When Alan Robson bought this early-build, Daytona Bronze-optioned 1970 LC Torana GTR in 2019, it had a non-original 186 where the factory 161 should have been, and really not much else going for it. “The body was rough; all the money was spent on the Chris Milton-built six, filled with good bits,” Alan says. “It would have had plenty of stonk, but I knew it wasn’t what I wanted.”

First published in the April 2025 issue of Street Machine

Alan has already done a couple of authentic Torana restos, so hopefully the rivet-counters out there can forgive him for straying from that blueprint with his latest build. “The whole brief was that it had to be a V8, it had to have a six-speed manual, and it couldn’t have a bonnet scoop,” he says.

What Alan was after, according to Jason Riding from Lonsdale Autoshop, was a “GTR on steroids”, even if he didn’t really know it yet. “Alan sat down with me and Adam Van Der Linden from Southern Classics & Customs and laid out what he wanted,” Jason begins. “It wasn’t allowed to be a drag car. Alan wanted to turn corners in this one, so pro street was out.” Beyond that, Jason and Adam were given free rein creatively, as Alan’s view is that those who build cars for a living will give you the best result if you just let ’em go and don’t interfere.

Having previously inserted a Coyote V8 into Alan’s 1975 Ford F100 (SM, May ’21), and later supercharging it, Jason was almost indignant when Alan asked him if installing a Holden V8 in an LC Torana was in his wheelhouse. “I was like, ‘Mate, that was the first conversion I ever did!’ Alan just looked at me for a bit, shook his head and said, ‘Nah, not like this one.’ Little did I know,” Jason says.

With the plan in place, Lincoln at LJT Restorations was commissioned to strip the GTR and drop it at Lonsdale Autoshop with the fewest possible parts attached. “We just needed it to roll around,” Jason says.

“We measured up the front end and driveline, and chopped out the trans tunnel as minimally as we could for Adam at SC&C to replace with a bigger version – you know, on steroids.”

Jason not only instructed Adam on where to raise the floor to ensure the GTR didn’t hang low, but also recommended minor changes all over the car. “We’d circle these holes for Adam to fill, then he’d come to me and tell me they were needed for the thing to fit together,” he laughs. The tables turned when Adam filled a few holes that Jason needed for his side of the build. Suffice it to say there’s not one unnecessary hole, gap, flange or mount on the whole car.

With Adam working on the body, Jason curated a tough powerplant to fulfil Alan’s brief for the car. He’s been building Iron Lions since forever and knows what it takes to get them firing hard, breathing well and moving fast. Starting with a stroker-clearanced 304 Holden block, Jason inserted a full complement of go-fast bits selected from an array of local and international suppliers, topped with a dual-plane intake manifold and a pair of cast alloy heads supplied by Torque-Power Australia.

Like the engine, the body looks stock but isn’t. Adam and his Southern Classics & Customs team massaged, honed and improved the GTR in every aspect. “When it arrived here, the rear quarters had been replaced, but they’d really only been tacked in place; they needed welding up, grinding and plenty of tidying to get them nice,” Adam explains. Adam’s “tidying up” included power hammering out a pair of rear wheelarches from scratch, with the custom profile 1.5 inches longer than stock. “You can barely notice them,” he says. “It looks natural and avoids the inconsistent radii that can come from sectioning and stretching.”

Once the major surgery was over, the car was blasted again, and Adam and team then gapped it up and file-finished it. The McLaren orange paint went on during a massive, 20-hour session in the booth. “Once the doors and body were base-coated in orange, we refitted the doors and then laid out all the fine tape lines for the blackouts,” Adam says. “Then we removed the doors again, finished masking it up, painted the blackouts, unmasked it all, then laid on three coats of clear.” The results speak for themselves, but the trophies for Top Body and Top Paint in Street Elite from the 2024 Adelaide Auto Expo also say plenty.

Of course, despite meticulous planning and adherence to Alan’s vision, this Torana build wasn’t without its share of last-minute drama, with the carpet getting trimmed all wonky and the starter motor attempting a coup by cranking whenever there was power in the car. “We were always going to debut it at Adelaide Auto Expo, and we had two months up our sleeve. Then suddenly we were all still working on it the day before the show,” Alan chuckles.

Clearly, the last-minute thrash didn’t hurt the end result, as aside from tinware for the body and paint, Alan’s LC Torana “GTR on steroids” also garnered Best Aussie-Built Car and Promoter’s Choice in the Street category. If the car keeps cleaning up like this, Alan may need some ’roids himself just to carry home the trophies!

ALAN ROBSON
1970 HOLDEN LC TORANA GTR

THANKS
Jason & Jess Riding and Jaiden Roberts at Lonsdale Autoshop; Adam & Jodi Van Der Linden, Jason Quinn and the team at Southern Classics & Customs; Damian Worthy at Worthy Restorations; Sot Kavuki at Modified Vehicle Engineering; Adam at AJ Trim.