The Chevrolet Monza…originally designed to be GM’s first rotary-powered car, the Monza (and it’s H-body siblings) essentially were a glossing-over of the very maligned Vega with a re-skin. They are small, light, reasonably good-looking, and best of all, a V8 fits, which means that even a mild small-block can make one feel very lively and entertaining, and with the right combination respectable fuel mileage is possible. But finding one? That will turn into a hunt. After running “Chevrolet Monza” through SearchTempest, I found two worthy of a second look. Two. And if we’re playing strictly by the Rough Start rules, a 1980 Monza from New Hampshire is the winner, but the runner up, a 1979 from Ohio, is so close that I’ve chosen to include it as well.
Up first is the New Hampshire car. This 1980 Monza Town Coupe has a lot going for it: a four-bolt main 350 with a gear-drive timing system, manual transmission, decent paint, and a straight interior that looks really good for a $5K car. The open hood is a little bit of a worry, but fiberglass parts for a Monza are easy to find to cover that up. What this little Chevy lacks in intimidation factor it more than makes up for with it’s clean exterior and interior. Since the concept of a Rough Start car is actually driving the vehicle, this would require the least work to turn into a daily driver, and the manual transmission is icing on the cake.
Besides the hole in the hood, the other big concern is the transmission. According to the ad, it’s the “original 441” transmission. Call me skeptical, but one of the first things I would look at changing on this car would be any sort of factory manual box for something a little more durable, and preferably with five forward gears at least. It wouldn’t take a lot of rear gear to make this Monza hustle, and it wouldn’t be a reach to look at near-30 highway MPG if you work the gear ratios right.
The Monza is listed for $4,950, though we’d bet the price can be worked a little.
Craigslist Link: 1980 Monza Town Coupe
Next up is the 1979 Monza hatchback from Ohio. This car did break the Rough Start budget at $5500, but it’s so close that I decided to bend the rules for this car. This Chevy is packing a 355ci hooked to an automatic, and the maroon paint looks great. The Motion-style stripe is to each individual’s tastes, personally I’d get rid of it. The car has been converted to a five-lug system, something that the New Hampshire car didn’t have, but the interior is considerably rougher. There isn’t a hole in the hood, though, for whatever that’s worth.
Which one would you take home if you were scraping by? Would you take the Town Coupe home, or would you break down and borrow the extra $500 for the hatchback?
Craigslist Link: 1979 Chevrolet Monza
The earlier style nose was cleaner looking. These oval grilles look like cheap J.C.Whitney (who?) add-ons. ’77Spyder anyone?
I like the maroon one better too. The ‘Motion’ stripe was pretty common in the mid to late ’70’s. I just noticed: is that a 3-way toggle switch for the turn signal? cool!!
Had a 75 350 T/C here in Ca., stock it would peg the speedo spinning the right rear (original 13 inch tires), after a couple of years it twisted itself all out of shape, had to allow a couple of hours to change the spark plugs, was alot of fun for awhile
The maroon one is much nicer (I like the Baldwin-Motion stripe) but I would swap to the earlier front clip.
My dad’s friend had a gnarly Monza spider with a 400 small block. I was telling him how cool the hood ornament was and he asked if I wanted to take it for a spin. That was one of the coolest moments in my teenage life. I was 15 and king of the streets for an hour.
theres one in north port for 2200
I like em both looking for one to put v8 in have all the mounts to convert/
I put together a ’79 sunbird hatchback.. Sought out V8 conversation parts..it was a blast…kinda wish I still had it…so much more one could do with them today…turbos….centrifugal supercharger……. Yummmmo..
I had a ’75 Town Coupe with the 262 V-8 in it and a four speed. The car ran ok, was actually pretty quick, but it quickly blew synchros in the tranny within 5k miles. I turned out the tranny was exactly the same one used in the Vega and could not handle the anemic torque of the 262. Didn’t have it very long, maybe a year or two then cracked it up, fixed it and sold it.