(First posted October 22, 2012) Time for a trip down under, where everything looks and sounds (sort-of) familiar until one gets a bit closer. This Holden LX Torana certainly has plenty of GM design-school hallmarks, looking quite a bit like a slightly oversize Opel Ascona/1900. It also has plenty of GM names: Sunbird designated for the four-cylinder model, whose engine was dubbed “Starfire.” Is there a Jetaway transmission in there too? Enough: we should have been so lucky as to have the Torana instead of the Vega.
The Torana was available with a four-cylinder, six-cylinder or even a hot V8 engine, the latter mostly to qualify it for Australian Touring Car series racing and the Bathurst 1000 race. The “1900” script on the deck identifies this one as having the four, specifically the new “Starfire”version that replaced the former high-cam Opel 1900 engine. Essentially, the Starfire was a rather crudely cut-down Holden 173 cu in (2.85-liter) six; maybe they should have borrowed the “Iron Duke” name for it instead, as Starfire is a bit of serious debasement of Oldsmobile’s eponymous, glorious big-V8 coupe.
The Torana also came as a hatchback coupe. Its uncanny resemblance to the Vega reinforces my long-held grudge against the Vega: why didn’t GM also offer it as a proper, upright four-door sedan like the Torana and the Opel Ascona?
These foreign-market GMs are so interesting to see — they seem like something from a parallel universe where things are just *slightly* off. The front end of this car is a dead ringer for the Chevrolet Monza notchback coupe. Makes sense, I guess, considering the corporate source! These cars look like they would have been a much better match for the competition for sale in the US around the same time (VW Rabbit, Honda Accord, etc.)
I agree, and not a very good looking front end. It’s not a bad looking car overall, but the front end isn’t very attractive. The same with Torana of the same vintage.
WOW — I’m drawn to that very strange LF wheel on the first image. It looks incredibly similar to my personal “Holy Grail” Oldsmobile Super Stock IV Polycast wheel: optional on ’71-’72 Delta 88s. these 5″x5″ wheels are nearly impossible to find in any condition.
I have finally scraped up five of these for my ’73 Delta convertible.
I’ve seen these wheels on a pristine ’71 Delta 88 convertible that an acquaintance owns. I can’t imagine many were ordered that way, but they’re pretty cool.
When I was doing “aluminum can duty” at my father’s old scrapyard in Alabama, this old farmer backed up to the door in a pretty clean mid-70’s C-10 with a load of cans. My eyes bugged out because his truck was wearing a set of these SSIV wheels, complete with center caps & trim rings.
I asked him if there was any way he would sell the wheels off his truck — I offered him some factory Chevy Rally Wheels to replace them but he wasn’t really interested in naming a price. He did say he’d trade me the wheels for an old cast iron bathtub though — he needed another one in his field as a water trough for some of his livestock — of course there were none in the yard & I never saw him again *sob*.
Darn; I meant to point that out in the post; even cropped a close-up of it. Surprised me too!
Unfortunately on that Torana its only a hubcap
..a very nice hubcap though! It’s nice that these small vehicles were actually 5-lug unlike “our” versions. GM really had some sharp wheelcover designs on some of their sorriest vehicles. The early Chevettes & H-body cars offered similar plastic “mag type” wheelcovers that allowed the lug nuts to poke through. Real cool.
I’ve got a pretty big hubcap collection (surprised?) & grab these whenever I find them which is not often. A “favorite hubcap” article would be neat here…but I’d probably max out a server somewhere & put everyone to sleep in the process — too many favorites to list!
I just noticed that now after seeing the car on the main page all day, I finally did a double take and said, is that an Olds SSIV?
Funny how GM in the US was selling these very similar two bodystyles like these as Buick/Opel Isuzus at Buick dealerships instead of the awkward Chevette peddled at Chevy dealers during the same years.
The Chevette and the Buick/Opel Isuzus were actually platform-mates, both T-cars. it’s funny how the awkward styling of the Chevette and perceived (real?) differences in build quality made them seem more different than they actually were.
And this car really, really does look like an upsized Opel! With a couple of Vega/Monza details for good measure.
The Buick/Opel/Isuzu Gemini/I-Mark and the Chevrolet Chevette/Acadian/Pontiac T1000 chassis were also shared with the Isuzu Piazza/Impulse even though its size was nearly as large as the Chevrolet Vega/Pontiac Astre’ and Opel Manta 1900 but about 200-250 pounds heavier than the Vega/Astre.
We also got two versions of the Chevette one from Vauxhall and the Holden one from Japan survivors are rare
GM did a lot of mixing and matching with styling cues for their international models. For an American, Holdens are especially interesting with their hodgepodge of Chevrolet, Pontiac and other touches.
Big Opels from the sixties and seventies are fun, too, with the Diplomat A’s Chevelle styling from the side view and ’62-’63 Impala from the front. The Diplomat couple closely resembles a 7/8 scale contemporary Grand Prix, while the Diplomat B’s nose looks like it was taken straight off a ’65 Riviera.
Three versions of the Chevette – we got the Isuzu-badged version too.
Possibly the cheesiest car ad in the history of cheesy car ads. Contains hottie tho.
Are you ready for bed?
]:)
Afternoon Delight…
The Holden Hatch Hutch!
I remember seeing a couple of these at campgrounds. But there’s not a lot of room in the back of a Torana. Maybe if you were a Chinese acrobat you could get comfortable in there.
The Starfire 1.9L-4 was a notorious dog with fleas. Kind of the Down Under version of the Iron Duke. I’m guessing GM resented the hell out of having to produce a 4cyl engine, since they made them so crappy in North America and Oz.
Holden also did one for the Sandman panel van called the “Tail Tent”
With the rear seats folded flat, you got about 6′ of length, with about 3’6” between the rear arches in the Torana/Sunbird so there was more room than you might think.
Yeah, they were weak. Over here, the Starfire if often brought up as one of the lowest points in Holden’s history….I assume they started building them to increase local content in the 4cyl models.
The early Toranas used the same Vauxhall motor used in the Viva in the UK, and the LH actually came with a 1.9-litre Opel engine which I can imagine was a significantly better motor than the cop-out Starfire that replaced it.
It should be said, though, that there was nothing really special at all about any of the 4cyl Torana/Sunbird models – the early ones were small economy cars, and the LH/LX 4cyl models were little more than slightly larger economy cars. Of course, you had the bigger 6s and V8s and that is a slightly different story. A 308 in small, roughly Monza-sized
car made for a very quick car by mid-70s standards.
Incidentally, I always thought Monzas looked kinda cool….and, you know, better than a Vega. Although I find them nice cars to look at, too, as shitty as I’m told they were.
A thousand times yes!
is it me or the narrator sounds like James May?
Bangin’ bikini bod!!
Hi,
Is this related to the UK Vauxhall Victor FE from 1972 to 1978, which was related to the contemporary Opel Rekord – larger than the Ascona who mention – and used Vauxhall 1.8 and 2.3 litre 4 cylinder engines?
That window line is pretty distinctive!
I believe the LH/LX/UC platform was an all new Australian design with some elements taken from earlier Toranas which were originally based on the Vauxhall Viva.
Obviously the styling is a miss mash of GM design cues in both the sedans and hatch. Overall the Toranas were a fairly average road car but due to an immensely strong chassis and V8 inclusion they were an excellent race car.
Interesting thing about these Toranas they lived on in India after GM stopped using this body The Vauxhall Victor UC Torana became the Hindustan Contessa vwith Isuzu diesel power
Four-door sedan only, no hatch, just like the Victor. Engines were petrol and diesel from Isuzu pickup trucks. A good enough car, but chronically underpowered, especially with aircon on the 48hp(!) diesel. The only thing loveable about the Contessa is its classic design— just like an American car, only smaller. This is to sixties muscle cars what the Morris Oxford is to a `47 Chevy. For that reason it has a cult following. There’s even a Contessa owner’s club forming now that the cars are getting rarer.
This is a bit of a misnomer that comes up with a few different Holdens – the LC/LJ were basically a stretched, heavily re-engineered HB Viva, and the LH/LX was a unique Australian design. It’s not directly related to the Victor. They do look quite similar in many ways, obviously, so the confusion is understandable.
Yep in fact the last model Torana the UC 78-80 was the Vauxhall Victor with Holden 6 installed good car I had one it drove well
Not true. The cars are unrelated, but obviously share a lot of styling cues.
Similar looking, but the FE Victor and LH/LX/UC Torana were quite different in reality and shared very few, if any, parts. There’s an excellent older book (in our local town library) on Vauxhall’s history which goes into great detail. Despite the looks, the Victor was actually a bigger car – FE Victor wheelbase and length were 2667mm and 4547mm, vs LH/LX/UC Torana’s 2586mm and 4493mm. In fact, the Victor’s wheelbase is basically the same as its replacement, the Carlton, aka Opel/Holden Commodore. The FE Victor is closely related to the Opel Reckord D, but not the Torana. So although, as Bryce correctly noted, the Victor did become the Hindustan Contessa, the Torana most definitely did not as it was a different car to the Victor.
Richard is correct in noting the LH/LX/UC was a unique Australian design. My late Uncle was a Holden salesman in the late 70s/early 80s, and I distinctly remember him bringing a UC Torana/Sunbird over to show us when it was first released in ’78. I wasn’t quite 5, but my memory’s clear because it was the first brand new car I can remember. My grandparents had primed me ready for the excitement, and I can still remember sititng at the dining room window and seeing it driving down the straight towards the house. I don’t remember if we went for a ride in it or not, but an acquaintance had the 6-cylinder LX in the late 80s and I rode in that several times. It was indeed an average and slow but solid car…until he slotted in a Chev 350, then it was a average and very fast solid car!
The Torana could have used that extra wheelbase – they were quite cramped in the back. I did see one once that had extended rear doors – it may have been a Holden prototype though.
Apparently the wheelbase and rear door were shortend as it was felt the car was getting too close in size and space with the bigger Holdens.
Sorry to correct you Paul but the LX Sunbirds still had the Opel 1.9 engine.
The Starfire (Backfire/Misfire) engine was first used in the UC Sunbird which was released in 1978
Wikipedia entries conflict each other…what else is new? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_Torana I’ll take your word for it.
These Torana got a Holden powertrain but were essentially an Opel GMH spins a good yarn claiming all sorts of local design but its far from the truth. The basic Opel shell was given a different rear panel to the Vauxhall and Different grille and thats about it and for the UC it was pure Vauxhall even the rear suspension pickup points bonnet flutes etc
Sorry Bryce, I disagree, with respect. The Opel Rekord D and FE Victor were closely related to each other, and shared floorpan (which ultimately morphed into the Open Rekord E/Holden Commodore) and minor sundries, but they had different bodies, different suspension and different steering. But they weren’t closely related to the LH/LX/UC Toranas which was a different vehicle and a unique Australian design. That’s not to say they didn’t use the odd bit of the Victor, but Toranas certainly weren’t Victors.
From memory (I was an apprentice at a Holden dealer at the time) the Opel 1900 was in the early UC Sunbirds, the Starfire came along after a few months.
The Starfire did leave one good legacy, their conrods are popular for
modified Holden ‘Red’ motors.
The Starfire fours were awful- some Holden dealers would refuse to trade them! They were always known as the “Backfire” four around my way…
The Starfire was fitted to the Toyota Corona in Australia at the time too. I don’t recall why, but I’m not sure even the Corona deserved that…! Thankfully our Kiwi Coronas stuck with the Toyota motor.
From memory, Toyota didn’t have an engine plant in Australia in those days. Using a four that was already in local production boosted their local content, which the government of the day saw as a Good Thing.
Unfortunately the Holden four was a big step backwards after the OHC 18R engine we’d got used to. If they were still using the 7R pushrod engine, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but time and Toyota had moved on since then. Using the Holden four pretty much killed Corona sales, except for the fully imported Liftbacks which still used the proper engine. People were willing to pay more for a Toyota with the proper engine.
Also, Holden had set up the production line, and wasn’t getting the volume it needed, so it went shopping for a customer. Why Toyota said yes when Ford (for the Cortina) and Chrysler (for the Centura) imported low-volume fours, I have no idea. I don’t remember what Nissan was up to with engine production in those days, but the 180B outsold the Corona, then Nissan went into a decline with the 200B, and Mitsubishi took over medium four sales leadership.
The starfire four was only made to increase Aussie content to shuffle around tarriffs and thats the only reason Toyota put up with it too Australias punitive import taxes keep lots of cars out of that market and produces some awfull mashups like the Starfire Corona the Apollo Nova Lexcen Pintara Corsair twins, there are many more.
My father owned a Torana at one point, thankfully with the six… I remember the gas filler cap is hidden behind the rear number plate, and when in reverse it illuminated the amber turn signal lights, since it doesn’t have a separate back up light.
Yes! I’d forgotten about the blinkers being used as reversing light until you mentioned it. Was the same for HQ+ Kingswoods too I think? Was so common when I was a kid in the 80s and Kingswoods and Toranas were still very common.
You bet it was. The HZ range & UC Torana/ Sunbird still used the indicators as the reversing lights.
Ever since hearing that the Aussies did that, I thought it made more sense than a separate back-up light with the turn signal combined with the brake/taillight. You almost never signal a turn while in reverse, and drivers brake while signaling a turn all the time.
‘You almost never signal a turn while in reverse.’
Only time I can think of is when parallel parking, and we all avoid that as much as possible!
“as Starfire is a bit of serious debasement of Oldsmobile’s eponymous, glorious big-V8 coupe.”
Sadly, the Starfire name had already been subject to debasement already, being appropriated for Oldsmobile’s version of the Chevy Monza. While a far better car than the Vega they succeeded, with rather graceful styling on the hatchbacks and a V6 base engine (until ’77), it’s hard to argue they measured up to their nominal predecessors. At least they could be had with a V8, though a somewhat malaise-y 305.
‘Starfire’ was also the name used for metallic paint finishes in ’70s Vauxhalls, replacing the ’60s ‘Starmist’ metallics.
Also a BSA 250 single of the 60s.They looked great but had a reputation for oil leaks and breakdowns/blow ups.They had a fair bit of success on American dirt tracks til 2 strokes took over the class
The orange one looks just like a Vega fastback other than the grille. I wonder if they held up any better?
They are unbelievably solid, durable cars. The only thing that kills them is rust and utter owner stupidity. The hatch gets a nasty rust area around the hatch pillars, which can render the car useless if not fixed up.
The bodies of these things were incredibly over-engineered to take the torque of the V8, which hardly anybody ever ordered. I only ever saw one SL sedan that was optioned with the V8; the 3300 was quite enough engine for most folks. Of course the boy-racer types bought the SL/R (sounds like a type of camera, no?) but usually with the 3300; few could stretch to the price of the V8.
And the 1900 Holden engine was an absolute train wreck. Slow, noisy and thirsty, it was seriously underpowered for the weight of the car. A friend at college had a later UC Sunbird hatchback (“Birdback”). Not a bad looking car (except for the awful, cheap-looking taillights), and it handled okay, but my 2000 automatic Cortina absolutely creamed it. In the nineties a mate with an old Sunbird sedan converted his to the 3300 six – the engine it should have had in the first place. Sunbirds, or Torana 1900s, were never common when new. Holden in those days didn’t have a competitive four.
Four of us hired a new UC sunbird manual to go to Fleetwood Mak at Western springs in Auckland none us owned a roadworthy car anyway gutless useless or not that Sunturd indicated 165kmh on the Southern motoway flat out, I had a UC 202 auto that couldnt struggle past 135 on flat going.
I have always wanted a LH/LX Torana. No way would I want the four though. It would have to be the 173 (2850) or 202 (3300), six. They are handsome, tough, solid, reliable and fun to drive.
A few design flaws really let these cars down, though. The spare wheel is mounted on the floor of the already small trunk, the fuel tank is a bit small, considering the six’s thirst, the car is full of water/mud traps which allow rust to fester in some serious places. Also, Holden really didn’t try hard enough with those dashboards. They were awful. The UC models had the proper dash and instruments.
My first car was a LX Torana SL hatchback, 202 manual, and lots of fun. Over 13 years or so, I put over 150 000 km on it, and drove the Nullabor, among other things. But at 6’3″, sleeping in the back was a little bit of a challenge, but that was without the hatch hutch… 🙂
My second car, which is still in the shed, was another Torana, but a little more special. I lucked upon one of the 263 LH SL/R5000 L34 cars built for homologation for touring car racing, with a specially developed 308 V8, manual gearbox, bolt-on flares – the full boy-racer look! Although it doesn’t handle quite as well as the six, due to the extra weight up over the front end, the extra 200hp or so adequately compensates… I’ve seen the speedo right around to the ‘h’ in km/h, somewhat after the 200 mark….
Hehe, I know both car and owner. This thing literally flies.
Now Brad, if you would be so good as to divulge how you can make said L34 perform like a 300 SE L 6.3…
Add a few hundred kilos, an automatic gearbox and some leather armchairs….
The comment I recall was “put 250 kg in the boot and take off one plug lead”. So which is it? Is the witness being hostile?
I find The LX Torana to be very attractive overall. Its least attractive feature is its front end styling. It looks too much like our Chevy Monza, another unattractive looking front end. I believe the earlier Holden Torana, the LC Torana, to have the best looking front end styling. Next up, is the UC Torana.
The LX Torana 1900 pictured is Opel CIH engined. The Holden Starfire 1900 engine (not one of Holden’s greatest achievements) appeared for 1979, midway through the replacement UC model’s run. This example looks tidy, though a set of period mags would suit better than mis-matched hubcaps.