A bit confused..........

[Steve G]

Yep it looks like a 71, maybe its a 454 SS 4 speed car Even the best car collectors get screwed sometimes.

[Jared Richey]

Good eye there. The black 71 blended into the pic.

 

I guess that is the car. atleast a 71 SS 454....4 speed. lets see some documents.

[Sam (Bones)]

the headlight bezel caught my eye

[7tonemonte]

Nice eye Sam...Im usually pretty good at picking one out in a crowd and missed that one!

I guess I was just in awe of the whole collection

 

[ripleydale]

The car in the magazine article is black so that could be the one.

[Steve G]

Hello,

I got the chance to talk with a lady who was a former assembly line worker for GM.

Here is what she told me.

Time is money! so if you had the connections through GM to have something unique done it was possible as long as it in no way slowed down production time.

After i mentioned the Monte carlo SS 4 speed she replied....

If it was never available as a 4 speed as i said it is highly unlikely that a 4 speed SS was built special for anyone... the reason is that adding a 4 speed slows down the assembly for the tranny guy, engine guy and the interior guy on the assembly line, too many parts and people involved to make one special car. Its more likely a 402 4 speed car was on the assembly line and a 454 was waiting for it in place of the 402, in this case it would not interfere with any workers or vehicles on the production line, but still would not be a 454ss 4 speed.

I am not sure if she was right about this but i get what she was trying to explain.. it makes sense.

What do you think?

[montefrazer]

I don't buy that. Not much different than building any other customer ordered car. All the pieces were available and it would just be a matter of getting the right pieces there at the right time. No reason to slow down the line. No different than building a 402 4 speed car. Just a different engine and the SS specific parts. Not a big deal.

[Nygel]

That answer makes the most sense to me Steve.

 

 

Nygel.

[RichG]

I would agree that actually building it would not be hard, they already made 4-speed Monte's and they made 454 4-speed Chevelles, but in almost 40 years not ONE documented car ever showed up. Like an LS-6 Chevelle with A/C, factory said no to certain things for inexplicable reasons. If an Exec went to the trouble of getting it built someone would know. There are lots of stories of somebody's neighbor's cousin had one, but no paper!

[RichG]

Sorry, double post.

[montefrazer]

I would agree that actually building it would not be hard, they already made 4-speed Monte's and they made 454 4-speed Chevelles, but in almost 40 years not ONE documented car ever showed up. Like an LS-6 Chevelle with A/C, factory said no to certain things for inexplicable reasons. If an Exec went to the trouble of getting it built someone would know. There are lots of stories of somebody's neighbor's cousin had one, but no paper!

 

My feeling exactly. Chevy was going after the Grand Prix and Rivera buyers. The name Monte Carlo was picked to suggest a different style than the usual Chevy. Montes were designed and advertised as luxury cars, not performance cars. Look at the 70-71 literature. All about the looks, ride, comfort, extra insulation, burled elm dash, etc. SS is barely mentioned. Even the standard SS gear ratios were for crusing, not fast acceleration. Some of my friends remember cars I had 30 years ago that were nothing like the cars I remember having. Anything is possibly and no one can say 100% that a special Monte was or wasn't made. I will need lots of proof before I believe it, though.