David Mau

I think that either one of those shows for us to "piggy back" onto would be fine as well, and the registration fees are reasonable for each of them. I've been at both those areas in Oregon and they're beautiful. I'd really dig goin' to the drags; that would be boss, man! Dave

I completely agree, Vaughn! It's always great getting together with FGMCC "kin" in person. Thanks for sharing those pictures, too. What a great time we had! Dave

Congratulations, Jim! Like was already said - to win an award that was voted on by your piers is really something special. Dave

I'm glad to see that as well - even though our cars are A-bodies and not G-bodies! Congratulations to all! Dave

Thanks for posting the pictures, Rodney & Jake - and for "warming up the spot", Rod! Alright, here's a brief overview of how it happened at the meet: FRIDAY - It rained in the morning, but let up for the afternoon and was cloudy the rest of the day. I'm not sure how many others did it, but after we checked in for the show, Jake and I participated in the Poker Run. After that, most of us got together at the club hotel outside of Vaughn's ground-level room and visited. Later on, some of us attended the live band entertainment and raffle drawing. SATURDAY - It was a mix of high clouds and sun, and we all met about 7:00am at the club hotel parking lot and then drove caravan-style to the show and parked together. It worked out great and we were able to line all the cars up together and put up our canopy and FGMCC banner. I enjoyed visiting with club members and looking at the Montes so much that I didn't even spend much time looking at the other cars in the show! I don't have an official number, but I heard there were approximately 180 cars there on the show-designated streets. After the show wrapped up in the afternoon, we met back at the club hotel and took the pictures of the cars in front of the lake at the lakeside parking lot. I think we spent a couple hours there taking pictures and visiting. Later on we all went to a Smoke House restaurant for dinner that we had discovered while on the Poker Run. What a great time! SUNDAY - Starting around noon, we all met outside the club hotel underneath the big white canopy that was set up there on the grass. We had our awards ceremony and then handed out the club dash plaques and door prizes prior to taking the photos of club members in front of the FGMCC banner. Dan and his son, Travis, and Rodney and his girlfriend, Lisa, and his parents who were also along for the fun had to leave not long after that, while the rest of us stayed on for an afternoon of visiting, relaxing and eating. Jake's wife, Debbie, barbecued the burgers & brats, and everything was great. I think we wrapped it up around 7:00pm or so, as everyone was pretty tired from the events and traveling, and were planning to head back to their respective homes on Monday morning. Overall, it was another fantastic FGMCC Western Meet and I was very glad that I was able to attend! I will be writing up an official report that will be in an upcoming issue of The Knight newsletter. Dave

The FGMCC is definitely the place for you! Welcome! Dave

Pretty cool, Jake. I've got a muscle car book that is comprised of pages that look like that, and the featured Monte Carlo in that one is a black '70 SS454, with that same smaller side picture of that green one shown here. Dave

I think what Rich means is that they're specifically for 1970 model year cars, unlike some manuals for Monte Carlos which cover all of the rear-drive years ('70-'88), i.e.: Chiltons, Haynes, etc. Those are alright for basics and maintenance, but when it comes to a lot of specifics and how the cars are actually put together, etc. you can't beat the original factory manuals. They're great! I would also agree about the printed books vs. CD versions for practical "hands on" reasons that the books are probably overall more useful, though. Having both print and CD versions would be super, however - even if it would be redundant. Dave

See what I mean?! Dave

They're the small chrome housings that are mounted about 6" back from the headlights (on top of the fenders), and were part of the RPO U46 Light Monitoring System. The system was optional on many Chevrolet models for '68, '69 and '70, and only 5,755 Chevelles and Monte Carlos combined had them in '70 - according to my Chevrolet SS Muscle Car Red Book. After that it was discontinued, so the option was only correct on a Monte Carlo for '70. Fiber-optics connect to the back of the headlight and turn signal/parking lights and run up to the small fender-mounted housings. The little round lamp indicators glow when the actual headlights or turn indicators are on. There is a white and a green lamp indicator, each about 1/4" in diameter, on the back of each housing, and you can see them glow when you're inside the car. On mine, the white ones glow constantly when the headlights are on, so if I've got the lights on and I don't see the glow, I know the headlight isn't working. I believe the green ones should flash with the turn indicators, but I've never seen them do anything. I've heard that the fiber-optic lines could have gotten dirty so it's possible they're not transmitting the light like they should. Also as part of the package, there was a small, black plastic housing that mounted on top of the rear package tray that operated in a similar fashion for the rear lights, and you could see them glow in the reflection of your inside rear-view mirror. There's a red indicator for each tail light (left and right), and a white center indicator for the license plate light. So, whenever you hear someone mention "fiber-optic" in an article or ad for a '68-'70 Chevy, that's what they're referring to. I've seen a couple of feature cars in magazines with them; a '69 Camaro and a '70 Chevelle. It was a pretty cool system that originally cost $26.35 as an option, but I've heard that they can bring some pretty big bucks at swap meets and on E-bay these days. Dave

Cool, another member from the "Great Northwest"! I know that others, if they've gone with the "shaved" trim look, have used side marker lights that were originally intended for other cars - being as how the factory side markers weren't designed for being left untrimmed. Basically that means finding some side marker light styles that you like and then installing them where the factory side markers used to be. This will require patching the existing holes with sheet metal and smoothing as well as creating new holes to fit the new marker housings into, but it would be the correct way to do it. A couple of my favorite, simple side marker light designs that I believe are available as repros from parts suppliers today would be the 1968 Mopar style (small circle with chrome trim bezel) and the 1969 Chevelle/Camaro style (small rectangle with chrome trim bezel). I'd probably be more inclined to use the 1969 Chevelle/Camaro style because they're factory Chevrolet, and if the Monte's side markers wouldn't have originally been integrated and trimmed with the lower body moldings, those are what likely would have been used. They're unobtrusively small, simple and tasteful. Dave

Well, no - it really was more like not advertising the "whole truth". Dave

And they were not alone in doing so! What an era it was... Sam is correct about the Corvette thing, too. The Corvette always had the top horsepower ratings with any of Chevy's engines. Dave

My Van Nuys-built '70 is still sporting the factory trunk finish and it's gray/white - with a whole lot more gray than there is white. The original trunk mat was gone before I bought the car, however. Yeah, it seems that information about this is conflicting. Maybe if we get a few more replies we'll have a consensus. Rich should be checking in later. Anyone else? Dave

That seems strange to me too. I wonder what the deal is? Dave

Welcome back, Katman! I can't tell you for sure what is and isn't painted black on a '71 grille (mine's a '70), but it probably won't be too long before you get some responses from other '71 owners. Keep checking back. Dave