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MF1968HK Offline
#1 Posted : Friday, 12 September 2025 4:29:20 PM(UTC)
MF1968HK

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ive been reading a few books I have on the Monaro and none of them seem to say when they started building them only when they went on sale, how long before they went on sale did they start building them, ie how much stock did they have built up for the initial rush. im assuming base models would of been built first and GTS327's last to make sure they where problem free and ready to race
HK1837 Offline
#2 Posted : Friday, 12 September 2025 5:27:56 PM(UTC)
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The very first Monaro was built on 1/4/68. This was 80337 body 3-A. Then the Woodville tryout 80337 1-A on 5/4/68. By built I mean assembled. Some of these bodies were built back on September 1967. 80737 1-A and 2-A on 9/4/68. There were only these few plus a couple of other off-line pilots built prior to volume production at Elizabeth. All of the sales brochure cars and advertising material cars were of these handful. One of the GTS's did multiple duties and colours, you see it in the HK coupe sales brochures and later as the car with the girl in the catsuit, it wore all different engine badges too either physically or old-fashion "photo-shopped".

Each of the other VAP's did 2 x 80337 and 1 x 80737 pilots each too, these are the Car to Sales dates ie the days the car moved from schedule to actual production:

Dandenong 23/5/68 (These were the VAP prove tooling cars).
Elizabeth 14/6/68
Mosman Park 14/6/68
Acacia Ridge and Pagewood 6/6/68.

Volume production began on 20/6/68 across all location's with a BAP, each plant built a quantity of Monaro before they built any GTS or GTS327. The early volume Monaro and GTS bodies out of Elizabeth would have gone to Mosman Park for assembly. It looks like the Pagewood plant did at least 300 x 80337 before GTS. GTS and GTS327 started in the first week of July 1968. I own Pagewood GTS327 2-A and Pagewood GTS 20-A. The GTS327 has its original steering box, which is 1/7/68. Its body was built about 30 cars prior to the GTS, but the GTS overtook it either on entry to of during the Assembly Plant so it has a lower PSN by about 150. Both of these would have been completed during that first week of July 1968. The other locations will be a similar story give or take a day here or there, and less volume than Pagewood.

All of the testing for the cars for Series Production was done at Lang Lang and other locations, had little to do with production cars but the production cars specs were changed as a result of early testing for the 500 mile race, like the rear wheel spacers, tailshafts, welded and spot welded wheels, front disc splash shield removal etc. One of the 3 x factory HDRT cars raced at Bathurst in 1968 was actually the old on-line pilot used for development, Phil West had a lot to do with that testing.


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MF1968HK Offline
#3 Posted : Friday, 12 September 2025 6:06:39 PM(UTC)
MF1968HK

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thanks HK, always wondered when they actually started building them.
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