(first posted 8/14/2017) Despite the title, this isn’t technically a Monaro, instead it is the result of GM-H getting things a bit wrong in several respects. One of the characteristics of the Australian motor vehicle market is that we as a nation do not buy a lot of two-door cars; there was a resurgence in the mid-1960s led by Falcon hardtop, and the Holden Monaro took things to the next level 1968, but by the mid-1970s the bloom was very much off the rose for Holden and they were the first of the Big 3 to drop their coupe.
Historically two-door sedans (and wagons) almost disappeared from model line-ups in the early to mid-1950s if not sooner, with the Studebaker one of the last hold-outs. It seems GM basically stopped selling 2-door sedans in Australia after WW2, other than some fully-imported two doors up to 1951. Those would have been subject to import tariff and thus cost a lot more than the locally-assembled CKD four-door sedans.
The fastback Falcon hardtop debuted locally in 1964 emphasising style rather than simply having a sedan roofline minus two doors. Only around 4,600 were sold before the next generation took over in 1966 – without a hardtop. Cars cost significantly more in Australia in real terms than the US, and two-car households were relatively rare during this era, so cars had to be more practical in accommodating the whole family.
Designed by a team led by Joe Schemansky as part of the new generation HK Holden of 1968, the Monaro certainly a lot more impact. Part of this was because Holden were selling so many more cars it wasn’t funny; about 2.5 times the number of Falcons and over 3 times the number of Valiants. But the Monaro wasn’t ‘just’ a fastback roof simply plonked on a rectilinear sedan body, which could also describe the Valiant hardtop, it was a more integrated and striking whole.
Holden’s excellent advertising certainly played its part, with this iconic ad being the most famous.
A couple of wins at Bathurst definitely helped too, with the 1968 GTS 327 and 1969 GTS 350 having an appropriately hairy-chested image even though the GTS 350 was ultimately out-gunned by the Falcon GT-HO (sedan!) in 1970.
While the move to racing the smaller, lighter, cheaper Torana likely did achieve its aim of appealing to younger buyers, this contributed to a perception the next HQ generation Monaro was softer and its profile dropping. A more luxurious LS trim (above) was new, and indicative of the Monaro’s new status. Sales were good initially, but faded.
There was still a GTS 350 version with the imported Chevrolet V8 (although the car above has a Holden V8), but it wasn’t in the same state of tune as before, down to 8.5:1 compression and no real performance advantage over the Holden’s 308 V8. It theoretically had 275 hp, but the L48 was rated at 250 hp in the US (The US L48 with 8.5 CR was rated at 270 gross hp. ED). Less than 900 HQ GTS 350 Monaros were sold in just over three years. The HQ also had very pronounced understeer, which discouraged enthusiastic driving by effectively scaring the driver into slowing down.
Holden was slow in responding with a 4-door version of the Monaro in 1973, which immediately out-sold the coupe. Out of 485,650 HQ Holdens sold through its 3 year, 4 month run, just 13,872 were Monaro coupes.
The 1974 HJ model introduced squarer front end sheetmetal for the Monaro (the One Tonner has the front end from a higher-trim Premier sedan), but unlike the sedans it kept the same rear end. Only 943 Monaro coupes were produced; the story goes that the hardtop was removed from the dealer sales books, but manufacturing was not told of this so Holden found themselves with a stockpile of coupe bodies that were going to be hard to shift! There were almost five times as many Monaro GTS sedans sold in the same period (4,574).
In a move that would be repeated by Ford with the Falcon Cobra, a special model was developed to send the Monaro coupe out with a bang. A prototype was developed, featuring Pontiac-sourced Polycast wheels. Due to delays in the development process thanks to some of the ‘extras’ presenting issues for manufacturing, the 1976 HX facelift came out before the LE was ready.
Cosmetically there were few changes, but the LE package added front and rear spoilers to go with the special burgundy paint with gold pinstripe and lettering. At the front there were quad headlights and a blacked-out grille. As mentioned above the Monaro name did not appear anywhere on the car so some will ardently claim that this is not actually a Monaro, although every other hardtop was badged as such. It is not something I have dwelt upon.
The interior had all the fruit thrown at it – ie every amenity Holden had to offer in the manner of the luxury Statesman Caprice lwb sedan. Air conditioning, power windows and aerial, eight-track player, tinted windows, sports steering wheel, full instrumentation, (fake) walnut finish on the dash fascia and centre console, with crushed velour trim.
All Monaro LE’s were equipped with Holden’s 308 ci V8, with a four barrel carb and dual exhaust, a THM400 auto and 10-bolt Salisbury limited-slip diff. New ADR27A emissions regulations saw power reduced from 179 kW / 240 hp to 161 kw / 215 hp.
As a last-of-the-line car with a production run of just 580 units (some say 606), they had a collectability factor from day one. Surprisingly I have seen two in traffic in the last few months, note the other car has a rubber protection strip along the belt line. The LE is not hugely valuable in the overall scheme of Aussie muscle cars; that is still the domain of the models that raced at Bathurst.
The Monaro GTS name continued on in 4-door form until the HZ model was introduced in 1977, when the new model was simply called GTS. Of course the Monaro would return in 2001, but that is another story!
Further Reading:
Curbside Classic: Holden HG Monaro GTS – Heavy Metal on the Grassy Plain
The famous 1968 shot of the yellow GTS was done by none other than Helmut Newton, which explains the nature of the models appearance! Great shot and still looks good.
I think the first Monaro was the most interesting and the 2002 the blandest and least interesting of them all. The LE was kind of sad from the beginning and as I recall they did not exactly romp out of the showrooms. That must gphave happened again with the 2002 model because it was introduced late in the model cycle and was dropped quickly.
Australia was always a hard market for 2 doors and coupes generally, until the likes of the Celica came along and sold by the shipload. Now it’s BMW and Mercedes coupes that sell very well here and with few notable exceptions, few middle market manufacturers even offer them.
The ‘new’ Monaro was only ever intended to have a small production run, and sold a lot more than they expected.
Of course the Mustang is still selling strongly here; sooner or later I expect sales will drop away but there are plenty of tricks up their sleeve yet once that gets near (eg performance models)
I found these Monaros rather bland and I hate the taillights-in-the-bumper look. The older Monaros were cooler-looking, as were the XA-XC Falcon hardtops. I actually like that Aussies came to embrace performance sedans, but then I’m a sedan man.
Funny how we’ve always been generally quite coupe-averse in the grand scheme of things. Of course, the meteoric rise of the new Mustang shows we are happy to make exceptions. They’re everywhere!
But the Mustang’s American, which adds another dimension.
I think it goes back to cars having been traditionally something of a luxury item, and Australia being a small market. Sixty years ago people here were still buying the family’s first car. So what you bought had to be practical and easy for Grandma to get into the back seat.
In the CC spirit of two dogs in the back of a green Mercury wagon, I’ve got to suggest the HK Monaro photograph is by Athol Shmith.
Of course I can’t find any evidence as I rush off to dinner..maybe later?
And I’d be wrong…see Don’s attribution below
Of course unbeknown to Australians the GTS fourdoor was still on sale in New Zealand on VK, VL, VN &VP Commodores, these models disappeared with the end of GMNZ local assembly but the cars are quite prized amongst enthusiasts. The earlier two door hardtops look great and the HQ despite its handling issues was such a clean design when it came out.
You are right Bryce I did not know about the Kiwi 6-cyl GTS’. Not a bad curiosity.
I owned an HQ LS Monaro. My boss, who hated my guts, used to have a dig by calling it a two-door Kingswood. Ignoramus… those quad headlights meant it was a two-door Premier.
Haven’t seen an LE in yonks, but I’m not a fan of the squared-up front clip. If we’re talking runout coupés, I’d prefer an XC Cobra. Nice find but.
HK Monaro with bodysuit was photographed by Henry Talbot.
I’m with you on the squared front. A particularly ham-fisted facelift.
You are right – I had the wrong period photographer!
Whenever I see these postings from Australia, I’m reminded of Stephen King’s Mid-world, where things are almost the same (as the US) but not quite, like Nozz-A-La Cola. I feel as though these cars should be familiar to me, and bits and pieces of them are, but as a whole they aren’t. Tad disconcerting. Cool, though.
No doubt those living in Australia think similar when viewing the procession of American cars on these pages. 🙂
While the Monaro is unfamiliar to us, it’s GM DNA is obvious. Also digging a bit deeper into the Monaro, such as John has done here and I did when writing the article he linked to, gives one a much more comprehensive appreciation of the Australian automotive industry.
The population of Australia and New Zealand combined is about the same as the population of Texas – and the population of Australia has tripled since around 1900. Given their unique terrain, they needed something a bit different in both form and function. Besides, they get credit for the creation of the ute, or Ranchero in American speak.
We also got in early with the fastback coupe, known as the sloper over here.
Dad had a ’35. Unfortunately that was before the war, but it remained his favourite car.
…the ute, formally “coupé utility”. Ranchero is just what Ford called the ones they sold in North America for awhile. Chevrolet called theirs the El Camino, Subaru called theirs a Brat (and much later a Baja), and now we’re running out of North American examples.
There are some significant differences between the North American versions and the Australian utes, particularly in the early Falcon-based Rancheros. Same principle, obviously, but not the exact same vehicles.
Take a look at the South African automotive landscape, these same cars wear Chevrolet Badges and had Chevrolet motors, yet another dimension, An awful lot of the American cars on these pages did turn up in New zealand we have been importing late model used cars since the 30s from all over the planet and in turn many Australians came here and took lots of our cars they didnt get back with them.
And in South Africa, utes are called “bakkies”.
I saw a Chevrolet-badged Holden that had returned from South Africa – will write that up soon.
A lot of white South African refugees managed to bring cars with them to NZ and now there is a thriving used import system from South Africa.
As for similarities with the USA, My dad observed (with affection) that “Australians are a bunch of Englishmen pretending to be Americans.”
Or as Robin Williams put it “English rednecks”.
Maybe shouldn’t have mentioned that – it caused such a fuss the Prime Minister waded in. 😉
*This.* Exactly what FSDusk said and Jason Shafer seconded.
(Great piece, JohnH875! I love reading about cars of this era that I have little-to-no knowledge of.)
It looks like the fusion of an alternate universe Camaro and Monte Carlo (especially when viewed from front 3/4 view.
Whenever I look at brochures or pictures of these Oz cars, regardless of make, I like to play a game called spot the US sourced parts. I can’t see too many on this one except for the Pontiac Honeycombs and the window switches, and possible the AC compressor, which I can’t see clearly enough.
The early Monaro used ’68 Pontiac front indicators.
Yes! In 1974 my father bought a Ford LTD. It was the Australian designed and made version. The wheel trims, steering wheel and some of the badges all come from US models. I remember the steering wheel became discoloured and was replaced under warranty, however the new one had what looked like a gold cat log in place of the LTD badge in the centre. Ages later I realised it was a badge from a Mercury Cougar!!
That Monaro reminded me of the one used by “The Night Rider” in Mad Max.
http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_3174-Holden-Monaro-HQ-1972.html
Did you read the linked article by Don Andreina about the Mad Max stunt?
At first glance I thought “why does that car have an anchor on it’s roof?”
Are the brakes that bad?
Hello everybody! Which car in the second picture above?
That’s a ’47 Chevrolet.
And the _only_ post-WW2 rhd GM 2-door car that I could find a picture of (excluding Corvettes, Camaros, Firebirds and the like). Mind you, I stopped looking after I found that one!
NZ still got Ford coupes post WW2 then that guy Eddie Ford came over here saw them and the prewar coupes and 2 door sedans and told everybody, then they started crossing the Tasman at an alarming rate and not even as swaps like American Deep freeze servicemen did we got a lot of near new US cars as swaps for still in use old American bombs the found and couldnt believe their eyes
With Series 2 XJ Kent alloy wheels
Good point Jim. I would expect that like later Chevs this had a different stud pattern to a Ford (which is the same as a Jaguar), so perhaps this car has a 9″ diff, and the front hubs changed to match.
These Aussie cars, as noted several times above, really are so familiar and yet just so ‘off’ to my American eyes. I love the greenhouse on this car with the thin A pillars and curved windshield. I can’t connect the front end, in my mind, with the rest of the car though. Squinting, I can’t help superimposing a Pontiac front clip onto this.
Given the way GM and Ford would circulate their designers throughout their international subsidiaries — it was often a way of giving an up-and-comer some higher-level managerial experience before promoting them further within the U.S. organization — that’s not really surprising.
I’ve always found Australian vehicles fascinating and this one is no exception. I can see vestiges of the 70-72 Pontiac Le Mans in the bodysides, the front bears some resemblance to the 71 Impala, and the grille and header panel have a bit of 73 Chevelle to the general shape. But walk around back and it’s a dead ringer for a 69 Bel Air or Biscayne.
I always like to see Australian automobiles. Obviously, we do not get them here in The States and Jim’s remarks about spotting the USA-sourced panels is what I do, too. Great article. Keep ’em comin’!
“I am the Nighrider. I’m a fuel injected suicide machine! I am the rocker, I am the roller, I am the out of controller!”
Couldn’t help myself, this is immediately what jumped into my head on seeing this. Just a great looking car, especially the 4-eye version like pic #7.
The HJ 4 headlight front end reminds me a lot of the 71 Impala or 75 Pontiac Catalina, in fact I actually notice a whole lot of B body styling cues in it, in addition to the oft mentioned F/A body’s. Look at the 71 B 4 door hardtop roofline in profile (ignore the number of doors), the HQ coupe is identical.
That Monaro looks like a cross between a F-body Camaro and an A-body Chevelle. I’ve seen other Monaros here in the US before (as drag cars), but nothing like that!
I see that Principal Dan beat me to my comment, by about four hours. Ah well…
This is so familiar yet so strange. The basic shape looks American but the scale is wrong.
It is also interesting how 2 doors were still hugely popular in the US for families with small kids while that body style never got traction down under. On the flip side, you guys go the Utes while we never really did here, at least any that became really popular.
Think of it as the Nova that should have been. Does that help? 😉
hehehe
A lot of US Rancheros and Chevrolet El Caminos are in NZ so there must have been some popularity good one keep coming in, anything that has been repaired is now virtually unregisterable untill a repair certificate has been issued, repairs must be done to OEM specs same as insurance repairs here.
A nice overview, John.
The HK Monaro is a decent-looking thing — like a ’68 Nova coupe that wasn’t beaten half to death with the ugly stick. I’m on the fence about the HQ, which from the front has an oversize Vega vibe (not a bad thing from a styling standpoint), but is let down by the drooping tail, which doesn’t really do its silhouette any favors. The four-door’s sail panels strike me as particularly awkward, seeming like the design afterthought they probably were. The HJ’s new front clip is also pretty distasteful; the final XC Falcon hardtop was a vastly more attractive design, warmed over though it was.
I pretty much agree, although I think the 2 headlight variation of the HJ is much more attractive than the 4 headlight version. The proportions of them just aren’t well suited to a 4 headlight treatment in my opinion.
Several have said it, and I’ll repeat. These Aussie cars are so familiar, yet so strange. When I visited Sydney several years ago, that was my exact sentiment the entire time we were there. Everything is so familiar, yet just slightly off. Driving on the opposite side of the road/car was obvious, but there were some subtle ones as well.
– In the rented Ford Falcon we had, the windshield wiper stalk and the turn signal stalk were reversed compared to what I was used to in US cars. After about 4 times of turning the wipers on I figured it out. Walking around downtown, you would occasionally see that happen in a car about to make a turn. If the wipers came on, you knew they weren’t local. LOL
– When walking around downtown, when crossing the street, there were arrows painted on the ground telling you which way to look for traffic.
– When approaching a set of escalators, the one you wanted to get on was to the left instead of to the right as it is typically in the US. I’m guessing it mimics that in Australia you drive on the left instead of the right.
In reading and researching about the Australian car market, definitely coupe averse. So many more performance sedans. Growing up in the US where it was all about the 2-door, so foreign to me.
Which brings me to my question about Mad Max. Given the higher sales of sedans, and even performance sedans, I find it curious that Max had the 2-door Falcon and not a Falcon GT-HO or something along those lines. I wonder why that choice was made.
Have you ever seen the original movie? Max had a XB GT(or at least dressed up as one) sedan interceptor while he was still a cop. The black 2-door interceptor was referred to as a persuit special, and built to entice him into staying on the force, the Monaro the Knight Rider stole was a pursuit special too, presumably these specials were pieced together using the best scarcest parts they could get their hands on.
Apparently they were originally looking to use a Mustang or similar, but were worried about parts costs (mostly bodywork) for what were very scarce vehicles in Australia.
They used a lot of Mustang styling cues on my favourite Falcon the XB
Good point because there was a Police edition of the XY GTHO which was faster than the civillian version
Looks like AI generated Oldsmocheviac.
The HQ Monaro morphed into a 4 door sedan before the HQ run was over GMH simply rebadged the Kingswood SS 4 door and they still sold, 160 odd landed in NZ for the commonwealth games all 253 engined but with Kingswood badging there are still some around and HQs are now quite rare here in any trim level even basket cases sell for big money not as much as rusted out Falcons and some Valiants but there is a demand,
The 68 Monaro was quite easy to create for GMH they already had a slightly wider Opel body in sedan wagon and ute with the Chevrolet powertrain the same as big Opels they simply copied the 2 door Commodore roof and stretched it over their HK platform, they are gold dust now and a 6 cylinder HK Monaro is the rarest thing around
For an entertaining, albeit somewhat non-PC now, read there’s Henry Williams’ 1973 novel “My Love has a Black Speed Stripe” in which the lead character Ron is an assembly line worker for Holden. Good detail from the era, car facts etc.
I hold these over-dressed plonkers in the snobbiest of disdain. For me, it’s personal.
You see, the local family who owned one from new were the epitome of an Australian aspect I’d dearly like to forget: ignorant, narrow, anti-education, judgy, domineering, aggro, male – even the wife qualified on that front, I swear – and all-up, the sort of White Australia Policy inward-lookers who are slowly but surely all now on their way to god, (for which I thank Him but ask if He could hurry it up a bit, they DO linger so).
A bad taste pile of bilge, the HX, with the worst-running engines the company ever made (surely a spiteful response to being asked not to pollute us all so badly), and, with the crappily-bespoilered LE here, bordello interiors, handling still consisting of either massive understeer, or, if you got on it a bit, you-just-hit-a-tree-steer, a low point in build quality, and lock-up-me-rears braking skills. What horrid garbage, even lacking the fairly elegant styling of the round-fronted ’72 original. Yuk, and yuk.
They’re worth a fortune now, of course, so that makes me the goose, I s’pose.
Still don’t want one, though. No way known.
Much the same here, only I never knew anybody who owned one. Or any Monaro for that matter. Who bought a two-door Holden?.
Collectible only in the sense that they represented the end of an era for Holden, not because of any merit of their own.
It’s a telling insight into company management that while Holden produced these for the last Monaro, Ford did this for the last Falcon hardtop.