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Who that lived then can forget th Monza and Ralph Nader's calling it a dangerous car at any speed.he basically made his reputation has a consumer advocate on the book about it.
Nader has warehouses full of restored corvairs of all types. 3 of those warehouses are in an industrial court he owns in L.A.
Bought a new 1976 Monza 2 door, blue with a white vinyl top, white leather interior, luggage carrier on the trunk lid and put after market wire wheels on it. I opted for a 4 speed to go with the 4 banger engine. It was a complete pile of crap. This was GMs better idea of putting a cast iron head on an aluminum block and assumed that all of the parts would expand with the heat, the same. Absolute morons! Needless to say this engine was prone to head gasket issues. Every time it blew we had to pay to have the junker towed in. The last time I decided I wasn't paying to have it towed, this was a GM problem, not mine. I drove it with next to no water in the radiator and a pan full of water and oil to the dealership, this was the 5th and last time this engine was going to blow a head gasket. By the time I got the dealership, I was in first gear and as I drove in the engine locked up. They had the car 3 months. When I went to get it, the bill was $281.00 for a radiator flush. After I went ballistic and most anybody with 300 feet knew I wasn't happy, I paid the bill and they promptly told me never to bring it back as they would not work on it again. They brought the car to me on the front of a wrecker- the battery was dead from sitting for the 3 months. I got it started and drove straight to a Mercury dealership and I haven't and will never have another GM anything for any reason. Over the 8,000 miles of ownership, the dealer had the car a total of 7 months waiting for parts. There was no loaner car. At least I can say it was an experience and it ended with a new Cougar sitting in the driveway. Life was great after that.
A buddy of mine in high scholl had a '76 hatchback. The body design was obviously inspired by a Ferrari. It looked nice, but it was based on the Vega as previously mentioned. His Monza had serious brake fade. One time he made a panic stop and the brake pedal went to the floor board!
I forget the year of my Chevy Monza. I started with a Vega, which was basically worn out when I got it. Had steel sleeves inserted into the block, rebuilt it and it was ok. Always leaked oil around the valve cover. When I wrecked it I found a Monza with a bad engine (same four cyl). So I put the Vega engine in the Monza. I was happy to upgrade from a two speed auto to a 4 speed auto. Still could not get the valve cover to stop leaking. I determined that the valve cover was warped, so ordered a brand new one. It was warped too. I tried double gaskets, no gaskets and permatex, and combinations of gaskets and permatex. Always leaked. Never knew if it burned any oil. Finally, it too got wrecked. It was a two door, and I never could get the drivers side door to close properly, sometimes would swing open during a turn..... that was not fun.
What I rememeber of them was all bad. Ugly, prone to rust. Poor design for working on them. Underpowered. They looked very simliar to my sunbird and were just as junky as I recall.
i remember on the street running a v8 pinto against a v8 monza many years ago, to be honest i sort of wish i had either one in my garage now lol. Neither was a great car by today's standards, but i sure know the pinto was a blast to drive, and my guess is the "other guy's" monza was as well.
I had one just like this for about two years. Put a lot of miles on it (80,000) and except for brakes it was a trouble free car. I went from a 400 cid Trans Am to the 305 cid Monza and then back to a 1979 Trans Am. Overall it was a quick fun car (for the day). My brother had the Pontiac Formula for a few years that was just as reliable.
Bought a new 1976 Monza 2 door, blue with a white vinyl top, white leather interior, luggage carrier on the trunk lid and put after market wire wheels on it. I opted for a 4 speed to go with the 4 banger engine. It was a complete pile of crap. This was GMs better idea of putting a cast iron head on an aluminum block and assumed that all of the parts would expand with the heat, the same. Absolute morons! Needless to say this engine was prone to head gasket issues. Every time it blew we had to pay to have the junker towed in. The last time I decided I wasn't paying to have it towed, this was a GM problem, not mine. I drove it with next to no water in the radiator and a pan full of water and oil to the dealership, this was the 5th and last time this engine was going to blow a head gasket. By the time I got the dealership, I was in first gear and as I drove in the engine locked up. They had the car 3 months. When I went to get it, the bill was $281.00 for a radiator flush. After I went ballistic and most anybody with 300 feet knew I wasn't happy, I paid the bill and they promptly told me never to bring it back as they would not work on it again. They brought the car to me on the front of a wrecker- the battery was dead from sitting for the 3 months. I got it started and drove straight to a Mercury dealership and I haven't and will never have another GM anything for any reason. Over the 8,000 miles of ownership, the dealer had the car a total of 7 months waiting for parts. There was no loaner car. At least I can say it was an experience and it ended with a new Cougar sitting in the driveway. Life was great after that.
THIS is the EPITOME of why General Motors went broke - and should have gone broke - and why so many people abandoned "The Big Three" and started buying Japanese-made cars.
Location: Butler County Ohio and Winters in Florida
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At my High School back in my day ( I graduated in 1982) there were several Monzas driven by kids @ school. One kid had a Monza Spyder, 305 V8, another kid a coupe with a 350 V8. Neither had performance engines but big engines in a small car worked well.
I recall these cars being super small on the inside. Even in the front seat I could barely fit, legs or butt.
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