No motorsport event has had as profound an influence on Australia’s automotive culture as the Bathurst 1000. Over the past six decades and counting, the Great Race has fired the imaginations of millions of Aussie petrolheads, including that of Goulburn’s Michelle Jellicoe. Her young heart was captured back when square-bodied Toranas terrorised the track, so she was always destined to own a Bathurst-style steed of her own in the form of this tidy LX SL/R 5000.

First published in the July 2025 issue of Street Machine

Tell us about your early revhead influences.

Other than our yearly gathering around the TV to watch Bathurst with family and friends, it was my primary school teacher’s LX SS hatch. I’d chat with him about the Torana whenever I could, and the love of Toranas never left me.

When did this LX enter your life?

I bought my SL/R 5000 in 1991 for $5700 – I still have the Trading Post ad. Back then, it had the original 308ci with a four-speed manual. The LX was my daily driver, but I’d also head out on club runs and track days; I’ve always enjoyed those events.

And it’s morphed a bit over the years?

Yeah, earlier on I swapped the original 308 to a 327ci Holden stroker, although I should’ve saved that matching-numbers engine! By 1998, I’d met my now-husband Mark; in fact, my Torana helped to bring us together. We got married, built a house and had a family, so the Torana was stored away. Come 2015, we were finally in a position to bring the LX back to life.

How’d you go about that?

I wanted a road-legal, Bathurst-style car to both cruise and use at track days. Mark took the LX back to bare metal and found that it was straight as a dime with no rust. He then sprayed it in the same factory Mandarin Red. The interior has been re-trimmed with herringbone vinyl, and I’ve kept my 14in Hotwires for the 90s look.

Tell us about the powerplant.

I wanted a 355ci stroker, as I love power! We used lots of Aussie parts, including buying a VR Series II Calais for the engine. Our friend Lindsay Martin of Martin Engine Services stroked the virgin-bore 304 using a Harrop crank, upped compression to 11:1, and added a big cam. On top is a Barry Grant 750 double-pumper carb and an Edelbrock Victor Jr manifold.

It makes 551hp at the flywheel. Behind is a Tremec T56 Magnum six-speed – I wanted the biggest and strongest ’box I could buy. The diff is a BorgWarner with a Harrop Truetrac, while the brakes were upgraded to Volvo discs – four-spot calipers on the front and twin-spot rears.

And has your freshened-up LX delivered the goods?

Absolutely. I was grinning from ear to ear on that first fire-up, and then I did laps of the block, as I didn’t want to stop driving! I’m really happy to be back behind the wheel, being loud and showing off; I just love opening it up! And being engineered, I see it as a road-registered race car; it sounds a bit like a V8 Supercar, too.

I wanted a car that’d handle with good acceleration, and it performs well on track days. I’m in awe that Mark has brought the car back for me; it’s exceeded my expectations. My Torana will always be a part of me.

Girls — wanna be famous? Become an Iron Maiden! Email car details, pics (2MB+) and contact deets to [email protected]. You and your ride could appear in the mag!