Home-grown performance tin-tops led Australian sale-house Shannons’ season-closer on 21 November with the estimate-topping $123,000 taken for a Holden LX Torana pushing the sale total to $474,850 after 24 of the 36 cars on offer found new owners.
The 1977 Torana – codenamed A9X – was one of 100 built to homologate GM’s mighty Touring Car entries and was expected to make $80-120,000, while an earlier Holden rival, a 1970 Ford Falcon XW GT (below), sold for a mid-estimate $68,000 at the Melbourne fixture.
Also strong was the $40,000 result for another Torana, a 1971 XU-1 (below), while a 1976 Monaro LE Coupe changed hands for $34,250. There were plenty of affordable Holdens, too, such as Shannons’ 1962 EJ and a 1981 VC Commodore that found new owners at $15,000 and $4500 respectively.
Other lots offering good value included a 1958 Mercedes-Benz 220S that sold for $7250, but it was the sale’s no-reserve offerings that delivered some steals including a couple of Jaguars: a 1965 3.8 S-type and a ’76 XJ-S went under the hammer for $3000 and $2000.
Also appearing cheap, and rare – after so many rusted away – were a pair of early Toyota Corollas, a 1968 KE15 Sprinter Coupe and a 1971 KE20 two-door sedan that sold for $1250 and $2600.
See Shannons for more.
