Unique Cars Australia – September 2019

CLIFFCHAMBERS

TORANA

A9X

MARKET

HOLDEN’S V8-ENGINED

Torana came to be at a

time when the world was

walking very rapidly away

from big-engined cars. The

world excluding Australia

anyway.

Competition-spec L34s

were fast for as long as

their engines held together

but Holden needed a car

that could serve both as

a competition platform

and promote sales of less

exclusive Torana variations.

The A9X announced in

1977 was available with

two or four doors and

a proper reverse-inlet

bonnet scoop. It retained

the L34s wheel-arch flares

which looked ridiculous

when shrouding standard-

sized rims and rubber. Of

course they weren’t meant

to stay that way for long.

The sedan was by far the

bigger seller (305 cars

vs 100 of the chunky,

sexy Hatch) yet the

cars Holden offered for

testing purposes to the

motoring press were both

hatchbacks. Something to

be said there about selling

the sizzle.

During the decades that

have passed since every

boy or girl racer and their

parrot wanted an A9X

• and rarely could buy
  them – but the market has
  been decidedly ambivalent
  towards these cars. A
  decade ago a couple of
  quite significant examples
  had a crack at breaking the
  $500,000 barrier but for
  the most part any money
  on offer for two-door
  cars has stayed below
  $250,000.
  Twenty or so years ago,
  A9Xs similar in appearance
  to our featured hatch
  could be found for a tenth
  of today’s money. Those
  canny enough to take
  notice at the time were
  offered an unrepeatable
  opportunity to latch onto
  a legend.

trade and see what the numbers look like.”
I had looked after my SL/R5000 very well,
so the trade-in money was on the mark. I
paid the $200 from my wallet, no ATMs or
e-banking anything in those days! I had from
that weekend until the unknown delivery
date to rake up the extra reddies needed for
the deal.
My best school mate Garth, also a Holden
boy, put down his $200 as well to take up the
last of my dealer’s allocation. Between the
two of us and his dad, we had dibs on five
A9X hatchbacks from various dealers around
Sydney. The agonising wait began. Of course,
during the wait was the unprecedented

Moffatt/Bond 1-2 thrashing win at Bathurst
against these new Toranas. The gloom
started to sink in.
The phone call came on 14 December,
1977, telling me I had first choice on a
hatchback that was about to arrive. At
the dealership that Saturday my friendly
salesman showed me the genuine brand new
A9X hatchback in Jasmine Yellow. Love at
first sight. With a handshake I said, “I’ll have
this one.”
So, on the first Wednesday of January
1978, JMX-189 hit the Sydney Northshore
streets. It was obvious from the onset that
these cars had been detuned for the streets.
The carburettor was a common V8 Holden
Rochester model. The exhaust manifold,
exhaust and balance pipes were made to
restrict everything getting out. With the DR
sized tyres on steel rims, the car looked like

it was on stilts, a giraffe. Too tall for its own

good. My overtime opportunities and the

hand up first for weekend work would have

to finance some upgrades.

Here’s the way the story unfolded: The

restrictive exhaust manifold and all the

exhaust system were removed. HM headers

were the go with a two-inch system with

a small ‘Hot Dog’ muff ler then a chrome

tipped pipe. Something better was needed

than the DR 70 series tyres supplied on steel

rims. She needed more footprint to get the

power to the road and provide handling

to match – Aunger 8-inch on the front and

10-inch on the back coupled with Dunlop SP

tyres imported from the UK. With the new

sticky Dunlops being like road magnets, the

rear flared guards started taking a beating.

A motor trimmer mate reshaped the inside

of the wheel-arch f lares and added a black

vinyl patch to the front of each of the rear

wheel f lares. Issue fixed. Next a Holley

650CFM Double pumper with mechanical

secondaries replaced the original carby.

Then, of course, I needed a race-style

cold-air box to feed it – a simple alloy welded

sheet with a big air filter assembly rivetted in

the middle of it. The crowning piece was cut

sections of black hot water pipe insulation

around the four top edges of the air box for a

snug fit to the bonnet.

So, all the mods had been done, the car

started to loosen up, inhaling and exhaling

a lot better. It looked much better: lower,

louder and meaner, especially after the

“THE LOCAL SERVO OWNER CONCOCTED A

SPECIAL BREW OF RACING FUEL FOR ME”