Development
thanks go to
Bill
Steinhagen (Chief Engineer)
Assistant
engineer Reg Hall.
Styling
Burn Ambbler and Phil Zmood.
Transmissions.
The
LC brought with it a new automatic that was unique in the way it could
be 'held' in gear and so it could be useful on hills both up and down,
this was called the Trimatic. The LC also came with both three speed
column shift and four speed manual floor shifts although the four speed
was an Opel unit and was not suitable for the extra power output.
Four-cylinder;
four-speed manual or three-speed automatic, all are floor change.
Six-cylinder;
three-speed manual column shift; three-speed manual floor shift (export
only)
XU1,
four-speed manual floor shift; three-speed automatic floor or column shift.
Suspension.
The
LC Torana had a quality of ride and handling like no other Australian assembled
car before it. This included independent front suspension with lower and
upper ball joints as well as coil springs outside oil filled shock absorbers
plus rack and pinion steering made it precise and controllable in almost
any situation. The rear suspension for the the first time on a six
cylinder comprised of a four link live axle setup, this setup used coil
springs outside oil filled shock absorbers. The six cylinder models
were heavier in the front cross member and differential than the four cylinder
models.
|
This shows the drum brake
front end from the LC range with the vastly improved suspension geometry
to allow precise handling. The drawback however was the heavy feel at low
speeds. |
Differential.
The
six cylinder models had a banjo differential with optional LSD (Limited
Slip Differential) as an option for all ratios.
Ratios
: 2.78, 3.08, 3.36, 3.55.
Brakes.
The
standard Torana six came with 9" twin servo four wheel drum brakes but
with the option of 10" front disks with a power assisted booster
on the S and SL. The GTR was fitted with front disks and booster
as standard.
Wheels/Tyres.
Standard
fitment were 4.50JJ X 13" steel rims and cross-ply tires with centre hub
caps.
The
GTR's were fitted with 5.50JJ X 13" steel rims as standard and B70H13 red
band high performance tires. The GTR rims could be optioned on any
six cylinder Torana.
Interior.
The seats were a little bouncy over and not up with the rest of handling
package, they were still used to cars without direct steering and good
handling. Two door models had a lever that had to be pushed which
allowing the seat backs to fold forward. Vinyl was the normal for
cars of the day however the GTR came with cloth inserts.
The SL and GTR had slightly better in the design of there seats.
The SL also had the option of a cloth on the front of the seats.
A bench seat was available only on the four door Torana with column shift.
Carpet was an option on the S, and standard on the SL. The S came
with rubber floor mats. The GTR had the best looking interior even
with it's six GTR badges.
Instrumentation.
The
instrument cluster came in any colour as long as it was black and had two
large recessed circular gauges with the one on the left containing an analogue
fuel level gauge, and warning lights for generator, oil pressure and water
temperature. The gauge on the right hand side included a speedo which read
to 100mph (160km/h), odometer, and high beam warning light.
GTR
models came with the two large circular recesses (Tachometer and Speedo)
and also with four small surrounding recesses ammeter, fuel gauge, oil
pressure, water temperature.
 |
The GTR models needed the
guages so when driven hard you were able to keep an eye on the key instruments |
 |
The 4-cylinder was not a
favourite for many although it gave respectable performance it was no match
to the Japanese or European vehicles coming into Australia at the time. |
|
