Rare Holden Torana GTR-X for sale

A rare 1970 Holden Torana GTR-X that Holden never quite finished building has been put up for sale.

An example of arguably the most advanced, mature and globally fresh designs to emerge from Australia, only three Torana GTR-Xs were built, with one destroyed leaving two in existence more than fifty years after its scheduled production was cancelled.

The Queensland-based Bowden family, who own some of Australia’s rarest and most collectable production and race cars as well as a car care products company, have put the third GTR-X built [↗] – so named Lone O’Ranger for its orange paintwork – up for sale.

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According to the Bowdens, this pilot-build vehicle was never completed and was sold to a Holden employee in 1987 – posing a conundrum for its new buyer as to whether to leave it in its current state or finish the car…

The vehicle was being restored last decade in Melbourne before the Bowden family acquired it, with the rare machine being offered in its current incomplete state.

The only other GTR-X remaining is currently on display at the National Motor Museum, alongside landmark Holdens across the car maker’s 1948-2017 manufacturing era, at Birdwood in South Australia [↗].

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The GTR-X’s strikingly modern design was clearly of the era of the wedge-shaped vehicles and far more sophisticated than the LC Torana on which it was built. 

In hindsight, it looks contemporary against supercars and sports cars of the era, including the Ferrari 308 GT4, particularly if the Holden concept’s steel bumpers evolved.

Penned by a young Phil Zmood, who later became the first Australian to be appointed head of Holden design, the GTR-X body wrapped LC Torana GT-R XU-1 mechanicals that Holden was using in rally and road racing as its Bathurst rivalry with Ford and Chrysler became more intense.

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The LC GTR XU-1 endowed the GTR-X with a capable powertrain – Holden’s 186-cube inline six with triple Stromberg carburettor, and a four-speed gearbox driving the rear wheels – with estimates of an 8.5-second 0-100km/h sprint and an estimated 210km/h v-max – in 1970, remember.

The stunning elegant design came courtesy of a lighter body than the steel two-door XU-1.

Zmood was inspired by a thriving design department, with Holden’s first dedicated design studio opening at Fishermans Bend in 1964.

While tending to road-going machinery for Holden and other GM global brands, GM Australia Design pumped out the wild 1969 Holden Hurricane concept car – only a year after it wheeled out all-new HK range and the same year Australia had its first local V8 engine.

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Finished in eye-catching orange, Hurricane was a 39-inch high, wedge-shaped sports car showcasing the locally-made and developed 253 cubic-inch (4144cc, badged 4.2-litre on road cars) engine that would be fitted to the HT Monaro that year.

The striking metallic orange two-seat Hurricane was made of fibreglass, with a hydraulic struts raising a Perspex canopy to access its cabin where there was sat-nav and, in the centre console, a monitor replaced a rear-vision mirror – a forerunner to today’s reversing camera.

That captured Zmood’s imagination – fibreglass construction and all -  and after convincing Holden heavyweights, development of a production Torana GTR-X began.

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While the exterior is much lauded, the interior also upped the ante over the XU-1, with a machined dash that would end up in the 1971-74 HQ Monaro GTS.

With production slated for 1973, the GTR-X was cancelled – perhaps in part due to the ‘supercar scare’ but most point the finger as a more convincing package, the 1970 Datsun 240Z, arrived in showrooms.

Regardless, the GTR-X is a star of local design, but one of Australia’s most influential and masterful designers in Zmood.

Whatever it fetches, this Torana GTR-X will be worth it.