HQ Monaro GTS 4-door 253 Auto Review (Part 1)
If ever there was a volume booster dressed as a muscle
car it was the HQ GTS 4-door in docile 253ci VB automatic form. The XV4 was all
about the V8 rumble and those bonnet stripes
The Monaro GTS 4-door was released in March 1973 with the
purpose of boosting HQ sales overall.
The 4-door GTS was a kind of ‘missing link’ in a vast range
of vehicles that covered every conceivable corner of the market. Up to this
point, GM-H had offered the traditional sports- themed products as glamorous
two-door vehicles. These were available in both the full-size Holden car line
as well as the smaller Torana line.
HQ Monaro GTS
4-door 253 rear view
From the moment the Monaro had been launched in 1968 it was
the company’s unabashed cult car. Victories in the Bathurst 500 in 1968 (with
the GTS 327) and 1969 (GTS 350) gave the stylish coupe extra street cred.
Holden took any opportunity to promote the top-of-the-line GTS 350 model as its
full-on muscle car.
When the HQ was first unveiled in mid-1971, it was obvious
that the Monaro GTS was toned down substantially from the previous models. The
all-new smooth HQ coupe was a beautifully designed and proportioned car.
However, sales of the Holden coupe had been on the decline since 1970 and the
all-new model failed to reverse this trend. Sure, the company still sold cars
in vast numbers, but not like in the ‘old days’. GM-H’s head honchos were not
impressed by the figures.
HQ Monaro GTS
4-door 253 side view
Director of sales John Bagshaw had an idea for a new car in
the Holden line-up. This was a 4-door ‘sporty’ vehicle with real image. Bagshaw
quickly determined such a car was missing from the vast HQ range. He came up
with the SS and, as history shows, this model, released in August 1972, was an
instant success, exceeding all expectations.
The SS incorporated some rather clever elements in the build
configuration. The car had the base 253ci (4.2-litre) V8 engine mated to the
standard 4-speed manual transmission. But in an effort to make it appeal to
sporty-minded enthusiasts, a performance 3.36:1 rear axle ratio along with dual
exhausts were included as part of the package. Whilst not brilliant, the
performance and overall appeal were way above what was normally expected for
the low price of $3,295 at the time.
HQ Monaro GTS
4-door 253 V-8 engine
The car looked hot, it went well and it certainly sounded
the part. So it was win, win, win here.
Building on the SS, the decision was made - wrongly say
many within the company - to apply the sacred nameplate Monaro to a 4-door
GTS-specification sedan. If the SS was a good thing, this new car was going to
be something else again, at least in the minds of its creators.
Yet, in essence, it was an optioned-up Kingswood V8 sedan.
Here in lay the problem.
The entry Monaro GTS 4-door (XV4) featured a 253 V8
(185bhp/138kW) with single exhaust, standard 4-speed manual transmission and a
3.08:1 rear axle. Thus, its performance - if you could call it that - didn’t
match its looks.
HQ Monaro GTS
4-door 253 back view
True, the GTS 350 version was a different story altogether,
but the availability of the 253 took the gloss off the vehicle for many muscle
car enthusiasts.
When creating the look of the GTS 4-door, the stylists were
well aware of the visual impact of the SS. In an effort to make this new
optioned-up Kingswood stand out (it | was a four-door sedan after all), extreme
paint stripes on the bonnet and jl boot lid were included as a T standard
feature, along with I blacked-out treatment in I other strategic places. The
car looked very loud to the point it also looked very fast.
Vented steel sports wheels (fitted with wide ER70H14
radials) added more visual impact.
