After the sale of the GTS327 recently for $220k and a bit of a discussion at GMH-Torana re the relative desirability of L34 vs A9X sedan I thought i'd ask the question. This is the order I personally rank the cars in their desirability to me, not just based upon their market value. These are as standard off the shelf cars, no dealer fitted stuff like XJ camshafts or HO packs, and with as fitted tyres and wheels. And my reasons why. You could easily move some of these cars around too and not bother me - some should really be equally ranked. Will be interesting to see how others rank them or put other cars in instead. As you can see mine are weighted heavily towards performance rather than anything else hence why Sandmans, HQ GTS's etc are not there.

1. HK GTS327. GMH's and to me Australia's first Muscle Car.
2. HT GTS350M. You'd almost toss a coin for the HK and the HT. Despite the HT being the superior car the HK gets it for its looks.
3. HG GTS350M, especially the last of the cars with the better engine.
4. L34. This spot would have been taken by the V8 XU-1 or one of the Monaros as the Torana probably would have been #2 or #3. But the L34 is GMH's only true GroupC race car, and it won Bathurst twice plus only lost its third due to very bad luck.
5. VK GroupA. Although built by HDT it was marketed as a GMH product due to GroupA regs. A weapon, probably the first GMH product to exceed the power output of the HT-HG's 300hp engine. Essentially GMH's first real performance car since the L34.
6. 1973 150 list LJ XU1. Weapon of a car, unlucky at Bathurst.
7. 1972 LJ XU1. The first and only GMH 6cyl to win at Bathurst.
8. Early LX hatchback optioned with L31 engine. These and the SLR5000 equivalent are super quick cars, the improved 5.0L released with HJ finally got a proper 2" twin exhaust with LX release. Whilst the A9X got brakes and handling these things got the engine and these cars are every bit as quick as a standard L34. If A9X had been made in early 1976 thus got this engine it'd have been right up near the top.
9. A9X hatchback. Not the biggie with me as I know it'd be #1 - #3 for some. To me it wasn't really raced, its homologated parts were used on either special built shells or upgraded L34', and it got a stock ADR27A dog engine. Very much like the Group C Commodores. It has to be in the top 10 somewhere though for how it looks and how well it drives.
10. Final LC XU-1 with CK engine and Aussie 4spd.
11. A number of cars could fit here, including A9X sedan, early LJ or LC XU1's, HQ GTS350, VN Group A, VL Group A SS. Take your pick.
12+. A special mention and one I have a soft spot for - HJ GTS coupe 5.0L with dual exhaust.

VN Group A should be in the list. Drop a Monaro off maybe.

It's there as a candidate at 11.

Ah so it is. Need to get my eyes checked.

I didn't realise there was a difference in power with earlier and later LX L31's.

Ours from memory was bought in late 1978. Can't remember it's build date though.


Maybe it was one of the later ones...

Regarding the HR 186S 4 speed. They were a lot quicker then a HK GTS Monaro 307 auto between sets of lights.
But then again the 307 powerglide were not much of a performance car.

Jim

...It's nice to see we're all a bunch of revheads !! LOL

Perhaps. Where's your list?

I didn't include any HDT stuff as I was talking about cars GMH offered. The only HDT stuff I included was VK Group A as it was marketed as a GMH/Holden product. Plus HDT stuff is all over the shop eg VH GroupIII came standard with a 4.2L, and you could get the HDT modded 5.0L or even the High Output 5.0L.

All these years on I think people get confused about what a car was like originally and what was reality - the L34 you mention is a perfect example. The cars we all remember getting into in the 70's or 80's might have felt like weapons as they were, but not original. The L34 I went in as a late teen had the HO pack cam and twin Dellortos, plus a 9" and Toploader or Muncie. The PhaseII and III's everyone thinks were so far ahead in performance were probably similarly modified turning them into far superior performers than the standard car ever was. Same with anything Chev powered, they all got fitted with bigger heads, bigger carbs etc and when diffs and boxes started to get smashed they got Muncies and 9" rear ends.

In order:

Nope. Manifold is the problem, I even have flow bench figures for both that shows how bad the pollution inlet is. Will check but I don't think power jets or even dizzy settings change all that much. GMH de-rated the advertised power of all their engines (except 5.0L) for LX release so when the AD27A engines appeared mid-LX they didn't look as bad on paper as they were. 5.0L dropped from 250hp peak to 216hp peak at ADR27A release.
Nope. HJ engine is the same as HT-HQ.
Nope. It is a performance cam, not an emissions cam. 308/304 carbided engine never got a changed cam after HJ, same general performance cam grind as all hydraulic cam SBC's on the late 60's, early 70's other than the 350/350hp Corvette. It was the cam used in the 327/275 and the 350/295-300.
True, but also depends upon the Octane rating of the fuel you intend to use on it.
Yes (as above).

Edited by user Monday, 11 April 2016 12:33:15 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

It's not the 308 HX intake manifold at all as she can make 260 real HP and I have proven it does not make one bit of difference in performance of a stock 308 or even a small 20/60 cam and all the grunt is not at a loss at lower rev's is it.

I could do 5300RPM in top gear with a 3.08 ratio diff and the speedo said 213KM/H in my old HX sandman.

The worst thing for good performance is that the intake manifold flows to well, that you loose lower rev performance.
Mind you with a big cam then such as a large intake flowing manifold would be desirable.