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LH Torana : The first all Australian designed Torana ( apart from it having German engines in one variant ), the LH was a superior car to the LJ in almost every respect. In many ways it is a smaller HQ Holden, not a larger LJ Torana. Introduced in March l974, it was greeted with open arms by buyers who were looking for a simple, rugged, mid size car that was cheap to run and easy to repair. Rather plain in its styling both inside and out indeed, simple to the point of being boring in looks. The LH was sold only as a four door sedan. Some had expected a station wagon version, but GMH reasoned that it made more sense to buy a full size Holden if you wanted to carry loads. The choice of engines was staggering. You could buy a ( pretty awful ) four cylinder l900 cc Opel unit, sixes with capacities of 2250 cc ( for export markets only ), 2850 cc ( in low and high compression versions ) and 3300 cc, or V8s of either 4.2 litres or 5.0 litres. The largest Torana engine was over two and a half times the size of the smallest. There was something for everyone.
Luxury levels began with the rather plain Torana S, aimed mainly at the fleet market, proceeded through the Torana SL which was the most popular and finished with the sporty SL/R which sort of stood for SL Racing. The S and SL could be ordered with any of the engine choices, the SL/R only with the biggest six, as the SL/R 3300, or the V8s SL/R 4200 and SL/R 5000. Naturally, the 5000 is the pick of the bunch, but don't over look even the 3300 for a daily driver, it's got plenty of grunt and is reasonably well balanced for good handling.
For a time GMH had planned to call the SL/R 5000 the Torana XU-2, but decided to update the name in line with the all new nature of the car. A few months later an options package for the SL/R 5000 went on offer. Called L34, it was aimed unashamedly at the race tracks of Australia, particularly Bathurst. Option pack L34 added cylinder heads with modified ports, bigger valves and roller rockers. Both the inlet manifold and exhaust headers breathed better than standard. A high pressure fuel pump supplied petrol to a Rochester Quadrajet carb which was modified to run a manual choke. Fuel was fired up by a twin coil twin point ignition system. Transmission options on the LH were a three speed column controlled manual, a four speed floor shift manual and the Trimatic three speed auto with either column or floor change. The SL/R 5000 came only with the M2l four speed with standard ratios. Later 5000s and all L34s used a close ratio M21.
Holden vehicle serial number; stamped on the righthand frame side member.
MODEL CODE BODY ENGINE
Notes: Six and V8 released March 1974. Four cylinder released May 1974. L34 released July 1974.
Transmissions: Three speed manual column shift. four speed manual floor
shift. four speed manualclose ratio M21, stock or L34. three speed automatic,
column or floor change.