The Holden HX is a range of automobiles which was produced by
Holden
Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...
in Australia from 1976 to 1977.
Changes
The HX series was released in July 1976
[Norm Darwin, 100 Years of GM in Australia, 2002, page 264] and featured a range of models developed from those in the superseded
Holden HJ
The Holden HJ is a series of automobiles which were produced by Holden in Australia from 1974 to 1976. The HJ series was released on 4 October 1974 and was an improved and facelifted version of the superseded Holden HQ series which had been in ...
range, which had been in production since 1974. The HX models featured only minor updates to the exterior, notably the grille and badgework.
[ However significant changes were made to the engines to meet new Australian emissions regulations.][The Holden Heritage, Eighth Edition, 1998, pages 50-51] During the course of the HX series, front bucket seats were adopted as standard equipment for Kingswood-badged vehicles.
Model range
The mainstream passenger car range consisted of 4-door sedan and 5-door wagon
A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people.
Wagons are immediately distinguished from ...
body styles in three trim levels.
* Belmont Sedan
* Kingswood Sedan
* Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
Sedan
* Belmont Wagon
* Kingswood Wagon
* Premier Wagon
The Premier models were differentiated from the cheaper variants by a four headlight frontal treatment.[Norm Darwin, 100 Years of GM in Australia, 2002, page 265] Wagons rode on a wheelbase which was 76.2 mm (three inches) longer than that of the sedans.
Two special-build HX Kingswood variants emerged later in production. A Kingswood Silver Anniversary model was released in November 1976 to celebrate 50 years of General Motors in Australia and a Kingswood Deluxe sedan and wagon was also introduced during the HX model life in September 1977 with a 4.2 litre V8 as standard.
For the HX series the performance oriented Monaro range was reduced to one model only, the Monaro GTS Sedan. The Monaro LS & GTS coupes were not carried in from the HJ series however a Holden Limited Edition coupe was released in September 1976.[Norm Darwin, 100 Years of GM in Australia, 2002, page 267] This utilised the Monaro coupe body but not the Monaro name.
The commercial vehicle range included coupe utility
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
, panel van
A panel van, also known as a blind van, car-derived van (United Kingdom) or sedan delivery (United States), is a small cargo vehicle with a passenger car chassis, typically with a single front bench seat and no side windows behind the B-pillar. ...
and cab chassis truck models:
* Ute
* Kingswood Ute
* Sandman Ute
* Van
* Kingswood Van
* Sandman Van
* One Tonner
The base models were marketed simply as the Holden Ute and Holden Van and both retained the HJ style grille. The Kingswood Van was an addition to the commercial vehicle range [ and the One Tonner was a ]chassis cab
A chassis cab, also called a cab chassis or half truck, is a type of vehicle construction, often found in medium duty truck commercial vehicles.
Instead of supplying the customer with a factory pre-assembled flatbed, cargo container, or other eq ...
vehicle which featured its own unique frontal treatment, carried over from its HJ predecessor.
The Sandman Ute and Van were equipped with various features from the Monaro GTS and featured side stripes and a large 'Sandman' logo on the tailgate.
File:Holden Kingswood HX Deluxe (15689034897).jpg, Holden Kingswood sedan
File:Holden HX Kingswood Wagon (15100366247).jpg, Holden Kingswood wagon
File:1977 Holden Kingswood Utility (HX) (14489108169).jpg, Holden Kingswood utility
File:Holden HX Belmont Wagon (9462370497).jpg, Holden Belmont wagon (with aftermarket wheels)
File:Holden Premier (1976-1977 HX series) 01.jpg, Holden Premier sedan
File:Holden Premier (1976-1977 HX series) 02.jpg, Holden Premier sedan
File:1976-1977 Holden HX Premier Wagon in the SunRice Festival parade in Pine Ave (1).jpg, Holden Premier wagon
File:1976 Holden HX Limited Edition.jpg, Holden Limited Edition
File:1976 Holden Limited Edition (HX) coupe (25117929461).jpg, Holden Limited Edition
File:1976-1977 Holden HX Monaro GTS sedan 01.jpg, Holden Monaro GTS
File:Holden Monaro GTS 5.0 (2).jpg, Holden Monaro GTS
File:1976-79 HX Sandman Van Mint Julip.JPG, Holden Sandman
Engines
A 3.3-litre inline six-cylinder engine was available, as were 4.2-litre and 5.0-litre V8s. All were modified low-emission units to comply with the new ADR27A
ADR27A was an Australian Design Rules, Australian Design Rule specifying design and operating regulations to limit fuel evaporative and exhaust emissions for motor vehicles in Australia in order to reduce air pollution.
The rule covered "all mo ...
regulations, and were notably less powerful than their predecessors.[ The 2.8-litre inline six available in the HJ series had been deleted, and the Monaro GTS and Holden Limited Edition models were only offered with the eight-cylinder engines.
]
Production
The Holden HX was replaced by the Holden HZ
Holden HZ is a full-sized automobile which was produced in Australia between October 1977 and April 1980 by Holden in a variety of equipment levels and in several different body styles. It was also assembled in New Zealand.
Characteristics
The ...
series in October 1977,[Norm Darwin, 100 Years of GM in Australia, 2002, page 268] HX production having totalled 110,669 units.[
]
Statesman HX
The Statesman HX
Statesman is an automotive marque created in 1971 by the Australian General Motors subsidiary, Holden. Statesman vehicles were sold through Holden dealerships, and were initially based on the mainstream Holden HQ station wagon platform, thereby ...
range of long-wheelbase luxury sedans developed from the Holden HX series was also released in July 1976. Like their HJ predecessors, the two models in the Statesman HX range, the de Ville and the Caprice, were marketed as Statesmans rather than as Holdens.
References
{{Automobile-stub
Cars of Australia
HX
Cars introduced in 1976
1970s cars