Named Motor Trend’s car of the year in 1973 and for good reason. Full of ’70s luxury and excellent handling these cars left no quality unattended. The engineers attempted to have a completely silent car, the cars are said to be extremely quiet and shockingly smooth. This 1973 Chevrolet Monte Carlo has 130k miles and is listed for sale on eBay.
The car is finished in what is assumed to be a repainted Light Copper. The paint is in good condition, though the seller notes that there are some minor paint imperfections under the Landau top and a dime-sized paint bubble. The muffler is also said to be rusted out as its original. There’s also a small tear in the Landau top. It was said to be restored in 1995. The drivetrain was rebuilt. A moonroof, landau top, power locks, power windows, and cruise were installed later on. The Monte Carlo’s tires are also in decent condition.
The interior is finished in cream vinyl and appears to be in decent condition. The dash clock is inoperable. The swivel bucket front seats have obvious tears in them but could potentially be fixed or refinished. The car is equipped with a moonroof, functional air conditioning, cruise control, and rear defroster. The interior could use a little work but certainly is functional as is.
A four-barrel carbureted 454 cu in V8 engine sends 245 horsepower to the rear wheels via a Hydramatic automatic transmission. The engine is said to have had a mild camshaft and different carb installed. The seller notes the engine bay needs a detail. This is an excellent option for someone looking to do some light restoration or just drive and enjoy the car as is. It has an immensely cool presence and is a great weekend car or daily for someone who has a short commute. If this 1973 Monte Carlo is up your alley contact the seller on eBay.
Wow, a COPO Collonade ?
I’m not so sure what makes this car special or COPO, I saw my fair share of 454 Monte Carlo’s back in the day. Although their numbers are low compared to the small blocks, I wouldn’t go gaga over this but to each their own.
A minor correction: In *`73 NO GM Division yet had a ‘moonroof’. Power-operated steel sunroofs, YES. And from the factory this Monte should have one in steel, not glass. Just an FYI.
(It would be `75 when Cadillac introduced the ‘Astroroof’ tinted glass panel on it’s line.)
It stated that the Moon roof & cruise control were added at a later date. I had a 73 but it had a gas guzzling 400. But it also had swivel bucket seats
I thought the post read that cruise control was added at a later date. My 73 had Cruise, tilt & swivel seats & a gas guzzling 400 sb. But she sure rode mighty fine
My 75 442 had a factory “Vista Vent’ pop up sunroof that was able to come completely out of the roof. I later found out that it was a very rare option. The car was a cranberry beauty with white stripes. Should have kept that one!
Vista vent was on collonade Vista Cruisers. Available on other Cutlasses.
This looks like a factory slider. That’s what one looked like on the Monte. It appears to be Fisher body. Nothing fancy. I learned to work on these with our Fisher Body Field Engineer.
I thought the post read that cruise control was added at a later date. My 73 had Cruise, tilt & swivel seats & a gas guzzling 400 sb. But she sure rode mighty fine
I must have missed the COPO part. Looks like a pretty straight up Monte Carlo. I’ve read that the majority of COPO cars were for non stock color combinations. Light Copper and Neutral would not be the case.
People seem to assume COPO means desirable performance options, but it was really just Chevrolet’s special order system. By 1973, it was more about color and trim than performance. Emissions regulations made it illegal to substitute a drivetrain that wasn’t certified for use in the Monte Carlo.
Looks like a Super Bee in the garage.
COPO is “Central Office Production Option”, just like RPO is “Regular Production”. The use of the COPO was mainly for Fleet orders where a specific option was needed on a large group of cars that did not have that option available, but another Division had the option available. In other words, all the parts were already available in the system but just not for this Division. For example, if a Fleet buyer wanted air shock on a large number of vehicles, and all the parts were available, upon Central Office approval, that option could be factory installed through this system. The same held true for 69 ZL1 1969 Camaros that were made. Fred Gibbs Chevrolet was able to get that done with a guaranteed number of vehicles and all factory available parts. Sometimes this was used for performance options but mostly was used for more mundane purposes.
This COPO crap is laughable, at best, but the fact that they cut a hole in the roof is atrocious. This would be a cool car (IF it is an ORIGINAL 454 car) were it not for that…and the rust under the vinyl top. I love the way people downplay “a few small bubbles under the vinyl”. This means, emphatically, that the roof is Swiss cheese underneath that vinyl. Add a hole cut with a jigsaw and it’s a disaster. This car will need a new roof.
Well, the one good thing about replacing the roof on this Monte, you get rid of that damn sunroof. But yeah, if you can see bubbling underneath the vinyl, there is always more that you cannot see. Personally, I’d like to publicly flog the people who cut giant holes in the roofs of these cars back in the eighties and nineties.
Old joke, How do you clear out a club in Brooklyn. Hey, Tony, somebody is #$&+ing with you’re Montey.
The roof and other dealer added options appear factory quality. This is a nice Monte, with a 454 to boot. Needs some cleanup, but a nice driver. Reasonable asking price for this car also.
COPO car? There is nothing on this car that could not be ordered on any other Monte of this year. Nothing ! The only thing that might remotely make this a COPO, is if a GM executive ordered it for himself, and hence it was ”Corporate” ordered. Even if the president of GM ordered it, (Richard Gerstenberg) remember him? who cares? That can be the only explanation, in my amateur opinion. IF it is a one of one or a one of three, it is odd that they cannot tell WHAT makes it rare or different than any other 1973 Monte Carlo. They say there is a sucker born every minute. Go get em.
Sunroofs are the most useless option ever. They leak. I work at a new car dealership, All we do is fix them. I love the 73 to 77 Monte Carlos, Grand Prixs and Cutlass models. I have owned one of each and would rather have them all back instead of my Corvette. The Colonnade cars are far superior to the 68 to 72 models. I did find my 77 Grand Prix SJ with factory Hurst Hatches, yeah, they leak also, in Texas but the a previous owner modified the car with stupid child like touches, so I passed on buying it back.
Back in 1975 I wanted to join the Van craze so I ordered one from the Chevy Dealer I worked at, Jim Smith Chevrolet, Spring Valley N.Y. But I wanted it to be painted Black , the order came back because Black was not a standard color that year ,the salesman was the dealers fleet truck sales person so he said it would have to be ordered “COPO”, 4 weeks later it came off the Anchor truck splendid in Black. I don’t see where this very nice Monte is a COPO car and no explanation is given ?
This looks fairly nice. With the bubbles around the top not $22,500 nice. Nice color combo, best year for the body style, big block, buckets and console. Everybody losing their s—t over the sunroof. It’s a nice install, not some JC Whitney hack job.
Seems most of these are bench seat 350s with few interesting options, think Hertz rental. This one is looks very showroom floor.
The bubbles are the gorilla in the room, but the paint and body look nice enough otherwise to not mess with. And if you’re just going to leave it out in the weather and elements, you probably shouldn’t be a buyer. You could put another top on it but it’ll start rusting too.
I looked at this car’s twin for sale in Sacramento in 1988. Drove 2 hours to see it and it wouldn’t start.