Many people embark on building their dream car in a quest to relive their youth, and that’s certainly the case with Steven Harper and his LX Torana. He owned his first Torry six months before he’d even got his licence, so when this one came to him through good fortune, he knew he had to snap it up.

First published in the October 2025 issue of Street Machine

“My wife sees a lot of elderly people at her work, and we live in a small town, so people know we like our cars,” says Steven. “One day, one of the older men called her work asking for her, and said he was ready to sell his Torana,” he continues. “I was interested no matter what, and it’s fair to say the price was a bargain – I nearly dropped the phone! I couldn’t get down there fast enough!”

It wasn’t as if he’d got a complete dunger, either. Sure, the 202 in the thing catapulted coolant all over Steven’s driveway after he drove it home, but the car itself was as solid as a bet on tax increases. “When we stripped it back for paint, there was no rust; the body was basically mint,” says Steven.

From the outset, Steven’s goal was to create a nice, old school-style cruiser. However, when it came time pick the colour, the scope of the build soon escalated. “The car is originally Persian Sand brown, but that colour looks rubbish with modern paint,” says Steven. “So, we wanted something that paid tribute to that, but not the same. When we saw the sample for the Slanted Brown, we actually thought it was gunmetal grey until it was held up in the light! But it’s what we went for; something different without going crazy.”

Now, given so much time and effort had been put into the exterior by the lads at Performance Paint & Panel in Petrie, a crummy, worn out 202 in the engine bay just wasn’t going to do the LX justice.

“We sat down to decide what motor to put into it, and after laying out the options, a Holden V8 sat best with me,” says Steven. “It’s the same reason we went with a carby. I have no idea how to tune them, but I’m even more useless on a computer, so electronic injection with an ECU is of no use to me.”

Unfortunately, the first engine build Steven commissioned for the Torry ended up being a hellish saga – so much so he had to start again with a freshie. But there was a silver lining.

“I purchased two blocks – a 308 and one I was told was a 253,” he says. “When I got them home, I ran the numbers and found out that the ‘253’ was actually a 308 block from a WB ute! So, we used that for the second build at PLR Performance Engines.”

The block was massaged out to 355 cubes using a Scat crank, I-beam rods and Icon forged pistons. The bumpstick is a Crow Cams unit, and the B-cast heads have been ported for all they’re worth by Jerry Cooper. Finishing the top end is a Torque-Power air gap manifold, and a Holley 650 carb.

“It made 456hp and 430lb-ft of torque, but that torque comes in at 2500rpm and holds all the way to 6500rpm,” says Steven. “The dyno operators were amazed; they demanded to know the camshaft specs!” he laughs.

It sends that power through a Turbo 350 ’box and back to a nine-inch diff with street-friendly 3.5:1 gearing. “It was always built to be a nice cruiser – not that I’ve driven it far yet!” laughs Steven. “The roads are garbage where I live, so I’ll trailer it to shows like Rockynats and then use it there, where the exhaust won’t be ripped off by the time I get where I’m going!”

Speaking of Rockynats, that’s where Steven had a long-awaited validation with his brown machine earlier this year. “It was meant to be unveiled there two years prior, but with the engine delays and me being busy with work, we weren’t able to make it until this year. Even then, it was a mad rush to get it there!”

The juice was worth the squeeze though, as Steven walked away with second place in the Top Interior category of the Elite judging. “We also got invited to display the car in the Superstars Hall at Meguiar’s MotorEx in Melbourne this year, which was a surreal experience,” says Steven. “I’m just a guy who wanted to build a nice car, so to get the recognition from Owen Webb not only for the unveiling, but also to be invited to MotorEx and now have it in the magazine, it’s all been incredible.”

Steven isn’t done with shows yet either, hitting up the Cairns Show Auto Spectacular in October, and he plans to take on Rockynats again. “We’ll have rego by then, so I’d love to have a go at Rockynats Champion; the car just wasn’t ready enough this year,” he says. “Considering the whole idea of this build was just to replicate the feelings I had in my first LX sedan when I was a teenager, it’s gone far beyond that, but I’m incredibly grateful to those that helped me make it what it is today.”

STEVEN HARPER
1977 HOLDEN LX TORANA

THANKS
My family: Sharyn, Joel, Ryan and Hayley; Michael and Mark at Performance Paint & Panel Petrie; John and the team at PLR Performance Engines; Jayden and Nathan at 310 Autosport; Shannon and Dion at Otto Customs Auto Trim; Mark and Adrienne McTavish; Rob Wright.