Thanks to all who replied with advise. I plan on going to inspect in person as soon as I get a chance. Because of the expense of changing an interior or a full exterior color change, I prefer to find one that is acceptable in both areas, but I know that severely limits my options or I will have to go over the current budget to find what i'm looking for. I'm ok with any of the years, 70-72, and ok with small mods that don't change the original look to much. My preference is an auto with buckets and a horseshoe console shifter rather than a bench in black or a manual console in black interior would be second choice. I already have a 69 Chevelle four speed so I thought having a Monte with the bucket horseshoe would be a nice pairing to it. I know the black interior probably limits my search. The exterior color i'm a little more flexible with which helps a little I guess. The one I plan on seeing meets both the interior and exterior color criteria, I actually really like the black cherry with the black interior and think it's a nice combo. The rust they mentioned was my concern for the price they are asking. I probably wouldn't hesitate if most of the rust is surface only and they were asking closer to 15k. I agree with cny first gen 71 and think for 26k it should be rust free with no bubbling anywhere. I'm guessing when I see it in person, i'm not going to be happy with that price in that condition and they probably won't come down as much as I would want, knowing I would have to deal with the potential rust areas, which means my search will probably continue. If I have patience and luck, bring a trailer seems to be a good site for coming across pretty good condition ones at more reasonable prices. I've been using autotempest for a lot of my searches to try to cover more ground. If there are any other search engines or good ways of searching that I'm not utilizing that anyone knows of, it would be great to know. Just for fun, I attached a pic of my second gen Monte and my current Chevelle. I paid $1,500 for the Monte when I was 16. It was primed for paint when purchased and I eventually had it painted candy apple red. It was the color my 16 year old brain chose at the time but it turned out pretty well. I haven't found a pic after the paint job yet. Thanks again for any help and I'm confident I'll eventually be a first gen Monte owner at some point.
