a "new" addition to the Monte family

Alright well... sort of

My dad, being the awesome dad that he is, decided to give me his 73 Monte Carlo! Long story short, he bought a nice truck, and being busy with work and everything else, he's a little frustrated trying to get the body work and paint done. My Mom tells me it was either sell it, or give it to me, and well.... everyone knows I couldnt let him sell it.

I plan on doing some hardcore detailing under the hood. That mainly consists of paint, replacing some small things like screws and brackets, and doing some rewiring with the MSD ignition box and plug wires. Other than that though, the car only needs body work and some paint. We have a bunch of NOS trim waiting for it as well. The car is sportin' the stock 350 with some minor upgrades like an aluminum intake, Holley carb, MSD ignition box and distributor/wires, shorty headers and Magnaflow dual exhaust. The entire front end is also new, along with the suspension, it rides so beautifully! It has just over 58k miles, and I believe that must be actual. The interior of the car shows like new, nothing looks like it was redone. I'm hoping to find a build sheet under one of the door panels. I think the only work the car had done by its previous owner was the body work and repaint, and that now is showing major signs of wear, mostly on all the tops. Now with the damage to the door, the car really needs the outside done to pretty much finish it off. After all the custom work and changes to my 76 that make it what it is today, I'm very set on keeping this 73 original as possible, so it retains the old school drivability and feel. Even with the damaged door, I've gotten more compliments and twisted heads than I can even count this past week!!

I took a couple pics this morning:


The poor door. Luckily it still closes fine, and the window rolls up just as smooth as before.


and an old shot of the interior:

Very cool!

One sweet masheen. luvvv me some red interior

whats with the hood ornament?

Love these cars in black! Amazing, too, that the interior has held up so well in that Arizona sun. Now, do Dad proud and get that beauty fixed up! Good luck with it!

Very Very cool addition Great score buddy and love the black red combo

you knew you would get it one day........hehe

Hey Mike! Congrats on the score. See, your dreams finally came through in the best way! I'm happy for you and the Monte. Now I bet you anything that you'll never sell this one!

Thanks guys!
The hood ornament was there when we got it. I've seen a couple 73s that have had both the ornament and the grille emblem, its a little odd but kinda cool too!
I told my dad I would fix it up and give it back, but he says he just wants to go for a drive after its painted.
Mike, this car will never get away. Not only because its a 73, but my dad gave it to me, it has family history and that means a lot, much like the 76 too. Plus, I have lots of parking now! Haha. I'm still going after that black 77 that's in my neighborhood!

yogreasygramma wrote:Hey Mike! Congrats on the score. See, your dreams finally came through in the best way! I'm happy for you and the Monte. Now I bet you anything that you'll never sell this one!

Nice stable

I miss having the trio of Monte Carlo's in the family. If I had known that a year and a half later I would be a home owner, I would have just stored the yellow 73 somewhere until I had the house and room to park it. I really miss that car, but hey, thats life, and another story to tell about my car history.
Maybe I'll go a different way this time and just have one of each year 73-77 next instead... I already have my eyes on a 77 in the neighborhood! haha.

That would be cool! I think finding some of the rare ones would be a challenge in itself. You could find a 73 454, BUT you would have to have the sun roof or t-tops on that one! haha.

no tops or roof for a 73

74-- 454 roof
75-- 454 landau interior
76-- 400 custom cloud
77-- 305 t-tops
78-- 3/4 speed.

but of course they would all have to have buckets. except the 83 SS monte would have to have the bench because of the cool 2 tone interior.......

Your Dad's a good guy!
If I had hit that darn powerball last night...I'd be shopping for the following
77 Malibu Classic {Check}
73 Monte Carlo
74 Laguna
75 Buick Regal
73 GTO
73 Grand Prix
73 Grand-Am
77 Can Am
75 Cutlass
75 442
77 Cutlass Salon
*****
70 Camaro SS
70 Corvette LT-1
70 Chevelle LS-6
67 Malibu SS
67 Corvette
70 Buick GS-X
87 Buick GN-X
70 T/A
74 T/A 455 SD
That's enough for the 1st month.

1973 454 MONTE wrote:no tops or roof for a 73

I don't think the factory made T-tops for any 2nd generation Monte (73-77) but I could be wrong about the 76 or 77 years. T-tops were available from some aftermarket company (ASC?); I have some brochures for 76 and 77 and they were not factory options.

The electric skyroof was absolutely available in 1973; I owned a sunroof 73 S coupe with a full vinyl top (stolen in 1994). I believe the factory didn't offer the skyroof in 1973 on non-vinyl roof cars, however. And I don't know exactly what the story was for 1974 - obviously they offered the skyroof on non-vinyl roof cars because I have one of those too: my 74 Y-code Landau with swivel buckets and electric skyroof. It's all original. Of course, the Landaus had vinyl roofs but only in the rear, not where the sunroof was.