This dust-covered Holden Torana GTR is going to auction in October as part of old dealership inventory.
The 1973 Holden LJ Torana GTR was traded-in at the Ford dealership in West Wyalong – a country town in central New South Wales – where it has sat in a corner since 1985.
With limited space on the dealership lot and no interested buyers at the time, the Torana was parked in the back of a shed and forgotten.
Auctioneers Burns & Co report the vehicle has matching numbers, and believe the 86,000km shown on the odometer is the original mileage.
While the body and chassis has not undergone a thorough inspection, the warm, dry climate of West Wyalong is suited to the preservation of storing vehicles.
This old Holden Torana is among a growing list of classic car "barn finds" in Australia, attracting collectors and restorers of iconic vehicles from the 1960s and 1970s, the hey day of Australian motoring.
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The GTR was developed as the sports version of the Torana range, and though not as hot as the race-bred XU-1 variant, the 1973 Torana GTR was fitted with the 3.3-litre inline-six producing 101kW, coupled with the Aussie-built M21 four-speed manual gearbox.
The dirt-covered VIN plate, showing LJ82911 as the model name, confirms this is a genuine GTR.
Classic Australian 'barn-find' cars have broken recents in recent times, with the Ford Falcon XA GT RPO 83 'Chicken Coupe' selling for more than $300,000 in July.
Pristine Torana GTR models have been known to sell for as much as $100,000 – a far cry from the $900 paid for this model in the mid-80s.
The auction also features a number of low mileage Fords from the local dealership, including a 1961 Fairlane 'tank' sedan, a 2005 Falcon XR8 Devil R with 4000km, and a 2016 Falcon FGX XR6 ute with a mere 98km on the clock.
Burns & Co will conduct the auction on Saturday the 3rd and Sunday the 4th of October, 2020, with the full catalogue available later this month. For more details, click here.
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