24 replies to this topic

[yel327]

I have some photos of the van, the vehicles were 50th anniversary specials. I have no proof the van was a Sandman, may have been a Kingswood or a Holden van, it didn't have blacked out headlight surrounds and had a rubber strip in the front bar. I do have a 2214-65A HX Holden van recorded but it was a 4.2 trimatic. From memory the photos I have were from a 1976 recreational van show, it was also covered in an issue of CV&T.
Talk to outercontrol as well, he has a 2214 with 65 trim SS hatchback.

The LE we think was a re-painted car, trim not 65 but the LE's 76Z trim.

Edited by yel327, 26 September 2013 - 02:30 PM.

[xu2308]

Years ago I had to work in Devonport Tasmania at our Branch in Devonport for awhile, say 6 to 8 Months and used to Spot a  Black LE Monaro getting around and parked near work, I asked about it, I was told it was bought new in the Black, its the only LE Monaro I have ever seen in Black, now reading this, my bet its the black one I seen a heap of times, It was around 1982 ishhhhh, but I seen it in the later 1980's in Devonport as well.

 

AL

Edited by xu2308, 26 September 2013 - 05:02 PM.

[yel327]

I just found out that the LE may not have been an LE but built as a HX GTS coupe, built in 2214 (Tuxedo). There was one that was spotted years ago in QLD with 2214 paint combination. It would have been built out of the HJ bodyshells built in late 1975 at Pagewood like the LE's were. My guess is it had the LE trim though as that is all that was around at the time, and it was red. The car had another incarnation we believe as a partner car to the blue turbo HX GTS sedan, but that is speculation at the moment until the people who bought that car from GMH can be spoken to (they are still around). I have to find my copy of the old CV&T magazine with the van in it and see if it was a Kingswood, Holden or Sandman.

 

Wayne knows the source of my info.

[hanra]

[xu2308]

I just found out that the LE may not have been an LE but built as a HX GTS coupe, built in 2214 (Tuxedo). There was one that was spotted years ago in QLD with 2214 paint combination. It would have been built out of the HJ bodyshells built in late 1975 at Pagewood like the LE's were. My guess is it had the LE trim though as that is all that was around at the time, and it was red. The car had another incarnation we believe as a partner car to the blue turbo HX GTS sedan, but that is speculation at the moment until the people who bought that car from GMH can be spoken to (they are still around). I have to find my copy of the old CV&T magazine with the van in it and see if it was a Kingswood, Holden or Sandman.

 

Wayne knows the source of my info.

 

The Black one in Devonport had the normal looking LE trim, going off my memory's

[Swarbs]

As an owner of an LE this is interesting

As far as i knew they were all the same colour so the black one (if factory ) would be a rare find indeed

Have always wanted to paint mine black as i recon with the gold trim and red interior it would be a nice combo, but couldn't do it due to the fact that that to be an LE it had to be LE red

 

I also have never heard of a HX GTS coupe as i was led to believe all of the HX coupes were LE's

 

Could we have a bit more info on them

Seem to remember a thread a while ago on the rarest holdens  - this HX two door GTS if it is a one off would have to be it

 

Cheers

[xu2308]

swarbs

the one in Devonport Tasmania did stand out for sure with the Black and LE interior and the Gold LE decals thingys, best looking LE  I have seen.

AL

[Swarbs]

You didn't aaaahh get a photo by any chance did you Al?

[xu2308]

No sorry

I regret not taking any photos of it and the Black A9X Hatch outside Tas TV in Hobart all the times I drove past it, need a time machine now lol

[Swarbs]

No worries maybe yel327 may ba able to shed a bit more light

[xu2308]

I wonder if the one from Devonport went to Qld as yel327 said there was a Black one in Qld

[Swarbs]

Be interesting to see if it is tagged as black but going by the repainted comment above maybe not

[Dr Terry]

The HX van pictured has a Kingswood grille. The base model Holden van had a grille similar to its HJ equivalent.

Dr Terry

[yel327]

It also has Lukey mirrors, side exhaust, chin spoiler, rubber strip in the front bar and normal headlight surrounds. It may well be a Kingswood, or a Sandman or who knows? The Seawitch was a 6cyl column shift dunger as far as we can tell, so this could have been too.

[yel327]

Be interesting to see if it is tagged as black but going by the repainted comment above maybe not

 

The one in QLD had 2214 on the body tag, but it wasn't black. We think it was the sister car to the turbo HX GTS sedan as there was a pair of them (sedan and coupe). Coupes were finished and all sold when that sedan was made so the only car probably still in GMH's possession at that stage was the black LE so putting 2 and 2 together it probably ended up being repainted. It ended up in the hands of a well known person in QLD. We are still waiting to talk to them and see if they can shed some light. 

[Swarbs]

Thanks for the reply yel

 

So we have 1 (poss 2 ?? ) black LE's ?

1 black HX coupe?

 

1 black GTS turbo sedan - this would have had to have been an 8 right?  -- would have to have also been a dealer fitted thing

What was the story behind it

 

Forgive my ignorance

[yel327]

No. The turbo sedan was a light blue thing. John Bagshaw drove it around with hotwires but it appears at the same motor show as the orange LX pre-A9X Sunbird thing with both wearing 15" snoflakes. The black HX coupe was (we believed) to have been re-purposed to build a coupe version of the same concept (sans turbo I think), same colour scheme. Coupe was sold to a friend of John Bagshaw's (hence why we need to talk to them).

 

The black HX coupe i'm calling nominally a GTS as it really isn't an LE if it isn't painted 1923. It would have got the LE's trim as that was probably all they had for them, it may also explain why all the other cars got red trim too as they wanted them to all match. It may have had LE pinstriping and logo, I don't know as i've yet to see a picture of it unlike the van and the Bedford. All of these started life as HJ LS or GTS coupe bodies, they were built late in 1975 and stored at Pagewood (we now know where they were stashed). Being Pagewood vehicles there is no identifying information on them unlike other plants that affixed the BODY tag prior to the paint process, and the firewall number tracking number Pagewood used went on after paint. So there is no historical information currently available to identify them by, if they were Dandenong bodies they'd appear as a gap in the HJ records. The LE concept took so long to develop and get signed off (remember the HJ GTS done as an LE prototype was a 12/75 compliance) that HX rolled around. So the bodies all had their firewalls removed and replaced with HX ones. Then got assembled as HX LE's. When the HJ bodies were counted to build the LE's out of, a few were used to build HJ GTS or LS after that time, hence accounting for some of the the discrepency in build numbers for these between published and actual.

 

I doubt the one Al saw is the same car though as if the theory we are working on is true the car i'm talking about never left GMH as a black car.

[xu2308]

The LE Black one in Devonport was said to be Factory Black

[Swarbs]

Thanks again Yel

When the info comes available would be more than interested for you to revisit this thread with an update

If it was painted factory black and tagged as one of the 580 LE's with all the trimmings - it's a black LE in my eyes - (very exciting)

If it is badged a GTS and left the factory as one that is a different story

 

Just had to scroll up to check Napes original post just in case of a thread steal but i think we are still on track

Hope this has shed a bit more light John

 

Unless we can pin the car down Al i suppose we will never know

 

 Does anyone know where or who I should contact to research this further? Any direction would be appreciated...

 

Cheers,

Napes

[email protected]

[xu2308]

Is there a Tassy Monaro Club, maybe someone might know in the club, any one from Devonport should remember the car, as it stood out in the black

[yel327]

Its ID would be identical to an LE if it was a GTS, there is no LE specific numbering. What i'm getting at is that GMH could have built it however they wanted, with or without LE striping and badging, there is no way you'd pick it from an LE by the tags other than the trim line. Without LE badging and logos the ID says HX GTS coupe, but that is only as the LE is the only Q luxury level HQ-HZ that isn't a GTS. But I agree you can just as easily call it a 2214 LE, and it will have been counted in the 580.
There were more than 580, some were destroyed prior to sale and hence don't appear in GMH records. These plus the 1976 build HJ's probably account for the original 600 count.

Thanks again Yel
When the info comes available would be more than interested for you to revisit this thread with an update
If it was painted factory black and tagged as one of the 580 LE's with all the trimmings - it's a black LE in my eyes - (very exciting)
If it is badged a GTS and left the factory as one that is a different story

Just had to scroll up to check Napes original post just in case of a thread steal but i think we are still on track
Hope this has shed a bit more light John

Unless we can pin the car down Al i suppose we will never know