'Lee'thal Torre
I have always had a soft spot for LJ Toranas. Hell, I owned 2 of them, but never anything with a V8 and never anything as nice as the custom mixed red coloured 1972 LJ of Lee Cattons. Lee comes from the north side of Brisbane, at Wamuran. I met Lee on a cool afternoon at Caboolture for the photo shoot.
The engine was taken from a VH Commodore. The bottom end has remained fairly stock. The sump was removed in favour of a high volume one. The heads got shipped off for some port work and a set of Yella Terra rollers, and a Torker manifold and 650 double pumper was stuck on top. Not enough to break any land speed records, but in a car that was 2339 pounds from the factory with a 6 cylinder in it like an LJ, enough to demand respect on the streets. Sitting behind the '08' is a kitted trimatic, fully manualised with a 3500 stall and upgraded flexplate. The rear end is a Ford 9 inch with 3.55 gears and 28 spline axles. Stock headers run into a twin 2 1/2 inch system all the way through. Lee has bought some VN heads so the extractors will go on when that happens. It has only been on a dyno once, which wasn't much of a success or true mark on the car at only 269 horsies. It was much more impressive on the racetrack. It ran an impressive 13.36 on it's first time out, which was before the converter went in. Once the new converter was installed, Lee was very happy to see the car go into the 12s with a 12.94 at 103 mph. Let's not lose sight of the fact that this car is a legal streeter. Like I said before, enough to gain respect.
Lee hasn't messed with the suspension too much either, just lowered it slightly. The brakes are Torana front and the drums on the back are from a HQ. The wheels are Dragway Pros. 15 x 8s on the rear and 6s on the front. The rubber are Toyos and are 225/50s on the rear and 195/55s on the front.
The inside of the Torana has had some work done too. It is all stock gear, but has been covered in white vinyl. The VH Commodore also supplied the T-Bar shifter, and a set of Autometer gauges - Monster tacho, water and oil gauges. Nothing special in the music department, just a Pioneer MP3 player and a set of Pioneer 6 x 9s, but when you drive a V8, who needs music anyway. The music comes from the exhaust.
Lee got taken around the drag scene alot as a kid, so ending up in an LJ Torana was probably a natural progression. He has some other plans for the Torana in the future, like a nitrous kit (for track use only), which will get him some better times. He would like to thank Col Marshall for all his help and know how with the car, and his girlfriend Caitlind Walters and mate, Dave Wilkinson for detailing it inside and out and getting it ready for the photo shoot. From a revhead's view, I could ride around in cars like this forever. It is a tough 12 second streeter and the cops can't lay a finger on it. Not to mention it is a real head turner, both in the looks and the sound department.
