1977 Ex-Bob Morris Holden Torana A9X Hatchback Heads to Auction in Sydney
Images via Mossgreen
This 1977 ex-Bob Morris Holden Torana A9X Hatchback is an Australian touring car legend and will head to auction on Sunday the 28th of May at Mossgreen’s Important Collectors’ Cars auction.
The car is one of ten shells supplied by the Holden factory in 1977. It went to Ron Missen, who built it up for the Ron Hodgson Motors team in time for the 1977 Hardie-Ferodo 1000.
The driving team for the Bathurst event was particularly interesting. International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee, four-time Indy-500 winner and 1980 PPG Indycar World Series champion Johnny Rutherford was joined by a fellow International Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductee, Janet Guthrie. Guthrie had become the first woman to qualify for the Indy 500 a few months earlier in May, and would also become the first to compete in the Daytona 500.
Unfortunately the team would not find success commensurate with their pedigree. They struggled to find speed on the circuit, and Rutherford qualified the car 26th with Bob Morris putting the sister car 7th. A shunt would see Rutherford and the A9X leave the race just 13 laps in.
The car was repaired returned to the track in February of 1978 for the Hang Ten Challenge at Sandown, now driven by Bob Morris. Morris would claim second in the second race of the event.
Morris qualified the car fourth in the 1978 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 and would partner with John Fitzpatrick for the race. Sadly, the car failed to make it to the finish line once again, retiring from third with a technical. Peter Brock and Jim Richards would go from pole position to the race win driving another A9X Hatchback for the Marlboro Holden Dealer Team.
A consistent season, including a race win at Calder, saw Bob Morris finish second in the 1978 Australian Touring Car Championship – just two points behind the Marlboro Holden Dealer Team A9X of Peter Brock.
Peter Molloy took over the role of team manager for the Ron Hodgson Channel 7 Racing Team in 1979 and began a significant development push for the car.
With that work progressing well, Bob Morris was able to win the Amaroo Park-based AMSCAR sprint series in this car, and would also win Round 3 of the 1979 ATCC at Oran Park, before swapping to a sister car for the rest of the 1979 season. He went on to win the 1979 ATCC Championship, flipping ’78’s results to sit a few points ahead of Brock.
West Australian Touring Car Champion Peter Briggs would then take over the car, running it in 1980. It would then spend some time on display in the York Motor Museum and the Fremantle Motor Museum before settling in at the York Motor Museum, where it stayed until today.
The car has been recommissioned and will be offered for sale on Sunday the 28th of May at Mossgreen’s Important Collectors’ Cars auction at Carriageworks in Eveleigh, Sydney. It’s estimated to fetch between AU$850,000 and $1,050,000.
For the full details, head to Mossgreen’s website here.
Images via Mossgreen
