colonel Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Found this car recently and had planned to swap out my drive train and suspension and finally have my Blue Monte. Would have liked to have found a Halo car and will settle for black bucket/console interior now that I know they never made a blue one but the more I looked into the car the more I get concerned it is too original to mess with and has documents I think rarely stay in contact with the car. The body has been messed with and is no longer the Fathom Blue with Dark Blue Top as the info shows it was but I do like the, I believe it is, Mulsanne Blue and Grey Top combo. The paint and body has some dings scratches and rust on RR wheel well but that can be put back to the original combo just as easily keeping it this way but either way it isn't the original undisturbed body of the car. My plan would replace everything under the hood and body from the rad to the gas tank and all the suspension. I guess the diff could be saved if I transplanted all the guts from mine into it but was not planning on doing more than swapping the diffs and then the original is gone for good. I have verified that the engine and diff are date code correct for this car but have not found any partial VIN stamps anywhere on this drivetrain as yet. Anyway have a look at the pics (more avail if you want them), options and supporting documents and let me know what you think about me making changes or should this car get to someone that wants to restore it??? Factory Order.pdf Bill of Sale.pdf BOS Receipt.pdf CDN Build Sheet Pg1.pdf CDN Build Sheet Pg2.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lastss Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 I Like it as shown Orginal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostnFound Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 I'd be keeping that one as original as possible. Nice car and docs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John S Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 After all these years to have all that documentation. I would keep original. That is one nice car. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Nice! I personally don't like taking apart a nice clean original/documented Monte so if it was me I'd just drive it and enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
71MonteCarloMD Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Ditto! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam (Bones) Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 well first that is not a Candian built monte, it was built in Flint Michigan and those are not build sheets it already has been painted another color, and the top has been changed too, the first document says "4 speed" actually there isn't anything really "special" or "rare" about it and the only documentation is the bill of sale, the others are Canadian import records Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostnFound Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 The "buildsheets" you are referring to are the documents available from GM Vintage Vehicle Services in Oshawa. They are available for all Canadian built and Canadian sold cars of that era....thank goodness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colonel Posted August 27, 2015 Author Share Posted August 27, 2015 I think the fact the factory order sheet says 4 speed and the bill of sale says turbo hydramatic is cool as obviously something changed. Either the buyer changed their mind or GM put in the TH350 and they accepted it. Maybe they didn't have any clutches that day so if it was going to go out the door on its own power it was getting an auto or who knows???? It would be neat to get a letter from the original owner as to what happened to kind of complete the story. I know it isn't a Canadian built car but as stated above any cars built in Canada or imported by GM Canada had their info kept so you can get the "build sheet" the factory assembled the car to and you can see what it has now vs what it was supposed to have. The fact we can get a "build sheet" for a Flint made car simply because it came to Canada is a great benefit to documenting the cars made there. The fact that the build sheet says TH350 likely means Mr. Newman changed his mind on the trans choice he made after ordering it but we would never know if the factory order sheet didn't exist. As for nothing special about it I thought a bucket/console car that had a 300 hp small block would have been somewhat uncommon. Only about 1/3 of all 70 Monte's had that engine, 17% had buckets, 8% had the 8 track and a little over 10% had power windows. There are no numbers here that say how common that lighting option UF1 is or how many got the LH remote mirror D33 so I thought there was some unique stuff assembled in this car. All those combined I think there is some uncommon qualities to the car all be it not SS rare but uncommon. Unfortunately having 2 cars to drive is not in the "car"ds and my desire is to have a "Modern Monte". Old car class and appeal with modern electronics, power, safety and handling. If I was extremely careful I could blend them in this car but have to keep the mechanical stuff I take off so it can be reassembled again if the next owner desired it. Paint and top can be changed back to original anytime but you only have the original mechanical once so can't sell it off due to documentation this car has. Doing this is more work than I desired but I would really like the final results having the cool documentation side and the owner installed options side. I would actually like to take the finished product and do the same tests that were done in the 70's and show how much the braking, acceleration, mileage etc. has been improved by the owner installed options. I am leaning towards trying to find the perfect combination of new owner that will restore it and getting my money back out of it. If it isn't worth what I paid for it to someone else then I will proceed with my plan and go to great lengths to be as true as I can to the original. Have not decided just yet though. Thanks for your input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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