1976 Holden HX LE – Today’s Aussie Muscle Tempter

By: James Robinson, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 13.09.2017

An absolute classic

The HX Holden Monaro was the third iteration of the second generation of arguably Australia’s greatest locally built muscle car.

Replacing the outgoing HJ, the HX was, for the most part, a styling update of its predecessor, and included new options such as chrome or body painted bumper bars.

Shortly after the HXs release in ’76, Holden unveiled the now classic Limited Edition (LE) Monaro, which, strangely, was actually based off surplus coupe panel sets of the HJ Monaro.

So, the LE was originally meant to be released as an HJ, with around 600 examples commissioned to be built by Holden.

However, due to manufacturing delays, the HX actually came out before the LE could be made, meaning that Holden needed to go back to the drawing board and ended up converting the LE shells to HX spec.

580 were produced in total, all painted in ‘LE Red’, and, although it was based off a Monaro, the LE didn’t bare any Monaro badging and the moniker was not in the LE’s model name.

The LE was meant to be a more opulent variant of the Monaro, and some likened it to a cross between a Monaro GTS and a Statesman Caprice.

As a result, the LE scored the venerable 308ci (5.7lt) V8, and this donk was mated to a three-speed automatic transmission only, there was no manual option.

This particular LE is a ’76 model and, according to the seller, the vehicle has had a restoration and, judging from the photos, it does appear to be in good condition.

The LE is $85,000 and anyone interested in this classic Aussie muscle car can view the full listing here.

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