Holden Monaro

A few people know that other foreign car companies that were own by GM produced some muscle car  similar models outside of US like Holden in Australia.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 cu in (2,640 cc) capacity (base only) or two versions of 186 cu in (3,050 cc) capacity (GTS with the uprated 186S only), or a 307 cu in (5,030 cc) capacity Chevrolet-sourced V8. The exclusive 'GTS 327' model was powered by the 250 bhp (186 kW) Chevrolet 327 cu in (5,360 cc) V8.
In early 1969 the HK Monaro range was awarded Wheels magazine's Car of the Year for 1968.

South African market

HT series Monaros were assembled in South Africa from imported parts by General Motors South African (GMSA) at the Port Elizabeth assembly plant.^[4] Later the HG series Monaro was assembled and sold in South Africa badged as the Chevrolet SS.^[4] At this time GMSA had made a decision to market most of its products as Chevrolets. The Chevrolet SS had revised front styling unique to that model, incorporating four headlights and large turn indicators in the front edge of the fenders above the bumper. The Holden Monaro and Chevrolet SS models were both available with Holden 308 in³ (5.0L) and the Chevrolet 350 in³ (5.7 L) engines.^[4] South African sales totalled 1828 Monaros and 1182 SS models.^[4]

HQ

A completely new generation body design emerged with the HQ series in July 1971, including the new Monaro 'LS' (commonly believed to mean "Luxury Sports") model. There were no longer any six-cylinder versions of the Monaro GTS, just 253 or optional 308 V8s or the top level GTS350 coupe. The base model Monaro standard engine was enlarged to 173 cu in (2,830 cc) whilst the Monaro LS had a broad spectrum of engine options from a 202 cu in (3,310 cc) six to the 350 cu in (5,700 cc) V8. The new coupe design had a much larger rear window and a squarer rear quarter window; it was somehow seen as not as sporty looking compared to the earlier HK-HT-HG series, but is often now considered one of the best looking body designs to come from an Australian producer.
Up until 1973, the HQ Monaro GTS did not wear any body stripe ornamentation and the 350 cubic inch (5.74 L) Chevrolet Small-Block V8 engine was a little less potent than in previous HT/HG versions, especially with the optional Turbo-hydramatic 3-speed automatic transmission. This, and the fact that the same 350 engine was also available as on option in the

1971–1974 Holden HQ Monaro GTS sedan in South Australia.

large Statesman luxury sedan, probably contributed to a downgrade of the Monaro GTS range in muscular image terms, as did the replacement of the bigger coupes with the six-cylinder Holden Torana GTR XU-1 as the chosen GM car for Australian touring car racing. The introduction of bonnet and bootlid paint-outs in 1973 coincided with the release of the HQ Monaro GTS in four door sedan configuration. It is generally considered that Holden created the bold contrasting paint-outs in order that the new Monaro GTS sedan would not be mistaken for the humble Kingswood sedan upon which it was based.
The continued erosion of the GTS350 cache was compounded by the deletion of specific '350' decals on the post-1973 cars, with all Monaro GTS coupes and sedans now being externally labelled with the generic HQ series 'V8' bootlid badge. In the final year of HQ production, i.e. 1974, the manual transmission version of the GTS350 was discontinued and sales of the automatic version were minimal prior to the engine option being quietly and unceremoniously deleted.
A factory 350 HQ GTS Monaro is very valuable today, with a 350 sedan fetching as much as $50,000, and close to $100,000 for a 350 GTS Coupe.
Australia developed its own muscle car tradition around the same period, with the big three manufacturers Ford Australia, Holden or Holden Dealer Team (by then part of General Motors), and Chrysler Australia. The cars were specifically developed to run in the Armstrong 500 (miles) race and later the Hardie Ferodo 500 (the race's current 1,000 kilometre format was adopted in 1973). The demise of these cars was brought about by a change in racing rules requiring that 200 examples had to be sold to the general public before the car could qualify (homologation). In 1972, the government stepped in to ban supercars from the streets after two notable cases. The first instance was a Wheels magazine journalist driving at 150 mph (240 km/h) in a 1971 Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 351 cu in (5.8 L).^[38] While the car was getting exposure in the press, the second incident occurred in George Street, Sydney, when a young male was caught driving at an estimated 150 mph (240 km/h) through the busy street, in a 1971 Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III, drag racing a Holden Monaro GTS 350. This was known in Australia as "The Supercar Scare".^[39][40]

Ford produced what is considered to be the first Australian muscle car in 1967, although American purists would not consider a 4-door sedan a true muscle car by definition, the 289 cu in (4.7 L) Windsor – powered Ford Falcon GT XR. Months later in 1968, Australia would see its first home grown two door muscle car, the Holden Monaro GTS 327. Ford continued to release faster models, culminating in the Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III of 1971, which was powered by a factory modified 351 Cleveland. Along with its GT and GTHO models, Ford, starting with the XW model in 1969, introduced a 'sporty' GS model, available across the Falcon range. The basic GS came with a 188 cu in (3.1 L) six-cylinder engine, but the 302 cu in (4.9 L) and 351 cu in (5.8 L) Windsor (replaced by the Cleveland engines for the XY) V8 engines, were optional. Ford's larger, more luxurious Fairlane was also available with these engines and could also be optioned with the 300 bhp (224 kW) 351 cu in (5.8 L) "Cleveland" engine.
Some 20 years had passed before the Monaro reappeared in the form of a Holden Commodore Coupé prototype, codenamed 'Matilda', that was shown at the Sydney Motor Show in 1998. Using the existing Holden Commodore, already based on the Opel Omega B modified chassis, Journalists quickly christened it the Monaro, encouraging Holden to build it. Public interest in the car grew and orders came flooding in. Eventually, Holden took the Matilda and redesigned it for production and by 2001, the V2 series Monaro was launched after General Motors spent A$60 million over a 22-month gestation period (although 12 to 18 were targeted). It was available in CV6 (production ceased in mid 2004) and CV8 models with a supercharged 3.8 L V6 and a 5.7 L Gen III V8, with a choice of a 6 speed manual or 4 speed automatic gearbox. A series 2 model debuted in early 2003 with a revised dashboard from the VY series Commodore, a new wheel design and some colours dropped and new ones added. The CV6 model was dropped after disappointing sales (reputedly 10 times as many Monaros were built as CV8s) when a Series 3 model appeared in 2004.

2003–2004 Holden V2 Monaro CV8 R

Two special edition CV8-R Monaros were released, the first in a grey colour and the second in a more muted red. Each had special wheels and other distinguishing features.
In late 2004, Holden introduced the VZ range of Commodore vehicles which in 2005 were upgraded to feature the 6.0 litre L76 V8 engine in SS sedans and other variants. The Monaro CV8 was similarly upgraded and also received revised front and rear bumper assemblies, to be now referred to as the VZ Monaro CV8. The revised rear bumper and new ducted bonnet pressing would soon find their way onto the export Pontiac GTO. However, in July 2005 Holden announced that production of the current generation Monaro CV8 would soon be coming to an end. A run of 1100 of a limited-edition model, called the CV8-Z, was produced to farewell the legendary Monaro name, much as had been done with the LE coupe back in 1976. The CV8-Z had unique features including special wheels and a sunroof along with a choice of body colours, including a bold new orange/gold metallic called 'Fusion'.

2004–2005 Holden VZ Monaro CV8

The last Holden Monaro-badged coupe was purchased by Emerald, Queensland businessman Darryl Mattingley for A$187,355.55— around three times the normal retail price, on 19 February 2006. The car was bought through eBay,^[15] with the money going to the Leukemia Foundation, setting an Australian eBay record for highest price to date in the process. Mattingley, a huge Ford collector, has stated that his only Holden will not be registered, but will make appearances at auto shows.
Despite an end to production of the Holden Monaro-badged coupe it remained in production for HSV and for export markets until 14 June 2006 when the last model, a Pontiac GTO, quietly rolled off the production line bound for the US.

Vauxhall Monaro

The Monaro was also sold in the United Kingdom as the Vauxhall Monaro where it won Top Gear's best muscle car award.
To the delight of British motorists, Vauxhall offered the Monaro buyer a special treat prior to the discontinuation of the model: the VXR 500. A Harrop supercharger was installed onto the standard GM 6.0 LS2 engine by Vauxhall dealer Greens of Rainham in conjunction with tuning firm Wortec, bumping up power to 507 PS (373 kW; 500 bhp) and bumping up torque as well to 677 N·m (500 lbf·ft). In addition to this, a shorter gear linkage was added to enable quicker shifts. The resultant acceleration times were impressive at 4.8 seconds from rest to 62 mph (100 km/h).^[23]

With the end of production, Vauxhall opted to replace the Monaro in 2007 with a version of the HSV Clubsport R8 4-door sedan. The new model sports sedan is simply referred to as the Vauxhall VXR8.