78 Chevy Monza Spyder

[satterwhite78]

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 .

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

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Very cool! I had a 2+2, and it was one of my favorite cars I have owned. Too bad it was horse-shoed by a teenage driver running a stop sign.

[Terminator-Fox]

I like all of those a lot. Nice work.

[Porscheman]

Great build!!! My buddy had one just like it with a 262 V8.

[W-409]

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.

[mangodart]

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 November 13, 2013 by mangodart

[mangodart]

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... 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...

[ChrisR]

Well done on all three!

[PappyD340]

Very NICE trio, I had a friend who had a vega with a 350 that came out of a late model sportsman stock car, now you talking about a handful, notice I said HAD, unfortunately it sent him to an early grave

[webestang]

Fantastic builds! Love all 3................

[KingSix]

Three very cool cars, awesome builds .. The Monza has to be my fav tho ..

[Dandydan]

I got rid of a Monza kit recently-I had no idea it could be made to look so good-nice work!

[mangodart]

Thanks for all these kind comments !!

[S. Svendsen]

Nicely done tribute to the "tape stripe era."

[KingSix]

Who kitted the Cobra ? Is that an MPC ?

[george 53]

These cars came with a 265 c.i. engine SOME might have had 305's but they NEVER came with ANYTHING larger. They COULDN'T beat a 350 ANYTHING. Sorry, but thats just the truth. Still a GREAT lookin body style though.

[Tom Geiger]

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 .

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!

[blunc]

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.

[mangodart]

Who kitted the Cobra ? Is that an MPC ?

It started life as an AMT kit, with some parts from my parts box, and decals from Keith Mark. If I remind well, AMT did a Cobra model kit, very expensive now !!!

[Sixties Sam]

_{Very nice Monza! The Vega and Mustang are good looking too. Great work!}

_Sam

[tmartin03]

Love the Monza Spyder build! I've wanted to build one of these for so long now, saw one for sale at a local model contest but it was way too pricey unfortunately...

[Bill Edman]

very nice