Cloning the Lion

1743 Views 7 Replies 7 Participants Last post by TriShield, Feb 27, 2004

THREEPOINTSIX

Discussion Starter · Jan 20, 2004 (Edited)

Anyone contemplated going with high quality OEM Holden, GMME Saudi, or HSV replacement clips for the front of your US Monaro to differentate yourself? Front end crashes will happen and the clip will need new headlight housings, urethane etc anyway. People 'clip' their pickups with Escalade, Navigator front ends all the time for about $2k so it seems feasable except for how & who will ship what we need as a 'kit'. I preffer the new HSV lines looks over the PMD GTO's looks any day and see this as a popular mod possibly and a way to shake off the GTO purists hating attitudes towards GM's highest quality car in decades. Face it guys - its not a GTO like PMD marketing wants you to believe - its a left hand drive Monaro. I personally would not mind being part of the Holden 'Lions Den'. I just dont see why the HSV GTO didnt become the actual US car on the outside! I actually like the spoiler on the Aussie car. US cars OEM wing looks like it doesnt even line up right?

It only seems appropriate to do a Lumina since the Saudi Monaros (Lumina SS) are left hand drive anyway and its a Chevy motor under the hood! Its funny how we all hear the Poncho retro 'purists' are mad about the lack of tiny scoops on the US GTO but are ok w/non Poncho Corvette power? Anybody over in OZ have a way of getting the non-GTO gauge clusters, Bowtie steering wheel trim, and bumpers/lighting/emblems? To bad there arent to many photos of the Saudi cars at www.GMME.com The only drawback to doing one of these is dealing with the GTO stitching on the seats. Too bad it wasnt just done on the headrests? As a flipside, the GTO stitching will allow us to build HSV GTO replicas though!! We will need just an airbag cover with the lion head to complete the interior. HSV body kit and headlight housings to do the outside. Same hood right? Oh yhea - wheels..

If GM didnt have all its eggs in one basket w/Monte Carlo tooling/development money in NASCAR and same stupid U.S. C.A.F.E. rules I'm sure in a perfect world Lutz would have a Monaro as the Lumina SS in place here in the US. He would also want the Commodore 4 door to be the Impala SS and the UTE to be the El Camino. I see the UTE coming b/c an Elky is a car platform and will be exempt from future SUV CAFE tariffs that are planned for truck/SUV platforms in the near future. Lutz car dynasty is ripe for explosion based on this fact and the advent of D.O.D. multi valve V-8's. (Actual results for us will vary based on old federal laws - thats it. This is a whole other matter more complex than these facts b/c of tooling/production costs & union/trade issues)

Linky is a must see(dial ups go cook something while it loads)....http://www.hsv.com.au/cars/vy2/y2brochure.pdf Page 6 & 7 is what I'm talkin bout!

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CrispieGee

· #2 · Jan 20, 2004

ThreePointSix,

If I buy a Goat, I had planned on changing to the Holden badges for the fenders and the trunk.

You are absolutely right on ALL counts. I've said all along that the Aussie cars look better, and I also like the HSV ducktail better than the Poncho wing. The fender flares look nice too -- I suppose they are saving those for a more expensive model.

If this car was simply called the "Holden Monaro, Imported for Pontiac" (or imported for Buick, for that matter -- remember when Opel was sold at Buick dealers), it wouldn't have generated nearly the hysteria from the reactionary Pontiac zealots. This is arguably the best quality car GM has come up with in decades.

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HSV_255GTO

· #3 · Jan 27, 2004

I agree completly threepoint. i'll be downright honest, i'm not a fan of GM at all. I find their products that they sell here in the United States to have poor building quality when compaired to the vehciles from Europe and Asia....untill one day when i stumbled upon Holden and did more reaserach. I was hooked instantly. I'm very glad that GM is brining this fantastic car to the US but I dont want a Pontiac badge on it, because thats not even what it is. The only part that Pontiac did to it was give it a new nose and badges and it pretty much stops there, spare for US spec required changes. I plan on converting my GTO to HSV-spec as soon as possible by any means nessary! :thumbs: I had a thought that since these cars are built at Holden and shipped over here if it would be at all possible to special order a car with Holden badges for extra cost.....I dont see why not since they are made on the very same assembly line. Prolly have to get in contact with someone on the inside from Holden...so far they seem to be extremelly egar to help North American customers - they even sent me 4 of their 40 page brocures!

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DANSLS1

· #4 · Jan 27, 2004

I had considered it when I first bought my car. The GTO styling has grown on me and I probably won't any more.

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TriShield

· #5 · Feb 6, 2004 (Edited)

I cringe at the amount of money it'll cost just to buy and ship the pieces from Australia alone...

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White Rider

· #6 · Feb 22, 2004

OR for that matter cloning the GTO in Australia, has anyone tried getting a GTO grille. I expect over the coming years a vast amount of GTO add ons being made in the US. MAy be a good buisness opportunity to import these parts into Australia too. Hood scoops anyone?

Adam

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Ude-Lose

· #7 · Feb 26, 2004

White Rider said:
OR for that matter cloning the GTO in Australia, has anyone tried getting a GTO grille. I expect over the coming years a vast amount of GTO add ons being made in the US. MAy be a good buisness opportunity to import these parts into Australia too. Hood scoops anyone?

Adam

thats right ... i can see aussies clamouring to get their hands on the auto-x kit, judge or whatever else pontiac comes up with.

grass always seems greener on the other side, until you see the price tag

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TriShield

· #8 · Feb 27, 2004

Ude-Lose said:
grass always seems greener on the other side, until you see the price tag

Truer words have not been spoken.

Some of the Yanks want the Monaro/HSV look, some of the Aussies want the Pontiac/Chevrolet look.

I'd like to see someone put the HSV Coupe bodykit on their GTO, only with Pontiac arrowheads, that might not look too bad.

:thumbs:

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