Vauxhall (Holden) Monaro

The Holden Monaro is an automobile that was produced by GM Holden Ltd, an Australian subsidiary of General Motors, between 1968 and 1977 and between 2001 and 2005. Since 1968, three generations of the Monaro have been produced.

Named after the Monaro region in New South Wales (although pronounced differently), the Monaro was introduced in July 1968 as a two-door pillarless hardtop coupe available in three models: the basic Monaro coupe, Monaro 'GTS' coupe and Monaro 'GTS 327' coupe. The GTS versions had "full instrumentation" which included a tachometer mounted on the centre console. This proved to be a bad location as the drivers knee would obstruct the view and it often rattled (Spotlight on Holden Monaro Page 6-7). The cars could be ordered with a choice of six cylinder engines of 161 cubic inches (2,638.3 cm3) capacity (base only) or two versions of 186 cubic inches (3,048.0 cm3) capacity (GTS with the uprated 186S only), or a 307 cubic inches (5,030.8 cm3) capacity Chevrolet-sourced V8. The exclusive 'GTS 327' model was powered by the 250 bhp (186 kW) Chevrolet 327 cubic inches (5,358.6 cm3) V8. In early 1969 the Monaro range was awarded Wheels magazine's Car of the Year for 1968. The model then continued through two minor facelifts, with firstly the HT Monaro range released in 1969 followed by the HG Monaro in 1970. With the HT Monaro, 'GTS 327' became 'GTS 350' following the replacement of the Chevrolet 327ci (5.4 L) V8 by the 300 bhp (224 kW) Chevrolet 350ci (5.7 L) V8.There was also an automatic version of the 'GTS 350' introduced which used a lower power version of the 350ci (5.7 L) engine coupled to a 2-speed Powerglide transmission. HT Monaro also marked the phasing out of the 5.0 litre Chevrolet V8 and the introduction of two locally made V8 engines, the 253 ci (4.2 L) and 308 ci (5.0 L). Just prior to introduction of the HG range, Holden made available as an option - except with the Monaro 'GTS 350' - a new locally-produced 3-speed automatic transmission, called the Trimatic. The HT and HG models of the Monaro can be distinguished from the HK by the adoption of plastic grilles (previously metal), a round speedometer instead of "strip" style allowing for bringing the tachometer into the main instrument cluster instead of on the floor console, rubber front suspension bushes instead of the HK's sintered bronze, and larger taillights where the turn indicators also wrapped around the now slightly undercut edges. Bodywork 'go-faster' stripe designs (delete options) varied for each series; HK stripes were offset to the driver's side of the bonnet (hood) and bootlid (trunk), the HT had two broad stripes down the centre of the car, and the HG had subtle "sidewinder" stripes running along the top edge of the fenders, under the windows and finishing just before the rear pillar. HT and HG models also had twin air scoops / vents incorporated into their bonnet, which served no real purpose in delivering air into the engine bay.