Chevy’s personal luxury car, the Monte Carlo, was enormously popular in the 1970s, especially during the “Colonnade” styling era from 1973-77. The seller’s car is a 1976 example with Landau trim and has less than 1,300 overall miles, making it possibly the lowest odometer reading of any of these surviving cars. The original owner had it for 40+ years and barely used the Chevrolet, and documentation will come with the sale to validate it. Located in Sacramento, California, this almost as-new vehicle is available here on eBay where the most recent bid rings in at $12,700.
The Monte Carlo was treated to a mild, yet attractive facelift in 1976, with a new grille and vertical rectangular headlights. A variety of engines could be had, starting with a 305 cubic inch V8 (140 hp), 350 with a 2-barrel (145 hp), and a 400 that was good for 175 horses. There was a 4-barrel 350, but it was designated for cars only sold in California, and this Chevy was delivered in Texas. The seller doesn’t mention which engine the first buyer selected. Even though gas prices continued to rise, the Monte Carlo had a record sales year in ’76, with 162,000 Landaus and 353,000 units sold overall.
As the story goes, the Chevy’s original female owner bought the auto new in Wichita Falls and only managed to put 1,249 miles on the odometer (about 25 more have been added since then). How that happens is beyond me, but the automobile looks no worse for its extended hibernation. Everything except consumables is original, right down to the Lime Green Metallic paint and the white interior with swivel bucket seats. The only visible flaw is that the two seatbacks may need to be dyed white again.
For safety reasons, the original tires have been replaced and the machine drives well, so we’re told. It should be ready to go anywhere at any time. A dealer is involved in the sale of this vehicle, so trades will be considered. While it looks good and the seller’s report is great, a 47-year-old car with so few miles needs to be looked over from stem to stern before venturing on the road.
The VIN decodes as having a 350 2bbl. This has the ‘Economizer Gauge Package’ with a big vacuum gauge in the big left pod, plus a volt and temperature gauge. Also, I spy a remote for the passenger mirror, (right of the radio), delay wipers, and a blower type rear defogger. I’m thinking this was a transition year from a blower to electric grid, (for Chevys), but it could be based on the factory…
Beautiful example. I hope the seller gets cash and more than the current bid. I love a Chevy.
Hardly seems like the kind of car someone would save, esp in those days. People actually used cars and didn’t consider them as investments (except the 78 Vette, and we all know how that turned out). Bet there is a sad story here. (might be nice if the site operators would call sellers and get some back ground history on cars like this. The present seller gets nation wide publicity via this site and the readers get added value. A win win) Hopefully a new owner will get some joy out of it. Don’t care for the color, any other and I bet the price would be higher.
My Mom’s 76 Malibu Classic had that same Instrument Panel, loved watching the Economy Gauge needle go to “Minimum” when you’d floor it. Dad had bought it with the handling package, and the Firestone “721” tires. Didn’t realize the 4barrel 350 was exclusive to California. Got it to 200K in 1992 before it wouldn’t pass NC Safety Inspection (“Catalytic Converter’s Missing? how did that happen?”) Sold it for $200 to a Marine who also worked at an Inspection shop…
Love the color combo, seemed like so many of these were equipped with black interiors and silver or white exterior. Stunning in the green and white.
The rear bumper is strong. But no match for my skull. Took a hit from one in 1994 was in a coma a week. But the bumper ended up in two pieces.
Wow! Not your typical Barn Finds reminiscent story. Hope you’re ok
I had a 74 with the 400 engine that I special ordered. It was a great driving and handling car.
Beautiful car, nicely optioned. I don’t care for green, either, but it’s nice to see one of these in such beautiful, original condition.
How about some under the hood pictures? That would be nice?
You had me at swivel buckets!
I have a 1976 Monte Landau. It has black exterior and saddle interior. Electric bench seat. Needs TLC. It’s up for sale. Only 32k miles on it. (610)513-7930
I have my doubts about this car. This 47 year old car is supposedly a one owner vehicle with the same owner for 40 years. If that’s a typo it’s a big one. After being off the road for how many ever years according to the seller the only work done was to replace the dry-rotted tires. Now it supposedly runs and drives excellent with less than 30 miles added after the claimed original 1249 miles. The car must be a unicorn to be in such shape after 40+ year of being parked. How was this car maintained during and/or after its hibernation? As KC points out there are no images of what is under the hood. There is no mention of the engine size (305/350/400) and also no images of the underside. To me the clincher is a used car dealer who can’t/won’t acknowledge the car has been repainted.
From what I’ve read and the available images this looks like a well-kept 100K+ mile car with a refreshed interior which seats 8.
A more common name for the ‘fuel mileage estimator gauge’ is ‘vacuum gauge.’
Pretty hilarious and absurd comment all around. Not the least of which is the “seats 8” ridiculousness. Can’t do anything but shake my head.
The “seats 8” is from the vehicle specifications listed in auction. It’s just one of a number of suspicious ‘facts’ the seller claimed. Shiny things can be distracting for some.
I agree, I too don’t know if the miles are real without photos of the undercarriage and engine compartment. But I can tell you these ultra low mileage type of cars are not unicorns and do exist. Retired now from probate court in settling estates, and over my time we came across more than one, in fact several extremely low mile cars that were only registered and licensed just one or two years before being parked while settling complicated family estates. Each case had an interesting story why the cars were parked, and never or hardly ever driven, but I can say for certain none had any maintenance performed during storage until removed, as I saw all of them in person. Stayed in touch with some of the owners relatives that actually still have some of these cars from the estates we settled. I see one at local shows every year and very little had to be down to it to get it road worthy other than tires, and some cooling system attention. Lost track of the others but I know they were also driven with little work when taken over by the new owners. None were as nice looking style wise as this Monte Carlo, as most were just basic four door sedans that we came across over the years. Anyway, would love to see more photos of this one that would help validate the miles, and if real this is a special car.
Suspicious to me as well. Buy a brand new car and only put that many miles on it? No passing or anything? Makes zero sense.
Have seen a few like this in my business as probate estate court settlements over the years, they are out there, all sorts of reason why they were never driven and placed in storage, with some real interesting stories. But this add is scam, the seller posted photos from an actual car from another website and tried to sell it as his, but many are real, in fact I own a couple with ultra low miles.
Ultra low mileage cars are extremely common and come up for sale every day. Look at Bring A Trailer if you doubt it. Nothing remotely suspicious about that.
The issues with this auction that proved it was a scam have nothing to do with the low mileage of the car.
This vehicle year/make/model forget about color with this low of milage won’t be on BAT all the time, certainly not common, or if you prefer not uncommon. As an economist you don’t understand the term properly, and are mixing sample population, another logic fail.
It would make me more suspicious, looking at the vehicle closer. Buyer beware another basic principle.
Ultra low mileage vehicles come in all shapes and sizes. I didn’t make the claim that Montes in this color combo are available commonly with ultra low mileage, I said ultra low mileage vehicles generally. You’re creating suspicion via a circular argument where no suspicion exists.
Objective Systems Analysis my Profession, Economist. Combat troop, I don’t make circular nonsense arguments or conclusions. That’s a projection.
I said forgot about color, that’s too narrow. You must take the vehicle year make and model for an initial production population. Then the population of these vehicles available with so low miles. That will be a percentage.
Further, you must consider all the other variables in the article, like lack of pictures, vendor, etc buyer beware as well
To then come up with a reasonable objective conclusion
I’m suspicious, you can not be
But don’t tell me I make nonsense arguments
That’s nonsense
A guy I started kindergarten with had a 76 the same color as this one when we were in highschool. His had a bench seat is the only difference. The odometer was screwed up, every time it was at 36,999 instead of going to 37000 it would go back to 36000. Too many drunken nights took its toll on the car and it was totaled somewhere around 1980. RIP Dwight
Did Dwight yeild to a “drunken night”? If so, I hope it was only him, though that is rarely the case. Drunk driving seems to be tolerated on this sight, if not glorified.
Nope, Dwight passed about 2 years ago. Don’t want to glorify drunk driving either. I did my share of that stuff and glad I don’t do that today. It is a miracle that I didn’t kill myself with it and a bigger miracle that I didn’t harm anyone else. What I like most about this site is all the memories I think of when I see some of these cars and the people that drove them
And now it’s gone from ebay. Not sold, just not there.
With only 1250 mi on it why would you need to be replacing the center grill in the front or the tail lights in the back?
My guess as to why the low mileage is becuase of the interior. I won’t be able to get in there either.
In addition to the other inconsistencies already mentioned, the car is allegedly in Sacramento, CA but has Texas license plates? And now eBay says it can’t find the listing?
Surprised how this is confusing to some.. the seller bought it out of Texas and brought it home, and is obviously flipping it without registering it in their name. Happens every single day in the modern world where cars are bought and sold all over the world sight unseen.
It’s 1578 miles from Wichita Falls to Sacramento! Was it trailered from one place to the other?
Not in ebay?
Lime green over White. God I miss the ‘70s!
Great looking Monte!
Yeah, I could park it inside but it would clash with my ‘70’s avocado green dream kitchen Lol
I’ve never particularly cared for the color green, especially in cars, until I saw THIS green–what a beauty! Accidentally spilling a cup of black coffee, or anything, on those seats would ruin someone’s day.
Why on earth would you ever have ANY drink like that in an ultra low mileage classic car like this? Waste 50 years of good stewardship all over a drink? Incredibly foolish.
When eBay finds a questionable listing, or gets more than a few complaints, the listing is eliminated, not just pulled. If it was sold, the listing would be marked as sold, but it could still be accessed for 30 days.
As many people commented here, too many questions arise over the mileage claims. And with zero feedback, I figure Ebay acted quickly [hard to believe] in stopping the listing.
I have been buying and selling classic cars on ebay since 1998. Ebay won’t pull and ad due to the number of questions or complaints and will allow the seller to pretty much represent the car mileage and condition anyway they want. Been through this with Ebay many times. Ebay will never get involved with mileage claims, except for vehicles with carfax information which is only going to apply to late model cars and trucks. It is really up to the buyer to view the car and validate the condition and miles, as ebay is not equipped to make those determinations, nor would we want them too.
Based on my experience few scenarios could have happened here, either an offer was made on the car and someone bought it by contacting the seller directly, or the buyer sold it via another ad on another venue, which happens a lot, as sellers will list cars in many places not just ebay. Once sold the seller pulls the ad. Or the ad was a scam and with a photo taken off of the internet and then listed as a legitimate car for sale, or some other type of fraud possibly came to light, which usually means someone contacted the seller and the seller made some out of the ordinary request such as money down to hold the car, or some delivery scam, or some issue with the title that made the buyer fell like something was not right, etc.. If any of these are reported to ebay. Ebay then will pull the listing if that is in fact what happened.
Apparently, EBay has become more vigilant of scams lately and has been pulling ads. When you see an add like this one being completely eliminated from EBay, it means that EBay themselves did it.
A seller cannot do this, the best they can do is post a reason that the item is no longer available.
This is DEFINITELY a scam, and that is why it was pulled by EBay. I found the same car, sold in 2019 on BAT for 25K. HOWEVER, that sale happened AFTER the EBay pictures were taken. The BAT auction car has slightly more miles, and the Texas plate shown in the EBay photos are in the trunk.
It was also sold at Mecum Kissimmee in 2021 for 33K.
In 1976 I was working at a small motel on Miami Beach, Fla. The company car was a ’76 Monte in this same green (I hate green and this green screamed “look at me!”) With a white landau top and white interior only with a power bench seat.
At the time, I had a 1973 Caprice Estate wagon, which the manager loved! He would always borrow my car for whatever errand he had to run, to Orlando or wherever. He always gave me the Monte Carlo.
At the time I did not care for the styling of the ’76/’77, preferred the ’70, ’71 & ’72, but I must confess, it was a nice driving car and had a little get up and go. This particular vehicle is questionable with all the claims. I’m sure it is possible, but highly improbable.
Ah, the memories this car brought back.
Longest production hood EVER on that yr Monty
Not even close. Not even the longest Monte Carlo hood ever made. I swear, some people just spew out regurgitated nonsense just to hear themselves talk and make no effort to fact check it before they do.
It was long though. We had a snow day in North Alabama so it was pizza day too.
My brother got the keys to the LTD (429 4bbl) but that meant he wanted to drive too. I grabbed the keys to the 74 Monte (454) and we both went to the gas station in rural Vinemont where we had to meet the delivery driver.
Brother got the pizza in his front seat and I got our little sister in exchange.
The Monte was on his tail, but he could drive and blocked any attempt to pass until the Monte hit that ice covered grass right hand passing lane and motored past and slid back on the road in front and out of bro’s life.
Story would be cooler if sis and me didn’t have to wait for him anyway to eat pizza.
In 1982, I bought a used 76 Monte with 99,000 miles, yeah we actually drove cars then, not stashed them away in hopes of doing better than the Fortune 500. Paid $1,800. One of the best cars I ever owned, only a few repairs in the next 100,000 miles, mostly done by myself. Swivel buckets like this those in mahogany cloth to match the exterior color. 305, but someone took off the catalytic converter and put a Holley on it before I bought it. Drove that baby nearly 75 miles a day to work and back, snow, rain, etc. Miss it. I worked on these new at a Chevy dealer. We sold all we could get.