Mostly original and pretty nice. That’s about what you can say to describe this 1977 Chevy Monte Carlo, residing in Canton, MA. It’s easy enough to do the math: the current bid here on eBay is $9600, but you can BIN for $16K. It sounds like a fair deal to me if you can catch it somewhere in the realm of $12 grand or so.
Why would I buy this car? Memories: Peterborough, Ontario, sometime around 1975. A friend called Jimmy W had a dad who owned a Monte Carlo, probably about a 1973 model. This series ran from 1973-77. He used to drop us off at hockey games in it. When he picked us up, there was always the lingering smell of sweetness from his cigar habit. He never smoked while we were in the car, though. For decades since, I’ve had a Monte on my bucket list. I’m not sure I could import this one to Cali, where I now live, nor that I’d want the hassle of smogging it if I could bring it here. But someday, one of these will be mine. If you’re lucky enough to live in a less-uptight state, emissions-wise, this could be a chance to own a good car.
There’s a total of 76,172 miles on the 305-CID engine motivating this car. Until recently, apparently, it was under the garage-kept care of the original owner. All that’s wrong is a few dings, plus some splits on the driver’s seat. The silver exterior is complemented nicely by a red-red interior. Woodgrain accents adorn the interior of this “personal luxury coupe”—the fanciness of which is driven home by the landau roof and rectangular opera windows. Note, however, for the record that the seller does not actually state that the paint is original, and sometimes, you have to take that kind of silence into account. In general, in fact, the verbiage in this ad is sparse. You should ask some specific questions if you’re a serious bidder on this one, so that you fill in knowledge gaps, rather than making assumptions.
One sign of age—the AC system has pooped out. The seller says it hasn’t been tested, but you know that means it’s not converted to modern spec, so count on spending $1500 to put that right, if you care to. Do that, re-cover that front seat, and hope all else is well, and you’ve got a cool car for the money. Or at least a very stylish one.
That interior is 100% plastic. Even the chromed bits are plastic.
Have you looked at any car built since 1977 ? That’s all they are ! And there’s more plastic parts on a new car than on this Monte- Who would have dreamed we’d have plastic headlights , plastic intake manifolds, plastic radiators …etc
Can’t see someone paying 16K for this. Familiar with these cars, they turned well but with the 305 under the hood has to be a slug. Drove a 71 with 350 2BBL and 74 with a 350 with a 4BBL and the 71 was so much better getting on the Highway. Agree with Rex so much plastic that doesn’t age well.
You have a right to be concerned about the value. 5 years ago, 7k for a workaday Colonnade in this condition, and the market for ’em ain’t getting any younger.
The smogged 305 will be a slug indeed. She would take over 13 seconds to hit 60. That was middling for the era but I don’t think you can even buy a new vehicle that accelerates that slowly now short of a school bus.
Unless you want to get pancaked by a 7,500 pound EV that can hit 60 in half the time at a quarter throttle, you might want to consider beefing her up a little bit. The 305 really doesn’t take to modifications much beyond 225 horsepower or so, so you might want to consider a 350/383 swap.
Personally, if I had a Colonnade jones I would buy a ’77 Can Am or maybe a 73-76 with a big block. It would still be slow stock but you have a much shorter way to go in terms of modifications to get respectable.
Where in the world are you people driving where you must have everything accelerate like a race car.
While I agree this particular Monte would be pretty docile it would certainly be adequate for regular driving, cruises, car shows, etc.
I’m much much more attracted to original unmodified cars like this at shows, cruise nights, etc than the hundreds of highly modified cars that are all over
I had a 1976 Monte-Carlo that had the 350 in it. Was a wonderful car. I’ve had 2- 305 engines and they were problematic ones so I’m against them engines. The only problem I had with that car was the Landau top, water seeped under it and rusted out the side peep windows and every time it rained, the rain leaked in the back seat and with cloth interior, the seats got musty and smelly. Time to trade it in.
Hmmm, a Monte with a whale tail – I like it!
Enough negative comments about GM plastic. All car makers had junk interiors. I worked at GM dealer in the mid 70s. I had a 76 Monte, 305, swivel seats, from 1982 to 1991. Had 99,000 miles when I bought it. Drove 100 miles a day for work in snow, rain, wind. Yeah, it got lousy fuel mileage. So what. It never left me sit. I think I put an alternator on it, took about 5 mins in the those days, an exhaust, tires and a used radiator. The air blew 40 degrees. Gave it to my brother who had fallen on hard times with 200,000 miles. The trans finally gave out, but he sold the car. This one is overpriced, but 70s GM cars are starting to bring stupid money. A seller refused $42,000 for a black 76 Grand Prix just last weekend at Mecum.
Agree with your comments, George. $12k might be top of the mark on this example.
My brother is a Monte fanatic of this era, still has his ‘77 in this same color.
Has the white swivel buckets, the car did most everything adequately.
One difference, now the car has a built 350 and Crager’s…..quite the Boulevard cruiser!
All the best to the new owner! 👍🤓
When I was a youngster back in the early 80’s my father owned a 74 Monte and he had that car for quite a few years and that vehicle never gave my pops any major issues or any minor issues according to memory for that matter. Later on my late 20’s I owned a 77 Monte and I too had no major or minor issues either with that last year of the popular model. Only routine maintenance such as a new alternator and a few new batteries. I had that car for seven years and loved it until I started a family and was in need of a 4-door. I also had a few friends who had A- body Monte Carlos with complimentary results. My only complaint was the lack of rear seat legroom and no front seat center armrest. If you didn’t have a Caprice you weren’t getting a center armrest in a Chevy automobile of that era and beyond Lol The 73-77 Monte Carlos were in my opinion, very popular, reliable, attractive, mechanically fine vehicles. I only wish I had owned one with the swivel seats Lol
These were everywhere in the late 70s and early 80s. I saw many converted into street class dirt track stock cars in the midwest.
This is a pretty car, and with only 75K miles on that 305, I imagine that has a lot of life left in it, assuming the buyer would want to drive it. I can’t imagine this would have much collectability to it, but who knows.
The Landau tops on these were generally black or in this case could have matched the interior, Red.
Which tends to lead me to believe….the whole car including the Landau half top was painted the same color.
It looks alright…..just sayin.
My 75 Landau had a blue top. What’s your point? Black was simply one of the choices, and each year it seems that more VT colors were added. REMEMBER: Cadillac had a matching VT for every paint color in the 80s leaving very few ‘2 tones’.
Silver was a vinyl top color in ’77, along with black, white, light blue, light buckskin, medium green, and firethorn.
Beautiful, nice riding car. A couple of fat stabilizer bars will make it handle good. Perfect opportunity for an LS swap with a 4L65E.
I’ll never understand why GM stopped making these with automatic in the floor with swivel buckets. They may have sold a few more of them. Even with the slug engine it would have added to the great style these had .
lots of high school kids had these with Cragar SS rims and glasspacks on dual exhausts
The 305 is a slug, my buddy had a brand new dark blue with White half top and interior, in 77, loaded sunroof, had the Appliance spoke wheels, NYC Disco Days, they were a dime a dozen then