355 replies to this topic

[Indy Orange]

I suppose tastes change over the years ,I don't think many people liked the colour of the LE or the honeycomb rims ,but now everyone wants one. 

[yel327]

I suppose tastes change over the years ,I don't think many people liked the colour of the LE or the honeycomb rims ,but now everyone wants one. 

 

They should have been used to the PE1 rubber wheels as they had been optional on most Holden sedans since January 1975, just in silver rather than gold. The metallic red would have been a bit new to people though as it was the first volume production Holden in it. Personally it was the red trim and gold pinstriping I think turned everyone off then and today - an LE is probably still the least desirable and cheapest of all HQ-HX "GTS"  coupes, only the lower spec HQ Monaro and 6cyl/253 HQ-HJ Monaro LS is less sought after. Imagine the LE though in how the "special" one built was done - black with red trim and gold wheels, far more desirable to me than red/red.

[xu2308]

I have seen the one off Special Black LE Monaro, was Sold in Tasmania by a Holden Dealer, the LE Gold pin striping looked awesome on the Black paint job.

 

AL

[yel327]

If I remember rightly another of the issues was the LE suffered in a similar way as the A9X had. It was priced at just under $12k which was at the time a bloody lot of money for a Holden. Those who are old enough would remember the dealers couldn't sell all the A9X's either, and they sat around for a long time. More colour options was one of the methods that Holden used to move them out of the showrooms. The LE of course had no such luxury in the colour choices both exterior or trim.

 

Same thing happened to the ZL1 Camaros. Imagine if one had the foresight in 1969 to buy a few of these, a few A9X's in 1977/8 and a few Walkinshaws in 1988. You'd think GMH would have learned from the LE exercise that a one colour and one specification special may well miss the mark when building the VL Group A SS Walkinsahaw. Wasn't it GMH's first such major build since the LE? At least A9X was available on SL/R and SS and in multiple colours. 

[xu2308]

Should of made all the LE Monaro's  in Black, look better than the colour they did come out in

[RallyRed]

without getting too far off track.....what ever became of that Yellow HQ "Z350"?? that was on the back cover of a lot of magazines back in the day?...it has some XB Coupe-ish looking vents on the side of it..from memory

[yel327]

Col, the 350Z ended up on a dealer tender in early 1975 alongside a few other very special cars, like the Ewe't, an orange GTR that once had too many cylinders and a Contessa Gold HQ GTS350 that once had the 350Z's not 350ci SBC in it. Here are some images. I think one of them is where it sat when it was tendered. I'm not certain of the origin of these pictures, but they are both book or magazine scans. The wheels on the second photo were on the SS prototype and ended up leaving GMH on the Ewe't.

Attached Files

•  350 Z2.jpg   38.2K   2 downloads
•  1973 Giant Killers magazine rear l2.jpg   63.36K   2 downloads

Edited by yel327, 23 February 2014 - 09:13 PM.

[Indy Orange]

Hmm that front end takes a bit of getting used to.

[Indy Orange]

Never seen all that before ,thanks for posting LXSS350,the back end of the SS kind of reminds me of the XA Falcon Coupes design.

Edited by Indy Orange, 23 February 2014 - 10:56 PM.

[yel327]

That top car is the Old Man Emu, and it was a clay car. The 350Z was an actual car but never registered. You can see the wheels i'm talking about on the SS proto, shame the GTS sedan never kept the SS name. According to Leo the 308Q was an external car, not an internal styling car although someone loved it enough to get it on the turntable on the roof.

[RallyRed]

great old pics there LXSS350....that red/blue white 4 door's paint job might jst have been the inspiration for speedway local guy
Ralph Ranger's car..I reckon.
Think it might have been in AMC a while ago.

[yel327]

Never seen all that before ,thanks for posting LXSS350,the back end of the SS kind of reminds me of the XA Falcon Coupes design.

 

Why do you think the XA, although being based upon the American XY's floorpan looks so much like a HQ which itself was such a radical change compared to the HD-HG it replaced? Why did Ford get the XR GT out into the public domain so quickly? Industrial espionage was probably so widespread back in those days that it was almost a game! The 350 moniker on the 350Z was there to fool anyone who may find out about it that wasn't meant to. 

[StephenSLR]

I don't think many people liked the colour of the LE or the honeycomb rims, but now everyone wants one. 

 

I've always liked them but then again I own a Royal Plum Torana.

 

s

[yel327]

I used to have a Royal Plum LX SL hatch, couldn't wait to change its colour! Now it is a colour i'd love a HJ Sandman ute in.

[A9X]

 

First time i've seen anything on this car.

 

But a really interesting picture. I know the location.

 

Its a few hours east of Perth, they wouldn't have driven it there so its come off a trailer for the pic. The banner in the background tells me its on some roadtrip through all the dealers.

 

now the interesting bit is that big ugly spoiler. I've seen a parted out shell with a spolier just like that, at a panelbeaters here in perth. The panel beater used to have sports sedans and was a bit of a local name.

 

wonder if that car got left in perth after its road trip.??

 

Thread mentions above the car was tendered out , any further info ?

[yel327]

I've never seen this car on a tender, just the 350Z. Leo told me the car wasn't owned by GMH.