I wonder if it was a V8...

Actually, I wonder if the Torana's concept would work today - a medium sized car with a 5 litre V8 competing against cars like the Toyota Camry, Ford Mondeo and Mazda 6.

Holden did ponder a few years ago on a return of the Torana with a choice of a four or V6 but it never left the drawing board and they decided to build the Cruze here instead. I also think people didn't warm to the idea since a modern day Torana would be front wheel drive and that would be an insult to the car's legend status here.

My first car was a 1974 (LH) Torana. A fine motor car it was. Very good to drive long distances with the super-confy front bench seat and column-shift auto there was room to wriggle around a bit. My only problem with it was that at the end of the day it was a small car and I am 6'3''.

My first car was a 1974 (LH) Torana.

I owned a second hand 161ci LC Torana for a while. It was the first and last automatic car that I owned until my most recent car.

It was a very good car but the 161 and auto combination chewed through petrol so I went back to 4 cylinders with manual box.

Back in the day I wanted an XU1 more than anything. I still have those pangs when I see one today, but I'm not willing to shell out the money that the genuine ones command.

Yeah, a straight XU1 or SLR5000 in original form will attract serious coin these days. Spare a thought for the man who shells out for a prototype XU2 V8 or even a prototype Phase 4 Ford Falcon. Just before Holden and Ford released those cars for sale the Commonwealth Government banned them due to the massive power/weight ratios, branding them as killers and bringing to an end the muscle car era.

Those cars were designed to outrun Chrysler's Hemi Pacer and did so with ease and the Hemi Pacer was no slouch.

Sure, a HSV Commodore will outrun them all no worries but without the modern touches such as air bags, seatbelt pretensioners, anti-lock brakes, ESP and crumple zones plus the fact that modern cars stick to the road better than the older ones that were designed to be fitted with crossply tyres we are talking cars and then cars.

To be honest I didn't mind the fuel consumption of my Torana but the small fuel tank did bother me a bit. 55 litres was too small for the size of the engines Holden were fitting especially when the same engine in my HG Premier had a tank of something like 21 gallons which is 94 litres in the new money.