Washing Day

Rub-a-dub-dub, a Torana getting a tub, and what do you think it will be? No butcher, no baker, but dust by the acre. And now it’s all washed out to sea.

Rub-a-dub-dub, an A9X Torana getting a tub, and what do you think it will be?

We’ve never done a story quite like this before. But then, we’ve never featured an Aussie classic caked in as much dust as last issue’s cover car. To understand why photographs are presented here of a dirty Torana hatchback getting a tub, the answer lies in what was portrayed last issue. In AMC #107 we documented the retrieval and pick-up of an A9X Torana as it changed hands for the rst time in 37 years. We were invited along by the new owners, father-son duo Rob and Tim Macedon, to a self storage facility in Sydney’s west to witness the ‘awakening’ of a car that had spent the last

15 years gathering dust unmoved in the same industrial ‘box.’

Belying its signage-free red paint, this longslumbering hatch has extra special signi cance. It played a considerable role in the revered nameplate’s most famous moment – the routing of the Bathurst eld in 1979. It was one of the Toranas that had locked out the rst eight positions in that year’s Hardie-Ferodo 1000. Speci cally, it was the A9X that had nished sixth that day, in the hands of privateers Alan ‘Scotty’ Taylor and Kevin Kennedy.

The dynamic duo, still great mates today, was excited to learn of their old car’s survival. What’s more, the rst place the new owners of this esteemed machine took the car after leaving the self-storage facility – even before getting it safely home – was to Kennedy’s home for a quick reunion.

It was an extraordinary rst day back in the sun, literally, for our feature car and AMC was privileged to tag along for the momentous occasion and to check out this time machine.

Truth be known, the original plan had been to wash the red rocket that rst day out of hibernation – but no one could quite bring themselves to do so. It just didn’t seem right to immediately wash away almost two decades of its history. And that’s what that light brown blanket of otherwise ordinary particles was... part of the car’s history. There was just something earthy and pure about its two-tone tan-red appearance.

Besides, Rob Macedon was interstate and unable to attend collection day, so we all thought the right thing to do was to let him see his new baby in its natural retrieved state before it got a bath. Washing day could wait.

Delaying giving it a scrub also suited the magazine’s purposes, for reasons including doing a fun follow-up story like this.

So we rocked up with our cameras to Macedon manor to capture the next step towards returning this GMP&A racing chassis to its future race look.

Incredibly, in the month since retrieval day, the car’s ‘protective brown coat’ had remained largely intact, despite several trips across Sydney on an open trailer. Only a small amount of dust had been blown from the leading edge of the nose, with more lost due to the opening and closing of the bonnet.

The other noticeable difference to its appearance was the after-effects of a few drops of oil hitting the car. As we understand it, the car was temporarily parked under a hoist... bearing a Falcon GT. Think about the symbolism of that!

Another light-hearted point of discussion was whether the dust should be carefully brushed into a container and placed on eBay! After all, we’ve noted entrepreneurial characters on US website Craigslist selling buckets of ‘original barn dust.’ “Add $10K to the value of your heap parked in the garage,” declares one character. “For every four buckets you buy, I will throw in a Tire De ation Kit at no extra cost.”

You have to admire the ingenuity of some people, but, nah, gathering up dust is for tossers.

We did have some fun, though, nger-painting race numbers onto the car and creating a ‘Taylor – Kennedy’ windscreen strip. The bonnet scoop received unlucky #13, the number it wore when it DNF’ed from the 1978 Hardie-Ferodo 1000, while the roof scored its #15 of Bathurst 1979.

Kindergarten-quality signwriting complete, it was time to ll a bucket and turn on the hose. We’ll let the photos on these pages tell that story. Soak it up!

Once the soiled sponges were discarded, a whole new examination began. With the dust dispersed, many small details of the car’s history were revealed.

Evidence of its race liveries was not hard to nd, with new specks of red, green and blue paint poking through the top coat of red paintwork applied in the early 1980s.

Factory pre-drilled holes for the passenger side mirror-mounting, lled with dust for the last decade or so, caught the eye, as did surface rust on the

bonnet-pin plates and other imperfections.

The aerial also seemed to stand out. Fitted after its racing career had ended, it was actually part of a muchneeded 1980s-vintage car security system.

The upside to washing away all that dust was that previously undetectable patina became apparent.

So what’s next for this bright red Torana?

To ensure that newly revealed patina is preserved, the Macedons are planning to apply a modern-style racing wrap of one of its two Bathurst 1000 liveries. Just which look, 1978 or 1979, is still to be decided. Before Rob and Tim push the go-button on this, they’re eager to know what AMC readers think.

On one hand, it’s a much easier job to wrap it in its predominantly red livery of ’78 given its current hue. This is also the same basic look the car wore when it nished third outright in that year’s Rothmans 500 at Oran Park. But then, many argue that its nest moment came on September 30, 1979, as part of the A9X armada’s destruction of the Ford eet. The attractive two-tone green with white stripe and bumpers paintscheme is both stunning and a reminder that this chassis played a major part in the Torana nameplate’s greatest day on the Mountain.

To help the car’s new custodians with their decision, let us know what you think via one of two methods. Either send an email to amceditorial@chevron.com.au stating either ‘1978’ or ‘1979’ or visit the ‘Australian Muscle Car Magazine’ Facebook page, look for our post on this subject and write ‘1978’ or ‘1979’ in the comments section. Simples...

We’ll collate the, erm, data, and pass it onto Tim, Rob and Rob’s son-in-law Marcus.

A coming issue of this magazine will show what they decided. Until then, each time you pass a self-storage facility take a moment to ponder what vehicular treasure might lie behind one of those nondescript rollerdoors...