THE Holden Torana A9X that Peter Janson and Larry Perkins took to second place in the 1979 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 at Bathurst has hit the market and the big question is – can it fetch one million dollars given the recent Aussie muscle car boom?
The #19 Torana has appeared for sale this week via Australian Muscle Car Sales and the restored racer, which is located in Perth, is sure to grab plenty of attention in the collector car market.
The car began its life as one of two factory race car body shells built for Bob Forbes’ Le Mans 24 Hour project that was abandoned in early 1978.
Purchased by Janson, the A9X became his Bathurst challenger the following year. It finished third on debut in the Sandown 400 behind the Holden Dealer Team duo of Peter Brock and John Harvey and then finished runner-up in the 1000-kilometre race at Mount Panorama to Brock and Jim Richards, who crushed the field to win by six laps.
The Janson car was downspecced for the 1980 Australian Touring Car Championship and briefly appeared in Janson’s hands under the new Group C rules.
The car was later raced in hillclimbs and laid up for many years before being restored by Torana enthusiast Paul Kramer in Western Australia in the early 2000s to its 1979 Janson/Perkins livery and spec.
According to Australian Muscle Car Sales who is handling the sale, the car still had all its race gear including the original race engine, brakes, high volume sump, L34 manifold and dual point twin coil distributor.
The current owner has invested further including a full rebuild to the original 1979 Bathurst race engine and rebuilt super heavy duty MC7 Super T10 gearbox. The Salisbury diff is also built to Group C spec with a locker diff.
The car comes complete with its CAMS log books noting all of its races and a huge historic race photo file and loads of spare parts.
Offers of over $850,000 are being invited for this piece of Aussie muscle car history.
