As a person who is passionate about motor-sport, the Chevrolet Monza holds a special place in my heart. From the late 1970s through until the mid-1980s, the Monza achieved huge levels of success across many different categories. Barn Finder Pat L brought this Monza to our attention, and I’d like to thank Pat for rekindling some memories from my younger days. You will find this Monza listed for sale here on Craigslist. It is located in Clay Township, Michigan, and is being offered for sale with a clean title. the owner has set the price for the Monza at $4,500.
The seller states that the car has been sitting for at least 15 years, but that the body and paint are in good condition. Certainly what I believe to be the original Dark Blue Metallic paint looks to be in quite good condition. There may be a small amount of rust in the lower front fender on the passenger side, but it is really hard to tell. Overall, the car looks to be quite clean, with just a few minor dents and chips to contend with.
The interior looks to be quite good. Honestly, I think that a day spent detailing the interior would bring it up a treat. It doesn’t look like anyone has hacked into the dash or door trims to fit an aftermarket stereo, and the seats, carpet, and dash pad look good. The only thing that sounds any alarm bells is the sight of what looks like rust on the top of the rocker right near the front of the door frame. I hope that I’m wrong on that.
The vast majority of Monzas built in 1976 were fitted with the 140ci 4-cylinder engine, but this example is fitted with the 262ci V8. Even better, this one is backed by a 4-speed manual transmission. The seller states that the car runs and drives, but that it would pay to give the car a good service, a tune-up, and probably rebuild the carburetor and brakes to be on the safe side. That seems like sound advice to me. The 262 wasn’t the most powerful of engines, but the Monza also wasn’t a particularly heavy car, so performance could be quite spritely.
The seller of this Monza is claiming that the car has only traveled 57,000 miles. As usual, I would hope that they are able to verify this claim. Looking at the market at present reveals that quite a few Monzas have laid down their lives in the name of motor-sport and that there are not many unmodified examples to be had at present. If this car is solid, then it could represent a pretty affordable restoration project.
I think there is more rust than shows in the ad. That’s too bad, it’s a neat little car.
Steve R
The last new car (and actually the only new car) I ever had was a 1976 Olds Starfire GT. It was a lot like this car except it had the lumpy odd-fire 231 V-6. Power was reasonable (it replaced an MGB) and the 4-speed was fun. The interior was well laid out and I found the seats remarkably comfortable.
On the downside it would rust at the mention of rain. It came equipped with the infamous Firestone 500 tires which managed to twist themselves into a reasonable imitation of a Mobius strip.
Mine was bright orange and my wife insists that she married me in spite of the car. I loved it and eventually replaced it with a 1st gen Rx7 which I also loved.
Never replaced the wife, whom I also still love.
I owned a Starfire GT as well. White with black Stripes and black interior. It had terrible braking, bad factory paint, rust issues, and went thru alot of clutches. I traded it in at 120k with the doors tied together with rope. The hinges were rusted that bad. Those cars were junk.
Really depends where you live. Here in Colorado I have several of these cars with zero rust, doors open and close like new. Also sitting outside all their lives, not garaged. I’ve seen Cadillac’s in the condition you describe, but they were in the rust belt, PA, NJ, NY, MI. Not the car, the climate you’re in.
Ccrvtt,
My first and only brand-new car was a 75 Red Monza 262 V8 with a Turbo 350. I was service manager at our local Pontiac/Chevrolet/International Harvester dealer. When my friends would ask “hey I bet that V8 makes it really fast, right?” All I could do was hang my head and say no, no it doesn’t… It was however a very comfortable car that, IMHO, handled really well. Sadly, it had the same brakes as a Vega, non-ventilated front rotors and little go-cart drums on the rear. After several successive hard stops the breaks would just fade away to nothing! The brakes got so hot it melted the plastic hub caps!! The District Rep just told me I was driving it too hard! But strangely enough the next year they came with ventilated rotors and larger rear drums.
We were also a Firestone dealer back then and oh yeah, we had a huge pile of junk Firestone 500s out back!!
Didn’t your mechanics at your dealership warn you about this car before your purchase?
How long did it take before the motor mount broke off?
Can’t say i know a whole lot about the Monza, but this one seems to be in pretty good shape and the V8 with a manual seem to sweeten the deal.
My dad leased a 1976 Monza (just like this one) that was the bright orange color. It had the 262 V8 and the 4 speed manual. My mother hated driving the car because she couldn’t back it up our driveway without either killing it or roasting the tires!
just like the body style of these GM mid 70’s Jap fighters….sorry if I often someone….
We are all someone — more often than not….
Not much fan of these but Its an original looks Unmolested , to the new buyer Please Dont molest / hot rod just keep it Original !
My friend “Fast Ed” had a red one in high school w/ the 262 4-speed. The rear tires were bald and it would only go sideways in even a light rain. It seemed powerful at the time. This one looks cool, too bad a flipper found it and marked it up without doing the minor fix-its.
I had a ’75 Monza Town Coupe with the 262 V8 and a 4-speed. Trans was a piece of junk because it came from the Vega and was not up to the torque of a V-8. I blew synchros constantly. To change one of the plugs you actually had to jack up the engine on one side. Don’t have very fond memories of them at all.
Good luck changing plugs. I believe these motors had to be lifted off the mounts to get at a couple.
How often do you really worry about changing plugs nowadays? Platinum plugs will go 60,000 miles.
That’s true, but this car is not from “nowadays”. When was the last time you drove a tired SBC. If it DOESN’T use oil, there’s something wrong. My ex had a Monza like this, and plug changes were a regular thing, although, hers was a 305, and didn’t require lifting the motor. It was just a miserable car to work on.
Your comment is so peculiar when I think about working on a simple Monza V-8, as opposed to all of the late model vehicles, such as mini vans, or other front wheel drives, where all the components are impossible to see or touch.
I’m not talking about modern cars, this was 40 years ago, and unless you had one, I know, it was a miserable car to work on. I think I got half my socket extensions and swivel joints after working on this car. They did come in handy for that miserable S-10 Blazer, however.
I had a GF whose dad would let me take their Buick out with the 231 V6…always had a blast in it…
I. owned two Monzas. One was a 1975 Towne Coupe with the Chevy 4 cylinder, not the Pontiac “Iron Duke”, that leaked oil like a sieve, and a 1980 2+2 with the Buick 3.8 V6. Both cars had 4 speed trannys and both cars were fun to drive. I liked driving the 2+2 the best. The guy I bought it from had lowered it two inches and installed a heavy competition clutch and retuned the engine.When I popped the clutch,which only required one inch to engage, that car would launch like it had an Atlas rocket under the hood. My exwife drove the Towne coupe. It finally gave out and since I had gotten laid off, I couldn’t afford to get a new engine for it. eventually had to get rid of both cars because we needed cash. Wish I could have kept the 2+2.
Rare to see one that hasn’t been turned into some sort of drag car. Nice survivor at a relatively reasonable price point.
Oh this stings. Not too far from me. If I had the physical ability and a place to store it, I’d grab it right now.
This car has (what appears to be) the little yellow plugs indicating that it was rust-proofed. Wish the seller would affirm this. I was going to buy a Monza in THIS color; it was a special order, and the customer wanted a full size spare. Since it would not fit in the spare tire well, they’d bolted it down in the rear hatch area. For some unknown reason, the customer refused delivery, and the spare in the rear area made it a no go for meas well! :-)
If I had the room I’d buy it. The design to begin with is stunning. Next, I had one of these briefly with an automatic an power steering, and it was a little monster.Everybody laughed at it until the light turned green………..Downside was poor insulation and poor quality switch equipment. My neighbor had to have it for his daughter, no slouch behind the wheel, so I sold it to him. I broke even.
I think finding the V-8 in one of these is a very rare find! Add in the four-speed manual transmission, and wow! Just don’t try any stupid things if, as was stated above, the transmission is a weak Vega unit. This would be a fun little car to use as a daily driver.
I had an 81 Monza with the 231 V6, I think mine was a GT because it had the rear and front air dam factory and rally wheels with a posi rear diff. I can’t complain I drove the car 124000 miles with virtually no problems, although I was putting on around 1000 miles a week.
I think by 1981 this car was long gone.
I had a 76 the same color as this for a demo. It was a 4cyl. 5 speed. Tranny went bad at 1500 miles. It sat in the shop for a month till a guy from the factory came to fix it. At 9000 miles it developed a main bearing knock. That was it for me. I got a Malibu Classic next.
Not bad for the money. Yes, there are some issues, but this car is over 40 years old. May have had some hard usage. But, even brand new, they weren’t rugged vehicles. Most had 4 cylinders, meant for some small errands and commuting. I could use this as a daily driver. Hmmm… Food for thought.
I bought a purple 75 Monza 2+2 262 V8/automatic new back in the day. Drove it 4+ years, up to about 75000 miles. It was a good sporty car for the time. I had a flip up sun roof installed in the no ac car. The floor vents with sun roof flipped open provided a great air flow on hot days, but even the tinted glass didn’t block the sun’s rays very effectively. The 262 motor was a real pain in the a– to change plugs in. The car ran really well and was a good road car for two. By 75000 miles, the entire front suspension was shot and rust became a real issue even though car was always garaged. Earl Schieb sanded down the rust and quickly painted it before I traded it in on the purchase of another Chevrolet/ GM failure, a 79 Chevy Scottsdale 350 diesel pick up that gave me 50000 great miles before trouble started, 2 injector pumps, 3 cracked heads and 15000 miles later, I sold it. That ended my GM owner experiences except for 2 classic Avantis I currently own with Chevy drive trains.
The ’81 with the spoilers on it was called the Spider
Mitch, the ’81 what was called the Spyder?
My dad bought my mom a blue 76 Monza, that I mostly drove. LOVED it. He special ordered it in an automatic V8, and I’m pretty sure it was a 305 V8. That thing MOOOVED. When he finally sold it to some man, that man came back 3 days later mad as heck because the engine mounts failed and the motor fell out! My dad pretty much said “too bad!”.