1977 Holden Torana A9X sells short of $1 million target but sets record for the model

A rare and immaculate 1977 Holden Torana A9X sold short of its $1 million target price at auction at the weekend, but it set a new record for the breed.

One of just 33 Holden Torana A9X road cars specially-built to be eligible for motor racing – known as a GMP&A model – went under the hammer for $775,000, but the buyer paid in excess of $833,000 once the 7.5 per cent auction fee was included.

Bids lodged online and over the phone in the latest Lloyds Auction started at $545,000 before climbing to $775,000 as two buyers fought it out over 15 minutes, $5000 at a time.

According to the auction house, the example sold on the weekend was the first of the 33 specially-built cars and showed just 475km on the odometer.

Lloyds said the last Holden Torana A9X GMP&A edition it sold went for $500,000 at auction in 2018.

“This shows a significant increase in Holden values in just over two years,” Lee Hames, chief operations officer for Lloyds Auctions, said in a media statement.

“In the last six to 12 months, we have seen rare and significant Holdens increase in value,” said Mr Hames.

“We are not surprised at this result because this is the holy grail of Holden … collector cars in the country, and since the closure of Holden, they have only become more popular.”

Meanwhile, earlier in the same auction on the weekend, a pristine low-kilometre 1985 Holden Commodore VK Group A “Blue Meanie” with just 6500km on the odometer went under the hammer for $475,000, with a 7.5 per cent auction fee pushing the transaction price to more than half a million dollars ($510,625).

Earlier this year one of the last Holden Commodores built in Australia sold for $750,000, a limited edition HSV Maloo W1 ute (one of four built) sold for $1.05 million, and a 1985 Holden Commodore VK HDT “Blue Meanie” – number 005 of 500 built and once the personal road car of the late racing legend Peter Brock – sold for $1.057 million.

However, the auction record for an Australian-made road car stands at $1.15 million for an immaculately restored 1971 Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III which was bought by a Sydney art collector.

The prices listed in the examples above do not include auction fees, usually a 7.5 per cent premium over the hammer price paid by the buyer.