Pimp my muscle car

At the peak of the 1970s muscle car era, a number of accessories were produced specially to suit the latest automotive designs, just like today. Hatchbacks had limited storage space, so the boot racks shown here fitted to the LX Torana SS (that’s the rack just to the left of the striped bikini) were popular at the time.

It wasn’t uncommon to see cars flying down the Hume Highway with a couple of suitcases strapped to the racks. Whether they were still there at the end of the journey is another thing.

There were several other interesting ideas. One of the more unusual was the Unitherm solar water heater, released in 1976 by Nylex. On a hot summer’s day, the sun would heat the water inside to 45 degrees in about 90 minutes - enough to give you the luxury of a hot shower if you were out camping. You just had to hang it up somewhere.

Speaking of which, still the ultimate Australian muscle car accessory of all time must be the ‘Hatch Hutch’, a genuine GM-H product designed specially for the LX Torana hatchback.
In only a few short minutes, it transformed Holden’s sporty car into a double-bed motel room for overnight stays. Quite a few of these were actually sold when new and we have seen the odd one set up at car shows over the years since then.

They are so cool.