Out of Africa
In one sense, the Chevrolet SS assembled in the Republic of South Africa between 1971 and 1973 was General Motors’ version of Ford’s Fairmont GT, aka the Rhino GT. In another, the HG-based Chev SS was Holden’s forerunner to Ford’s XC Falcon Cobra – a clever way to shift superseded coupes.
Either way, bowtie-badged ‘Monaros’ with the US-style twin headlights added another colourful chapter – an epilogue, if you like – to the first generation Holden coupe’s fabled story.
Ever-increasing numbers of these cars have returned to Australia in recent decades, just like our stunning feature car. But unlike the green machine shown here, most have been reworked and given a Monaro nose. Nonetheless, these days SSs are slightly more common at car shows and in magazines, helping to raise awareness of their existence. They remain, however, a little understood model that still leave plenty of Holden enthusiasts scratching their heads.
To understand how they came into being, first we need to paint the picture of General Motors in South Africa through to the late 1960s.
The first fully built up Chevrolets were imported from the United States to the so-called Dark Continent in 1903 and the first locally-built examples were produced in its Port Elizabeth plant in 1925. While Chevrolet was the company’s dominant brand in South Africa, it was by no means the only marque offered by GMSA. By the mid 1960s Pontiac, Opel, Vauxhall, Isuzu and
