Holden Torana LH 253 V8 4.2 Litre

Introduction

The LH Torana was, in relative terms, a good car. It wasn't very original in concept, nor did it feature any interesting new engineering. Proven technologies were the hallmark of a car that would prove durable in Aussie conditions – but without advancing the formula some were left to lament that the Torana could have been so much better. Mediocre is not a word we would want to use to describe the LH – it was much better than that – but there were some area’s that were best described as “average”.

The LH did have a vastly improved ride, better seating and the handling was improved, but in concept and under the skin the Torana was fairly “plan and simple”. Durability was an essential ingredient of any Australian built car. Buyers were willing to overlook that their new wheels may not come with the latest technological advancements – but they wanted to know that they could drive on Australia’s vast network of poorly maintained bitumen and gravel without their car letting them down.

Europeans could lead the way with new design trends – and once they proved infallible, only then would they find their way onto the local product. Price too was a consideration, and plonking the latest tech gadgetry onto an Aussie built car would bump up the price, invariably to a point where the local punter would not be willing to stump up the necessary cash. So it was then that the LH Torana was not brimming with new technology, it did not offer class leading refinement. Instead, it offered a good, honest and reliable drive that would, for the asking price, afford the buyer with reliable transport for many years into the future.

Despite all the good things about the LH Torana, GMH knew that pricing would be its biggest enemy. The LH - in all its forms - was much dearer than expected and became very pricy indeed at the top end. The glamour Cortina, the XLE, sold in Australia for A$3855. This included cloth seats, radio, leather-bound steering wheel, the top six-cylinder engine option plus accessories like air-conditioning or automatic transmission. A similarly equipped Torana had an asking price of more than $4000, and that was before you started adding any options – and remember, these were the days when you really did need to add some options to make your car more liveable in summer or easier for the wife to park if she was going to be a regular user.

The LH Torana faced still competition from the Blue Oval, with their Cortina offering better value for money. As an example, GM did offer a nylon cloth seat insert which was OK, but nowhere near as good as the Ford wool/nylon type – but in the main the seats were still being covered in vinyls – hard wearing and able to handle accidental spills – but bloody hot and uncomfortable. Seat coverings were one region where GMH never really shifted out of the rut it had been in for years – and the LH Torana deserved better. The foot-operated parking brake wasn’t a great feature either, although this design has still bobbed up from time to time in plenty of other cars, even luxury ones such as Lexus.

The door lock buttons were the same as GM had been fitting for years, and perhaps some extra effort in their re-design should have taken place given that at the time, much like today, Holden’s were the most popular car with car-thieves. The Europeans and Japanese had started fitting a moulded shroud around the button to at least make it a little harder for the car thief – and this design really should have made its way over to the mid-size Holden. There were other niggles too, memories of the 1960s that were great for the time, but a little old-hat by the time the mid 1970s had rolled around. The foot-well mounted dip switch really should have found its way to a stalk on the steering column, and the steering lock was long overdue for a re-design.

The Public Survey

While many, quite rightly, were critical of the LH Torana for carrying over these antiquated systems, it was obvious that GMH did not have them high up on their priority list. Perhaps this was because, some years earlier, the company commissioned a survey to find out what the public thought of their vehicles. One of the aspects covered buyer reaction to floor-mounted and column mounted dip switches. According to GM the great public mass favoured the status-quo and were unwilling and unlikely to accept column-mounted switches. Times were changing quickly back then, and with the benefit of hindsight we could say that the survey really needed to be a few weeks old, not a few years.

GM, could easily run with the “Status Quo” as they manufactured from behind a particularly large barrier of Tariff protection - and their healthy slice of the market. Australian’s had grown up either in a Ford or a Holden, and many were, by now, brand loyal – so when it came time to trade-in, they went back to a Holden dealership. Some said that the company had fallen for the fallacy that “If most average Australians bought Holden’s then they must be good”. The truth was that most average Australians didn't really have much choice! The buying public had to pick from what the local manufacturers decided to produce - like it or hate it. This caused lack of variety, an uninspired approach to design and the perpetuation of dated concepts, simply in order to save money on production.

Not All Bad News

However, there were many elements of the Torana design which were very relevant and appealing. The Good: Improved ride, better seating and increased size. The Bad: Performance in, silly interior design fumbles and most important of all — its pricing. The Brutal: The V8 Torana’s were the pick of the crop, and the V8 performance ensured they were fun to drive – but they were also expensive. The only problem with the V8 Torana was that, for the kind of money being asked, you could opt for a much larger family sedan – and remember, these were the days when most wanted to sit behind the wheel of a Kingswood, Premier, Statesman, Falcon, Fairmont, Fairlane, Regal or Chrysler.

Forgetting the obvious need to improve the ride, the room, the handling and the seating over the LJ Torana, GM faced only one other problem and that was engines. From the production rationalisation view-point they could not stray from the use of the long-in-the-tooth sixes, and for a performance-engine option GM could only consider their 'little' V8. This was logical - the sixes suited the basic package and it was too expensive and impractical to start out modifying them, or designing a new engine, as a performance option. This is why there had to be a V8 Torana. Some pressure from the competition department would have most likely influenced the choice of the V8 as the sporty-car-type engine. Follow-on sales of all model Toranas from the fantastic competition success of the XU-1 could not be overlooked - and they weren't. With Ford off the factory motor sport map GM went on to dominate production car racing with the SL/R 5000.

So what of the 253 V8 Torana? It was not as big a beastie you may have imagined it to be. In its stock state of tune it was in fact fairly mild, but plant the right foot and there was a lot of fuel-guzzling performance under the bonnet. With the limited slip diff the 253 V8 LH could be a bit difficult to hang onto in wet and greasy conditions or on loose surfaces, but generally it felt quite safe. That was providing you put in some time learning the LH's little handling quirks. This Torana liked a constant application of power. Be it a lot or a little, providing the power was applied smoothly and consistently you couldn’t really go wrong. The basic suspension system wasn't changed from the LJ Torana, but a lot of work was put in on spring and damper rates. Spring travel was increased by 1.5in. and the damper settings were set to complement the improved ride. As the spring travel soaked up the bumps, the tight shock absorber settings would keep the V8 Torana taut and smooth. There was absolutely no sloppiness or slush in the ride. At all times it was firm, comfortable and pitch-free. The handling, conversely, was not nearly as precise as it should have been.

As stated the LH was a car which liked constant power-flow, once denied the Torana would become vague and irrational in behaviour. Lifting the foot off the accelerator when committed to a corner was not recommended. The secret was to set the car up for the corner a long way ahead and with judgment and concentration power smoothly through the turn. Response was generally good - the steering load wa fair, although a little on the heavy side at times. The rack and pinion steering box was direct without being fussy, however many 253 V8 LH Torana owners reported an annoying shudder in the steering above 45mph. The LH was a definite understeering car - but in the V8 a quick stab at the go pedal would pull the tail out. Body roll did not feel alarming and the excellent rear axle location would keep the driving wheels on the deck at most times. The rear end was borrowed from the LJ Torana, but spring and damper rates were changed.

Enough Power To Be Interesting, And Be A Handful

The 4.2 litre V8 had sufficient fire to be interesting - in some cases it had a little too much (greasy roads, slippery diff plus too much accelerator equals loss of traction). It was fairly quiet in operation, idled smoothly and apart from a lot of straining at the top end - but overall the 'little' V8 pulled well. It was an engine of raw power — no subtlety and quite heavy on fuel. In no way could it be tagged a performance engine. Sure it had got plenty of go - but it wasn't flexible nor was it happy when it was pushed. Under brakes the LH would perform adequately. The rear suspension was carried over from the LJ Torana / HQ Holden - at least it was well tried and proven - and it worked well. Trailing arms with additional links kept the driving wheels in close contact with the road. In the LH the engineers paid most attention to spring and damper reaction rates in an effort to reduce excessive forwards weight transfer under heavy braking applications. It was claimed by some road testers that the 6 cylinder Torana's would suffer brake fade when pushed, but brake performance charts we have sighted show that the 253 V8 Torana didn't suffer the same fade, demonstrating very good brake performance with consistent pedal pressures and stopping times.

Interestingly road tester noted that the V8 Torana would pull up quicker with the wheels locked up! The suspension was so well sorted that the car would not deviate from the straight line enabling very good stopping distances for the time - poor by today's standards of course, but we are talking about 1974. The only down side of a full lock-up stop was that you had virtually no steering control whatsoever. Non-lockup stops would increase stopping distances by as much as 3 metres, but at least you had steering control. Road testers from the time recorded average g-forces at 0.74g when pulling up from 60mph / 100 km/h.

Behind The Wheel

From the comfort angle the LH Torana was a very good car indeed. The seats were very comfortable with good lumbar support Many lamented that GM had not produced seats like this years earlier. All the aspects associated with driving the car were relatively good. Window winders were well located and easy to use, the transmission shifter was well placed, vision was exceptionally good and seating height was very good. With the dashboard moved so far forward there was a long reach for the dashmounted controls, this was eased a little when the car was fitted with inertia-reel seatbelts. However it remained a release-the-belt job if you're wearing conventional restraints. Do we even need to say that the inertia style should have been standard equipment across the entire LH range.

The Torana was behind the Japanese competition when it came to steering column mounted controls. Toyota, for example, had refined the principle to a great degree on the 1974 Toyota Corona. This technology was to catch on, but many saw the "indicator only" column stalk as showing how "old school" the Torana was. The through-flow ventilation system worked well, if not a bit on the noisy side, and provided good direction of the air-flow to the driver's face. The remainder of the heating section worked reasonably well, although delving down in the dark depths of the cockpit at night could be difficult as the temperature and air direction levers were very small and grouped too close together.

The increased passenger room was very noticeable over the older LJ Torana models. We doubt any back-seat passengers would have complained - and the front seat adjustments allowed ample accommodation for four adults, but not quite five as GM advertised. The centre console fitted with the T-bar option was handy, well desiged and very capacious. The general finish on the LH Torana's was good and the paintwork smooth.

Safer Than Before

Primary and secondary safety features were consistent with the requirements of the ADRs and an important point for the panel beating brigade was the move toward bolting-on of the front guards and other body panels. We are sure this saved plenty of owners money in the panel shop, unless of course the panel shop pocketed the savings themselves. But the Torana had a high entry cost, particularly when compared to the Cortina. And, in 253 V8 guise, it was questionable value. But then, look at any classic car classifieds today and see the value of a Torana compared to a Cortina - particularly if it was fitted with a V8 - even if that were the smaller 4.2 litre version. Would we have bought one? Absolutely.