Gold Rush

A Mothballed LX Torana survivor is transformed into a tough, elite-grade streeter

- Jack Houlihan

MENDO Mitrevski has turned his hand to a number of street car projects in the past, including several SS Commodores and an XY GT Falcon. But in 2015, the train guard from Shellharbour set about fulfilling a vision he’d nurtured since his first Summernats at age 15: putting together a pro street-style Torana worthy of a ’Nats Top 60 finish. This time there would be no shortcuts.

“I needed a car that I could make my own – no more half-done project cars that I then finished off,” Mendo recounts. “The LX Torana was a car I’d always wanted to build, but it was just a matter of finding the perfect shell. When I saw this car advertised in Bathurst, I knew it was the perfect project: a one-owner car that was in storage and last registered 20 years ago.”

A deal was done the same day, with Mendo bringing the Torana home on the weekend of the Bathurst 1000. “A car located in Bathurst on the weekend of the Great Race had to be a sign,” he muses. “It was the survivor I was looking for, apart from the interior being chewed on by rats.”

While the sedan’s shell was being stripped and sandblasted, Mendo snagged a fresh LSX 454 powerplant, screwed together in the United States by what he thought to be a reputable engine builder. But while the motor sat waiting, Mendo couldn’t help but suspect things were amiss.

“The closer it came to getting the engine into the car, the more I got the feeling that something wasn’t right,” he says.