19 replies to this topic

[dattoman]

Mines dated 4/76

[bluea9x]

Mine is 3/76 and i have a set of compliance plates for a 12/75 6cyl lx ss

[axistr]

Mine is 3/76 ss

[ls2lxhatch]

Dr Terry's book "60 Years of Holden" lists the SS as on sale from 4 March 1976.

The LX Torana Parts Catalog states the SS was introduced in March 1976.

[dattoman]

I got a friend who's got a '75 L-32 SS.... Oddly enough it's got the dip switch on the floor and it originally had square headlights... ODD!!!

Get a pick of the compliance plates
Might be one of the ultra rare LH hatches
Even rarer than A9X and L34's... hehe

[bluea9x]

Here my set lx ss coupe 12/75

Attached Files

•  IMG_3961.JPG   391.72K   20 downloads
•  IMG_3974.JPG   321.05K   8 downloads
•  IMG_3976.JPG   274.54K   8 downloads

[dattoman]

Oh no... a book with the wrong info in it... don't tell Viv

Thats an early body number... won't be many before that one

[Toranamat69]

Surely one would have to make some before they put them up for sale?

[dattoman]

3 to 4 months before ?

[ls2lxhatch]

As the question was about actual production dates the release date is not really relevant.


The book and the GMH LX Torana parts manual refer to the official release date. The GMH LX Torana parts manual also has an effective date of March 1976.

According to Dr Terry the official LX news release date is 24th Feb 1976.

There was an article about the new SS in the April 1976 Modern Motor Magazine.

Edited by ls2lxhatch, 10 June 2011 - 03:04 AM.

[Toranamat69]

3 to 4 months before ?

Sounds right to me.

SFA would have happened over x-mas/new years so that leaves only 3 months to build enough to sell when they would get the big first initial run of them.

When you kick off a new production line, the factory is empty, it would take a few weeks just for all workstations to fill will work in progress, then 100 or 150 a month from there - you would want to have 200 to 300 minimum before putting them up for sale or there would be some pissed of buyers out there wanting to take delivery of the new model they just saw at the motor show.

[yel327]

There were always pre production stuff many months before. Often they were brochure cars. I have the HX Sandman ute that is on the HX Sandman brochure recorded, and it is well back into HJ production (like 3-4 months before regular HX production). Some of the brochure/pilot cars are even tarted up previous series like the yellow HZ Sandman on the HZ brochure (it is a HX) and the HX LE prototype was a late 1975 HJ GTS coupe. Obviosuly this couldn't have happended with LX coupe as there was no LH coupe, which would explain how early some are wrt release date 9ie they couldn't mock up an LH coupe as there was none).

[Dr Terry]

As the question was about actual production dates the release date is not really relevant.

The book and the GMH LX Torana parts manual refer to the official release date. The GMH LX Torana parts manual also has an effective date of March 1976.

According to Dr Terry the official LX news release date is 24th Feb 1976.

This is one of the reasons that I list 2 dates for the 'release' of the various models in my 60 Year book. There are so many instances where different dates have been mentioned in print, for the same car.

The release date that is most often used is the date on the news release. That's the one usually mentioned by Holden & the media. This differs from the date that the car is 'released' in the dealer's showrooms for retail sale, which for LX was 4 March 1976.

As mentioned, the release date is NOT the date that production began, which in most cases is 1 or 2 months ahead of the official release, so that stocks can be built ready for sale.

I've not seen many LX Toranas with a build date earlier than Dec 75. Only prototypes or pilot cars would be earlier than this. The 12/75 plate pictured above has the chassis number 506M. Given that GM-H were building cars at the rate of 100s per day that car would've been built during the first week of LX production.

Dr Terry