Some Handy Link's For Restorers...

Here, Just for you benefit and free of charge GM Heritage center as these PDF files available.

These are called "Restorers Packets" and they contain a ton of useful information for anyone who own's or is fixing up or restoring a Monza. These will work for the Skyhawk, Sunbird and Starfire, but are about the monza:

http://www.gmheritagecenter.com/docs/gm-heritage-archive/vehicle-information-kits/Monza/1978-Chevrolet-Monza.pdf

http://www.gmheritagecenter.com/docs/gm-heritage-archive/vehicle-information-kits/Monza/1979-Chevrolet-Monza.pdf

http://www.gmheritagecenter.com/docs/gm-heritage-archive/vehicle-information-kits/Monza/1980-Chevrolet-Monza.pdf


To get the 75, 76 or 77 just change the date in the address bar.

Dates Confirmed..

Here's one of the articles, I used to confirm The Dates I figured out using original Buildsheet data I've collected and and of course, an old Calandar.

There's whats known about the changeover, as per what was written at the time in the Local paper

From the "Pittsburg Post Gazette" Saturday, July 23rd, 1977...

How did I find my red '78 Monza spyder??

It was a random Wednesday afternoon.   I knew the latest "Swap-Sheet"
 would be out, so I went to a news stand to find one..

The swap-sheet was a local sell-your-stuff paper, long before "craigslist".

So as usual I scan for the Sunbird and Monza listing's first.

Sunbirds being a little more plentiful than Monza's at that time. But over all the listings for h body's were becoming rare....

It was all for entertainment anyways because I didn't have more than $40 bucks to my name at the time.

Let's see it was June, 1995..  I was 23..  I think I had a sub shop job and was also delivering pizza's at the time.

So strolling through the paper I find no Sunbird's.  But in the Chevy section, there's a Monza. and again, in the for-part's section...  another Monza...

Both ad's are intriguing enough to warrant a phone call and even a tire-kick look.

I responded to the ad in the for sale section first..   Because this one sounded promising, and maybe I could beg or borrow the $1300 asking price..

The ad read something about a Silver '78 V8 4 speed,  from down south. Needs some work.

So I went to look at it.  Not bad.  Was cool to see another monza around..

It had faded grey paint, was an original v6, so the V8 was a swap. The exhaust was pretty much home made.  The car had solid floor's, body and door's, which was better than any local monza, I'd found outside of the MadMax one I was driving.. Except for the the drivers side door striker had which been rewelded on.
Not a pretty weld.

 The car also drove around the block fine, but. I knew it would need everything to be nice...It was a little loud and clunky, and I didn't have the money or time for another project, so I left there, 'thinking' about it.
Maybe / maybe not...  and there was still one more to look at...

But it was a "part's car" so I didn't have any hope that it would be anything I would want..

The AD was short and almost hidden in between the other listing's. It read something like...  "78 monza spider for parts/ partially disassembled" $950.

In my mind's eye...what I imagined was an overpriced ($950 for a parts car?) rusted out light blue(my least fav color) pile of crap someone had. Someone who knew what it was, and thought a whole bunch of used stuff would be worth a mint because it was a real spyder at one time.

I made a phone call,  and arranged a time to go look at it.  The car wasn't more than 10 miles away from where I lived...

As I drove up to the address...  A nice house with a typical rural house driveway. A few cars parked in it.

I didn't see anything resembling a spyder at first.. but as I rounded into the driveway... I could see a car cover over a car being swallowed by a giant Pine tree next to the driveway. From under the branches you could make out the silhouette of a monza.   I could see why I'd never seen this car before.

Story was...The car had been in the garage for 2 years disassembled and had been out in the driveway under the tree for the last 2 years. An MG project had taken it's place in the garage.

The owner needed to seal the driveway that summer, and decided to sell.

So there it sat.  Met the owner in the driveway. A really cool gentelman, later found out well known in the local racing scene.

 I lean over and grab the cover and lift it, right at the rear quarter panel to expose what I expected to see...a rusted out rear axle trailing arm attachment area....

And right here is a moment that changed my future... I lifted the cover and with the first corner right in front of the passenger side rear tire..saw  Smooth red paint...and not a spec of rust..  Ok... A little more lift and a good door corner!... no way... a little more and something catches my eye...   There's something Black?  ..oh....stripes...   Stripes?   lift to the right and sure enough, there's the Spyder script.

A quick check of the back area reveals the rear spoiler. Rear quarter looking rustfree. the Paint looking like it could shine up with a wash and a wax.. Original Rally Rim with good trim ring and center cap, looking original with some aging BF goodrich white letter tires that might still have some miles left on them, always a plus..  ahh ha!..C pillar must be rusty right?  That was common on southern coastal cars..but Nope all intact and ready to shine up.

Ok take a breath, try not to look shocked or surprised right?   There has to be a let down Somewhere!... I lift the cover enough to get a peek of the interior, not knowing what to expect, but I knew what sun faded ripped and molded interiors were typical in older cars..

I knew to look right at the drivers side seat bolster for the classic wear and tear... and I was shocked, as my eyes raced from place to place all I saw was the cleanest looking tan interior I'd seen since my parents Sunbird was new...  At this point I was in full shock I think.  How to go from here??

I not only have to have this car, I CANT let it slip away!  It's like a wave of wonder, disbelief and fear of it being the one that got away.. And there was still more to come..

Lifting the cover towards the front revealed the reason this car was as it was...   Suddenly there was no fender..  no wheel, no ... nothing, just the front frame rails...even the paint was missing in the wheel well's.

The front end was propped up on 4 x 4's.. So right there's a problem towing the car home.

Owner explains dis assembly was for an SCCA racer project and not due to an accident or anything. He had all the original parts. As best as he knew there wasn't any frame rot.

The clincher was the final lift of the cover after I asked about the hood...he motioned to lift the cover up more and there it sat spyder decal intact and looking as good as it does today.

It was unbelievable.

The guy was soooooo nice.

I let the guy know how interested I was in the car... and he assured me I was the first to call and look at it. but he'd had some other calls.

I asked if it would be possible for him to hold the car for a week, if I gave the $20 I had on me?

He said welll..ok..

And a thanked him and assured him I'd be back by Friday with the money..

Then I was on my way... mesmerized, yet worried sick.. my mind racing...

Oh my I'm getting a mint spyder?? what are my plans??  No wait!!! don't think that you'll jinx it you don't really know if that thing will be yours yet!!!!

What if someone else calls?? what if someone offers big bucks?  what if he sells it under my nose?
Anxiety..  Wonder... wow a red spyder!

But wait, my next paycheck wont be enough??  will he hold it?  can I sell something? Do something? will someone let me borrow it?

I must have been stewing for a few days....  then fortunately, came the perfect time with my dad sitting around and me getting the nerve to ask "Hey Dad"..    Well like Dad's go, he knew something had been either up or troubling me the last few days and he was glad to hear my request....

Fortunately, I had the '78 Brochure handy, which has a nice red monza spyder on the first page....

  "Dad I found THIS car.."    Dad knew about cars that you just had to have..  but wasn't about to fork over any cash.  Even if time was of the essence..

But... Dad was willing to help his son grow financially and responsibly and was willing to co-sign a bank loan..

The bank agree'd but wouldn't lend such a little amount..so I had to agree to $2500. paid back in monthly installments.

I signed,  Dad signed, and there I went off and running to secure the deal on the car.

Over the few days and sleepless night.. I had to wait, The guy didn't mind me pestering him with a few call's making sure the car was still there. And no one else had come to look at it..

Finally there came the afternoon of transferring funds, for the title to the car. DONE!! I couldn't believe it... I was the excited owner of this 1978 Monza Spyder!    I had some money to pay back, but I had the drive to work for it here...

To this day though, I don't feel totally right that I talked him down from the very reasonable $950.
I cant remember exactly think I talked 50 or 100 off.

And for good reason, the deal wasn't done sweetening!..  Ya..  i know..

So the car is mine on paper, but there's still the trouble of getting it home safely with no front suspension..

I just so happened to know a hot-rodder with a rollback..  And he said he could pick up anything, and the front suspension issue shouldn't be a problem.

The car did get onto the rollback pretty easy from there.  But there were a few issues.

First of all when I got there, the guy had everything belonging to the car laid out in the driveway...

A ton of stuff, including new in the box items he was going to use on the car!  Intake ign, carb, and even a small NOS* kit, which I thought was a fire extinguisher.. But the problem was where to put everything.
 The engine block would hang out on the deck of the roll back. there was room to lay the hood down..

But thing's got tense from here... the Rollback operater was in a hurry and started packing things into the interior of the car.  I quickly had to become a parts jocky as thing's like oily  power steering hoses were getting put on seats... Umm...  NO!!!!

I scrambled to get the parts in the car right  without any further damage...the tow guy not understanding the find I had with the interior.

But I couldn't catch everything, next thing I know there's a chain draped over the hood leaving a nice 6 or 7 inch scratch in otherwise perfect paint.

After the car was safely unloaded into my parent's driveway.... Hooray!!

I paid the guy his 90 buck's, and had a million thing's going through my mind...  as the roll back pulled away I saw that the "Fire Extinguisher" the guy gave me was still in the back area of the truck..

I didn't worry about a fire extinguisher and I went on my way loading parts out of the car and getting things set up in the garage.

It wasn't until days later going through stuff that I found the box and paperwork for an NOS cannister, that should have been somewhere.... Oh yeah, that fire extinguisher that the rollback guy made off with!

There was too much else going on, so I let it go...

Here's really the only picture I took of it (that came out)  as I was re-assembling it.

Wheel well's were immediately cleaned and primed...front suspension was re-attached to get it rollable.

With the remainder of the loan, I had the original engine rebuilt..

It came with a set of new flat-top pistons for a 305.  The original heads needed re-assembly, so I went with a set of heads I found in the paper.  I was pleased to find that they were actually a bit better than the originals these were from a 305 HO motor from an 84 monte carlo. That motor also used flat top pistons so these gave me a nice compression ratio. Larger valves, and a little better airflow than the stockers.

After getting the engine installed, I installed everything else over the next few days, and soon enough I had a real monza spyder in really good shape... except the paint..

There was a blueish haze over alot of it, and the front clip had been stored outside so it had a chalky white have over it.

I thought it might be a goner, but I went to a professional detail shop and bought a shelf full of products and borrowed an electric buffer.  As you can see all these years later, they worked pretty good.

I don't think the car would have comeback this good if it was the car's factory original paint.

What??? This one doesn't have it's factory original paint??   Was it really then a factory Spyder ?

Along with all the stuff I got with the car, there was a nice paper trail of receipts that came with it.

I could see the car was well maintained and the mileage corresponded..

Digging through the receipt's I was first kind of bummed to discover the car had gone into a body shop in 1986 for a 'freshening up' according to the seller.

The car was repainted a treated to some of the last available NOS decal sets available in the country at that time.

That was all well and good, I mean the car looks excellent...but of course some of the car's originality was now gone..  But the biggest worry was that the car was simply remade as a spyder.

But...I would soon dig a few original buildsheets out of the interior and find out for certain the car did indeed receive the spyder  options Z01 and Z02..

And as far as I can tell the decals were installed in just the right spots however... After looking closely I can see that the back end of my hood spyder decal ends up about 1/4 to the passenger side. Oh well.

And that's about where this story closes.  Hope you enjoyed..

What's in a name, 'Monza" and "Monza Spyder".

The Spyder package?

In mid 1974, the Chevy Monza made it's public debut. It sold well and soon thereafter,  in late 1976/77, the Monza was ready to be treated to the latest trend's in the sporty car market...  Decals.

Being a car that was also one of the first models created under heavy government regulation's on Mileage, Emissions and Safety... there really wasn't a way to boost the engine's power very much, without raising the price of the car astronomically.. and it was already as fast (top speed) as the 13" tire technology could safely allow.
 Chevy also had Camaro's and Corvette's to sell as well, so a super fast Monza wasn't in the playbook for the car.

 But what you could do to match a car's upgraded performance looks... was to give it upgraded handling..

This 'Spyder' handling package had been created a year earlier and offered on the 1976 monza.
These 76's had subtle Spyder scripts on the fenders and spyder emblems front and back instead of the standard chevy bowtie regular monza's received..

Cool and subtle and tasteful, but 'subtle' doesn't sell cars.  So...

The Spyder decal package was an eye grabber to let it be known that this was the monza model that could handle the corner's..

Why "Spyder"??   After all in automotive term's or at least as far as Alfa Romeo and Ferrari are concerned,  the designation 'Spyder' denotes a convertible model.

The pass GM get's on the use of  spyder for a non-convertible, goes back to the Corvair days.

The Corvair, the GM' 1960's futuristic  'small car' was novel for it's time with it's rear mounted engine.
When the Corvair needed an image boost, it was able to get a turbocharger for the engine.
  I'm no Corvair historian, but I know the sport version got the name Monza.
So you could have a Corvair, OR.. you could have a Corvair Monza..

And since the body architecture allowed for a convertible... the king of the hill Corvair, was the Corvair "Monza Spyder"..    

During the days before the introduction of the 1975 Monza.. There was a time when the car didn't have a name..   what to call it?  Camaro II?  Corvelle?  Gemini?
The car was almost called the "Chapparelle" I pronounce that "shap-rall" .
But long story short, GM wouldn't agree to the term's of the names owner, and wasn't sold on the name.

When deadlines came to get the cars body emblems tooled up, GM reached back into their catalog of owned and established names and settled for "Monza". This time with 2+2 at the end.
This set it apart from the name used with the Corvair.  It indicated the cars design intention, once again with a Ferrari term for a 2 seater, with 2 excuses for seats added right behind the front seats.
That worked well for this Monza with it's rear seatroom perfect for kid's to young adults.
It also worked to fit in with it's competiton from Ford, the Mustang "II".
Chevy had a 2 too , +2.. !

So there's the monza part..  And when it was time to give the car an image that fit in with the competitions "Snake" and "Cobra" themes,  what could work well with Monza?  "Spyder!"
So what, if it wasn't a convertible!  ...the car needed a sinister animal figure for the decal. Scorpion was generic and might have required some licencing.. Crocodile and/or Brown bear didn't fit well. The Eagle (screaming chicken) was already taken so hence the large spider decal on the hood, and Spyder Graphic's on the side. Although still a challenge to market as the brochure above suggests..what has "8 leg's 4 wheel's and Flies"???  -An old motor home found deep in the wooded hill's of Tenesee??

But the bold arachnid decals were only applied to cars that had an upgraded suspension package. A base engine was fine, but the car had to have "RPO Z01"  Spyder performance package ordered first, before the decal package could be added.

A Spyder's ordered with V8, did have it's straight line 'performance' altered slightly.  
A dual tailpipe exhaust was used, standard with the V8 and Spyder package, optional on everything else.
There is a rumor that from the factory Spyders also used a 2-1/2" rear pipe vs. the 2-1/4 for a stock V8.
The pipe (cat-back) was available in the early 80's and then discontinued and quickly forgotten about.
The would have helped the cars breath a little better than they did (stock) above 4500 rpm.

 Find out More about the Spyder option in an upcoming installment to be titled
 "Monza Spyder Spotter's guide '76 to '80"

See you then!




 

"I've heard of a "GM H-body" so whats a "GM HS-body"? Whats an H-special?

 Many automobiles use a body designation like A-Body or B-body which helps to group a larger category of vehicles into a one that share the same basic chassis.

Like, as many reading this probably already know.. the F-body designates the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird.  And  a J-body was built up to be a Chevy Cavalier, and Pontiac J2000, Sunbird(again), and then Sunfire. All mostly the same car. Generally speaking, they share a floorpan and mechanicals.

So OK then, the H-body was the Vega, Astre / Monza, Sunbird, Skyhawk, Starfire right?

Well, not so fast...

First off, were going to ignore the use of the H-body designation, later in the 1980's for some full size cars.

We'll deal with the more well known and collectible H-body from '71 to '80.

Here's some info:

Sometimes* when GM upgrades a chassis enough, but it's still mostly the original architecture, they'll give the platform a second designation.. For example...

A very recent nameplate, The Chevrolet Cobalt, was built off of the "Delta Platform" Which is sort of a modern way of saying D-Body. But a platform is a little more modular, ie; it can be expanded to more vehicle types than the old 'body' way of making chassis.  The Pontiac G5 was also built off of this platform on the same production line. (Lordstown,Ohio). Like the 78-80 "HS-Body".

The Cobalt ran for 6 years or so until production ended and the new and improved Chevy "Cruze" came out.
The Cruze bear's little resemblance to it's predecessor, but underneath it's new skin is the Delta Platform, but with just enough upgrades to get the designation "Delta II".

*The F-body chassis was changed extensively in 1982.  Including the torque arm rear axle design from the H body, but it remained designated the F-body, although not much if anything interchanged from the '81 and earlier chassis. So I guess this only happens sometimes, when GM needs it to happen.

Back in 1970.. The chassis created to build the Vega and Astre on, was called the "H-body".

By 1973, GM had a top secret expansion program in operation for the chassis. The would upgrade it to support a newly styled and heavier body. In 2 configuration's, a futuristic styled hatchback, and a 'notchback' coupe body. That would be shared by four makes.

The redesign was to support a whole new line of drivetrains,  including a possible 2 rotor Wankel Engine, and/or V6 or even V8 power. The rear axle attaching point's were revised for a whole new "torque arm" setup.

At the same time, it needed to retain the same basic architecture because the Vega and Astre would continue be produced and would be built off this newly upgraded chassis with no changes to the body design of either.

So it was still an H-body but not the old H-body ..   So what to call it?

The "HS" was the new designation.

Many publications refered to them as the.. "H-Special"  One or 2 magazine articles I have suggest the
"H-Super" designation.  As-in these are "Supercoupes". But of course, not to be confused with the Ford Thunderbird, which laid claim to the designation many years later.

Here's an example of the use of the term with the H body..

 "Road Test magazine, in its 1976 "Supercoupe Shootout"—Alfa vs. Mazda vs. Lancia vs. Saab vs. Cosworth Vega"

As of this writing, I'm not partial to any particular designation.  Personally, I tend to think it was just H special, but if you called them HS Body's that would just simply be easier.
 And even easier than that,  just call them all H-body's and forget about it!!!! 

So...  just in case you wondered.. The Monza, Sunbird, Skyhawk, and Starfire were built on the HS-Body chassis.

Just after the first model year of the revised chassis, the Wankel engine idea was canned, and it was possible to lower the height of the transmission tunnel to gain some interior room...
...but that was a minor tweak, and would't require any further chassis designations. 

:)  Cheer's

I.S.O. #3....Was my 1978 Monza Spyder stolen and recovered in 1981??

In this 3rd and latest installment of the "In Search of" files....

I'm interested in more information about a rumor surrounding this car.

Here's how it started..

I'm at a car show displaying my car.  People are walking by, it's a great day, some are asking casual questions about the car. It's a typical nice afternoon show..

One person comes around and is unusually interested in the car, especially the interior.

I know it's good to talk to these kind of on-lookers, as you get tips and leads on secret stashes of parts, and cars.

As I get to talking the dude,  He ask's me " this a '77 ? ? "   Me... nope a 78..
Him "No way... THIS is a 77!"  I laugh and say nope I'm sure it's a '78,  why do you think it's a 77?

He goes THIS INTERIOR!  I remember this interior!!

I go well..  then you remember a '78 because this pattern was '78 ONLY.

He goes... "No way man!! I STOLE a '77 Monza Spyder just like this, with THIS interior from 'Greece Towne Mall'  in 1981, when I was 17 "!!!

(Greece towne Mall is in  'Greece', NY.  a suburb of Rochester, NY).

 He also added that,  He and a few friends had it for a about 3 weeks before they were caught.

 He had it stuck in his mind that it was a 77, but he was certain it was an identical Red Monza Spyder (with the decals)... and the interior was what he remembered most.

I'd like to not believe him, since, well, who want's to think of their prized cruiser going thorough all that??      ..and anyways,..what are the chances it's the same car? since he insist's the one he stole was a '77 and not a '78.

But upon researching the details... some statistic's and some evidence strongly suggest's that the rumor is true and that this is in fact, the same car he stole.

Here's some thought's:

There could have been another Red '77 Monza Spyder with the unusual red interior in town. around that time. A few in fact since Monza's were selling well at that time, and red was a popular color.

But having the Spyder option narrows down possibilities a lot, since the option was expensive and they sold about 1 or 2 per dealer.

Of the handful of '77/ '78/ '79  spyders let loose around the area ., only a few would have been red. Silver, Black white Blue and Red were typically the most popular color's for the entire line up. Let's assume it was the same for Spyder's. But, there were 14 other color choices...  So while there were maybe a few Spyder's running around town.. (One or two sold per dealership/ per year.)  considering 7 area dealerships, that would equal roughly 35-40 Spyder candidates.
 If 25 % of those were red.. that leaves @ 7 to 10 red Spyder candidates in town..

 But then there's the tan interior fact....
If there was a '77 red spyder in town, Or another Red '78 or red '79.. it would have also had to have a Tan interior with the "custom cloth" option. Most red cars would have either the Black ( most common) or Red interior.

  And if it was a 1977 or 1979 with tan interior, there would be no mistaking the 78's interior pattern for it.
The other years were just a plain Tan colored seat, no pattern.

 The 78's had this pattern (below) straight out of the Betty Crocker catalog.

And this fellow's strongest memory was of the seat pattern style. So that strongly suggest's that, over the years his memory simply swapped 78 for a 77.

 It would be very easy to have that tiny detail just a bit off after all these years.

The stock 'Custom Cloth' option in Camel Tan, RPO 62J

A full shot of the interior, as it is. 

Add in the confirmed V8 with 4speed, (not auto) and chances are slim it was any other monza!

Exterior color Red, 15k made..

Spyder Package 6,391

V8 option 9,478 = less with 4speed. more were automatics.

Tan interior WITH Optional Cloth upgrade.. 5,677 

To get all these rare options together on one car... it becomes one of a few hundred for the whole country.

One of maybe 2 or 3 close duplicates for the 'area'.

The unfortunate news is that he had it for a few weeks and said he and his friends banged it up pretty good.. (He mentioned serving some time for it!)

In fact from what he remembered he was surprised the car could have been repaired..    0.0

Is there any body evidence of a crash repaired long ago??   Oye, their certainly is!!

If you look at the car from this angle in person, any "body guy" (or gal:)) would say yeah, someone hung a new rear quarter on this car, and didn't or couldn't get the body back to 100% perfect before they tacked it back on. It's not too obvious fortunately, but if you look you can find the evidence of a full repair done long ago.


How about the cars known history does it correlate?? It seem's too! ..

My take is that, this was a pretty expensive car when new. (a fully optioned Monza Spyder was more than a base Camaro and only a few hundred dollars shy of a new 1978 Corvette!!!) (without A/C and Automatic, this example would still have been the over the price of a Camaro Berlinetta)
So it would still have been pretty valuable in 1981.  If it was wrecked with only 22k miles on the odo. Insurance would have either had it fixed if it was stolen and recovered repairable, or they would've totaled it.
If totaled it may have ended up being auctioned off and then a dealership...
Possibly the one the 2nd owner bought it from (I have the paperwork) repaired it for a quick sale?

 Another speculation is that the original owner could have traded in it after getting it back from the body shop, I can imagine them being pretty disappointed and wanting a new car.  Trading up for the brand new new, redesigned, 1982 Camaro was common for V8 H-bodies, but this car was traded in a little earlier than those came out, lessening the chances of that scenario.

Taking everything into account, it all sure seems to correlate though with it being rumored stolen sometime in '81!

The only thing I can do is write this blog out and hope the guy I spoke with at the car show (didn't get a name!) find's it and leaves a comment or anyone else who was involved. Or hopefully even the original owner..

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New parts.. Accell Super coil..

 I'm had some time getting some road miles down with a new ignition coil from Accell.

So far so good.

Early this year I won a gift certificate to a local auto parts chain.  Other chains had it a few bucks cheaper, but I paid the exact same for mine as offered below.

Other recent improvements include a new distributor base, (typical billet generic).

And some new cosworth vega rims with well balanced dunlop tires on them.

All these parts have contributed to the best running form this car has been in since I acquired it 16+ years ago.

In all gears the car pulls happily to the redline.    It will accellerate smooth and easy with no complaints from 1000rpm in 4th gear.. Or shoot right up into the redline in first. 

It's starts up nice as well. Even hot.  I was also able to gap the plugs pretty wide at just a tick under .050 for all of them.

Why? For a nice fat spark. The Accell has the juice to fire them consistently at this gap.

I'll have to get a picture of it soon. Just wish the housing was red..

Some details from the Lordstown Assembly plant changeover from Vega to Monza in 1977 to 1980

 That would be Vega and Astre,  to  Monza, Sunbird, Skyhawk, and Starfire.
I'll use "Monza+" to indicate all four of these models.

Thats going from 2 different models to 4 different models.
Only a high capacity, state of the art plant could tackle this.

In this blog installment, I'm searching out information about the Lordstown Assembly  plant, as it changed over from the last 1977 Vega built,  to the 1977 Monza and Sunbird coupe, and then onto the full line-up of 1978's. Coupes and Hatchbacks.  It's a work in progress. Check back from time to time!


Here's my finding's on the Chevy Vega /Pontiac Astre to Monza+ change-over at the Lordstown Ohio plant in 1977.
In early January of 1977, the Plant shut down for five week's. This was due to in part to an oversupply of Vega and Astre model's, and to change over some area's of the plant to accommodate the Monza and Sunbird.

 The Lordstown Assembly plant would start back up making '77 Monza town coupes, and Sunbird coupes (notchbacks). Along with the final 1977 Vega's. 

The V8 Engine installation was new this year for this plant. It had already been accomplished in the St.Therese Quebec, Canada Plant for the past 3 years.
The Engine line had to be adjusted to install engines from the top. The new V6 and V8's couldn't be installed from below like the Vega 140 4cyl. So new conveyors had to be built and installed.

The paint department got an upgrade to be able to paint and prep the new urethane parts on the Monza and Sunbird. 

This was done during a 4+ week shutdown from @ Jan, 10th 1977 to 6:30 am Monday morning Feb 14th of 1977.
3,000 Workers were called back to show up by 6:30AM Monday Morning February 14, 1977.. 
The Vega and Astre would keep on being assembled but the new lines would be in place and operational allowing the Monza and Sunbird to slip into the mix.
The first Lordstown Monza and Sunbird were done and rolling out on Wednesday February 16th, 1977.(Another report said Friday the 18th)  8,500 worker's helped in assembling them.  The first one is in a picture here..

Thru the first part of 1977, the Plant operated one shift, and the line ran at 85 per hour, but only 14 an hour were 1977 Monza's and or Sunbird's.

The line for 1977's at Lordstown was totally stopped on July 22nd, 1977. 
It would be restarted again, running the full 1978 line-up on August 22nd, 1978.
This later 4+ week shut down allowed for the final changes to be made to accommodate the Coupe and Hatchback versions in all 4 different makes. Chevy, Pontiac, Buick, and Oldsmobile. 

On Restart, 6:30 AM Monday August 22nd, 1977 The plant ran one eight hour shift. 
The line ran at 70 car's an hour but within the first few days, there was a shortage of parts (alternator's) due to a strike at a Delco Remy plant in Anderson Ind.
The line had been moving slowly for a few days to compensate. The previous Thursday it was reported that the line was crawling at only 43 unit's per hour. The line was Halted on Tuesday the 30th of August.
I'm not sure when the line got moving again, I would think it was the next day or shortly thereafter. 

On October 4th 1977..a second eight hour shift was added, and the line speed was up to 70 cars an hour, a slightly slower pace than the Vega.

With the line running at 70 cars per hour that equaled 1,120 cars per 16 hour production day. 

The H body Model year, like most other cars.. started in August of the previous year. So to begin at the 1978 Model Year means to start at the date of Monday, Aug 22nd 1977... The plant ran right on to August 18th of 1978. 242 days of assemblies. 267,531 assembled vehicles. That actual total equals the above totals. That's @ 1096 cars per day.. 69 Car's an hour.. Over one per minute. Leaving the plant under it's own power and into the shipping yard. The math holds true.

As sales remained strong some overtime Saturdays were involved. 2 in April are documented in archived data. Trim tag data has revealed some saturdays in other months as well..It had been the first time the plant had assembled in overtime hours since 1973!

The First Oldsmobile Starfire off the line was a Prize giveway...
"" December 1, 1977: Paula Nolfie of Marmion Ave. is given the keys to a new 1978 Oldsmobile Starfire, the first off the line at the General Motors Assembly Plant at Lordstown. She won the car in a contest conducted by the Youngstown district's four Oldsmobile dealers. ""

On May 19th of 1978 the Olds Starfire added the "Firenza" to it's model line.  This was the Friday before my red spyder was assembled.

Aside from a few part shortages. The line ran steady right through to the 1979 models.  1978's and 79 were record sales years, and thus the line was sped up another notch on July 30th 1979 to 80 Cars an hour. Workers were now putting in 10 hour shifts.

GM's 100 millionth car was a 1979 Chevy Monza. A 1979 Beige Town Coupe, sold to a Dr. Jane B Dunlap, of Akron, Ohio. As a present to herself for just completing her Doctorate program. It was produced Wednesday, February 28th.. Driven off the line at 10:42 am EST, by Robert Lund. Chevrolet General Manager.

The Buick Skyhawk and Oldsmobile Starfire models were produced thru December 21st 1979. (1980 Models) 

Here's an '79 Oldsmobile Starfire Firenza getting the finishing touches on the line in 1979. 

After they were gone, it was only Monza and Sunbird. On March 24th of 1980 the line speed was increased to 90 units an hour.

Production extended passed the usual August change-over. The Monza and Sunbird were selling well and the J-body replacement wasn't quite ready yet.

                    --The Official end date of the H-body model line---  

 The extended 1980 Production model run came to an end on:

 Thanksgiving break, November, 26th 1980. As the last monza drove away under it's own power.. The line was immediately shut down and dismantled. To make way for the new J-body conveyors and set-up.   
From a Plant Manager..[the line ended]"With the 1,576,758th car, 'give or take a hundred'" 

It's rumored that GM owns the very last Monza off the line, a plain looking Grey coupe.
Vin #203,934

 That would equate to 34,516 Monza's being built in the extended production run. 

Very Last Chevrolet Monza off the Production Line..

The entire 1978 Lordstown Ohio H-Body Production Schedule project..

I've created (as many of you from the H-body.org/forum know)  the entire 1978 H-body Production Run, day by day, front beginning to end, using the H-body.org/form.

See it here..

http://forums.h-body.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=39169

What it is, is a timeline of the 1978 production run using, known dates, and  "trim-tag"* and "buildsheet"* codes from real examples. It's 15 pages. Every single day.. all 242 production days given a post.

* "Trim Tag" is also known as a Cowl Tag. and contains codes used to assemble and track the car through the paint booths of the plant where the paperwork couldn't follow it.
It's located under the hood. On the drivers side. Lower Cowl area.

* "Buildsheet" or Build-sheet is also known as a "Broadcast sheet" They were paper's that helped the car get assembled. They were left behind in the car's , commonly found behind interior panels and under carpets.

Why did I create this?    It was fun...      It includes my 1978 Monza.

It helps create a full picture of how these unique car's were assembled at this highly automated, fast paced and very modern (for the time) production plant.

It helps to also lift the mystery from the trim tag date coding system used at the plant.

I was able to decode the date system, using the pile of trim tag and buildsheet data I'd collected from the many H bodies I owned as-well-as many examples I pulled from wrecking yard cars, and some gracious submissions from readers of the forum..

It need's your help!..  If you can contribute your 1978's data, or some information from a wrecking yard car, or a car you used to own, I would really appreciate it!!

The 'airfoil' window lineage...

The airfoil side window shape, in automotive design history....

The airfoil shape as seen below is well known in certain circles.

Designers have used this shape for the side window profile on cars to suggest an "aerodynamic" look.
It also somewhat looks like an eye, or an 'alien eye' and some have also suggested it's a 'teardrop' shape.

Whatever you call the shape.. it's a sleek and eye catching design that was used on the monza 2+2.
In automotive design, it's noted as having one continuous arching line, starting at the bottom of the "A pillar"
and following to the bottom of the "C Pillar"

The designers of the monza  say they actually interpreted the design from a popular Ferrari model of the day

The 365 gtc/4 as seen here:

Those Thieves!

So we'll call this the first in this showcase.

If you know of an earlier car to use the airfoil shape leave a comment below!

I'd venture to guess this Opal GT was probably an influence as well but not quite an airfoil to my eye..

Or just not such a pronounced one..

The angle at the top of the "A-Pillar"  to the roof line spoils the effect. and the rear glass lacks the long point.

Here's a very obvious, yet very pleasing use of the shape:

 The Chevrolet Monza 2+2

1975 to 1980

and in no particular order.. 

Mazda? MX6?

Ford? Focus.. 

1995+ Chevy Cavalier?

And it's Predecessor with the short production run like the Monza, the Cobalt..? This ones a little flat on the bottom but the Full arch of the roof-line, and pointy triangle rear glass just qualify..
 

                                                                         
Here's the latest in the line, and it almost shares a name with the H body Pontiac "Astre"  Here's a Saturn "Astra"

To me this is close, but not quite..

And what the hell it's a Ford Aspire 

It's somewhat of a symmetrical arch but it suggests an airfoil to some degree 

This shape to cars is like the blues is to music, reinterpret the same 3 chords tastefully enough and you can call it your own.

Have any more suggestions? Leave a comment below! 

Hope you enjoyed this.

Just Added...  How did we forget?  Here's the airfoil side window profile on a worthy car...

The Nissan 240!

I.S.O. # 2 Photo's from Lordstown Ohio Assembly Plant.

Here in the latest installment of  "In Search Of..."   We are on the look-out for pictures of Monza's on the production line at Lordstown Ohio.

Right now on-line, you can find pictures of every model the Lordstown plant has ever produced except the Monza 78 - 80! I've searched everywhere and they don't exist..

Actually     --Just Found!!---

But copied from a scan of an old newspaper article, so the picture is barely visible...these so far the ONLY KNOWN  photo from the Monza days at Lordstown..  This is a '79 Starfire Firenza..

Yes I know, it's barely even visible. :(  Maybe the Associated Press still has the original?

Here's a Sunbird all done....

 I have some from the St.Therese plant from 1975.
 They were found in a "Chevrolet Friends"  magazine to promote new Chevy sales.

Here is the pic. I couldn't get my scanner to work so I had to resort to taking a digital pic of the magazine page.  Here it is..   There's a floorpan going down the line, about to become a monza..

The overhead hoisted monza is being placed on a jig to check the straightness of the body after initial welding procedures. 2 pictures show welding operations as the car went down the line. This was a pre-production run to work out kinks, and test welding procedures.
Later down the line the Monza is just behind an orange Vega  waiting to get it's 262 V8 installed in it.
And some wheel moulding trim is applied in it's final stages of assembly.

Here are some Vega ones from just a few years earlier than the monza...

                                                    Unimates at work on Unibodies.

Where are the same type of pictures with the Monza's and Sunbird's?

All 21 H bodies I've owned with pics and descriptions...

Well I guess a good post to share with the world would be all 21 of the H bodies I owned. With a little information about each one.

This should take some time...here goes...

#1  My 'hand-me-down' 1980 Pontiac Sunbird.  This is the car that got me started on H bodies.

It was bought new in 1980 by my parent's. I was 8 at the time it was brought home. I liked it instantly.

I liked the unusual color. The baby trans AM look. the unusual side window profile. The fact that I could hop over the rear seat and into a play area as Dad drove us to Grandma's house was big plus.

One day on a ride through Niagara Falls Canada (the main uphill strip that has all those touristy places like 'Ripley's believe it or not' wax museum).. One of the parked cars along the road was a Silver "Formula" model. I was set from then on, on inheriting the car and adding all the stuff to make it look like one of those.

1980 Sunbird

On the last day of school for my Junior year of High school...the Seniors were doing the typical burnouts and smoke shows  and there was this very sinister black on black car that looked remarkably like my sunbird, but somehow different...   It was a '77 Chevy Monza.  I was laughing that a 4cyl could do such a thing not thinking my Sunbird could muster that much of a rumbling moke show..  maybe in reverse..

Well thats when a buddy overheard and walked up noting that these cars came with V8's... I totally doubted and disagree'd, and he told me I could go see for myself...
He told me of an auto parts yard that lets you walk around and browse the cars.. and that there were some V8s there to look at.

Look at? Ha!..  I was soon planning a swap. I'd seen some other friends pulling an engine, and felt if they could do it so could I!.

So I found my first Starter Sunbird for $100. and away I went..

#2 Here, I found the rare opportunity to park next to a cool Black Monza with "Monza Magic" pinstriped in gold on the tail.  @ Darien Lake amusement park

Here it is as purchased...looks cool but it just had the stock 4cyl engine.

Here I go, it's V8 time.  Poor me - Not schooled on how to know what to look for when buying a used engine...I got boned on a junky 305 that needed a rebuild. wish I would have saved for a 350! 

Add caption

Best picture of the car as I drove it that Summer.

Blew the 305 up right away,  Got a decent deal on -of all thing's- a running 307.

This Burnout was actually the last day the car drove before being dismantled (had rust issues and H bodies were plentiful at the time)  307 running strong. 

 Spent a really cool summer as a security guard at the Rochester Yacht Club..   What a summer that was.

 Then along came a spider...   Not a factory spyder model (yet)...but a really cool 1980 monza 2+2...
That got spyder emblems on it as soon as I got it.

#3 This was my first monza.  It was cool. Spotted it along side a garage in Penfield, Ny. Talked with the owner and scored a deal on the car, for a song and a dance. It was a 1980 V6 4speed model. PS / PB no AC.
Red interior. vista vent sunroof.

Ran good for a few days but I soon spun all the bearings in the motor. It clanked all the way home, but made it. And soon after It had the V8 from the sunbird, and the sunbird was parted out.

 Had a nice and straight body.. And some factory sport stripes as well..

 My first V8 Monza.. Here's the 307 again.

Then came the fateful January morning I decided to goof around in traffic, kicking the tail out in the snow.

All was good, until the car took off into low speed spin-out.

Thought I was going to knock the curb, but just so happened a 1966 or so Chrysler New Yorker was headed my way.  

I was ok. The other driver was fine. the '66 had a slightly bent fin and cracked headlight.

Here's to learning to be careful in the snow - the hard way.

Well, not exactly this model but similar, and the pic was too good not to post...

                                      

So that car was dismantled and sent away..

..and I was monza-less.

For a while.. but then...

...to be continued!

#4  Enter..... The Mad Max Mirage............???

 I can officially say I was a young man there..

Whats the story with this one?

Well, first of all, talk about the luxury of a full garage / workshop courtesy of Mom and Dad!!

I found it for $1300 with no motor. Came with lots of goodies and solid body with the "Mirage" package panels fiber-glassed to the body, and Sidepipes.

It began life as a maroon 1978 2+2 sport, with the V8 & Automatic tranny.

It was saved before any major rot claimed the frame, but certainly had a ton of bondo here and there. 

I had everything needed to finish it off. Ran the 307 and a 4 speed again until it started burning oil..

Started with a 2.29 Open differential, and with the 14 inch tires it had an excellent overdrive + top end.

It worked really well on expressways. Downshifting to 3rd made a great passing gear and made driving fun

I wanted a Posi though and found a great deal on a low mileage 3.08 posi.

Once I got used to driving it with different shift points...I think it was faster 0 to 60 but not as much fun or as fuel efficient on the highway. 

Not as bad as having tiny 60 series 13" tires. 

Drove this one A LOT.

Had a lot of fun with it. This was the first privately owned vehicle to travel down the newly completed 531 expressway.

Got me to Toronto and back to see a Pink Floyd Concert.. One of the only other times I met up with another monza out on the highway.

Had a mad max look to it in person.

It was eventually retired...as well...  It was getting kinda beat and...I think found a suitable replacement...

#5

More like stumbled across..  But this one here is what this blog is all about..so you can read all about it's story in other post's.

Here's a couple of pic's as it was back when I got it.

I could have stopped here...but no..  no I didn't..

Let's see 5 down, 16 more to go!

Sometime Before buying this red spyder in 1995......

#6 

I had this Gold 2+2... why?... I liked the look..would have been a perfect V8 conversion but the frame was totally shot in the front. It was a good running original 4cyl car.  PS and automatic, but manual brakes.

Wish I would have kept the front air-dam, it was a nice plastic aftermarket one from A&A. 

The slick looking side stripes were actually just a quick experiment with electrical tape that came out pretty cool. Overall it was a good deal, I paid $60 for the car. I sold it. I'm pretty sure I saw it later on wrecked in the front. 

                       #7

Around this time (just before finding the red car) I scored this little gem. It was a 1977 V8 2+2.

 Firethorn metallic, red interior.

It had suffered a deer hit sometime before I found it. Which explains the blue hood and black fender. Got it for a low price. Had to have it because it was an original V8. This one, like every maroon GM car I've ever had, was more finicky than the rest.

  Eventually sold it to a buddy who kept going strong for a few more years. And had a lot of fun with it. 

#8

Stumbled across this one on a ride.. Had to have it..it was a 1975 with a mint black interior. It was a nice running 262 4-speed, and I always liked the uniqueness of the 1975 interior. And the price was right $350 or something.. cheap because while the front looked as sharp as it used to.. the sides were rusted bad. The car had sat in a field for some time. I put it on the road as my daily driver, (to keep the red spyder as a secondary car). Of course the rear trailing arms immediately broke free, leaving me to resort to using bungee cords to hold them up against the frame.  

Believe it or not it ran pretty good like this for quite some time! I parted this one out. a friend of mine still has some of the interior pieces. The kid who bought the car from me fell through on his end of the deal and I ended up salvaging a few odd's and end's but didn't get the motor like I was supposed to.

#9 NO PIC'S OF THIS ONE  

Around this time on my way to a Rush concert I spied a little white 1976 monza parked in lot off of the Thruway. I checked the car out..left a note and next thing you know I was towing home a 1976 262 auto parts car with white and green interior. Car was originally a Lime green one. The rear axle pulled away from the frame as the car was ratcheted to the flatbed.   So it was quickly dismantled as a parts car.

This is the only one I never got a pic of. Still have some of the Green interior including the Rally gauge dash cluster.          1976 White 2+2   ***NO PICTURES***

Also around this time is a 1978 monza parts car I found. Not sure How I found it... But there it was
It was just a rotted shell good for a V8 donor car..  By the buildsheet codes this car was just days away from being a 1979..    #10

 Says Starfire GT but was a monza. Looks like there was a cool starfire running around town at one time.

The car on the right is the car listed below. The left is the one above. On the edge is the back corner of a 1997 Cavalier I bought at the time because I liked the teardrop window. Heck if that thing wasn't a piece of junk in 2 years. What a waste of money!  I just threw my money everywhere at that age..


Next up is a 1976 V8 Spyder (one of 2,339 made), that I only had for a very short time.

It was basically a parts car.  It was a NY car, and the frame was shot by the time I got it.
This I paid 80 bucks for it as a rolling shell.  It donated some great parts.

#11

 Was a cool car at one time, for sure.

I spent an afternoon putting an engine in it. moved it 50 feet, and then eventually dismantled it. 

Mostly because another  came along shortly after getting this one.

 Next up..   spyder number #2    Random email spyder #1.  #12

Sometime around this time, (@1997) I got a random email from someone who had a  rust-free 1979 monza spyder body in Utah for $100 before it went off to the crusher.

Since the price was right I wanted it..   It cost $800 to get it shipped. I had this monza for a long time. Probably the 2nd longest ownership besides my red spyder.

 I was a 1979 black spyder.  Was a V6 4speed. new. I ran it in a few different configurations of V8 4 speed / Automatic. With stock 13" wheels, and with a handling kit and 14" tires, and it really handled well. It was a raw road machine.  Lot's of fun with this car!

 Hamlin Beach State Park.

 Loved the removable "Vista-Vent" sunroof.

Here it is in it's final form...it had evolved into a raw road machine.... All insulation and sound deadening material was stripped along with any excess weight.  The car was loud raw and crude, and I loved it.

Eventually...Time to do anything with it, Money,  and lack of storage space forced me to sell it in around 2006. All the serious parts were kept for future use and the shell was bought and hauled off to Albany NY.
Actually also, I had a job that was taking me across town and even across the state, and this one was giving me overheating issues, and gas prices were skyrocketing so..   I went and bought a new economy car.

Looking back ( isn't hindsight always 20/20)? I could have invested in an aluminum radiator, and an overdrive transmission for far cheaper than this New car I bought, but I couldn't get those needed things on Payment's like I could with the new car, and driving in snow/ de-icing chemicals and with a good heater was a big selling point.

It had my 3.42 posi with 5 lug conversion. As I've been told, that rear axle is still around if I wan't to go and get it, but the car has been dismantled and processed.

I got maximum fun use out of the thing while I had it.

Well sometime around this time I was on a country drive and spotted a Sunbird.

Turned around and next thing I know I was throwing a wad of cash at someone to snag this must have Formula Sunbird set up for racing.
#13

 Look at it though...you would have grabbed it to.

 Wasn't sure what I was even going to do with it.  I put a 305 4-speed, and even with that little mouse motor  it was scary fast with the 4:11 gears.  The  ladder bar suspension and slicks made the back end feel way to loose. Wish I would have held onto it, but then ANOTHER cool h-body came along!..

One of my favorites, didn't have it for very long though.. wish I would have kept it..
#14
But I came across this Green '77 by way of a random email.. low and behold it was right across town!

 Had A/C new.

 A monza spotted in it's natural habitat..the back roads..

A forest green metallic with tan interior 1976 2+2 V8? With a 350 and 3.42 Posi re-drilled for 5 lugs?
with a 1980 Front air-dam, For a rock bottom price? Heck yes!
 I really liked how much more detail there was in the earlier interiors.. this one had a really cool 2 tone tan  vinyl interior. An aftermarket sunroof. I had to sell the Sunbird to get it. It was a tough choice.. but I could make more use of the 76, and I did. Lot's of fun journeys in this car.

The car was sold off to make room for other interesting monza's
It was pulled out of storage given a battery and driven overnight to New Jersey by it's new owner.
The car was spotted on ebay a few years later. It had been cut and welded a bit for racing , and was in pieces. Ah well..

I've lost track of the exact order I got these cars in..  I think this next one may have been bought a few years before this green '76 above, I cant remember.  But this next one has it's own long story....

A 21 hour train ride, and a 15 hour sneak-a-thon back home.. would net me a sweet looking 1980 spyder repainted Corvette silver, with dark blue cloth interior. V6 Auto...

Yep.. I had just gotten this big bonus check from work, and what do you know, another email arrives...this time the car is in ST. Louis MO.  a 15 hour drive from home.

One of the funnest monza journeys involved me taking a train ride to go get the car. 11 hours to Chicago.. Got to run outside and have a quick look.  Then found my train to MO. another 10 hours.
Got there and met up with seller.  Had a ton of faith in the deal I tell ya. But sure enough the car ran nice the whole way..   In the picture below it's just crossing into Indiana on it's maiden voyage to it's new home.

Was so nice and straight and the Corvette silver paint looked awesome. It originally was silver and also would have come with some blue spyder decals to match the interior.

#15

1980 Monza Spyder

 So on the way home, in Northern Ohio...early on a Sunday Morning, after stopping for gas, I decide on a whim, to take a detour and sight see this local state park.   Waaaay out in the wood's.
No one around, very peaceful but somewhat eerie too..

I found this look-out tower at the top of a hill..

 I dared climb a bit of it but not all the way to the top.

 Gave the back-end the spyder style black-out, and I thought it looked excellent...
231 buick ran good and strong. But a little hot.

One of the best rides this car had was heading towards Philly on rt 9 heading south..
I got in with a fast crowd.. A 'Vette in the lead, a Mustang Cobra holding a strong 2nd.. Both late models.
After that was a Porsche 944 and me sharing 3rd and 4th.
It was some cool company, and the 231 kept up surprisingly well.


Unfortunately,   The car suffered some bad luck early one evening...
A moments distraction to the passenger side mirror and I couldn't stop in time for a van.
I'd worked hard all day, was tired and groggy, and needed to trudge over to the store to get something to eat.  I doubt I ate anything that night.

I couldn't help but be pissed off at the "Sears carpet care" van driver, who slipped out into the road just ahead from a side street, and proceeded to stop suddenly and hard .. and never let up off his brakes. " Claiming to the police, "it looked like he was asleep"   .... He was watching me the whole time? He could tell that from his mirror? Why not ease up and give a guy some room?  Oh well, at the end of the day, no matter what - still my fault -.  :(   live and learn!

Awwww!!!!!  :(    One disappointing ride out to get some dinner.

 I had a body shop do what they could to pull the frame back and was able to get the front clip back together with some spare parts I had.  Didn't look all that bad from a distance anyways.

Had to look like a 75 to 77 now. Silver was a great color on those years too. Yes the orange turn signal lights were from a skyhawk.

 Car was eventually sold and went back towards the Midwest.  This one end's up in the "What the Heck it's 1999" category.

Hmmm, what was next?...

Oye!  Why on earth?  Showed up on a local used car lot for $300.  Perfect daily driver! #16

 Car overheated if driven too hard.  I stil beat on it and it took a lickin and kept on ticking.

231 V6, Automatic.

I'm pretty sure I had so many monza's  (probably like 4 or even 5 at the time) That I had to let some go, and of course this was one of them. I think a few parts were taken off the car and it was just hauled away.
Wasn't super solid underneath in critical area's.
----------------------Next;
 Here I scored this neat little 1980 blue sunbird coupe for a daily driver. It had a deluxe blue cloth interior which meant some shag like carpet instead of the cut-pile type usually found. It was a 4cyl and ran great.
Super deal.. I think it was another $300 deal.

#17

Cant remember how I found the car, but how I got it was cool. It was a Canadian car, in Toronto.
I needed to get some special paperwork from GM, to be able to 'import' the car into the US.

I drove the car to my buddies house in Beamsville. There I rented a Uhaul and Tow Dolly.

I towed the car to the border (this was just after 9/11) So I didn't know what to expect. Well funny thing was, I walked into the office with this Huge debacle over this lady's Horse trailer and Horses.
She and the Border police were going back and forth for what seemed like an eternity...Finally they took a break and grilled me for a minute or two.. They took my paperwork into a back room and about a minute later they were telling me to scram. I ducked out of there, just as the Horse argument was starting back up...
 I towed the car to the Uhaul place in Niagara Fall's Canada, got rid of the truck and trailer and carefully drove the car home on the backroads.

Was a great little car. I was in the process of dismantling it after a year or 2 of daily driving, and some jerk snuck up and stole it for the scrap value.  Gone were the great cloth seats , interior panels and an aluminum round-hole rim I was using to roll the car around on.

Ah jeeze not another monza with another story...  #18

This one came from the coast of Massachusetts. Someone wanted to give it a good home, it was a part of their family for a while, but they felt it was rusting away. Well..  Rusting away it was..  after all, this car had a home about 300 ft from the ocean shore..  But the car had been a well maintained nice vehicle. So it still had some life left in it.
 I put some fresh oil, battery and tires on it, and the car had a very happy time Puttering around town. It was a V6 auto, that ran excellent. Wasn't a barn burner, but it was smooth and pulled nice.

Had some nice new black paint and the red cloth interior was super comfortable.

Eventually, the rear brakes lines went on the car. And the car, while stoppable was a little dangerous to drive in traffic. I might have fixed it, but of course another Hot deal came along, and that spelled the end for this little 1980 soldier.

It was parked for a while, and another deal came along where I could trade some of the V6 engine brackets
 for a Low Mileage Sunbird Coupe...     To be continued

Carmine Interior

So the decision was made to carefully dismantle the car, so many of the parts could live on in other H bodies. 

I still have parts like the seats, steering column, front clip, rear hatch. As spares or whatever.

The engine brackets and A/C stuff whats traded for a neat little runner.

That's the next car...

#19

1978 Sunbird Coupe

This little car was a great little runner! Why did it have to be brown? Not the greatest color, but it sure worked well getting by law enforcement, car looked slow even when driven fast.

And that's how you had to drive the thing. It was a first Generation Iron Duke.

You worked the automatic shifter like a manual-matic in a $200k sportster.

Revved the engine to the moon and it got into traffic accordingly.

It wouldn't grenade.  

No worries on parking the thing anywhere. Great little daily driver... 

So, of course,  What had to happen? in the twilight hours of a Friday morning on an empty highway?

Deer!! 

It was like the Deer-ship Enterprise was hovering up in space when  a deer decided to beam down right in front of the car.

 I was able to limp the car about 5 miles back home .. But the radiator was pushed into the fan and the car was loosing all it's antifreeze

Without much of a choice I added some water to it and tried to make it about 20 miles to a storage area.

About half way there the car got so hot it quit and wouldn't restart for 2 hours.

It stalled again about 100 feet from it's destination, and then made it there.

By then, I'd burned a hole in a piston.

The car was parked for a while future uncertain.

The frame was holding on, but wasn't solid enough for a V8 swap..

So not sure what to do with it, probably headed for the junk pile...

Well..  In a strange twist of fate, I was checking out a junk yard in PA.. when I stumbled across an identical twin of this car with a perfect front clip ripe for the picking.

I had the tool's and got the car a new lease on life. Even risked scratching up my new Aveo's roof getting the hood back home (200+ miles)

So whats the story now?

Well, I just so happen to still have the car. It has another 78 Iron duke engine, borrowed from the Sunbird Pictured Below..Since that car got the 231 from the Starfire pictured below it.

The car has a vibration issue, that I'm pretty sure has to do with the trouble I had mating the transmission to the engine. As it is, would need quite a bit of basics to get back on the road. So once again it sit's.

Writing this I'm having thought's of insuring it and getting it going as a winter car.  Not sure.

#20

This Sunbird was found on an ad on Craigslist. A little bit of a drive away towards Syracuse, NY.

It wasn't listed as a Formula and as I rolled up my eye's grew wide.

The price was right, so I snatched it up and drove it home..

1978 Sunbird Formula   

Pictures really help the car. Up close it has lot's of flaws typical to a 35 year old car.

Put it on the road and had a TON of fun driving it around! 

Along with it's unusual exterior color combo, it has an unusual interior.. White with black accents.

Black Formula Steering wheel, rally gauges.  

Formula wheel

When the car was new it had 5speed transmission it. As I got it, it had a 4speed installed in it's place.

The 4 cyl ran great. and with the 4 speed it was an ok get around car.

But the car really needs a performance make over.  I still have it. 

As it sits, the original Iron Duke is in the car above. And a 231 V6/ manual everything is in it's place along with a like-original 5 speed.

It needs some exhaust work to be road ready. Not sure what I'm doing with it, although I know I'm keeping it (car's build date is my 6th Birthday 4-20-78)

I like the manual-everything configuration the car now has but I think it need's a real motor.

It needs a V8.

If I could go hog wild with the car right now I would have some "15 or 16" inch WS6 Trans-am snowflake rims on it. like a baby TA.   And then maybe a newer LS7 motor swap.

Along with a good cosmetic make-over this car would really kick.

Truth is, this car is pretty rough around the edges. Lack of maintenance allowed rust to dig in log before I got a hold of it.  I'll probably do a separate blog about this one to show more details.

Might make a good track car for the local SCCA chapter's "SoloII" event's.

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#21

1977 Starfire GT V6 no PS no PB 5speed

This dang Starfire cost me a small fortune!!!!  Find out why tomorrow!!! 

And finally this one.  

This car was found just after I'd thought to myself wow 20 h bodies.. that was cool... I don't need anymore.

So of course later that week in the newspaper "77 Olds Starfire, Like chevy monza V6 5speed runs good parts car $200.

So I go out and look at it, and it's this Starfire GT.

I'd seen the car and followed it one day about 15 years earlier. The car looked brand new that day.. I couldn't stop and chat, and I hoped to see the car again, but never did until here.

I wouldn't have grabbed it, but...it was only $200 and had the rare 5speed set up. And it was mechanically well kept. A full service record kind of car. Also of note was the Nice black starfire interior I could sell off(did that, gone now). And decent front and rear clips.

The owner explained he'd driven the car summers -only since he bought it new in '77.

Then as the car got really old he drove it for a few winter's.  Parked it in a barn over a dirt floor and this is what happened to the car.

Frame totally shot. Rocker panels gone from rust.

So what do you know I made a deal, and decided to drive the car home on a Saturday evening. Adding to the risk was the car not having much in the way of brakes. A refilled master cyl only exposed some leaks. 

We weren't sure if it would hold good stopping power the whole way home, but I planned to be extra cautious, and make use of downshifting and the E brake as needed. And Saturday evening traffic across town was light.

As you've read, this is something I've done a few times  before including runs from Niagara falls and as far away as St, Louis.

I guess this time I'd gotten a little too used to doing this. 

I left some old stickers on the windshield (Here in NY a yearly inspection sticker is color coded) and that was the first not so good thing, 2nd was a few bulbs not working.

At an intersection to to enter the highway a New York State Trooper took interest in my car as I passed.

I turned onto the highway and hoped for the best.

But soon enough in the mirror that trooper car had gotten turned around and was whipping onto the highway.

Dang it.  

I gave the Trooper my story.  The local County Sheriff patrol would shake their head and tell me to get on my way on my side of town.

But Toto was way outside of Kansas here.

The trooper wasn't having any of it...had the car towed to impound, and threw the book at me.

I was issued four citations, for lack of registration, inspection, swapped plates, and worst of all No Insurance.

The tiny town court gave me hell, and refused to be fair with the charges. They dropped 3 but kept the worst...  After Court fines and fee's, Towing , Impound, Towing to storage, Civil Penalty, DMV fee's

I paid $2400 for this Damn car!!!!!!

I still have some of the parts from it. Front and rear clip's.

The Motor / tranny / Manual Steering and Dashboard All made it to the Sunbird Formula pictured above.

Well that's my story...was that enough H bodies for ya? 

One of every year, and almost every make but I haven't owned a Buick Skyhawk

#22     ?????????.

Update 2017!!!    I thought I was done at #21!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But now #22 is here...    Remember #1???  Well, what better way to wrap up the collection ( I'm telling myself this is the last H body I will own).  With an Identical twin to the very first Sunbird I ever owned. 

Same color exterior, Same interior, same 2.5 iron duke engine. Very close build dates nearing the Final week of November 1980, in the extended production period of 1980.

Differences:

4speed manual , Has A/C, Sport Mirror's, Cloth interior.

I found it within 150 miles of my house, so I had to jump on it.

I'll post some pic's of how I got it, and how I've upgraded it.

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And there you have it. More pic's to come....