Tigerman

Rob, what do you think the car is worth since you have seen it firsthand? I've learned long ago that something is ONLY worth what a willing buyer that has $$$$ is willing to pay. You have nothing to lose by offering the widow what you are willing to pay. You can explain that that is all that you can afford and that you really want the car and are NOT buying it merely to later later flip it to make money. She may respond to your honesty and good intentions and just might make a deal. Just my 2 cents.

It looks as if you have already made your decision but allow me to add my 2 cents. If you are going to keep your car I would do the 4-speed and don't worry about the naysayers as you are building it for YOU. I also agree with a previous poster that a well-executed 4-speed SS454 would probably carry a premium price over a stock car. After all, GM made 4-speed Montes from the factory in 350 and 402 configurations so go for it. I am a Corvette guy and even on the Board of Directors of an Ohio NCRS chapter and know all about numbers-matching but all these guys seem to do is look at their cars and treat them as museum pieces. I however, like to DRIVE my cars and am a resto-mod type of person. I try to tastefully modify my cars to improve their driveability but not make things obvious so that the cars maintain their original personality. I did a frame-off restoration on my '65 Corvette coupe to which I added FAST throttle-body electronic fuel injection to the roller-cam motor, a Tremec TKO 5-speed and rack & pinion steering. It is a BLAST to drive and the average enthusiast doesn't have a clue as to what i have done! To finish this opinion I will mention that I also own a '70 SS454 Monte that I bought several years ago that had already been converted to a 4-speed, probably decades ago from the looks of it and using all factory parts. The car is fun to drive and drive it I do. In order to improve it even more I just finished up a year-long project to further improve it by building a roller-cam internally-balanced 454 topped by an MSD throttle-body electronic fuel injection and backed by a Tremece TKO 600 5-speed. It looks stock but the driveability will be improved considerably. So, are you restoring a museum piece OR do you want to have fun banging gears? Again, just my 2 cents.

Congratulations on the GREAT find! I have it's almost twin. Enjoy.