Concept We Forgot: 1970 Holden Torana GTR-X

This fiberglass-bodied coupe was one of the most beautiful designs ever to come from the Land Down Under.

The Torana had a design that would be a hit even today. Unfortunately, it was not the right time for it to be born. Holden even produced a brochure that was distributed at several car shows to give an idea of the closeness to production.

It was ultimately a waste of money. Holden was unable to justify the high production costs in light of the limited market for this car and decided to end production, even though the coupe had been planned for production for eight years. It is a shame. It was stunning and had nice specs for the early 1970s. The fiberglass body allowed the Torana GTR-X rear-wheel-drive Torana GTR-X only 2,299 pounds (1.043 kg) to be weighed.

It was also quite powerful. It was powered by an inline-six 3.0-liter engine with 160 hp (119kW) at 5,200rpm and 190 pounds-feet (257newton-meters). The engine was delivered to the road via a 4-speed manual gearbox at 3,600 rpm. A lightweight design and a strong engine combined with an efficient construction allowed the concept to reach 60 mph (96 km/h) in 8.3 seconds. The speed was then increased to 130 mph (209 km/h) at its maximum. Engineers installed four-wheel disc brakes to stop the car efficiently. This was a first for Holden production cars.

Holden created three of them. However, only one is still in existence today. It can be found at Melbourne’s headquarters. This is a great example of a missed opportunity. However, as I said in the beginning, the biggest problem with the concept was its timing. Datsun 240Z was a huge success, and Opel, also under GM’s umbrella, had the GT at the time.

We’re going to briefly remind you of the three latest concepts in this series: Volvo Tundra and Mercedes-Benz NaFA.