Has anyone seen a 1978 Monza wagon U/S(or u/say)

[Greg Reimer 7376]

I worked in various Chevy dealers from summer 1975 to late spring 1980. Never could find that many that you wanted to work for, although the last one,Allen Gwynn Chevrolet was a good store with an excellent service manager. I left them for a job with the County fixing sheriffs cars. Benefits, paid days off and a retirement package were a novel concept for me back then. In 1975, the Chevy Monza came along, and the out of state Monzas had an optional 262 V8 with a 4 speed. The California only Monzas were a 350 with a Turbo 350 and a stronger rear end. That was the car that took a few special tactics to change some of the spark plugs on the left bank. Also, the 1975 HEI ignition specified a spark plug gap of around .060" or something like that. It was easy to gas foul the plugs and then the car wouldn't clean them off, you had to replace them.The only Monza body styles I ever remembered was a fastback coupe with a hatchback, and a two door sedan with a separate trunk. It seemed to me that the only two engine choices were a 4 cylinder OHC unit that had definite block issues, or the 2 barrel V-8. Pontiac had a version of the Vega called the Astre, and I think Buick had a version of it as well.Don't quote me on that, however. The cars weren't that durable, I don't think a V-8 version of one of these would hold up as a stocker since you couldn't add enough stiffness to the unit body with just a roll bar or cage to make it work. As it was, when the 350 Vega swaps got popular, those cars soon got to where the doors didn't open and close very well, front fenders didn't line up, and they had very serious rust issues. Not a good place to start.

[Dwight Southerland]

The NHRA class guide does show a 1978 and 1979 Pontiac Sunbird 2 dr station wagon available with a 305 V8. However, in both cases, the station wagon is lighter than either the 2dr coupe or hatchback. Both are also lighter than Monza or Oldsmobile Starfire models with the 305 V8. With that info, I would not get excited about trying to find that rare body.

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by Dwight Southerland

The NHRA class guide does show a 1978 and 1979 Pontiac Sunbird 2 dr station wagon available with a 305 V8. However, in both cases, the station wagon is lighter than either the 2dr coupe or hatchback. Both are also lighter than Monza or Oldsmobile Starfire models with the 305 V8. With that info, I would not get excited about trying to find that rare body.

Huh..I didn't even notice that earlier. Most likely lighter because it was a Vega in disguise.

[joe huestis]

Originally Posted by Greg Reimer 7376

The cars weren't that durable, I don't think a V-8 version of one of these would hold up as a stocker since you couldn't add enough stiffness to the unit body with just a roll bar or cage to make it work.

Greg, I beg to differ on that statement. Took several years to build while raising a family of 5 children and getting them all through college, I took on the venture of doing a 1975-76 Monza stocker during the 80s and 90s. Raced that car for over 30 years until it puked a rod in 2014. Initially ran brackets with it and finally was able to complete it as a legal stocker around ‘99. Installed Alston frame connectors and 6 pt. Roll bar. Tied them all together. That car would print time slips, very consistent. Ran both the 262 and 350 combos at one time or another. Made more money with that car going rounds than any other car I have raced. Some CCRA racers who post on here can attest to that. Also, don’t forget Briane Philbrick’s Monza out of Canada who I believe is the current National Record Holder in R/SA. His car was built by Don Quinn in the early 80s, painted white at the time and called “Plain Vanilla”. By no means is a Monza V8 stocker a dime rocket though. I was bracket racing my Monza back in ‘83 at Island Dragway in N.J. And this guy comes up to me and says “that car would make a nice stocker “ and I replied that was my eventual intention. That guy was bracket racing a ‘67 Camaro that day. That guy - Billy Nees.

[Lyn Smith]

How tough is it to get a 9" radial under the back of one of these H bodies?

[BG56]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1978-Chevro...MAAOSwjFpekg0t Searched just for the hell of it, mainly just to see one. This one on eBay now!

[The Hawk]

Originally Posted by Lyn Smith

How tough is it to get a 9" radial under the back of one of these H bodies?

You`d need to cut the fender wells a lot. A 26" slick is pushing the boundaries.

[Billy Nees]

Ya know, I've never looked closely at Philbrick's car but he has a 9" radial under it.

[Chip THELEGEND Johnson]

I had a 75 Monza with the 262 v8. I ran IHRA pure stock back in the mid 80's. Everytime I got it to run the index they would drop it again. I had no money and went bracket racing. I won 2 track Championships with it. I do know 75 only you could do a 350. Not sure but I think a couple of later years had 305. I also had an 80 model with 231 I drove to work. I raced it a few times it wasn't fast but was consistent.
Hey Joe whatever happened to yours?
And yes they were a pain to change plugs mine was an AC car

[Greg Reimer 7376]

Joe, I was talking about a stock as produced body shell. Yours as described was tied together and stiffened pretty well. More of those should have been done that way. The once common V8 conversion Vegas and all, most were street driven and weren't done to that extent. About 15 years ago, my neighbor across the street got a wild hair to build a Vega with a 350. He found a couple Vega wagons and he went to town on it. He even found new left and right panels to convert the wagon into a panel express. The end result was a very insanely fast car for the street. He got some crate 350 with some aftermarket heads and intake and with whatever cam he selected, a built 350 trans and a somewhat loose converter, and he ran around like this until he lit 'em up and absolutely demolished the rear end. He then found an 8 1/2" 10 bolt that had been in somebody elses'Vega, so he bolted it in and was done with it at that point, but he still had the stock front brakes on this thing. I know from a few road tests he took me on that it seemed like all that power was trying to twist the car in half.He got tired of it and sold the car to somebody from Phoenix, they ran around in it, and ran it one night at Firebird and it went low 11's. That's definitely fast enough to need some chassis engineering.