I’ve always enjoyed cars that still reside in or near the town they were originally purchased in. There’s just something comforting about the notion of a buyer bringing home his pride and joy, going to the same dealer for oil changes, and the car or truck in question living a gentle existence in a comfortable southern town. This 1977 Chevy Monte Carlo here on craigslist has been in Georgia its whole life and only has 29,988 miles from new. It’s available for $3,500.
The interior of this Monte shows as you would expect for a low-mileage driver. Blue is not everyone’s cup of tea, but these were the 70s – you needed your personal luxury coupe to match the color of your leisure suit. Given this car’s southern location and limited use, it wouldn’t surprise me if the car was purchased as a retirement gift or some other send-off into one’s golden years. Supposedly, the spare tire has never been on the ground and the interior is in fine shape, but the paint is a bit dull and dinged at the moment.
The car was purchased new at Welborn Chevrolet in Rome, Georgia, and it sounds like the Monte Carlo never went far. It’s interesting to see how information packets were pretty informal affairs when purchasing a new car in this era of automobile sales. Just circle whichever model the customer is buying, write down the color and send them off. I’m sure these days dealerships have a custom app for your iPhone that builds a personal profile of your new car and confirms when your next service appointment is before you walk out the door.
While I wouldn’t call the Monte Carlo a collector car, I do like it for being a swoopy American coupe that fosters an automatic association with an era known for big coupes and low power. These cars were meant to cruise slowly, and I can easily imagine this one with some aftermarket headers and an exhaust to let it rumble a little more deeply, while leaving everything else stock. I’d first see if the paint can be buffed back to life before a full-body respray, as a car with mileage so low should remain as preserved as possible. Would you modify anything else?
In the 70’s and 80’s I was a rep for a major carpet mill in Dalton Ga Rome was a “suburb” of Dalton. Dalton is also home to Marla Maples one of Mr Trumps ex’s. Anyway I had a mantra back then. If I was told I had one day left to live I’d move to Dalton because it would seem like a year. Good looking Monte Carlo though.
Lots of life left in this car. Nice daily driver for the summer. If you are going to put headers and dual exhaust on it, you may as well put an aluminum intake and small four barrel carburetor.
I remember my neighbor having a black Monte with a 454 in it. It also had swivel bucket front seat’s that would turn sideways to the door’s. Car was nice for it’s time,but I liked the same era Buick Riviera much more.
$3.5k is probably close to its original sticker price. I had a 77. Nice riding car but useless in the snow. It might as well stay in Ga.
I had one the same colors and drive train. It was an absolutely wonderful car. Rode and drove excellent. I traded it for a new 1980 Corvette. I wish I still had it. The Vette was nice for looks but It rode like it had square wheels on it. The vette only lasted 5 months and it was gone. Only lost about 2 thousand but, it was worth it.
Great car have had plenty of Monte Carlo ‘s over the past 30 years . The late 70’s lack of power but we’re built like tanks .
I grew up in the back seat of one of these. I gauged my growth by the decreasing space I had to sleep across the back seat on the way home from dinner parties.
My dad had a maroon one when he lived in Oklahoma in late 76′, it had a 454 and drove really nice on the open road. $5k is my guess on the top bid for this one.
I like the ones with round headlights and recessed taillights a little better. There was a story that Richard Nixon gave a white one to Leonid Brezhnev, noted Russian car buff and dictator. He could be seen tooling around Moscow in it. This brilliant bit of diplomacy never got off the ground, though. Can you imagine if the U.S. would have done the same for other foreign leaders? They’d all be acting like King S**t (something they were good at anyway) driving around Rudhabidhou in their Montes. They’d have to be nice to us so they could get spare parts to keep them running. Some people thought Nixon went too far. Truth is he didn’t go far enough.
This was the last year of the good looking monte carlo’s the 1978’s were an ugly turd that you could see driving by with the bumper mouldings falling off. The 1980’s version got better looking again but this one is the one I liked.
With a 305 engine it may have the TH200 transmission, which is garbage.
Had a 1974 Monte loved that car,great on hiway had a 350/350turbo trans. Only one problem. Those heavy doors gave me lots of work to keep them working .wish I could afford to buy that one
When your in Rome…
Bucket seats and a 572.
This is the current owner and it had a base price of 4990 and with the options on this one it was 6092. I have the dealer paperwork.
My grandma bought a new monte carlo in 1974
My grandfather had recently passed away and always drove big Stataion wagons withe the biggest engine he could get…he always told me when you buy a car..get the big engine you will never regret it.
When he died he was driving a 1969 Kingswood estate wagon with a 427 hide away headlights
White with the woodgrain sides…tan interior 9 passenger and hard loaded with all the toys..I remember it being a very stunning wagon
Any way grandma was not going to drive that wagon around so off to the Chevy dealer she goes and remembering her husbands words comes home in a new 1974 monte carlo with a 454.
It was white..white landau top..red velour interior…swivel buckets…sun roof…they sold her every option right down to the rust proofing…lifetime wax job..pinstripes
Im sure grandma really got screwed that day but that was one beautiful monte. I got to drive it a few years later when I got my license
I remember a nice rumble and it seemed to just float down the road and I really loved to play with those swivel seats….cool car
Love the first generation.