Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

78 Chevy Monza Spyder


mangodart

Recommended Posts

Definitely got that 70's vibe! You sure you wasn't Stateside when those cars were on the road? Great job on all!

Being in High School around that time and taking Auto shop, there was always one kid who drove one that had a V-8 compared to several others that were 4 bangers. The V-8 Mustangs were fairly quick but were noisy and clunky in changing gears (auto). 4 cyls were way underpowered. Leaking oil from a 4 cyl valve cover was the only saving grace that kept the engine from rusting & seizing from the outside :lol: .

I dated a girl that had a Monza 5.0 5 speed M/T and with her driving she put to shame any Z/28 or T/Am. Took a trip with her for a wedding in SC and back home and that Monza got 32mpg! Figured it three times...same 32 mpg. Great power and gas mileage.

The Vega...with the aluminum 4 cyl you never worried about having to change the oil or filter. If it didn't leak oil, it certainly burned it out the tailpipe. Thus having to add fresh oil (sometimes daily) the crankcase oil never got dirty or black. It was cheaper to put gas in it than it was to put in oil!

Great job on all three and thanks for letting me share some good memories down on Memory Lane :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, That's Nice! Really good looking Monza from all views. Nice paint job and excellent details all around. The little modifications you've done look good to me, too. Nice build and perfect color choice also... We had a '79 Skyhawk in our family two years ago and it was exactly the same color. With a V8, it smoked tires easily.

Also I'm interested in the Vega. What kit is it? Or is it some kind of a conversion? And of course, more pics please of that too. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also I'm interested in the Vega. What kit is it? Or is it some kind of a conversion? And of course, more pics please of that too. ;)

Thanks for the kind comments. For the Vega, I've made a post here few month ago, I'm sure you can find it ;)

Here it is :

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=70723&hl=%2Bchevy+%2Bvega

Edited by mangodart
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Definitely got that 70's vibe! You sure you wasn't Stateside when those cars were on the road? Great job on all!

Thanks for all these memories, I didn't know those problems about the Vega engine... :unsure: And to answer your question, I was 8 years old when this car was new, and around me was full of Renault 18 and Peugeot 305, and when I was looking at an US car on the streets, it was always a great moment to me. Anyway, we've got some Buick Skyhawk with the V6 that were frequently imported in France during this area, most of the time light brown metallic... ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Being in High School around that time and taking Auto shop, there was always one kid who drove one that had a V-8 compared to several others that were 4 bangers. The V-8 Mustangs were fairly quick but were noisy and clunky in changing gears (auto). 4 cyls were way underpowered. Leaking oil from a 4 cyl valve cover was the only saving grace that kept the engine from rusting & seizing from the outside :lol: .

Per the Mustang IIs... 4 cylinder with a four speed was a neat little runner and had plenty of pep. I drove my bro-in-law's '78 Pinto with a four / four speed for a whole summer and it was just a joy to drive and absolutely reliable.

When I met my wife she had a Mustang II coupe with a V6 automatic. Again a great car to drive, never a problem. In 1979 she just had to trade it in on a new Fox Capri. Now that car was nothing but trouble. To add insult to injury, she had traded in the Mustang II and someone right near her house bought it. We had to see it there for years as a reminder!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

great job on a car I always hated to change spark plugs on. :)

I'm rather fond of the v6 engines that Ford used in the stangs and capri's of that vintage, a nice little industrial engine (so I'm told) that ran pretty smooth but not a high revving engine. I like them so much that I put one in my TR4 when I got totally fed up with having to fix the tractor engine that it came with.

Contrary to popular opinions, I put the v6 in my TR4 because of it's small size and reliability rather than to make it go faster. Rather than hacking up a nice 2-seat roadster, I paid a little extra to get custom headers made for it and any other modifications made to it can all be unbolted and returned back to stock configuration.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...