Grant Thompson never really thought he’d own this LJ Torana after first seeing it almost ten years ago but as fate would have it, it eventually came his way!
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A friend was going to look at the Torana for sale back then and asked Grant to come and look at it with him.
Grant has owned a couple of LJ’s in the past and so he was as good as any for a little bit of advice.
“It was covered in dust in a dark shed but the body was pretty straight and rust free and I remember telling my mate that if he didn’t buy it, I would,” Grant said.
“Probably not the best choice of words when I really did want it, so of course my mate bought it”.
A number of years passed and Grant’s mate hadn’t got far with the Torana and needed money for a house.
Thankfully Grant was given first option of buying the LJ and soon enough he had a new project.
“That was four years ago” said Grant “and the Torana was purple with a set of Hotwires on it.
The colour wasn’t for me for a start, so I set about restoring it two years ago.”
Grant’s car is a 1973 LJ Torana S four door sedan.
He’d like to thank the team at Inline Paint and Panel in Parkes for completing the bodywork and laying down the fresh yellow duco.
John Francis retrimmed the interior in the original style black vinyl so there’s a lot of credit given to local tradesmen.
Mechanically the front end has been rebuilt.
Previous owners along the way had updated the six cylinder motor to a later model 3.3 litre black motor which has proven its worth mated to a four speed manual gearbox.
The mags were changed to 13 inch Sprintmasters which featured originally on the XU1 Toranas of the day and certainly stand out as the perfect wheel for his car.
Grant is keen to find out some history on his car.
He and his friend came across it in a shed in Phoenix St in Parkes and had been told it was possibly an original Parkes vehicle but that’s all he knows so if you happen to recognise it he’d be glad to hear from you.
Grant is a member of the Central West Car Club which meets on the first Wednesday of the month at the Parkes Leagues Club.
If you’d like to know more about the club you can find it at www.centralwestcarclub.com
The Central West Car Club was formed in 1954 following a meeting of people from all walks of life who shared a common interest in racing high powered vehicles.
Meetings held first Wednesday of the month at the Leagues Club at 7:30pm.
Feel free to join us at 6:30pm to 7pm for a social dinner before the meeting.
