It was a beautiful sunny January day and I was headed out for a hike when I spotted this Monte on the go. I thought it might be the same one I shot way back in 2009 or so, and eventually wrote up here, but looking at that one shows some differences. Its mature female driver didn’t make it easy for me to get around it for a proper shot.
But as we crested the hill on W 30th, I gained on her and got of a decent shot. These have become rare sights on the streets. And I like them so much better than its overwrought successor.
Beautiful, everything I ever loved about Chevrolet is right there, along with the ’55, and the early Chevelles. Contrast that to the next generation of Monte and..well let’s just enjoy that gorgeous machine!
These are beautiful montes no argument there……………but i have more love for 2nd gen car(my favorite when i got into cars in 1974)i find the lines on the 2nd gen more of a statement than these. plus the 2nd gen put chevy in the personal luxo car map. also the 2nd gen can be hailed as the personal luxo car king.
The last of the true Chevy beauties, to me anyways. I rate the ’70/’72 Monte Carlo up there with my other large GM favorites, ’63 Riveria, ’65/66 Impala, ’66 Toronado.
Nice to see this time capsule being maintained so well and being driven today. Wonder if the woman is it’s original owner? Great catch.
Beautiful… just beautiful. If it had Romania license plate frames, it might be an original owner car.
I will agree with your sentiment – mostly. The original Monte Carlo was an elegant design, one of the best of its era. It is so much better done than the overwrought Thunderbird of the same time period.
But while most of these had whitewalls, wheelcovers and fender skirts, all that exist nowadays seem to have found themselves wearing those ubiquitous Chevy rally wheels. I am prepared to acknowledge that this car *may* have been originally equipped with them. But a quick look at the 1972 brochure shows that even though they were listed as an option not a single car in the brochure was seen wearing them. Which was the case with about 95% of them back when they were common. There, I have it off my chest.
Agreed about them hardly ever being on them when new. The other one I shot and wrote up a few years back (in the link) actually had the original wheel covers, which was a pleasant surprise.
But I have to admit, as ubiquitous as they are, the Rally wheels really do look better, in that they give some depth and dimension to the wheels. The original wheel covers were rather flattish and not very appealing, in my eyes.
I hear what you are saying. At the big Carlisle shows, 1970-72 Monte Carlos pop up for sale in the car corral regularly. And every one of them sports the rally wheels.
It’s the same with the Pontiac eight-lug wheels of the 1960s. Judging by the full-size Pontiacs from that vintage seen at today’s cars shows, one can be forgiven for believing that 90 percent of full-size Pontiacs sported those wheels when new!
Ubiquity and originality aside, one of the aspects of the transition from supercar to PLC that always bothered me was the regression back to wheel covers as the fashionable choice, away from styled road wheels preceding them. Now many more muscle cars were equipped with wheel covers (and white line tires for that matter) over the styled wheels than their owners/fans will admit today, but they were similarly buried in fine print in the brochure, and rarely represented in marketing material.
The various rally/road wheels from all makes seemed to linger from the previous era, just wrapped with white line tires, but they were the exception, not the rule, and they were just carryover. It seems like that turned around somewhat with the 77 Thunderbird with it’s new alloys, and Pontiac snowflakes seemed to make their way across the lineup around that time as well.
I’d probably call the ’70s Cutlass an exception to that. The take rate on the Super Stock wheel was very high. Both the ’73 and ’76 that I owned came with them as ordered by the dealer.
I will also agree that the rallies did not have a huge take rate on the gen 1 Monte, but I’m also am very comfortable with those that can’t resist putting them on their classic now. The Chevy rally is just very good. I’m fairly sure that Chevy was done or mostly done with that wheel after 1977, and that they were never officially offered on the all important 1977 and up B body. That seemed odd in light of Buick, Pontiac and Olds continuing their classic styled steel wheels well in the 1980s.
I have a different take on the fender skirts, and a few impressions on them.
Generally, I believe they were rarely ordered. These Montes were typically not too loaded with equipment as the dealers seemed to order them at a Chevy price point. Omitting skirts was a way to keep the price down, and skirts were never very popular on mid-size coupes. Skirts were mostly a full size / luxury thing and were on the car your grandfather drove.
Personally, I’m a fan of the skirted Monte, and recall looking in vane for them in the ’70s and early ’80s when these cars were very popular with my high school crowd. The main problem in salt country was that these cars were actually too old for their 3rd or so owner in 1981, and the few around were rusty wrecks. ’76 and ’77 GM mid-size coupes ruled my high school lot.
The few skirted cars that popped up almost universally had the skirts removed by their youthful owners, even if the rear quarters were still in good shape. The tell tail missing rear wheel lip moulding and the skirt pins in the edge of the lip were not too obvious, so skirtless was the preferred look of those shopping for cars under $1,000.00.
To this day, I’m convinced most Monte fans that are not purists for originality will go for the skirtless with rally look. Reproduction lip mouldings are actually pretty easy to find and relatively affordable. Google 1971 Chevrolet Monte Carlo and the images are almost universally skirtless.
What is a bit unique about the first gen Monte is that it actually looks right both with and without skirts. Among the relative handful of cars where skits were optional, most looked a bit awkward depending on the bias of the overall style of the car. A big reason they work both ways on the Monte is that both the front and rear wheel openings had no natural outward fender lip. Contrast that with the always awkward looking 1977 – 1979 Pontiac Catalina that simply begged for skirts to look right next to its more glamorous and almost always skirted sister Bonneville.
So, there you have it. To those naysayers that believe you can’t write a treatise on gen 1 Monte Carlo fender skits, I submit the above.
About the way I’d order one…………
You make excellent points. Not many cars look right with or without skirts but the Gen1 Monte does. As for the Chevy rally wheels, they make for a very attractive wheel and improve the looks of many cars. My only gripe with them is that they are found on simply *everything* from 32 Ford street rods to 85 El Caminos. They are proof that there can be too much of a good thing.
Saw this one a while back
“And I like them so much better than its overwrought successor.”
Boy, you got that right! For the first, out of the box attempt, Chevrolet, I think, really nailed it. Never liked the Monte Carlo after the Gen 1 edition.
“And I like them so much better than its overwrought successor.”
I agree, and because this generation shares so much structure with the Chevelle, you can build a Monte Carlo convertible using OEM parts.
As this picture demonstrates, you end up with very pleasing lines and a factory quality top mechanism.
As appealing as the 1st Generation Monte Carlo is, as a convertible is just icing on the cake! I’ve encountered a number of these in recent years, apparently a popular conversion easily built. Very glad the customizers are correcting the omission.
I once had a 1970 GM accessory catalog that showed a drawing of a 1970 MC CONVERTIBLE.
Just pulled this up on Google images. So GM was at least thinking about it…
https://www.google.com/search?q=1970+Chevrolet+Accessories+Catalog&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiFyoCf5e7ZAhWFrFkKHXQRARIQ_AUICygC&biw=1920&bih=949#imgrc=5NILGjE_cOivHM:
The MC convertible was so close to production it was included with the manual. Apparently cancelled at the “last minute”. Yes it could use the same top mechanism as the Cutlass Supreme of the same years for a conversion.
Bob
Even though the Colonnade era Monte’s were huge sellers, my favorite vintage car is the 1st Gens. Mainly sentimental.
BTW: A ragtop was planned for ’70, and even a drawing of “how to attach top covers” appeared in owner’s manual.
Chrysler took this gen Monte Carlo and made a better looking car:
the Cordoba.
I´m with you. The Cordoba is a good looking car, especially this 1st generation with its “Jaguar like” front.
I don’t think it’s better looking but I do think the Cordoba does a better job as a successor than the second gen Monte did.
Never saw it before, but you sure got that right!
I want this exact car.
What I love about the first generation is the subtly, and these two shots capture it well. The sweeping fenders on the (I agree, overwrought) successor are there, but they merely suggest it, they aren’t in your face bulging out, it takes the right light at the right angle for those bulges to ‘pop’, as they do in the shadowy first pic, and at other angles and lights like the second shot they blend in, and the primary lines of the car begin to catch your attention. I often compare the original Monte Carlo as Chevy’s equivelant to the Dodge Charger, just without the heavy Muscle car marketing (BUT one could get a SS with the LS5 454), and similarly the 68-70 Charger’s “double diamond” body lines pop out at you in the same lights and angles the MCs do.
That’s the spitting image of my old Monte! 🙂
I owned it from about 1986 to the early 2000s as a summer / toy car. I was aiming for originality, but yes I did install a set of rally wheels. Unfortunately, life happened. First, I lost my storage, then My fiancé and I bought a house and got married. Money was tight, so the old girl mostly sat around outside. The final straw was when I lost my job in the post Y2K / 9-11 recession.
I think I sold the Monte to a good home, but haven’t seen her since. Luckily for me, between the car and the girl I held on to the right one. My wife is a real keeper! 😉
I like these original Montes, too. When they first came out in 1970, I remember seeing billboards around town featuring a handsome copper Monte Carlo with the requisite gorgeous model. The copy read, “Relax, Chevy dealers. It’s one of ours.” They sold at full list, too, no discounting or dealing.
That’s what I remember about them. Although a Chevy, they seemed to be on par with a Buick or Chrysler. At the same time the Monte had a certain sportiness to it that no other ‘personal luxury’ car had at the time. I felt the Charger had really slid with the ’71 models, as there was no longer a 2 door Coronet there were scads of base model Chargers running around. Didn’t seem special anymore.
WAAAAAHHHHHH! No one likes the 2nd gen Monte’s. i’m afraid to say that i also like the 78 version(3rd gen)
Although partial to The 1st gen, I’m also fond of the 2nd Gen. The ‘73 to ‘77s are a little more dependent on color, though. For example, my best friend had a ‘77 Monte in triple black that I liked a lot. (Including the stacked rectangular headlights 😉 )Got a lot of shotgun seat time in that one. This was several years before I owned my ‘72.
The 2nd gen Monte Carlo was much better handling car than the 1st gen and it was a massive hit for Chevy, much more so than the small Eldorado look 1st gen.
DeLorean actually reversed engineered the 2nd gen suspension from Mercedes. The 1st gen was essentially a Chevelle w/ a tuxedo.
Hmm. Which Mercedes exactly?
The suspension under a second gen monte is also pretty much what you’d find under the same year Chevelle, possibly different spring rates, shocks and stabilizer bar(s). a Chevelle with the F-41 package would be pretty much identical. They did handle well for what they were though, and better than the first gen.
You could say a Chevelle in a leisure suit….
Three years ago John Zachary DeLorean, then general manager of General Motors’ Chevrolet division, ordered members of his research staff to find him the world’s best-handling passenger car. They came back with two Mercedes, and DeLorean ordered his engineers to duplicate their suspension and steering characteristics for the 1973 model of Chevrolet’s medium-priced specialty car, the Monte Carlo. When the body of the Monte Carlo was restyled, DeLorean carefully avoided all frills, keeping it distinctively sleek and alive. This year the Monte Carlo is being acclaimed as one of the best-looking, easiest-to-handle cars Detroit has ever produced.
Motor Trend had more on this at the time. I believe Paul has written what DeLorean did when borrowing from Merc.
http://fortune.com/2015/10/21/automotive-industry-lost-masculinity-john-delorean/
Everyone thought the Pontiac Grand Am was gonna be the big winner of 1973 – no it was the better handling Monte Carlo that won the awards.
My Dad had a 1973, it was a great car w/ 350 and dual exhaust. Also had a 1976 Cordoba w/ Corinthian leather.
I’ve always liked the second-generation Montes, given that they were the first ones I had any amount of exposure to. In fact, when I later discovered the first generation Montes (I was born in the mid-’70s), I thought they looked a bit boring compared to the Colonnades – which were, initially, the definitive ones for me.
Years later, I came to appreciate the restrained elegance of the original models – but no, you’re not the only one who also likes the 1973 – ’77 models.
Maybe because I was born in the 60s, and cars from my early childhood seemed to get old quickly, I originally liked the gen 2 version better. I thought these were heavy looking, and didn’t understand why it looked like an Olds from the back.
But as time went by, I can’t believe how good a run GM had especially in the 60s, producing some of the best looking cars of any time.
I would rather have a 2 door Granada/Monarch, say ’75-76 and do all the chassis modifications as outlined in the factory Ford Boss 302 Mustang chassis manual from ’70. Then go smoke these….A Trans-Am Granada anyone??
In 1980, as a young environmental tech I began dating a law student in her last year of school. At first, she was pottering around on a scooter that I had to periodically decarbonize. After I came back from a week-long company trip she called me up to tell me that she bought a car but wouldn’t tell me what it was before my coming over to see it. I expected to see a nicely used Corolla or similar – my reaction to the actual car was “Holy Sh*t”. In front of me was a bright red metal-roof 1970 Monte Carlo on road wheels and fat blackwalls, equipped with a Turbo-Jet 400 engine, a Hurst 4-speed, black vinyl interior, and full gauges. It had a high-numerical Positraction and made the right “rumpa-rumpa” noises. It also spun high on the interstate and drank gas like there was no tomorrow – no small thing right after Fuel Crisis II. Had I owned the car I would have lost both my bank account and my license. She kept it for a few years before deciding it was draining here finances and swapped it out for a Caprice.
I pretty much like all the Generations of Monte Carlo’s…and their Gran Prix cousins. But yeah, the first ones are the best ones.
This is a test comment.
My issue with the first generation Monte Carlo has to do with two words: Super Sport. Unlike the Grand Prix with its SJ models, attaching ‘SS’ to versions of the Monte Carlo just doesn’t fit. To me, ‘SS’ means ‘musclecar’ (as in Chevelle SS396), and that wasn’t the primary focus of the MC’s market demographic. I don’t know how speedy an SS454 Monte Carlo might have been, but it had to be on the bottom rungs of the musclecar ladder. As others have pointed out, the Charger was just the reverse, being much more of a sporty specialty car that later had personal luxury aspirations.
That’s the reason I prefer the 2nd Gen MC, even with its exaggerated styling. While it was still possible to get a big-block, it was just that, an RPO that fit much better within the ‘brougham-tastic’ colonnade. The Monte Carlo I’d most like to have is a 2nd Gen with the 454.
DeLorean reversed engineered the 2nd gen suspension from Mercedes. The 1st gen was essentially a Chevelle w/ a tuxedo. The 1973 was a gigantic improvement in ride and handling over the small Eldorado 1st gen.
Well, SS had been applied to performance Chevrolets from big heavy Impala to Chevy II, it’s not out of question that it would be applied to what is essentially a Chevelle SS in formalware. In pontiac’s case for SJ, there was no prior established performance package for the brand – GTO was a GTO, Firebird 400 was just that, an engine callout. I mean there was Sprint I guess, but it wasn’t at all the supercar package for Pontiacs the way SS was for Chevrolet.
Where I disagree is that this bodystyle is more of a chameleon than the 73, it looked properly broughamy in full brougham dress, with fender skirts, wheel covers and vinyl roof, but sans that stuff, with rally wheels and a steel roof and, yes, the SS badges, it looked like a proper bruiser muscle car. Was a SS454 Monte the fastest car on the street? No, but neither is a 383 Charger R/T with the porto-brougham SE package on top.
The biggest difference is that the Charger came into its own during the zenith of the supercar years, and the performance image it cultivated from those times ignores the core fact that it was a really ritzy Coronet, and much of the available powertrain options were as much of a snooze fest as what most Monte Carlos came with. Had it not been for the various external issues(insurance, fuel) that rapidly put an end to high performance cars in between 70 and 73, perhaps the Personal Luxury Coupe would have simply been the next shape the supercar equipment package would find as host.
*Edit: omit R/T from the second paragraph*
It’s worth noting GM was entering uncharted personal luxury territory with the 1970 Monte Carlo. The 1969 Grand Prix was a ground-breaker, too, in that it was a smaller, intermediate-sized personal luxury car but, unlike the Pontiac, the Monte Carlo was going to be offered from GM’s lowest division.
It was that uncertainty that caused Chevrolet to hedge their bets with not only the brougham-tastic, vinyl roof, fender-skirted cars, but the quasi-musclecar SS versions. I have no doubt that the success of the Dodge Charger had an influence on this marketing decision, particularly considering gestation of the original Monte Carlo began during the height of the sixties’ musclecar boom.
Soon enough, though, I’m sure it became apparent that Dodge Charger-like performance and style was no longer selling, and the next, 1973 Monte Carlo would be full-brougham with virtually no sporty variants.
Chrysler would follow suit with the hit Cordoba two years later. Less successful would be Ford’s entries into the intermediate-sized PLC category, the Torino Elite and Mercury Cougar. Ironically, the Charger’s sporty pedigree would be a detriment when it went full brougham with Dodge’s 1975 Cordoba-clone.
Final iterations of the Monte Carlo went back to offering sporty SS versions but, this time, it was NASCAR-inspired, rather than straight-line drag racing.
Not entirely uncharted, the Charger is contentious, so I’ll skip past it, but the other pioneer of smaller personal luxury coupe, albeit a size below, was the Mercury Cougar. The Cougar was pure personal luxury coupe, and it never cultivated a successful performance image despite big engines it inevitably had on the docket, its sales were generated by being the first legitimate mini Tbird. But distinctly, what it had that the Charger didn’t was the ponycar proportions, and that long hood/short deck styling was picked up by the Grand Prix and Monte Carlo, creating what was essentially the intermediate ponycar. The success of the 67 Cougar undoubtedly opened the doors for them.
Soon enough, though, I’m sure it became apparent that Dodge Charger-like performance and style was no longer selling, and the next, 1973 Monte Carlo would be full-brougham with virtually no sporty variants.
Style yes, but style was ever changing, and the final “sporty” Charger in essence was still using the language of the mid-60s. There were obviously high performance cars several years before the stunning 68 design, but the style of those fin car predecessors wouldn’t have worked in 68 either, no matter how fast. The gen 1 Monte Carlo was just a transitional design with one foot in each era, you could order up a plain clean SS454 in the late 60s fashion and pull it off, or order an SS454 with full vinyl top and even fender skirts. The 71 Charger on the other hand doubled down on what would rapidly be an obsolete language.
Performance? People didn’t stop buying performance because it was fashionable to have a slow car in the 1970s. Performance plain disappeared because the dirty habits of engines had to be reigned in, and high compression engines designed to run on leaded gas were disproportionately affected by the solutions to clean them up, and when you’re facing being hammered with insurance premiums exceeding the car payment on a 350 gross horsepower high performance engine, in addition to the excess fuel consumption(that early emissions devices made even worse) it just became too much of a hassle to bother with. Even people who could swing a muscle car in the heyday had to face those ownership cost factors and settle for less than they truly wanted.
Had these issues, including the fuel crisis, not been factors in choosing your engine, it’s propable that high performance engines never would have diminished after 1970, even if personal luxury coupe design remained unchanged. After all, PLCs were neoclassical, mimicking the likes of Duesenberg from the golden age. High performance was a factor then and it would have been welcome in the 70s. We today only associate broughamy accoutrements with low performance cars because they coincided in time, but this is one of those instances where correlation does not imply causation.
I had a 75 Monte with the 454. I Purchased it in 81 with 75k miles on it.
Handled well on its American Racing Wheels shod with Dunlop GT Qualifiers.
Too Bad it was stolen and then found stripped a few days later after owning it for a year and a half. Wish i still had it, It even had factory sliding sunroof.
Nearly bought one new in 1970. Didn’t want to wait or pay list price. Passed on a Fiat 124 Spyder. Wound up with a Volvo 142 with a stick that I drove for about 10 years before someone ran into me on my way to work on Lawrence Ave. in Chicago.
Regarding those rally wheels- more Monte Carlo’s had them than you may think. Chevy combines Malibu and Monte Carlo production numbers, but out of roughly 400,000 cars, 90,000 left the factory equipped with Rally Wheels as an option. There was another 12,000 or so SS Monte Carlos that had those wheels as standard with the option package. That’s consistent with my memory of those cars in Southern California and Portland. Rally Wheels were very common in those cars. A common upgrade was to go with the Corvette 15″ version of this wheel.
I have a friend who has an identical car, down to the wheels and yellow paint. We were talking just last Saturday and he told me he’d had it in his buddy’s body shop for almost a year now getting a good restoration – dealing with some rust issues – but thought it’d be done by early summer.
I remember another friend scoping one of these out way back in the early 70s and – if I recall correctly – this one had a 454 and 4speed manual. He didn’t pull the trigger, chose a 307 Nova instead..
I own a First Gen that is pretty much a base model (L48 350, 2.73 open rear end), only factory options are AC, Soft Ray glass, vinyl top and rally wheels…
The first gen MC always looked a bit “heavy” to me. Fitting I suppose with the luxury image it tried to convey, but def not sporty. These had perhaps the longest hood in Chevy history, with maybe a foot of wasted space between the radiator and the grill. Base models were nothing remarkable, with a bench seat and middling trim levels. The Grand Prix pulled off the look much better with standard buckets, console and a 4 bbl. 400, but cost quite a bit more.
Liked Gen 2 far better and the ’73 in particular. The best of the Colonnades, with std. radial tuned suspension and exquisitely sculpted styling. The base model looked best and wore Rally Wheels quite well. Didn’t like the Landau as much, with the half vinyl roof and Landau specific wheels.
Here is a 1st gen MC I shot about four years ago in Oklahoma on the Muskogee Turnpike
And then a better shot
The ’70 MC is one of my all-time favorite rides. If I weren’t such a Tri-5 fanatic I’d own one right now AND be driving and enjoying it.
That air tunnel to the engine appears to be longer than the engine itself!
https://classiccars.com/listings/view/1059911/1970-chevrolet-monte-carlo-for-sale-in-clarence-iowa-52216
Longest fan shroud in automotive history?