Holden Monaro

Holden Monaro at a glance

Monaro series by year

HK, HT and HG: the first Monaro (1968–1971)

Holden launched the HK Monaro in July 1968 as a pillarless two-door hardtop, in base, GTS and GTS 327 forms. The base car used the 161 cu in (2.6-litre) Holden "Red" six; the GTS could have the uprated 186S (3.0-litre) six or a V8, and the list of V8s ran from 253 and 307 cu in units to the 327 and 350 from Chevrolet. The 327 had nearly not happened: Holden first said the engine bay was too small for it, until the measurements turned out to be wrong.

The GTS 327 put out 186 kW (250 hp) and came only with a four-speed manual. Wheels magazine named the HK range its Car of the Year for 1968, and the award was presented early in 1969.

The HT facelift of June 1969 replaced the GTS 327 with the GTS 350, whose 5.7-litre Chevrolet V8 delivered 224 kW (300 hp). An automatic GTS 350 was offered with the two-speed Powerglide and a milder engine, and late in the HT run the three-speed Trimatic automatic arrived for the other models. The HT also brought Holden's own V8s, the 253 and the 308, which pushed the 5.0-litre Chevrolet engine out of the range.

The HG, unveiled on 26 July 1970, was the last Monaro on the original body. Power front disc brakes became standard on every V8 and on the six-cylinder GTS, and the non-350 GTS got a softer ride. In South Africa, General Motors assembled the HT GTS from kits from 1970 and sold the HG as the Chevrolet SS until 1973: 1,828 Monaros and 1,182 SS models found buyers there.

Bathurst and the touring car championship

The Monaro's reputation was made on the track. At the 1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500, Bruce McPhee and Barry Mulholland won in an HK GTS 327; McPhee also took pole position and fastest lap. The Holden Dealer Team won the race again in 1969 with Colin Bond and Tony Roberts, and the same pair won the Series Production class of the Rothmans 12 Hour at Surfers Paradise in January 1970.

Beechey's 1970 title, with three wins from seven rounds, was Holden's first in the championship. Beechey kept racing the Monaro in 1971, finishing fifth with a round win at Calder.

HQ to HZ: new body and a four-door GTS (1971–1979)

The HQ Monaro of July 1971 had an all-new body and a luxury LS model with four headlights. Engines ran from the 173 cu in (2.8-litre) six to the 308 V8 in the GTS and the 350 in the GTS350, which produced 205 kW (275 hp) at 4,800 rpm and 488 Nm at 3,200 rpm. The three-speed Turbo-Hydramatic 400 automatic was an option. In 1973 Holden added a four-door GTS sedan with painted-out bonnet and boot lid; the 350 decals disappeared after that year and the manual GTS350 was dropped in 1974.

The HJ of October 1974 removed the 350 and the base coupé. The GTS was now a coupé or sedan with the Holden 253 or 308 V8, the LS coupé kept a 3.3-litre six, and spoilers became optional for the first time. Only 337 LS coupés were built, and the GTS coupé ended in 1976 after 606 cars. The HJ GTS has its own page: our article on the Holden HJ Monaro GTS describes it in detail.

New emission rules shaped the HX of July 1976, a GTS sedan with black paint-outs. The Limited Edition coupé was built at the Pagewood plant in Sydney from surplus HJ panel sets, painted in LE Red metallic and released on 27 September 1976; Holden made 580 and marketed it outside the Monaro range. The HZ of 5 October 1977 dropped the Monaro name altogether. Sold as the Holden GTS, it came with four headlights, air dams, disc brakes on all four wheels and a 4.2-litre V8, with the 5.0-litre standard from June 1978. About 1,438 were built before production ended in January 1979.

Monaro engines and power

The classic figures are the ratings Holden published at the time. The Holden V8 engine figures show the effect of the 1976 emission rules: the 308 lost 18 kW between the HJ and the HX.

The 2001–2006 Monaro: CV6 and CV8

The name returned in November 2001 on a coupé based on the VX Commodore. It grew out of the "Monica" concept shown at the 1998 Sydney motor show, and development took 22 months instead of the planned 12 to 18. The CV6 had a supercharged 3.8-litre V6 with 171 kW and a four-speed automatic; it sold about a tenth as well as the V8 and was dropped in August 2004.

The CV8 used the 5.7-litre LS1 V8 with a six-speed manual or four-speed automatic, and its output rose in steps:

Limited CV8-R editions followed in July 2003 (350 cars) and May 2004 (320 cars). The farewell CV8-Z, announced in July 2005, was built 1,605 times. In 2004 ANCAP rated the CV8 coupé at one star overall.

Exports: Pontiac GTO, Vauxhall Monaro and Chevrolet Lumina

In the United States it became the Pontiac GTO, launched in 2004 and fitted from 2005 with the 6.0-litre LS2 V8 of 298 kW (400 hp); Wikipedia calls it a sales flop, and it was withdrawn in 2006. The 40,808th GTO was the last Monaro-based car Holden built. The name links it to the 1964 car described in our article on the Pontiac GTO.

In Britain the Vauxhall Monaro won Top Gear's best muscle car award in 2004, and the VXR 500 with a Harrop supercharger reached 373 kW (500 hp). Middle Eastern buyers got the Chevrolet Lumina Coupé in S and SS forms from 2003 to 2006. Holden Special Vehicles built its own coupés from the same body, the GTO, GTS and all-wheel-drive Coupé4, but they did not carry the Monaro name.

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