Clash of the Classics - First Generation Monte Carlo

[Music] [Applause] slash welcome to another episode of clash of the classics thanks for joining me today I'm Donnie I'll be your host for the next few minutes and if you're new to the show maybe this is the first time you're tuning us in you're gonna find every week we roll the clock back we either pick two classic cars against one another or we feature one model in particular today we're gonna spend some time revisiting the first generation Monte Carlo well look at exterior styling we take a look at interior stuff and powertrain design then we'll talk about parts of the car that we like best and as always we welcome you to let us know what you think head on over to our website horse power online.com or leave us a message right here on our youtube channel these battles are fueled by the largest automatic transmission network in the world they are the automatic transmission rebuilders Association or simply the atra alright let's talk about that first generation Chevy Monte Carlo now here's a car that doesn't always seem to get the attention it deserves and there's probably a few reasons for that but the biggest reason is because it's cousin is the mighty Chevelle that being said the first gen Monte Carlo is still a favorite among quite a few people and it's a car that we see quite a bit at some of the larger Southern California car shows that we attend to start with a big v8 great exterior styling in some NASCAR history are just a few of the things that continue to help make the first gen Monte Carlo pretty cool more than four decades later in the 1st gen series ran from 1970 through 1972 with a base MSRP of about three thousand one hundred and twenty three dollars and with several options available there were plenty of choices when it came to engine and powertrain layouts for the small-block 350 there was a two-speed Powerglide option a three-speed hydra-matic or a four-speed manual there was variable-ratio power steering had power windows air conditioning there were power seats rally wheels bucket seats center console full instrumentation and there were other accessories that were also available and here thing if you chose to roll with all available options the price shot up to well over $5,000 which if you'll recall was a pretty steep ticket for some folks back in 1970 engine choices included the four-barrel carbureted turbo fire 350 small block v8 the turbo fire 400 with a two-barrel carburetor in the turbo jet 400 with a four-barrel carburetor that was rated at 330 horsepower the two Chevy 400 v8 offered were actually two different designs a lot of people may not know that but the two barrel carburetor turbo fire 400 was a small-block Chevy v8 engine that was somewhat similar but different internally to the 350 the turbojet 400 was a slightly enlarged version of the 396 cubic inch big block v8 and had an actual displacement of 402 cubic inches the most powerful option available was the Monte Carlo SS 454 it was packaged and rated at 360 horsepower it came standard with heavy duty suspension had wider tires the SS 454 badging in an automatic load leveling rear suspension the only transmission available for the SS back in those days was the turbo 400 and that transmission many of our transmission listeners will remember the valve body was recalibrated for a more performance type shift and the torque converter stall speed was just slightly higher than the stock and then the price for the SS package was about $500 more and accounted for check this out less than 3% of all Monte Carlo sold in 1970 and here's the thing despite the SSE's appeal it costs more to buy new than the equivalent Chevelle so it only made up a very small fraction of total Monte Carlo production and was discontinued after 1971 although the 454 engine remained available long after that and if anyone out there has a true original SS please message us here at the show I'd like to have you in studio with us for a future discussion but nevertheless Monte Carlos remained bargains that offer more muscle and style per dollar than many of their peers at for now originally influenced by Pontiac success with a 1969 Grand Prix Chevy at that time came up with their own model for the g-body platform and advertised it as a personal luxury coupe Monte Carlo outsold the rival Ford Thunderbird by about three to one in its debut year despite a labor strike during the early months of 1970 and because of the strike Chevy produced a little over one hundred fifty nine thousand of them they originally planned to build and sell somewhere near a hundred and eighty-five thousand during those early months Monte Carlos were in somewhat short supply with full-scale production not happening until well into February of 1970 and once full production was underway Monte Carlo sold well and often at full list price usually being ordered with many extra cost options and it made it a very profitable model for Chevrolet and for their dealership Network the only body style available was the two-door hardtop the Monte Carlo also became an increasingly important presence in NASCAR after factory support for that sport ended and run about 1971 the average values for a number two condition or an excellent car of the Monte Carlo remain reasonable right at about twenty two thousand four hundred and this doesn't include the SS 454 but even those cars the SS 454 models they come in right at about thirty four thousand one hundred you compare that to an LS five Chevelle SS 454 which is almost twice the price at sixty one thousand six hundred and all of a sudden the SS Monte Carlo seems like a steal and Monte Carlos are essentially Chevelles underneath so with an SS 454 you're getting pretty much the exact same experience for a whole lot less money in the SS 454 Monte Carlos beyond that are pretty rare they're essentially muscle cars even though they weren't never marketed that way so it's taken a while for them to catch on but Monte Carlo czar on most people's radars these days while the first gen Monte Carlo market isn't exactly red-hot and these cars are probably never going to be worth as much as the more famous Chevelle people are starting to recognize that there's somewhat undervalued and they're great bang for the buck before I go any further I want to talk about the largest automatic transmission network on the planet they're the automatic transmission rebuilders Association the a tra makes our clash of the classics possible and no one knows transmissions better than a tra with a member network stretching from coast to coast there's no better place to be when your car is experiencing transmission troubles than an authorized a tra service provider head on over to a tra comm to find a service provider near you that's about all the time we have for today thanks for hanging out with us here at horsepower for an hour we'll see you next time [Music]

Channel: Horsepower for an Hour

Views: 8,385

Rating: 4.9111109 out of 5

Keywords: horsepower for an hour, review, radio, talk, automotive, cars, schlippy, interview, national, test drive, new, show

Id: CAggDusGPNY

Length: 7min 33sec (453 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 27 2019