Description
Holden could not have wished for a better start to the career of its new "baby," the Monaro, when it won the 1968 Hardie Ferodo 500 race. Overnight the name Monaro had entered Australia's motoring lexicon.
The motoring public reacted positively and bought the Monaro is numbers that would undoubtedly have pleased the accountants at GM-H. Excitement was in the air and in Holden showrooms around the country. The halo effect of the Monaro rubbed off onto the rest of the range with the possible exception of the awkwardly styled Brougham.
Sales momentum continued from the HK-HT-HG family into the sweetly styled HQ range although by now Holden was looking at widening the Monaro range to include four-door sedans. These, too, were successful—moreso than the Monaro coupe which had lost most of its masculinity and was no longer the company's front-line competitions choice, that role having been usurped by the smaller and lighter Torana.
After a lengthy hiatus following the demise of the Monaro in the late 70s, Australian motoring enthusiasts were stunned by the showing of a Concept Coupe in 1998 that led inexorably to the third generation Monaro even if the car's designer wanted a different name. For four years in the early part of the 21 century Australian buyers could once again buy a car carrying the Monaro name. For many it was an equal to some of the more fancied European coupes but, like the original, the V2 series had a svelte masculinity about it as well as storming performance from the V8 versions.
Introduction
Holden was the last of the General Motors' divisions to market a pillarless hardtop coupe. All of its US divisions had been producing coupes for many years and during the 60s Opel ventured into the coupe market with its large Admiral coupe that could be had with a Chevrolet 283cid V8 in its top version. Smaller Opel coupes followed. Even arch conservative Vauxhall had coupes long before Holden.
The European and Japanese companies successfully began selling coupes in small but consistent numbers from the mid-to-late 60s; Holden's great rival in Australia, Ford, introduced the Falcon hardtop coupe with its XP range and while initial success was had, buyer interest waned and Ford also lost interest. Adding the Monaro to the HK range knowing the way the Falcon had blossomed and died must have taken guts. We, the motoring enthusiast of Australia, thank the executives who backed the decision and the talented people who made it happen.
That the third generation should have been called Monaro was quite remarkable. Mike Simcoe was against the name but the dealers and the media had christened it Monaro from the get go once they had seen the Concept Coupe and public opinion in a way forced Holden to go with the name.
The excitement that the Concept Coupe generated for Holden was remarkable, buyers only too willing to place large deposits with their dealer which put an enormous amount of pressure on Holden who in some ways seemed reluctant to go with the coupe. The deal with Pontiac was really icing on the cake and assisted in gaining international exposure for the Holden product but more importantly for the talented people who were able to show that they could design and manufacture a new model in a fraction of the time and cost that it would have taken in America.
About the author
Gavin Farmer has had a lifetime involvement with cars one way or another. He was still in high school when he bought his first car magazine—Modern Motor, September 1959—that began a collection that today numbers in the hundreds. Once he had a job he began adding books to his collection and then model cars.
Today he is one of Australia's leading motoring historians and regularly contributes to such prestigious publications as Automobile Quarterly, Collectible Automobiles, The Automobile, Bimmer, Sports Car International and others. in addition he has written several books including Tickford: The Joy of Driving; Imprezive WRX: Subaru's Turbo Legend; Hey Charger: The Sensational Chrysler Valiant Charger, Leyland P76: Anything but Average, Great Ideas in Motion: A History of Chrysler in Australila 1946-1981 and Aerodynamic Tatras.
From the 70s through to the 90s he worked in the automobile industry in various roles from manufacturing, sales—wholesale and retail—and public relations before turning his abilities to writing. His original professional training was for teaching but he was looking for wider challenges in life. To this end he has been a State Manager for a multimedia educational publisher as well as a company that marketed computerised dispensary systems.
All the while he was adding to his knowledge of automobiles, the industry and the many new technologies. A colleague once described him as a barefoot engineer!" A man who is passionate about the automobile and its history, Gavin lives with his wife on a small property in the beautiful Adelaide hills where he enjoys occasional drives in his Subaru ff-1 and has begun restoring his 1949 Jowett Javelin.
