Oriental Express derailed
Our cover story in AMC issue #120 featured the Holden Dealer Team LC Torana GTR XU-1 (with KSA-302 Victorian rego plates) which Peter Brock raced at Macau in 1971. Our story also covered the return and restoration of the car, under Todd Martin’s ownership. However, information has since been brought to AMC’s attention that shows we were in error: Todd Martin’s restored LC Torana XU-1 is not in fact the ex-HDT Brock Macau race car.
Vicroads archival records show that Todd Martin’s car was rst registered in 1970 on KRT-513 plates, not KSA-302. The records also con rm that it is a genuine LC Torana XU-1, built on August 18, 1970 (chassis no LC16500, VIN 82911CL158049). It was sold as a new car by Shilton Holden in Donald, Victoria.
The HDT took delivery of three XU-1s at around this time. Their build dates are between July 7 and 10 – some ve weeks before KRT-513. The three HDT cars were: a Linamint Green car which was registered in Victoria as KRK 720, and two Yellow Dolly examples, both also registered in Victoria as KSN-116 and KSA-302 (chassis no LC 4726-A) respectively. All three were supplied direct to the HDT from GM-H and registered by three different Holden dealers; Reg Hunt Holden, at Rhodes, was one of those dealers.
Records show that in 1975 KRT-513 was issued with new identi ers from the Victorian Road Traffic Authority (now Vicroads). The car’s new rego number was IHN-781; a new engine number was also recorded (186A252809). The car retained this Victorian registration until November, 1982.
No record has been found to show that KSA-302 ever returned to Australia. The engine number of the 186 engine originally
tted to the car when it left the factory was later recorded by Vicroads as the engine in a HQ Holden station wagon (with VIC Police issued chassis number V782512P) with Victorian registration (AFF-495). The explanation for this is not known; possibly KSA-302’s original engine had been changed before the Macau sojourn, and thus remained in Australia.
According to Todd Martin, the late Harry Firth was of the view that Todd’s car was KSA-302. Firth’s apparent seal of approval combined with a warranty card issued by Reg Hunt Motors for an LC Torana XU-1 with Victorian registration plates KSA302 in our view at the time comprised a compelling argument.
However, the Vicroads records show that the chassis number and VIN listed in the warranty card that accompanies Todd Martin’s car relate not to the car that was originally registered as KSA-302, but rather KRT-513. From this we conclude that this document is not a genuine Holden warranty card.
In setting the record straight, AMC apologises for the error. The XU-1 in our ‘The Oriental Express’ story is a genuine LC Torana XU-1 but it is not the former Brock Macau car – whose whereabouts and/or fate are unknown. AMC suggests that owners and prospective buyers of XU-1 Toranas be careful to ensure accompanying documentation such as warranty cards are genuine Holden items and do not contain incorrect information.