TORANA A9X
THE GENERAL STRIKES BACK WITH A BATHURST BRUISER
My Dad was a Holden man, so when I joined the workforce in 1975 the quest for my own Holden began. I lived at home, watched my spending and whenever overtime or weekend work was available, I took it. A second-hand LX SL/R 5000 LX model with very low mileage came into view just as my bank balance hit the target. It became my first car, my pride and joy complete with the right badges on the grille and boot.
Then in mid-1977 I heard about the upcoming release of
a limited-edition LX model in numbers required to meet homologation rules. I went to the dealer the following weekend and met the salesman. He knew very little about these limited edition Toranas that were heading his way.
The only information he had was a single sheet of fax paper from GMH outlining the release of an SL/R 5000 where option A9X was going to be exercised. No glossy brochure, no fanfare, no choices. “Read the paper and if you are interested put down a $200 deposit and we will do a valuation of your
“THE LOCAL SERVO OWNER CONCOCTED A SPECIAL BREW OF RACING FUEL FOR ME”
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 f lared 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
“MY LOVE FOR THESE CARS REMAINS”
local Shell servo owner, a keen weekend racer, concocted a brew for me that was seven litres of Shell Super petrol to one litre of Shell 115 racing fuel. My favourite roads became music-off and windows-down affairs.
The A9Xs all had issues. The common fault was the clutch bolt which just wasn’t tough enough to take the strain of the heav y-duty clutch. It would snap on a gear change so you ended up in neutral going nowhere. There was also a problem with the hinges supporting the hatchback.
The car remained with me for many years, mileage ever so gently crawling up. I eventually sold it to a buyer in Wollongong. The proceeds from the sale were used to buy my first house.
My love for these cars over the years has never waned. They were a terrific piece of engineering. A nimble little warrior that wiped the smiles off the Ford fans’ faces at Bathurst. Brock loved it, and after his passing, Dick Johnson drove 05 and commented on how good it was. A bit different from the street cars admittedly, but its roots were the same. Even driving one as a road car you couldn’t help but smile. (OurthankstoMuscleCarStablesinSydney.)