Helen Wynants and Stephen Barrie are a couple of full-blown petrolheads, with a couple of hotted-up Toranas to prove it. With its fastidiously polished alloy and imposing eight-stack EFI Holden V8, Steve’s black SS hatchback was a standout of Street Machine’s January 2018 issue. Now Helen gets her turn in the spotlight with this retina-searing SL/R 5000 named ‘Ruby’.

First published in the May 2025 issue of Street Machine

“This sedan shell had been sitting around a while,” Helen says. “Steve had the hatchback, so I told him the sedan was going to be mine.”

Knowing that the secret to a happy life is a happy Helen, Steve got stuck in. The build ended up taking six years to complete, four of those spent solely on body and paint.

One of the reasons for the extended build time was the pesky fibreglass bodykit. There are a few A9X conversion kits readily available, but their fit and finish can often range from iffy to horrendous. Helen and Steve scored the latter kind. Many hours were spent cutting and re-glassing each piece to achieve a fit worthy of an elite-level car.

That said, the Canberra couple didn’t set out to build a showstopper. For a long time, the car was going to be a standard A9X tribute. The jaw-dropping panel and paint by Jason Sandner from SLR Specialised Restorations changed all that.

“When we got it back from Jason, we said to ourselves, ‘We can’t do it stock; it’s way too nice,’” says Steve. “The direction of the build completely changed, and that’s when things got out of control.”

Having completed a dummy fit-up before going to paint, the challenge from that point was to make all the fresh changes work around what was already there. “We couldn’t cut or modify any metal,” says Steve. “We haven’t even drilled any extra holes!”

With the benefit of hindsight from Steve’s hatchback project, he and Helen knew exactly what they wanted to keep and what they wanted to change. One major carry-over was opting for Iron Lion power, with Kit Hunter from Profection Automotive commissioned to screw a tough Holden mill together.

“Kit owns Rob Beauchamp’s VL,” Steve says. “He’s very particular about what he does and really knows his way around Holden V8s.”

Starting with an injected 304, Kit amped up the output by stretching it out to 355 cubes via a Harrop crank and Precision pistons. Making the most of the extra cubes is a roller cam, tickled VN heads, Pacemaker four-into-one headers, a Torque-Power intake and Holley Sniper EFI. The combo is grunty without being excessively grumpy. According to the couple, one of the hardest parts to source was an air filter that was just the right shade of red!

Proper muscle cars have three pedals. As such, Ruby sports a Tremec Magnum six-speed coupled to a shortened nine-inch filled with a 4.11-geared Truetrac centre. “We run 3.9 gears in the hatch,” explains Steve, “but with the six-speed’s tall gearing, the engine barely ticks over at 100km/h. We switched to 4.11s this time around to make sixth gear more usable and to improve driveability.”

To refine that even further, QA1 coil-overs were added up front, while the other end features Pedders adjustable shocks, shorter springs and McDonald Brothers adjustable upper control arms. The 17-inch Weld S71 wheels surround Wilwood four-piston calipers gripping 300mm front and 320mm rear rotors, respectively. All smart, headache-free upgrades that balance performance with comfort.

The addition of a power rack was another major enhancement to the driving experience, even with wide rubber. The system runs off an Astra electric pump tucked away in the boot.

To avoid scratching any fresh paint, the engine, extractors, gearbox and suspension were all bolted into the detailed K-frame before the body was carefully lowered onto it. Clever, eh?

Inside, Ruby retains a mostly factory look, as Helen and Steve wanted to keep some originality. When ordering the complete Tremec six-speed kit from Mal Wood Automotive, they specced the shorter extension housing and quick-shift shorty shifter. This ensured the shifter aligned perfectly with the factory console, as well as the factory cut-out in the floor.

The Torana seats have been retrimmed with classic ‘golfball’ inserts, a style also carried over to the door trims. The brand-new glass has a factory-style green tint, while the entire floor is lined with Dynamat to help control heat and road noise, as is the roof and boot.

Ruby’s gauges are a stand-out feature. They’re electronic Speedhut units modified by the talented Ben Nash to mimic Holden factory dials. Ben also fitted them into the Torana’s bezel and wired the set-up for easy plug-and-play installation.

Though Steve and crew were responsible for much of the build, this stunning red Torana is 100 per cent Helen’s baby. “I’ve always been into cars,” she says. “Engineering and mechanics have fascinated me since I was young. I’m 60-plus now, but back in high school I wanted to study things like metalwork and tech drawing. Those were different times – girls weren’t allowed to take those classes.”

No doubt Helen will be taking every opportunity to make up for lost time, racking up plenty of seat time behind the wheel of her Torana. If you see her out cruising the blacktop, be sure to give her a big thumbs up – she’s one of us!

HELEN WYNANTS
1976 HOLDEN LX TORANA SL/R 5000

THANKS
Stephen Barrie and son Brett Barrie; Paul Edwards; Rob & Justin Gardner; Trevor Corcoran; Craig Ballard; Gambo; Jason & Tanya Sandner at SLR Specialised Restorations; Kit Hunter at Profection Automotive; Robert Pegg at Pegg’s Auto Trim; Craig Wilson; James Weber at ACT Hose & Hydraulic Repairs; Shane Murphy at Auto Fabrication HQ; Matt Cram at Mitchell Mufflers.