A heavy facelift and some model rationalisation was applied to the HJ Monaro, which was released in October 1974. The 350 V8 engine option and the base Monaro coupe were both discontinued.

The Monaro GTS continued to be available as a coupe or sedan with 253 cu in (4,150 cc) V8 power, or the optional 308 cu in (5,050 cc) V8 engine. The GTS sedan was now a model of its own—in HQ the GTS sedan was an optioned Kingswood. The Monaro LS coupe also continued within the range, but still with the 3.3-litre six-cylinder engine as its base power unit.

The body paint-outs were discontinued in the HJ Monaro GTS range, but for the first time, the Monaro could be dressed up with optional front and rear spoilers. It seemed that Holden were no longer interested in promoting the Monaro GTS coupe as a performance machine and this became all the more obvious with the HJ coupe series having retained the HQ model's rear body styling.

The HJ Monaro LS coupe is close to being the rarest regular production car ever made in Australia with only 337 units produced. The HJ Monaro GTS coupe was discontinued during 1975 due to falling demand, 606 examples having been produced.