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The General Motors H-S bodies, were derived from the GM H-body cars...the Chevrolet Vega and Pontiac Astre. Beginning in an era of large, full frame, 'land yachts', the H body's were brand new, subcompact vehicles that offered; full unit-body construction & economical, aluminum 4cyl engines. Designed in 1970, they were assembled from 1971 thru 1977. It wasnt long until 'hot rodders' figured out how to shoehorn a small block chevy V8 into the cars. By 1977 Over 1 million Vega's had been produced! In 1975, GM introduced a special version of the H body - the H-S body. Standing for 'H-Special'. These H specials were hatchbacks and coupes, designed to be a little more futuristic and sporty looking than before. GM assembled this platform as the Chevrolet Monza, Buick Skyhawk, and the Oldsmobile Starfire until 1980. The Monza was also built as a 'coupe' with a regular roofline and a trunk. In 1976 Pontiac joined the fun and called their version of the H body the 'Sunbird'. At first it shared the coupe body with the Monza. In '77 the hatchback bodystyle was added to the Sunbird. It and the Monza were available as both coupe and hatch thru 1980. -These Hs-bodies were actually designed to showcase a new 'engine of the future'...a rotary powerplant...that GM was working on at the time. But, due to emissions and fuel consuption issues, the rotory engine idea never quite made it into final production....Instead, more conventional, 4cylinders, V6's, & even V8's were used. The Aluminum vega 4cyl was used for 75-77. Then Pontiacs 'Iron Duke 2.4l 4cyl hit the scene in 1978. At first the top engine option was a small cube 262 ci. V8, except California, where a detuned 350!!! was installed for emissions compatability. It was only 262ci BUT, it was still a typical small block chevy engine, and that meant any hot performance small-block chevy was a bolt in replacement! In Mid 1976 hot rodders and performance enthusiasts everywhere were blessed a 5.0 liter V8 engine option (305ci) available on Chevrolet, Pontiac and Oldsmobile models. -Buick stayed with their 231 V6, which is a great motor to have in this chassis. V8's were available in the others thru the 1979 model year. In 1980 Buick and Oldsmobile models were phased out and the 3.8L / 231ci V6 was the biggest engine available in the Monza and Sunbird line. The updated 3.8 liter V6 for 1980 had a similar tourqe to weight ratio as the V8 so all performance hope wasnt lost. Since the v6 was a little bit lighter over the front wheels than the v8, the handling was a little better. The standard productionrun , that would have been over in august 1980, ran until November of 1980. Some 40k extra units were assembled. Some dealerships titled these cars as 1981's. The Hs cars were among the smallest and lightest GM platforms ever to have a V8 engine option available. A typical V8 4spd car will tip the scales at only about 3,000 lbs!!! Overall, almost 750,000 Hs cars were built. The first 3 years of production were in St Therese ,Quebec, Canada. In 1978 production was moved to the plant where Vega's were being built in Lordstown Ohio. Southgate California also assembled some H body's from 75 to 80. |
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