Tonka Man

I pulled the seats this weekend and found the build sheet under the rear seat as well as all kinds of gum wrappers and other paraphernalia. One mouse nest behind the back of the back seat. I did find two little treasures - a Mork and Mindy trading card from 1979 and a Country Kitchen restaurant token. I had a auto detailer come and shampoo the carpet and do a thorough cleaning on the inside. Pretty good results! Ordered new beauty rings for the wheels today. Everything I do is an improvement! Slow but steady to finish the project!

What is the difference (besides the look) of the vertical stripe option for the interior and the button style? I bought two '71 cars this year and one has the buttons and one has the vertical stripes. From what I can tell, they are both very similar cars as far as options other than one has a vinyl top and the other has a painted top.

I've ordered the ones from Amazon. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the heads up.

I was going to buy a set of beauty rings for my 15" original wheels off of Summit and they wanted $111. I didn't think that was too bad until I had the website estimate shipping cost - $76 to ship it to my zip code in Wyoming! Good grief Charlie Brown. That seems a little outrageous. Does anyone have a lead on a better deal than that? Thoughts???

See picture below. I built this package shelf replacement out of oak in high school back in 1987. I had help but I laminated the boards together and cut it to shape. Then I photo copied one of the emblems and enlarged it on paper. With a grid pattern on both the enlarged paper and on the wood piece, I free handed the script to the wood. Then I routered it into the wood. With the speakers in the package shelf and a thin piece of foam under it, it worked really well. Not bad for a 17 year old kid! It looked really nice. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of it when it was fresh and new. You are seeing it now 30 some years later when it it was sun bleached and cooked but you get the idea. I will be making new ones for all of my Monte's. (Actually, I'm going to have a wood worker do it for me now since I can afford it and they will do a better job than I could.). Then I'll stain to match the car. In my green car that is going lime green with black vinyl, I will have the wood stained black. In my Mulsanne Blue with Antique White Top car, I'll probably do a light blue on some of it. I have not decided what I'm doing on my '70 yet because I'm not sure what color that car is getting painted.

Thanks for the tip. I'm new to the upholstery process so any tips help. I'll revisit that conversation with him when I take my seats in around Christmas time.

Hey guys. Thanks for the tips. I didn't really want to pull the head liner. It is in pretty decent shape.

For those of you who are in the know - What are the secrets to removing the vinyl top trim down the sides and across the back? Do you have to pull the headliner to get to speed nuts or something?

I just talked to an upholster about doing mine seats. He said that he has a standard type of material for $30/yard and the split bench would cost $1,200 and the rear seat would cost $800. He said if I got material that was more factory looking it was $100/yard and hard to get. Then the total price would be about $5,000! I do like the original look but I'm not up to the $3,000 price difference. Any thoughts????

I've put about 100 miles on it this week on some shorter runs. I just did a 50 miler and she ran smooth and fine. I have forgotten how comfortable these cars are! I'm really enjoying it. Time to do some interior work and more cleaning inside. New seats this winter and maybe paint and vinyl top next year!

I just put some transmission and oil stop leak in my rescue '71. It seems to have helped both from leaking quite as much. Bar's Leaks for the engine and Trans X for the transmission. I don't have anything to lose on this car. It has been sitting under a tree since 1995. I just bought it this summer and I was able to get the engine and transmission to run. I don't like the leaks but it is good enough for now until I drop rebuilds in.

Mine is beyond saving. There are dead things in there including dead wasps and probably a dead mouse or two. I think I'll cut it out for now and then deal with the trim when I pull the back window and the back seat.

What are tips for taking the package shelf material off under the back window? Do you have to remove the back seat to get that trim piece off along the top of the back seat? My '71 tree find had a leak in the back window for who knows how long and the package shelf is all warped and nasty smelling. I'm going to get it out of there this weekend.

Beautiful, beautiful car! Enjoy!

Cool. You learn something every day!!! Thanks.

What is the story on hood emblems? I believe '70's did not have a hood emblem. I purchased two '71's this year and one has a simple spear hood emblem and the other has one with Chevy oval sticking up above the spear. Both cars appear to be optioned the same so it seems odd to me that they have different hood emblems. The latter does not stay straight. I pulled the emblem tonight and I'm not seeing the ability to tighten that spring. I'm assuming the only solution is to replace the spring on that emblem in order for the Chevy oval to stand upright?

It looks like I can get black or silver ceramic coated ones. James, are you talking about the shorty headers versus the long tube headers? What is the preference for other owners out there that keep their car at the stock stance?

I was doing some cleanup on the car and on the front of the back seat are two black plastic brackets. I've not ever seen anything like them. I assume they are aftermarket for something. See attached. They are circled in red. Any thoughts?

What about taking that chrome trim off that wraps the vinyl? How is that done?

Did the kits come with the cloth and the vinyl for the buckets or just the cloth?

FFMCC crew - In your experience, what is the best option for headers on a 350/350 Monte for fit and durability? I don't want chrome. I just want something that fits the car great and will last a long time.

I was looking at my car last night. The vinyl does wrap under the chrome trim but does it actually wrap under the pinch weld at the top of the windshield and around the back window? I need a new windshield and I need to fix the back window because it leaks but I'm wondering if I should wait for both of those tasks until I install the vinyl.

In your opinion, what is the best place to order carpet and original style seat material for these Monte's?

Now that looks cool! I like! 😀

When doing a restoration on these Monte's, do you recommend the paint job first or the vinyl top first?