An incredibly rare 1977 Holden Torana A9X has returned to market and will go under the hammer this weekend, with auctioneers expecting it to fetch up to $1 million.
This is well over twice the sum the sought-after Torana A9X GMP&A hatch fetched when it last went up for auction in 2018.
Never officially raced or registered for the road, and still with just 475km on the clock, the two-door muscle car is Build Number 1 of 33 special lightweight body shells manufactured by Holden to go racing in the late 1970s.
Designed for factory racing teams and sold via GM’s Parts & Accessories division (hence the GMP&A tag), the 33 cars were each painted white, double-seam-welded for extra rigidity and never stamped with a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).
This example is one of three shells originally purchased by Ron Hodgson, two of which were used to go racing while this one was left by Hodgson as a ‘spare’.
Now, Lloyds Auctions is set to put it under the hammer at 12:00pm (AEST) this Saturday, June 26.
“This is the holy grail of Holden motor collector cars in Australia,” said Lee Hames from Lloyds Auctions.
“Since Holden closed their doors, many muscle car enthusiasts are mourning the loss of performance cars, and there has been a resurgence in these classic cars.
“With the Holden prices we’ve seen achieved at auction in the last six months, we certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see this car break records once again.”
These include the last Holden Commodore to be framed, painted and allocated a serial number (but not the last to leave the factory in Adelaide) – a 2017 VFII SS-V Redline sedan – which sold for $750,000, and a 2017 HSV GTSR W1 Maloo Ute that set a new auction record for an Australian-made production vehicle, selling for $1.05 million in January.
Just last year, the Holden Torana A9X John Harvey raced in the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1977-1979 also sold for just under $910,000 at auction.
You can view the 1977 Holden Torana A9X here, which at the time of writing shows early bidding at $250,000.