32 replies to this topic

[RallyRed]

Col, I have been working my way through my collection over the last couple of months. Every post it note is a page that needs to be scanned into my computer. It will be a nice little data bank when it is finished. It is only covering the years from 1974 to 1977.
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wow..nice haul. Who said hording was no good..lol

[RallyRed]

They made 100 A9X hatches

They made 305 A9X sedans

There were 33 A9X race shells... all hatches ? ... or was it really 52 GMP+A shells... 11 sedans and 41 hatches ?... where are they now ?

Are these numbers correct... do they account for prototypes and promo cars ?.... were they real cars of mock ups ?

 

with credit to the A9X  Club website -

 

Only 405 A9X Toranas were produced for sale to the public and these consisted of 305 four-door sedans and 100 two-door hatches.

...There were an additional 52 GMP&A (General Motors Parts and Accessories) body shells specifically produced for competition made up of 11 sedans and 41 hatches. These came purely as a body shell with no engine and no gearbox, there wasn't even a hole cut in the floor for the gearshift. Modifications were required to the floorpan to mount the T10 gearbox and a special "blister" patch was made available to race teams for this purpose.

[jaselx]

Link to a story on the Alan Grice 1980 "SS 5000" https://www.pressrea...283171493660388

[RallyRed]

good find jaselx,

 

That answers at least a little of the orig. question -

 

"to run an A9X in 1980 you had to run rear drum brakes...the Commodores had to be better... so they hobbled the Toranas... what cars did this... do they still exist in this form ?

 

I also dug up this stuff, that may be added to the conversation - ( may all be old news to some, but interesting to me at least)

 

 

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[Rockoz]

It was Monday on the June long weekend 1980 that Griceys last hatch hit the wall.

The race meeting was postponed from the Sunday due to torrential rain.

I was the only tow truck operating on race day.

No one else turned up.

At the time I was the only tow truck that turned up on Saturday and Sunday anyway.

Teams were using utes to help drag cars in that day.

The Oran Park tractor even did its share of work.

 

There were more crashes that day than any other race day I attended at Oran Park.

We basically dragged the cars into a safe spot then went on and moved the next one.

We got what we could into the pits between races.

 

Brocky broke down and stopped on the main straight just past the end of the pits.

I remember him getting out of the car and reaching back into the door pocket and pulling out the Marlboros and having a few smokes while he waved encouragement to the other guys racing past.

 

Griceys hatch was the last car recovered on the day.

I think it was somewhere close to 8pm that night when I put it into their transporter.

Had to have a discussion witht the scrutineers while I had the previous car getting its belts cut, to bypass scrutineering for Griceys car.

They werent happy. But told them the guys said the car was stuffed and nothing safety related would be used anywhere else.

 

Really worked hard that day for the warm cans of soft drink, luke warm pies and 20 litres of fuel.

[Rockoz]

However the story you just told was priceless.
Bet you would have done it for nothing

 

Absolutely.

 

Most meets we went home with more fuel than we started with.

It was a friends tow truck.

It was totally voluntary apart from drinks pies and fuel.

 

Got to meet a lot of drivers.

Saw some aspects of the sport that most never get to see.

Had great vantage points to see the race.

 

After around 4 years of doing it, and being the only truck to turn up on both Saturday and Sunday, somehow it ended up being run by a bloke who rarely turned up even on Sundays.

After years of being the truck the clerk of course relied on, we got relegated to the worst spots and shittest work.

Told them to jam it up their bums then.

 

Typical wanker tow truck gronks from Sydney.

They got stuck at another meeting a couple years later.

Asked if we could turn up.

Told them to go frock themselves.

[Shiney005]

That's an awesome story there Rob. You are a true blue legend of the sport mate.