Holden HJ Monaro GTS

In short

• HJ series released on 4 October 1974 and replaced by the HX in July 1976; 176,202 HJ cars of all types were built.
• Monaro GTS coupé and sedan with V8 engines only: 4.2-litre (253) with 138 kW (185 hp) or 5.0-litre (308) with 179 kW (240 hp).
• The GTS 350 with the 5.7-litre V8 was dropped for the HJ.
• The Monaro name, taken from a region of New South Wales, was used from 1968 to 1977 and again from 2001.

Holden HJ Monaro GTS at a glance

The Monaro line from HK to HX

Holden named the Monaro after the Monaro region of New South Wales. The first car, the HK of 1968, was a pillarless two-door hardtop in base, GTS and GTS 327 forms, with Holden six-cylinder engines and V8s of up to 5.4 litres. It made its name quickly: an HK Monaro GTS 327 driven by Bruce McPhee and Barry Mulholland won the 1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500 at Bathurst, Holden's first win in the race. In 1969 Colin Bond and Tony Roberts won again for the Holden Dealer Team in an HT Monaro GTS 350.

The HQ of 1971 changed the formula. It brought an all-new body, and in 1973 Holden added a four-door GTS sedan with paint-outs on the bonnet and boot lid. The HJ carried both bodies over into 1974.

Development and production history

Holden released the HJ series on 4 October 1974 as a facelift of the HQ, which had been in production since 1971. Leo Pruneau and Peter Nankervis styled it under the direction of Joe Schemansky. The front became square, with wraparound indicators, and the sedans gained a new rear bumper and triangular wraparound tail-lights.

The Monaro range was cut back for the HJ. The base Monaro coupé of the HQ was not carried over, and the GTS 350 coupé and sedan with the 5.7-litre V8 were dropped. What remained was the Monaro LS coupé, the GTS coupé and the GTS sedan. The cars were assembled in Elizabeth near Adelaide, Dandenong near Melbourne, Pagewood in Sydney and Trenham in New Zealand. Production of all HJ models ended in July 1976 at 176,202 cars, when the HX took over.

Design and engineering

The Monaro GTS shared its body with the mainstream HJ Kingswood and Premier sedans and with the Monaro coupé. Two changes set the GTS apart from the HQ version. The body paint-outs were dropped, and front and rear spoilers became optional for the first time.

The HJ range also included the long-wheelbase Statesman de Ville and Caprice, marketed as Statesmans rather than Holdens. The Sandman utility and panel van used styling features from the Monaro GTS.

Engine and drivetrain

Both GTS engines were Holden's own V8, nicknamed the "Iron Lion", which had been introduced in the HT series in 1969. The 253 displaced 4,143 cc and the 308 5,044 cc, with a larger bore in the 308.

The six-cylinder engines of 2.8 and 3.3 litres were offered in other HJ models and in the Monaro LS coupé, but not in the GTS. The 308 gives the GTS 41 kW and 72 Nm more than the standard 253.

Holden HJ Monaro GTS specifications

Variants and derivatives

English Wikipedia's Monaro article gives 606 GTS cars in total for the HJ series, without splitting the figure between coupé and sedan.

In service: emissions and the end of the first Monaro

The HJ was the last Monaro before stricter emission rules. In July 1976 the HX series introduced engines that met the Australian Design Rule 27A on fuel and exhaust emissions. The 253 dropped to 120 kW (160 hp) and 325 Nm, and the 308 to 161 kW (216 hp) and 400 Nm. On 27 September 1976 Holden released the HX Limited Edition, a coupé in LE Red with honeycomb wheels that mixed GTS and Statesman Caprice parts. Only 580 were built, at Pagewood, and Holden did not sell it under the Monaro name.

The name returned in November 2001 on a coupé based on the VX Commodore, with a supercharged 3.8-litre V6 or a 5.7-litre V8, and stayed in production until 2006. Holden's V8 engine itself stayed in production until 2000. The wider story of Holden's parent is told in our history of General Motors.

Preservation and collecting today

Holden no longer exists, so the HJ Monaro GTS belongs to a closed chapter of Australian car making; other defunct makers are collected in our lost car brands section. Within the GTS range, the main distinctions are the engine (253 or 308), the body (coupé or sedan) and the optional front and rear spoilers. With only 606 GTS cars recorded by English Wikipedia and 337 LS coupés, the HJ Monaro is far rarer than the 176,202 HJ cars built in total. American V8 cars of the same era are covered in our Chevrolet Chevelle guide and in the muscle cars section.

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