Club Officer - Ian Novinger

Web Site Administrator

E-mail Address: ian.novinger@gmail.com

Residence: Austin, Arkansas

Monte Story:

I was born in Cobleskill NY and moved around a bunch. I have lived in Oregon, VA, CA, and now FL where we have been for the last 8.5 years. I love the nice weather and do not miss the snow of Upstate NY ? It get real hot down here in the summer, but the other 6-8 months a year we can go to car shows and enjoy the Monte.

I purchased my first car at 18; it was a 1966 Plymouth Furry with a slant 6 and a 3 on the tree. It was a fun car, but back then I did not know much about cars so I ended up trading it in on a used Mazda pickup.

I have had 2 Monte’s, my first one was a 1972 Custom with a 350 small block that we built while I was in Automotive college back in 1990. It was originally a bench seat car that I put buckets out of a SAAB in. I turned it in to more of a street / strip car.

My current Monte is a 1971 that I have had for the last 20 years or so. I was looking all over the internet and in the local paper to find a big block car. We were still living in Upstate NY at the time and I found one in CT that sounded like what I was looking for and it was $6500 obo. We (the wife, kids, and my buddy and his girl friend) grabbed the trailer and a blank check and headed to CT. When we got there the car was in the driveway and started right up. I drove it down the street (as it was not registered in 8 years) looked it over and said I’ll take it, how about $6200? Well he did and we loaded it up on the trailer and headed home. Well the ride home was a little harry as we had a Ford Bronco and the trailer would sway back and forth if we went over 55, but we made it home. I have gone thru several phases with the car including trying to keep it as original as I could, to now where I have replaced the carb with Fuel Injection, and removed the factory A/C for aftermarket under the dash A/C. Next may be a ZZ502 crate engine.

I am a network engineer by day, and a car nut the rest of the time. During the day I manage the networks, servers, and email systems for a company of about 5000 spread all over the world, we have networks in 13 sites and offices in around 30 countries. I have used computer either for work or fun since the late 80’s. I have always enjoyed learning new things that I can use them for.

I like helping others with web sites, electronics, and their cars if they need it. Last year I helped a buddy of mine rebuild a 1988 Camaro for his daughter. We rebuilt the suspension, redid the interior, and rebuilt the fuel injected 305. It ran real good till she wrecked it 4 hours after getting her full license.