Shepparton’s Glenny Young bought her very first car — a 1969 Holden Torana LC — from a “little old lady” when she was 18 and now says she’s become “the little old lady driving it”.
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The retired nurse paid $2600 for the six-cylinder, “three on the tree” manual car, which had just 34,000 miles on the clock.
She is only its second owner in its 56-year life and has never considered selling the classic.
Glenny had planned on buying a two-door car, but her brother talked her out of it, luckily, as the Torana became the family car, transporting Glenny’s three kids around through their childhood.
Her first two babies travelled in baskets on the back seat, but by the time her third was born, changed laws meant she had to fit an approved anchor point in the vehicle.
The cream-coloured beauty, which stays garaged most of the time, still sports its original paint, is still unlocked by its original key and can be serviced by the guidelines in its original book, which Glenny still has in the glove box.
“It’s never had anything mechanically wrong with it, ever,” Glenny said.
“The rubbers and tyres have been replaced and last year we put a reconditioned motor and gearbox in it and new stickers under the hood to replace the worn ones.”
Despite Toranas now being highly sought-after for restoration into collectible show cars, Glenny said hers was still to be driven, not looked at.
She takes it out cruising at least once a fortnight.
“I don’t take it out in winter though, unless it’s a nice day; it takes for ever to warm up,” she said.
“It has wide wheels and a small steering wheel.
“It’s like going to the gym driving it, no power steering, leg on the clutch and everything.”
Mostly original and built before the metric system was introduced in Australia, the Torana’s speed is still displayed in imperial measures on the speedometer.
Glenny must mentally convert miles to kilometres to stick to the speed limit.
While she’s succeeded in avoiding those tickets, she once got pulled over in her Torana by police on The Boulevard in Shepparton for a random breath test and was filmed for an episode of RBT, a factual television series that looks at the everyday workings of sobriety checkpoints.
She was not affected by substances; however, her car drew attention from the emergency service team, yet, sadly, the episode never aired to secure the Torana’s five minutes of fame.
Glenny isn’t chasing fame for her car anyway. She goes to car shows without entering them because she enjoys the atmosphere and community.
A car and bike enthusiast, she said she struggled to part with any of her rides.
“Animals have always come first, vehicles second and kids third,” she joked.
“But then kids have been knocked off because I’ve got grandboys now.”
Looking back at her long history with her Torana, Glenny said she had many memories, some good and some bad.
“The boys once fish-oiled it all, but I put a bale of lucerne hay in the back and it stuck to all the oil,” she said.
“Sometimes the horn would get stuck on at the most inappropriate moments. And it’s been rolled in a channel on Channel Rd before it was sealed.”
Not long after she’d paid her mum back the $300 her mum had loaned her to help buy the Torana, Glenny feared Murphy’s Law would see her crash the car.
She wasn’t far wrong when, soon after, she was sideswiped by a truck driver who didn’t see her in the turning lane next to his truck in Wyndham St, which crushed the Torana’s front quarter panel.
Her brother and his friends had witnessed the incident from the Hurco (a Shepparton café hangout famous for its burgers and shakes) and urged her to follow the truck and hold the driver accountable for the damages.
“I chased the truck down Wyndham St on foot and caught up with it near where the Queen’s Gardens is and jumped on the back of it to talk to the driver.”
Her brother popped the panel of the Torana out for her on the spot and told her to drive home, reassuring her they could fix it.
And fix it, they did.
Nowadays, the car’s body gives no secrets away of former damage sustained.
It looks just like a well-kept historic vehicle driven modestly by its second-only “little old lady” owner.
But, boy, does that little old lady and her ride-or-die Torana have some stories to tell.
Senior journalist