MOVING VIOLATION

TO SOME, DEFILING A CLASSIC HOLDEN WITH A FORD MOTOR IS AKIN TO HERESY. BUT FOR AL MCCLURE AND HIS TWO SONS, IT’S SIMPLY A SUREFIRE PATH TO SEVENS

- MARK ARBLASTER

THE diehard Holden fans are going to hate it, but Al McClure is too busy running eights in his stunning Barra-powered LC Torana to care. Built entirely in a back shed in Serpentine, Western Australia by Al and his two sons, Connor and Bailey (pictured below), this Ford-powered lion has clear potential to end up in the mid-sevens.

The McClures are a drag racing family, with Al having clocked up almost 30 years involved in a variety of rides from streeters to Funny Cars. His first car was a Barbados Green Torana with a 179ci six-banger and triple SU carbs, and three decades on, he and his boys have built this LC as beautiful tribute to his first racer.

“The kids did Junior Dragsters, and about 10 years ago I was looking for a Torana shell to put aside for us to build together one day when we all had the time,” Al explains. “I found this busted-arse shell that was good enough for a drag car, and stuck it up the back of the shed.”

Eight years later, Al and the boys decided it was time to get cracking on it. “It was good for them,” Al says. “They got to learn how to build a four-link, fit tubs, do body and metalwork, build a roll-cage – all the tricks of the trade of building a car from scratch.

“Because the kids today are into EFI, turbos and radial racing, we decided to go that way; it’s not the direction I otherwise would have gone in. We wanted a six-cylinder, as these cars came with a six-pot, but the Toyota 2JZs are too expensive and the Nissan RBs are getting rare. We also wanted cubes, and that was something the taxi motors had. And these Barra motors were just so cheap! We bought three of them for $400 just to have spare parts, but the plan has always been to build a motor that would make big power.”