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!