It is 40 years ago this year that Holden fans got to salivate as their wildest dreams came true. Almost. A genuine sports car from Australia's own. The Torana GTR-X. It was at the 1970 Bathurst enduro that performance buffs got their best view of the car. It circled the track - not in anger - but almost showing off, like a boulevard cruiser.
And, as our images reveal, there was a lot to put on display. A Holden like no other. Unlike the amazing 2005 EFIGY - a 20th century take on the 1954 FJ Holden - the Torana GTR-X was not a show car and was intended for production. Hence the reason the Torana GTR-X was at the 1970 Bathurst race, drumming up enthusiasm with a view to sales once the car hit the showroom floors.
That Holden could have produced such a car - a fibreglass closed sports coupe - powered by a 186 cubic inch straight six in Bathurst guise with a racy cylinder head, hot cam shaft and a trio of side-draught Stromberg carburettors, all hooked up to a yet to be realeased (intended for Torana) four speed gearbox, should not have been surprising, yet it was. The decision to proceed with the Torana GTR-X came hot on the heels of another Holden classic - the Monaro, which had taken out Bathurst in 1968 with the HK GTS 327 V8 and the 1969 Bathurst with the HT GTS 350 V8. In 1970 'Stormin' Norm Beechey took out the Australian Touring Car championship, also in a Monaro. Holden was hot. A year later Holden would again be on the Bathurst podium, this time with Peter Brock steering a Torana GTR XU1 to victory. Muscle cars were the order of the day.
Back to 1970. When the car was ready for reveal, Holden seemed to have second thoughts. As a sports coupe it would be a niche player in the market and sales conservative. Instead of producing a number of test cars and holding a media launch the company produced brochures, announced the vehicle as a 'show' car and trucked it around the country to motor shows and Bathurst. The reaction was enthusiastic. Yet, Holden still held back. It had a tiger by the tail, and was unsure what to do next. There was also another complication. Datsun's new 240Z was a direct competitor and about to be launched on the Australian market after a stunning two years in the US, where sales were phenomenal, as was pricing. Both were high-performance coupes with hotted-up six cylinder, in-line engines driving the rear wheels. The Datsun had a five speed manual or three speed automatic. The cars were similar, but far from identical.
The Torana GTR-X had another problem. Its shape was sleek and wedge-like at the pointy end, but the rear end and to some extent the side and rear glass was already passe. With Holden planning to slot production in for early 1973 a car that looked a little dated in 1970 by then was going to start behind scratch. In April 1971 GM Holden put a program together that would see GTR-X launched on February 5, 1973. The goal was a six-year model life with sales of around 8500 units. The car we see here was a prototype. Holden were still tinkering with the vehicle's styling, in particular the front parking lights and rear tail lights.
Even though the prototype was fitted with a hot 186 Bathurst Torana engine, this was not to be the final power plant. The company was working on a 3.3 litre (202 cubic inch) six XU1 engine for the 1972 LJ Torana which would also fit under the bonnet of the GTR-X. This was to be the engine for the production car at launch in early 1973. Holden were a little coy with performance figures, but top speed would be a tad more than 200 km/h and the 0-100 km/h would take around eight seconds. The company had sourced a Moorabbin plastics factory near Melbourne to make the one-piece bodies and the rest would be done in-house at Fisherman's Bend.
Yet, Holden baulked. According to Holden head of design, Leo Pruneau (Modern Motor, October 1978) the GTR-X was to be priced at around $5500, around $500 more than the Monaro GTS 350 at $5000. The Datsun 240Z was also leaving the showroom floor for around $5000. Pruneau believed the GTR-X would have possibly sold more than Holden estimated, but that was crystal ball gazing. The bottom line was the business case probably did not stack up and Holden did not see how it could make a profit from the project. The role of the Datsun 240Z in this decision making process cannot be underestimated. Had rivals been just the traditional Triumph TR6 and the Alfa GTV, the GTR-X may well have stacked-up financially. But, by then the 240Z had a reputation that was preceding it with a price tag that was razor sharp. In fact the 240Z was more than just a red hot sportscar, it changed perceptions of Datsun/Nissan in Australia. It may have also been the final nail in the Torana GTR-X coffin.
As a car the GTR-X took only six months to design in the second half of 1969 and has styling cues that have elements of the 240Z - the rear roofline - and some disctinctly Chev Camaro and Corvette lines at the front and tail - even though they have been compressed into a thinner wedge at both ends. For the first time on a Holden, disc brakes featured in each corner. As much running gear as possible was sourced from existing Holden products: The re-circulating ball steering set up came from the HQ Holden and wheels courtesy of Torana XU1. Options included variable-ratio power steering, Trimatic auto gearbox, limited slip differential and airconditioning. Holden kept another ace up it's sleeve for a mid-life freshen up: a V8 could be levered under the bonnet and no doubt it would have been the locally produced 253 V8.
Like quite a few cars from this era the headlamps rise up out of the front mudguards powered by vacuum servos. The bonnet opened forward and windscreen wiper blades worked from opposite side instead of the usual, for then, unison or parallel 'waving' motion. The interior was flash and used a large aluminium fascia which housed a cockpit of instruments, as well as all the controls for heater, radio and warning lights. There were other up to date inclusions such as the steering wheel tilted, the seat belts were on retractors, the radio aerial was incorporated into the fibreglass body and the hatch was opened by using a cable-operated remote control T-bar next to the driver's door.
More unusual was the U-shaped 55-litre fuel tank that was designed that way to incorporate the spare wheel inside the U.
The 1978 Modern Motor article reveals some insight into Holden's thinking when it comes to being adventurous with car design: examples since the GTR-X being the new take on the Monaro and, of course, the mighty EFIGY. According to Leo Pruneau these projects freshen up designers after years of working on bread-and-butter (read boring, but profitable) projects such as upgrades to Holden's core products over the years, Kingswood, Torana and Commodore and allow designers to use the full extent of their artictic flare and ability. "It's pure research. That's all these cars are - styling research," Pruneau told Modern Motor.
TORANA GTR-X SPECIFICATIONS
ENGINE:
6 in-line
Bore/Stroke: 92.0 mm X 82.5 mm
Capacity: 3290 cc (202 cubic inch)
Fuel delivery: Triple side-draught Strombergs
Compression: 10.3:1
Est. Power: 142 kW @ 5600 rpm
Est. Torque 271 Nm @ 4000 rpm
TRANSMISSION
Four speed manual
Final drive ratio: 3.36
SUSPENSION
Front: Indepentent, coils and wishbones
Rear: Live axle, four links, coil springs
Wheels: 5.5j X 13"
Tyres: B70H x 13"
Steering: recirculating ball
BRAKES
Front: 254 mm discs
Rear: 247 mm discs
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHTS
Wheelbase: 2388 mm
Front track: 1372 mm
Rear track: 1397 mm
Length: 4178 mm
Width: 1732 mm
Height: 1135 mm
Kerb Wt., 1025 kg
Fuel tank: 68 litres
PERFORMANCE
0-400m 16.2 seconds
0-100 km/h 8.2 seconds
Top Speed: 210 km/h |
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