Collectors tend to focus a lot on the rarity of a certain make and model of a car or its options. However, finding a limited production car from the eighties is hard. Modern production is focused on punching out as many vehicles as possible. Unless, of course, you need to produce a specially modified vehicle to be successful in racing. This 1987 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS Aero Coupe for sale on Craigslist in Glens Falls, New York is already a rare car with a scant 6,052 produced that year. However, this car is a bit different than the rest. Can you believe this NASCAR-focused special edition was built with as few options as possible? Why would you do that? Do you think that having almost no options makes the car worth more? Is the $19,500 price reflective of the additional rarity of as few options as possible, or is that situation a drag on the price? Thanks to Mitchell G. for the tip!
Special bodies and parts are a time-honored practice in auto racing. This can cause problems in series where the race cars are supposed to be production-based. Modifications without the blessing of the officials can be seen as an unfair advantage, cheating, or somewhere in that grey area in between. One of the ways that sanctioning bodies fight against this is to mandate that the body or part is available on a certain number of production vehicles. This is called homologation, which has historically hovered around 500 units in many series. This was very common in the fifties and sixties when auto racing was incredibly popular, and everyone from Ford to Ferrari played the game. One of the most famous examples were the Dodge Daytona and Plymouth Superbird in NASCAR. To get the aerodynamic advantage that the nose and wing provided, 500 Daytonas had to be built before NASCAR would sanction the body style for competition in 1969. In 1970, NASCAR raised that requirement to a pair of Superbirds for every Plymouth dealer.
The practice wasn’t as widespread in the eighties. However, when Ford redesigned the Thunderbird for the 1983 model year, the new car’s aerodynamic good looks were also gold on the racetrack. The reduced drag of the slippery new Thunderbird gave it an advantage over its boxy GM competition at longer speedways. This situation was exacerbated by the drubbing that Bill Elliot put on the competition with his number 9 Ford Thunderbird during this era. NASCAR has always said that they want to keep competition close between brands and has used the rule book to achieve that goal in a frequently uneven and self-serving fashion. However, some felt that the Thunderbird held a competitive advantage for too long. Many of the folks who held that view either raced for General Motors-backed teams or were the ones who wrote checks to both the teams and NASCAR. A thinly veiled threat to withhold funding has always been a surefire way to get NASCAR to see your side of an argument.
In 1986, Chevrolet and Pontiac decided to do something about the aerodynamics issue by making fastback versions of the Monte Carlo and the Grand Prix. As NASCAR rules can be rather fluid, the understanding was that 200 examples of these new versions were to be offered to the public. Chevrolet did just that by punching out 200 Monte Carlo SS Aero Coupes in 1986 with Cars and Concepts in Brighton, Michigan performing the conversions. In 1987, demand was such that an amazing 6,052 were built. Customers that ordered one of these special Monte Carlos were treated to a deck lid spoiler, 15-inch alloy wheels, a performance axle with an open differential, an F41 sport suspension package, a gauge package complete with a tachometer, a sports steering wheel, and a high output 305 cubic inch V-8 backed by a TH-200 automatic transmission. Performance was tepid, with the car being clocked at a 0-60 time of 9.4 seconds and a quarter mile time of 16.6 seconds at 82 MPH.
The Monte Carlo SS Aero Coupe you see in the ad is one of the more common 1987 models. What is not common is how it was ordered. Tradition dictates that hot sellers like these coupes would be loaded to the gills with options to maximize the amount of profit made on the sale for both GM and the dealership. If you have customers lined up at the door, then why not take advantage of their enthusiasm? This car, however, came with little in the way of extras. Everything that could be ordered with manual operation, such as windows and locks, ended up on the car. Whoever purchased it also passed on the air conditioning of all things. It even has a column shifter and a bench seat instead of the usual floor shift and bucket seats. Surely some Monte Carlo fans are scratching their heads after reading this wondering how this car ended up arriving at the dealer in this configuration.
As the car sits now, the seller claims that a complete cosmetic restoration is about 90% complete. The car has been lowered for a stance more suited to the seller’s tastes. During the modification, the front end was upgraded. What that upgrade consisted of is unclear, but the seller states that the car drives “TIGHT.” The original wheels have been refinished and powder-coated with polished lips. Once again, lips may need to be elaborated on. Looking closely at the interior reveals a few holes in the driver’s seat consistent with this car belonging to a smoker, but this is not mentioned in the ad. A plus would be the 3-inch Magnaflow exhaust with a high-flow catalytic converter, which surely makes the car sound great.
One of the selling points in the ad is the lack of options. In the old days, a lack of options either meant that the car was ordered by a cheapskate, it was a loss leader, or a lack of creature comforts was a sign that the vehicle would soon be converted into a race car. With a Monte Carlo of this vintage, the race car theory is likely invalid. Stock cars had long ceased to be “stock” by 1987. The car itself is nice enough and could certainly be improved with some work. According to the seller, it shows beautifully and can be driven anywhere. The options, or lack thereof, are the only standouts in this sale.
Does the lack of options enhance value? Would you pass on this car because of the lack of options, or would it add value to the sale? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
I cringe at the sight of that pop-up sunroof. Cheaper than A/C, though. Not a zero option ride – I spy tinted glass, tilt, cruise, rear defog and a remote for the passenger mirror. The 60/40 seat was an option – this one even has cigarette burn holes.
If you wanted to modify it with an LS, that would be the time to add A/C and weld the roof closed to add in rigidity, as you don’t want to crack that back glass from your newly installed 6.0…expensive!
Idk what’s worse the aftermarket sunroof on this example or the factory models with the T-Tops
It’s a toss-up on which leaks more, but as for aesthetics, I’d rather have the t-tops.
If I had to make a choice, the T-Tops as they were a factory option. I cringe at the thought of pop-up sunroofs, especially because I installed so many of them in friends cars. Some nice and rare cars, too. Oh well, it was the 80’s…
I would put a 5.3 in it just for that reason no fuel injection or maybe the Holley viper.
3″ exhaust is already too big for a 305!! I had a souped up 305 in my Camaro and put dual exhaust 2″ no cat’s manifold back.
If you go on the Craigslist ad and blow up the pictures you can see where what probably is 2 1/4″ pipe going into what probably is a 3″ end pipe.
It’s not if they leak, it’s when they leak. Cutting a hole in the roof of a perfectly car. I can hear the rust now!
In agree with Big-Fun, while it may not be a heavily optioned car, it’s certainly not bare bones, a term we associate with a no option car. I think we as Americans are so spoiled, we almost expect, nay, demand the modern gee-gaws. I see a bunch of options, that may not have been extra with this car.
Funny as we age, a couple years turns into several, then quite a few, and finally, many. SO,,,MANY years ago, around Y2K, (remember that?) my then gf had a friend who I drove his truck for a VERY short time, but he said he had a Monte Carlo for sale. While initially, I wasn’t interested, he insisted, and in some storage shed in the middle of nowhere, was a car just like this. At the time, I didn’t know what an Aero Coupe was, but it was spotless. So you never know.
I like this car. Good cruiser with good looks.
If one wanted to do an LS conversion, may as well go whole hog with a floor shifted automatic if not 4-speed.
You can’t really fit a tremic trans in this car or a 700R4 without a lot of tunnel work! ArtCar with take your trans for a complete stage street/Strip rebuild and bolt it back up. A car like this you want your lady next to you instead of rowing a manual between her legs 🤭
The after market sun roof would make me move on from purchasing this vehicle, my factory GM T tops in my 1976 special order Buick Regal S/R do not leak, but it’s garage kept and only has 28000 miles on it
Any collector interest brought on by the lack of options will be severely tempered by the hole hacked into the roof for the cheap sunroof. There’s no easy fix.
The aero glass might add collectability, but it also diminishes the g-body aesthetic that has become so iconic over the years.
Yeah, that aftermarket pop up sunroof kills it, nobody wants that in their classic car. No C60 a/c and no G80 limited slip diff ordered either, bummer! Nice car otherwise.
This car is a lack of everything,including performance.It’s funny that the article mentions this car belonged to a smoker when in fact this car itself is a smoker.It’s a 305 and it is a habit they all do eventually whether upon start up or when running.This car is pretty cool…..when it’s cold out.But winter is over…
I’m not one to require extras on my vehicles (but try purchasing anything from the past 30 years that one would call a ‘stripped’ model). In the autumn of 1999 I was in the market for a pickup truck. I’m a Ford guy so the F-150 was on my radar. I found one that fit my criteria : V6, no air conditioning, roll down windows, rubber floor mats, silver painted bumpers and I had to buy my own radio. I had it until 2017 when I gave it to my youngest son (the others had reliable transportation). Fewer things to worry about and fewer things to go wrong.
I would fix the roof, swap the 305 for a 350, convert the differential to posi traction, repair the bench seat and leave the rest the way it came.
What always bemused me about these later 83-88 G-body Monte Carlo, Cutlass Supreme, Regal and Grand Prix is that most versions, depending upon the engine didn’t offer fuel injection. Yet the TBI was standard on the J-body compact and the A-body had MPI on the 2.8/3.1V6 and TBI on the Iron Duke. A top level F-body TA/Formula and Z-28 had the 305/350 TBI while the Monte Carlo SS had the Rochester 4-bbl.
And how many engines with tuned port injection do you see around now!!?? They were not easy to make horsepower with!! At least with the Rochester you can toun as you like. Btw GM new it was the end of the road for these cars so it wasn’t worth designing injection if the carb with electronic solenoid can pass emissions!!
Having a car with no options does have its advantages its one less thing to break down and maintain except AC in Texas its hot I need my AC.
you cheap out on the options then hack a hole in the roof for pep boy’s sunroof? makes no sense.good .luck
What would really be unusual is a Grand Prix 2+2 which was Pontiac’s own version of the Aerocoupe. They made them for the same reason (Richard Petty had one) but I don’t remember seeing one on the street or for sale.
Whoever decided to hack up the roof and put that goofy sunroof in it deserves a good swift kick in the nether regions…
These sunroofs were all over the place back then. When i sold & later bought back my used ’74 firebird with no fact a/c, it had acquired one of these too – ‘in 81.
You would see plenty of these aftermarket sunroofs on 240/260/280Z cars mostly because the owners wanted them due to no droptop roadster version being available and the dealers could upsell the accessories, along with mud-flaps and floor mats.
I see it as they finally matched the back half to the front. Notch back montes are reverse mullets Party in the front, formal in the back.