1 Nov 1976
The forgotten Sunbird is more significant than people realise. It introduced RTS and forever transformed the way Australian-made cars handled.
And it proved that Holden was listening to buyers by giving them Japanese levels of value – so out went bench seats, column changes and spartan interiors.
Otherwise, trim and grille aside, it looked like the unloved LX Torana 1900 it usurped.
From May ’77 it was also Holden’s first four-cylinder hatch – in base and SL models.
In late ’78 the facelifted UC Sunbird featured the first Australian-designed four-cylinder engine, the much-maligned Starfire series.
