I don’t recall any rust issues with it and back then I remember I took out a loan to buy it! It cost me $4,000. Can’t do that now.

lucky enough to have 4 lol

Lucky enough to have a 1976 2 door hatchback

@BernieKMedia

4 ай бұрын

Beauty of a car!

I think Steve's car was my brothers car back in the 80's He traded it in at Arthur Brown Holden in Katoomba

@BernieKMedia

4 ай бұрын

Wow, that would be quite the connection if that's true Chris!

The white LH SLR 5000 appears correct to be an L34 (wheels, guards, headlights, no rubber on bumpers). If so I am surprised you did not articulate this. Quite a different car to the standard SLR 5000. Nice production. Thanks for the memories.

@JohnH1

4 ай бұрын

Cheap L34 'upgrade' very common :) There were many more XU1s and Falcon GTs on the road than were actually built, stickers/badges were easy to come by.

These old cars are cool, but you spend more time working on them than driving them.

No narrative or footage about the motor????????

hi , Very interesting the decisions behind Torana vehicle birth started from HB TA LC LJ then onto the later LH LX UC Racing decisions be interesting to actually no the full truth . Mainly the Torana because the decisions were mainly done by Australia GMH vs usa GM . Torana started racing because it was a budget decision very much at the cost of the HQ onwards series . Very disappointing but without this decision the A9X option would never appeared . The option was the pinnacle of HQ and Torana combined Yes I own a Lc and a HQ .

@JohnH1

4 ай бұрын

I owned an HG GTS 308, I used to run it at Brickies, Carter St and on occasion Castlereagh. I really liked the look of the HQ but it drove like a wheelbarrow full of water and was slow to boot, very disappointing.

@paulthompson1654

4 ай бұрын

HK,t,g leaf spring rear drum [H series rear disc ] , ,,,undersize front brakes [H series bigger ] ,,, old school bias ply suspension tuning [H series radial tuned suspension ] leaf spring [H series rear coil] Reality is H series was/is better handling driving etc

@JohnH1

4 ай бұрын

@@paulthompson1654 The HQ rode better. The HG had solid discs while the HQ had ventilated, the weight difference was only a few kilos, no difference until you really started to push. HQ suspension was soggy and under damped for performance driving and the 350 was 25hp down on the HG version in manual form. The HG 350 was pulling under 15 secs in the 1/4 mile while HQs struggled to break 16s.

@paulthompson1654

4 ай бұрын

By the mid to end of actual model release the few racing versions that were running had removed all of ""your soggy suspension"" . Its called factory understeer . Coil springs are far more accurate to tune than rear leaf . The solution was negative camber and positive caster [pos caster results in camber gain during cornering ] Later this was called RTS radial tuned suspension .. Torana suffered the same slow factory development for road cars .

@JohnH1

4 ай бұрын

@@paulthompson1654I think you are a bit confused, I was talking specifically about the HQ not the HJ that had no 350, they did tidy up the handling a bit though, and I'm definitely not talking about the HZ that had dropped the two door but further refined the suspension. The Commodore was better again because the first few models were re-badged Opels. Some Holden fanboys get a bit narky over that because they (conveniently) forget the first three model Toranas were just re-badged Vauxhalls. Also I was talking about road vehicles not those modified for the circuit. The HQ did NOT have a disk brake rear end, soggy suspension is NOT factory understeer, soggy suspension is as I stated it has nothing to do with camber or toe. All Australian built cars from the big 3 were designed with a degree of understeer because it's deemed safer then oversteer for the average driver. If you want to continue this little chat I would suggest you stop reading a book for your 'expert opinion' and getting hold of a 350 ci HG and HQ Monaro coupe' both standard both manuals and drive them back to back, as I have... then get back to me.

Bonnet scoops on blue machine look suspiciously Fordish.