SYDNEY, NSW

EMMANUEL MENTIS has owned his gorgeous 5.0-litre Torana SS hatch for a little over two years after buying it from a mate, Con, who found the car, recommissioned it from a long period in storage, cruised it for six months and then succumbed to Emmanuel’s pleading to sell it to him.

“I nagged him like a pissed-off wife!” laughs Emmanuel. “As soon as I saw that green, I thought: ‘this is the one!’As far as I know, it’s one of 530 5.0-litre V8s made. It’s a Dandenong car; May 1976.”

Emmanuel is a life-long Holden enthusiast.

“I grew up with Holden. My grandfather worked on the Bedford line at Pagewood [Holden’s Sydney factory – closed in 1980] and I’ve owned a few: a VB Commodore; a VH Group Three that I drag-raced for a decade. But I decided to slow down; you know - too old, too loud, too expensive!”

The time-warp Torana has had a few detail items refreshed, such as the stickers in the engine bay. The paint has had a few touch-ups over the years. Inside, the stereo is the only item that isn’t 41 years old. The red-band tyres are a nod to the cool kids of the 1970s an circle the ultra-rare hubcaps and specific-to-SS steel wheels. With 220,000km on the clock, the car remains mechanically standard and – more to the point – original, right down to the points in the distributor and the terrific hollow burble from the twin exhaust.

“I thought about repainting it,” explains Emmanuel. “But it’s too nice the way it is and I’d be more worried about it. Plenty have been ruined with twopack paint.”