Canuck

Found my Answer. See Leo's post: http://www.firstgenmc.com/ubbthreads/ubb...true#Post107468

My 72 has 2 but it looks like it only had one originally based on the wiring and the way they are mounted. Mine are mounted on the front part of the rad support which looks incorrect to me. My 70 has them (2 original horns) on the center brace where the hood latch is. Where was the 72 horn mounted originally?

The part of the fender you see from the engine compartment (that bolts to the top of the plastic inner fenders) is black in my 72 Monte. The black starts below the lip about 3/4 of an inch below fenter edge (hope my explanation makes sense. It appears to be original. I have seen others like this but a lot are painted body colour. My 70 was originally body colour from the factory. Was this just a 72 thing? Did it vary by factory?

From the SS454 tech page on the site: "In 1971 the SS added additional markings on the rear of the car. This included having the "BY CHEVROLET" tag replaced by "SS", chrome strips added to the top of the rear panel below the trunk, the rear panel painted black and a rubber bumper pad."

Not sure why the guards would be different. My 72 guards look the same as my 70.

One other minor detail is that the 71/72 back-up light lenses are different. The hole in the bumper itself is the same though.

His Monte was the random image of the day a couple days back. That is a periodic reminder of George. I also added the "We Miss You George" to the top of the message board when he passed because he was a great help to a lot of people on the boards. At the Western Meet awards ceremony, I always inform people of the story behind the George Lines award when I present it. He was a part of the FGMCC family, and he is missed.

Nice Find! As for Vaughn, yes, he's a great guy. I look forward to meeting you and seeing your big block Monte in Penticton next month.

When I got mine with 47,000 miles, I was in the same boat. Although mine is not rare, I still didn't want to mess with an original car. I consider it preserving a peice of history. Someday, I do hope to have the best of both worlds. I have the stock small block car now and maybe a big block 4-speed will be in my future. The next Monte will be a fun toy where I won't worry about originality. Either way, do what you want with it. I'm glad to see that you drive it and enjoy it at least.

George passed only a day before we were supposed to meet in 2004. I was looking forward to meeting him since he was such a fixture in the club and seemed like a great guy. After he passed, it seemed fitting that we honor him in some way. I added the "we miss you George" to the to of the message board page since he offered so much great advice here. In addition, Mark was able to get some photos of his Monte and we put together a nice tribute for the October 2004 Monte of the Month (the link Lloyd posted above). WE MISS YOU GEORGE

Those ebay ones look like the plastic ones I used to have. I did not like them myself since they seemed to get marked up easily and did not look very nice after a while. The center part of the cap was also slightly shorter than the original ones. I have seen the reproduction ones with the bowtie in the middle and they look pretty nice if you aren't worried about originality. They are likely cheaper than the ones that look like the original caps.

Welcome! Well our kid is not as old as yours but we are planning on taking our daughter on a 900 mile (each way) road trip in the Monte for the Western Meet. She will be 5 months old at that time. We will likely have the car seat in the centre of the front bench seat but we're still working out the details.

Here's some info on where to find build sheets: http://www.firstgenmc.com/tech/buildsheet.shtml

This is me and my wife April at the 04 Western Meet.

It appears that there is no way to tell if they should be on the car or not. There are so many variables involved. If it is an early production, it is very likely that they were on there but who knows for sure. I guess the only thing we know for sure is that they were not on all 1970 cars and none of the 71's have them... well, you never know. One of these days, I'll get around to updating my personal Monte site.

There is a pic at the bottom of this page on my site: http://www22.brinkster.com/aaronsmonte/Statistics.htm

There are only 2 ways to prove that a 70/71 Monte is an SS454. 1. If it has a numbers matching 454, it is an SS. The 454 was only available with the SS option. 2. A build sheet with the Z20 SS454 option code. If there is no build sheet and the original motor is gone, there is no way to prove the car is a true SS454. The VIN does not have anything that indicates that a Monte is an SS. With that said, Canadian built 70/71 SS454s did have the Z20 on the body tag but this is very rare. See the SS454 tech page on the site for more info regarding identifying SS454s.

Mine doesn't have inserts either. And, of course, the holes are stripped

The thin belt molding is standard equipment, the 1 inch wide belt molding was an option. The passenger side mirror was also an option.

I have not seen the production numbers broken down like that. There is only the A/C production stat for all 1970 Montes as far as I know. This is probably because the SS was only an option package and not shown as a different model.

I agree 100%. I painted mine using a semi gloss black.

There is some info here on identifying SS montes: http://www.firstgenmc.com/tech/ss454.shtml

My engine compartment black surfaces are semi gloss black but it's slightly more glossy than stock. I've found the the semi gloss is easier to keep clean and maintain.

From what I've heard, GM does not have records for cars built in the US. Have you checked all the typical places in your car for a build sheet? The tach section of the site also has information on where to look for a build sheet. Good Luck!