All

I finally found one. A genuine original GMH built vehicle with Holden 6cyl (EH-VK style 6cyl), with M21 stamped on the BODY plate. Guess what is is?

Anyone who frequents gmh-torana please don't spoil it for the rest!

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If we all had the same (good) taste, who would buy all the Fords?

Byron, is this a typo or was the car actually fitted with a 2.54:1 ratio M21 aussie 4 speed? (M21 2.54:1 ratio saginaw was option on HK, but they do not have M21 on the plate)

Warren

My hunch is the round Australia rally VB Commodore, wasn't there two of them built?

I remember reading somewhere that one of them had recently been 'rediscovered' in very good original condition.

Is my hunch correct?

The car i'm talking about is the winner of the rally, and it's plated M21. The VB parts catalogue lists an XU-1 input shaft for the rally cars, but doesn't list anything else different. The only way this would all work would be if GMH used a V8 M21 box with an XU-1 input shaft, and this car is the proof.

I know of at least 5 of these cars. I think there were a fair few of them made. I'll look at the one I know of locally and see what its BODY plate says.

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If we all had the same (good) taste, who would buy all the Fords?

I'd be very surprised if you had found an M21 in a HQ 1-tonner that was fitted there originally. The only 6cyl 4spd you could get in a HQ commercial was an M22, and you couldn't get a 308 in a HQ tonner so no M21 V8 box would have been possible. In fact you couldn't even get a V8 in a HQ 1 tonner until early 1973! The most likely place to find an M21 in a 1-tonner would be in a HJ-HZ BO6 (Ambulance), however the only 308 examples I've ever seen in one of these were fitted with column shift TH400. I suppose it was possible for someone on the inside to get a HQ V8 1-tonner ordered with a 253 and M21, but it is unlikely. However I believe this is the only way a HQ 1-tonner could have M21 on its plates. It would have to be a 1973 or 1974 model too. Are you sure also it was a HQ? Normal HJ-HZ tonners have HQ front panels...

As far as I am aware the only 6 cylinder Holden, Torana or Commodore to get a proper M21 box was the rally VB Commodores. Any others would have been either built by someone using an XU-1 input shaft and M21 box, or it was bought by a race team to run in a race LJ XU-1 as the M21 was homologated for use mid 1973. I'd love to see a 1973 homolgation XU-1 with M21 on the BODY plate, although I doubt one was built.

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If we all had the same (good) taste, who would buy all the Fords?

If you wish to have a read on these cars there is a 6 page article on them in Modern Motor magazine Aug 1979 with the Brock repco car on the cover rego # AKZ-397 this car now resides in The national motor museum in SA.

I saw it there last Easter, but I couldn't lift the bonnet. However someone else got a look and recorded the numbers for me!

The local car here that I know of had a big tank too.

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If we all had the same (good) taste, who would buy all the Fords?

When did the 2 piece reverse idler finish? I thought it was before the BODY plate changed on Elizabeth BAP vehicles to show mechanical options? May make it a narrow window of production so I might try and find it one day on the records when I have the opportunity to see them for a long period!

I reckon it must have been a V8 1-tonner though, and it had been changed to a 6cyl and the box modified to suit. GMH surely wouldn't have allowed a 6cyl M21 tonner to be built! That would very much narrow down the search criteria to a 308 M21 1-tonner.

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If we all had the same (good) taste, who would buy all the Fords?

They didn't make 308 HQ tonners, but they also didn't put M21 boxes behind 6 cylinders! My point was a 308 M21 or 253 M21 is 100 times more likely than a 6cyl one.

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If we all had the same (good) taste, who would buy all the Fords?