The Real Last Monaro Built Is A Pontiac GTO

[JoeT]

The Real Last Monaro

Joshua Dowling
7 July 2006
www.drive.com.au

No fanfare, no speeches, not even a cake. Just a couple of happy snaps and a pat on the back from some factory workers. Meet the last coupe.

Holden has built its last Monaro and the historic two-door coupe has been exported to the United States badged as a Pontiac GTO.

Earlier this year, Holden auctioned the last coupe to wear a Monaro badge and a Queensland Ford collector paid $187,900 for the car. The proceeds went to charity.

However, after the last Monaro-badged vehicle was made, Holden's Adelaide factory continued to build the two-door coupe in various guises until 9.37pm on June 14. The cars were exported as a batch of Pontiac GTOs a few days later. The final vehicle was the 40,808th Pontiac GTO built.

Unlike the fanfare surrounding the last Monaro, which was unveiled at the Melbourne motor show and featured in the mainstream media, Holden's final coupe rolled off the production line with no fanfare; a group of nightshift workers gathered around the car and one of their colleagues snapped these photos. They are the only official Holden memories of the car and it is expected that the red coupe will be sold as if it were any other Pontiac GTO.

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The last Holden Monaro is a Pontiac GTO

[demonv8]

The last one should have something special, perhaps once the car is bought the owner should be given a momento to indicate it was the last GTO/Monaro built....ever!

[kenman923]

I agree. Something like a placard or something to indicate that it was the last. Even a certificate of authenticity.

[SCCA1995]

It should have something special to commemorate it as the last GTO/Monaro. But, we know GM USA didn't support this car like it should have, so they will let it disappear as if it were any other car.

[5.3Avalanche]

Originally Posted by JoeT

The last Holden Monaro is a Pontiac GTO

Seriously, why didn't people like the styling of this car? Look at it, it's beautiful! So muscular and bold. A muscle car in the truest sense. Good job Holden...here's to a 2009 GTO.

[PontiacBixler]

Originally Posted by 5.3Avalanche

Seriously, why didn't people like the styling of this car? Look at it, it's beautiful! So muscular and bold. A muscle car in the truest sense. Good job Holden...here's to a 2009 GTO.

It's not muscular, that's the problem. I will admit it is a nice looking car, but it had not one lick of muscle heritage to it.

The GTO is in the same regards as a G6 GTP Coupe, a nice sporty coupe.

And to think, the Firebird was killed to make way for that car...

[zeobandit]

Is there a spoiler delete option on the GTOs now? It doesn't look like that car has a spoiler on it.

[Watchdevil]

When people hear something stated as the last of something they automatically assume it will be the very last to ever be built ever again. It's just like when Cadillac built the "last" Eldorado convertible and Ford the "last" Mustang convertible back in the day. It's like when the "last" Camaro was built people acted like it could never possibly come back again. Eventually, when the timing is right and there is renewed interest something will have the pissibility of coming back in a new form. Certainly the Monaro was the last Monaro of that body style and platform, but one shouldn't assume it will be the last Monaro ever just because there are no firm plans to bring it back. I would never assume that the last Thunderbird was the last Thunderbird just because there are no plans right now to bring one back in some form.

[Watchdevil]

Originally Posted by PontiacBixler

It's not muscular, that's the problem. I will admit it is a nice looking car, but it had not one lick of muscle heritage to it.

The GTO is in the same regards as a G6 GTP Coupe, a nice sporty coupe.

And to think, the Firebird was killed to make way for that car...

The problem with the GTO was the fact that it was based on 1990's styling being locked into a design that already existed as a four door a couple years before it came out as a Monaro 2-door. Austrailian vehicles always seemed to lag behind styling trends because they built vehicles that were designed to last several years without major changes, unlike the US market where most designs are changed in cycles of 4 or 5 years to keep up consumer interest. When Austraila redesigns a vehicle they always play catch-up to include modern styling that mimicks popular products in GM's North American lineup. If you notice the upcoming new Commodore even though it is all new, looks like it is styled from vehicles that have existed in the US market for a few years. If anything it has picked up the existing Opel look and some of the rear of the Impala.

The concept of bringing the GTO back was correct to base it on an existing RWD V8 powered coupe just like the original. That's all it was back in the 1960's, an ordinary Tempest/LeMans. No one in the 1960's complained about it being based on something ordinary back in the day. But people today expect something that is either retro or completely new and contemporary looking. The way it is, it looks like a homoginization of a Cavalier, Lumina and Grand Am all of which are products of an old design era that is now history.

So we had a soft looking GTO that resembled past American GM products when in fact what it needed was edgier styling that is more popular today whether it be slightly retro or just plain modern. I assume the direction the GTO needs to go in is to just incorporate contemporary surfaces and line with some identifiable heritage styling devices. What seems to identify a GTO the most is having the right classic split grille design and the ram air hood which are the unique model brand markers. Having it a blatant copy of the old one would look odd today. The magic about the new Camaro concept is that it takes familiar proportions and some lines which are freshened up with some contemporary surfacing and design elements that are not exactly identical to the classic ones. Thats why the Mustang works today. The thing about classic GTO's is that it was never designed to be a stand alone model with styling unique to itself. All classic Pontiacs had similar design elements as a family brand just proportioned to whatever size vehicle and body basic body and platform componants it had to share with other GM divisions.

[hotrod747]

Originally Posted by 5.3Avalanche

Seriously, why didn't people like the styling of this car? Look at it, it's beautiful! So muscular and bold. A muscle car in the truest sense. Good job Holden...here's to a 2009 GTO.

It just doesn't say "Pontiac" the way the Firebird did for years!!! I agree that it is a nice looking car, but it is sooo "politically correct, " soo "un- Pontiac." Waaay too bland! Should have been more "rebel" like! Hopefully, the replacement is a better suited car for Pontiac.

[Black04GTO]

Originally Posted by zeobandit

Is there a spoiler delete option on the GTOs now? It doesn't look like that car has a spoiler on it.

The Monaro did not have a rear spoiler, they were added to the GTO after it it rolled off the ship in California. I know several GTO owners who removed the spoiler for the "purist" Monaro look...

Is there a Pontiac Museum somewhere? That is where this last one should go.

[rlchv70]

Originally Posted by zeobandit

Is there a spoiler delete option on the GTOs now? It doesn't look like that car has a spoiler on it.

The spoilers are installed once the car reaches the US.

[camaro_freak]

Originally Posted by demonv8

The last one should have something special, perhaps once the car is bought the owner should be given a momento to indicate it was the last GTO/Monaro built....ever!

this just proves GM didn't care about this vehicle and only created it to fill the VOID after the Firebird was killed off. Now that Pontiac has the Solstice, they don't need this car anymore.

No fanfare, no special badging, no special sheetmetal... it did it's job and did it cheaply for GM... why would they do anything special on the way out???

[Delta2.2]

ya i agree with you camaro_freak, it just was to fill a void after the firebird was killed. too bad they didnt just call the gto a grand prix next gen, and drop the FWD v8 they have in that thing. lots of auto magizines have already complained about its uncomfortable torque steer.


hey my first post!!

[crazywop112]

You can't say that the GTO is not a muscle car. You push the accelerator and it hauls ass. It is definitely a muscle car. It may not look like as mean as a muscle car should look but it definitely is a muscle car.