SCARLET FEVER
WITH MULTIPLE SUMMERNATS TOP 60 PLACINGS, STEPHEN SHERRY’S TORANA IS ONE TOUGH SHOWSTOPPER
Stephen Sherry’s little Torana is one serious showstopper, packing 383ci of blown Chevy power
WE’VE got a strong love for tough little Toranas at Street Machine, and Stephen Sherry’s 1973 LJ GTR is a fine example of the breed. Having owned the car for over 30 years now, Stephen has made a real gem out of what started as a pretty average project.
Stephen’s a retired NSW highway patrol cop, who now spends most of his spare time playing with his toys, including an Rb30-powered Datsun 1200 ute and a neat little VW Beetle, but the Torana has always been the constant.
“It’s been with me for longer than any of my five kids; it’s my baby,” he says. “I bought it in 1986 for $250 as a bare shell, and it came with a free rotisserie.”
There’s no doubt the car has come a long way since then, going through several rebuilds to keep in trend with the ever-changing car scene. The LJ’S first incarnation saw it swathed in purple and plastered with detailed airbrush art on just about every panel, with a white interior. The car then moved on to a maroon/ beige colour combo, before finally progressing to the stark red XU-1 tribute you see today. But this latest transformation took a lot more than just a rub back and a slather of paint.
“When I got the car it had shaved door handles and massively flared wheelarches, so when it came time to take it back to where it is now I had to put new rear quarters on it and dig into the doors to find where the original door handles went,” Stephen says.
The car is a real sight to behold now, finished in a Ppg-modified version of Holden’s Sting Red and painted by Stephen’s brother Charlton in their workshop.
Underneath the skin of the Torana is a 350ci small-block Chevy massaged out to 383ci. The 6.3 litres of fury is topped with a GM 6/71 blower, using twin Holley 750 double-pumpers to produce 680hp at 6psi on pump 98. Sitting behind the donk is a Turbo 400 ’box, hiding a Dominator 3500rpm converter sending power through a modified HQ tailshaft to a custom Street Cred nine-inch with tubular arms. Diff gears are 3.9:1s, and 235/50 R15 street tyres are always scrambling for traction.
IT’S BEEN WITH ME FOR LONGER THAN ANY OF MY FIVE KIDS; IT’S MY BABY. I BOUGHT IT IN 1986 FOR $250 AS A BARE SHELL, AND IT CAME WITH A FREE ROTISSERIE
I’LL DO A FEW MORE SHOWS WITH IT AND A COUPLE OF POWERCRUISE EVENTS, THEN TAKE IT TO THE DRAGS AND SEE WHAT IT CAN DO
The braking system is one of the most unusual aspects of the build, with Stephen pouring hours of time into trial-and-error to find the right set-up. What he landed on was a set of HQ disc brakes in the front and VK Commodore discs out back, using two – yep, two – brake boosters that live in the boot to give him the desired brake pressure, with the cranky supercharged small-block making vacuum hard to come by.
“In a little car with big power like this I wanted to make sure it’d stop properly,” he says. While going to all the trouble of creating the custom system, Stephen also fitted a linelock for good measure.
As mentioned, the interior was once stark white, but for the car’s newest form it has been fully replaced with a factory correct GTR XU-1 black interior, save for the B&M Pistol Grip shifter and a couple of sneaky gauges under the dash.
The little Torry has been doing the show car rounds on and off for quite a few years now, having quite a bit of success in the process, including a number of appearances in the Meguiar’s Top 60 at Summernats in 1996, 2015, 2016 and 2019. It hasn’t always been drama-free though.
“We were out on the burnout pad at Summernats 31 doing the slalom stuff for the Grand Champion comp and I started doing a burnout for the crowd,” Stephen explains. “It was awesome, but she got a little hot and caught fire in the engine bay.”
Having bent a decent amount of the engine’s internals in the process, Stephen spent the next 12 months thrashing on the LJ to fix the donk and get the bay repainted in time for Summernats 32, where he not only made it but finished in the Meguiar’s Top 60.
“It was a good result overall, to have both the Torana and my Datsun drag ute in the Top 60. I’m still gunning for that Grand Champion win, so hopefully I can get there some day,” Stephen says.
As for now, he plans to do a bit more driving with the car, as he’s barely driven it in any of its build guises. Despite the signature GRNADE plates, the car isn’t actually registered, restricting Stephen to events like Powercruise and Summernats. He still plans on taking it out for a good rip and a powerskid or two, and then in the next couple of years it’ll hit the drag strip.
“I’ll do a few more shows with it first and a couple of Powercruise events, then take it to the drags and see what it can do,” he says.