Substitute Jo Kuffour completed Torquay's gutsy second-half comeback by forcing home the winner six minutes from time to deny Huddersfield a point.
It clinched the Gulls' first home win of the campaign, but was no more than they deserved against the same side which they pipped for automatic promotion back in May.
When Junior Mendes pounced on a moment of indecision in the home defence and lobbed Icelandic goalkeeper Ole Gottskalksson to put Huddersfield ahead in the 39th minute, it was against the run of play.
Torquay had already made and missed several good chances for Adebayo Akinfenwa and Kevin Hill.
Akinfenwa then volleyed wide with just Ian Gray to beat after outpacing the Town defence on the stroke of half-time.
Four minutes after the interval Hill made up for his earlier misses when he swept home the equaliser from Alex Russell's left-wing cross, his 15-yard shot taking a slight deflection on its way past Gray.
From then on it was nearly all Torquay.
Several times Town right wing-back Nat Brown came to their rescue, as Hill threatened in the air.
When Hill did break free to meet a long diagonal ball by right-back Tony Bedeau, Gray came up with a smart save.
The pressure finally told in the 84th minute when Gray parried Martin Phillips' angled shot, only for Kuffour to force the ball from close range.
Kuffour had gone on as a 22nd minute replacement for centre forward Martin Gritton, when he was carried off with a gashed ankle.
Torquay thoroughly deserved their win, with centre-half Steve Woods and left-back Brian McGlinchey outstanding in defence and Akinfenwa a constant threat in attack.
It took Huddersfield more than half-an-hour to muster any attempts at goal and they hardly deserved to lead at the interval.
After Hill's equaliser, manager Peter Jackson tried to bolster the Town defence by sending on talismanic centre-back Efe Sodje, back after a three-match suspension.
Even though Sodje quickly imposed himself in the air, he could not stem the tide of attacks that swept over his team.
Huddersfield even changed formation, switching from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2, before Kuffour ended all the arguments late on.
And when Sodje, well placed, blasted an injury-time volley high and wide, it just about summed up their afternoon.