The Chevy Monza was something of a sporty replacement for the Vega subcompact. It debuted in 1976 using the same platform and powertrains as the Vega. At first, it was only sold as a fastback/hatchback, but a notchback coupe soon appeared. The Mirage was offered in 1977-only with modified body panels installed by an outside contractor and (sometimes) Chevy dealers. Located in Tyrone, Georgia, this one-owner project is available here on Facebook Marketplace as a “Monday” (apparently FB doesn’t have a fill-in for Monza) for $2,500. Kudos to Moparman for another unusual tip.
Chevy customers were first exposed to the Monza name as an upscale version of the air-cooled Corvair in the 1960s. After that car ran out of production in 1969, the moniker was retired for several years. It returned in 1976, lasted through 1980 as a small car, and spawned cousins at other GM divisions. Only in 1977 was the Mirage model added with body modifications developed by Michigan Auto Techniques (MAT). It was only offered in white and had red and blue stripes.
The cars stuck out because of the use of protruding fiberglass body panels with an air dam up front and a spoiler in the rear. Estimates are that nearly 4,100 of these cars were modified by MAT, with an unknown number put together by Chevy dealers. If you wanted a V8 engine, you could order your Mirage with a 305 cubic inch motor, the only choice beyond stock inline-4 power (leftover from the Vega).
We’re told this Mirage project runs and all of the parts are there to complete a restoration. The odometer reading is 61,000 miles, and this unit has an automatic transmission as opposed to a 4-speed manual. These were seldom-seen cars when new (the Mirage, that is), but the regular Monza was all over the place at the time. I owned a 1980 Pontiac Sunbird hatchback when it was new, not one of the best cars I ever owned. I think it was $6,500 out the door.
Ad shows as SOLD. Good for the seller. The ad left something to be desired, but the price overcame that.
Steve R
Now kids, this was a true widebody
Cue the spark plug changing stories.
Nah. Nothing that a good, sharp, hole saw couldn’t fix.
Bought a 1980 Sunbird V6 4speed without knowing how to drive a stick. The salesman taught me on the test drive, lol. Unlike Russ I had a very good experience with my Sunbird. Had no problems and the V6 4speed combo was great fun. These Mirages were strange cars when they came out and I think the public wasn’t sure what to think. However, to even find one in decent shape is remarkably. Hope the buyer restores this car to running shape.
The Monza 2+2 debuted for the 1975 model year.
I owned several Monzas in the late ’80s. Didn’t have one of these, but did have a Spyder with v8 and 4 speed. Favorite was a fastback that I swapped a Buick 231 v6 into, made an adapter for a non electronic Rochester 2 barrel and a MSD ignition. Surprised a lot of people with that car…
Beautiful design totally screwed up by hanging all that crap on it. What a travesty.
I’d rather a 76 Sunbird notch with the V6 that was offered. Or a 78 with the new Iron Duke 4. Both body styles remain underappreciated and were a couple of the best designs from GM in that period.
Compare with the baroque, misshapen Monte Carlo showing up in the mid 70s after the beautiful original. Or the crude bumper grafting with those disintegrating composite plastic panels and vanity fillers covering up where the old bumpers were designed to fit.
This Monza version looks like a high school kid’s first car “upgraded” with all the junk one could find in a JC Whitney catalog. What a mess. Almost bad were the Mustang IIs with every go fast stripe and stick on body mod Ford could slap on it.
The whole decade was a dark one for cars in general. This Monza was peak compensation for it lacked in reality.
Go faster stripes, spoilers, mags, ground effects, rear window louvers, styled wheels and a rip snorting 4 cylinder with 80 emissions strangled hp under the hood….
The ironic thing is…. even this cartoon car is more interesting than the universal CUV shape of every car on the road currently with their low effort grey scale color pallet, standardized horizontal tail lights and scowling grilles.
I hope the new owner brings it back in all it’s glory. I can’t stand it, but against our current dreary automotive landscape, it deserves to be seen and remembered for the enthusiasm we lost.
As cynical a product as this was there was still some creative energy with it even as tasteless as it is.
“You don’t know what you’ve lost till it’s gone”….
I had the standard Skyhawk version. The front disk brakes are way too small and melted those plastic wheel covers.
I was impressed with one of these in the day. Set up with a modified 350 etc. it out performed the rest of the field, including Sunbeam tigers, at Nelson Ledges .
It looks like a tough rebuild but how many are on the road today?
Man, always thought these Monzas were cool especially the widebody ones. This one looks like it was in not bad shape for the price.
As a kid, I loved building model cars, and I think this Monza and also the Mustang II were my favorite body styles to build. I had multiple models of those two kinds of cars. The widebody monsters were really nice. I really enjoyed IMSA styled bodies. This car would be pretty cool a little lowered and with wide road wheels.
I agree. Cool car with 3 pedals.
Found one a couple of months ago in a local wrecking yard. Complete car – only rust was surface. V8 4spd. Tried, but the yard wouldn’t sell the whole thing.
Reincarnation of the Vega. No thanks
The Monza came out in 1974 as a 1975 model. During development Chevrolet considered putting a Wankel in them.
In 1974 Chevrolet teamed up with Dekon Engineering to develop a racing version of the Monza for the IMSA AAGT race series. Lee Dykstra designed a full race tube frame version of the Monza with wide body flares (much wider than those on the Mirage) to enclose the 25″ race rubber used on them. The Dekon Monza’s weighed about 2400 pounds race ready and were initially powered by 5 liter V8’s with Weber induction, though over the years various other Chevy V8’s and induction systems found their way into Dekon’s. Around 16 Monza’s were built by Dekon, with a number of other similar Monza’s built by other shops, most with parts supplied by Dekon. The Dekon’s were quite successful with many famous drivers from the era racing them, including Al Holbert, Chris Cord, Mo Carter and John Paul.
The vintage road racer I crew for had the last Dekon Monza, chassis #16 in the mid 2000’s. It was sold in 07 and the last I heard it was being restored back to how it appeared when first raced in 1978.
I was wondering when the Dekon Monzas would be mentioned. I thought they were very cool then and still do.
My dads buddy bought V8 4 speed version of this car and put it on jack stands in his garage and covered it up. He died several years ago and his wife sold it and his mint 96 F150 Eddie Bauer. I believe the Mirage had about 100 miles on it
The Chevrolet Monza came out in 1975.
I was in the military and had a Mustang II but was planning to replace it with the 1977 Chevrolet Monza Spyder (similar car without the stuck on panels). Got stationed in Scotland instead, and brought home a 914 2 liter and I have been mostly Euro car, since.
I might consider renting a trailer and picking the car up if he was really going to pay somebody 2500 to haul it off. What a disaster for GM. I repaired several of these in the early 80s and was amazed at the panels and rod braces they crammed under the fender wells to try to support a V8. You could jack the cars up on the crossmember and watch the fender gaps get wider. My buddy had 1, the door hinge bushings sucked so the doors wouldn’t open so he climbed out the window. One day, while driving this “classic” it quit, he coasted it off the road, climbed out the window and walked home. Bye Monza.