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Ultra Low-Mile 1977 Chevy Monte Carlo For Sale: Video

Chevrolet’s first personal luxury car, the Monte Carlo debuted in the 1970 model year. It was built on the intermediately-sized A-Special platform, along with the Pontiac Grand Prix, until its redesign for the 1973 model year, when it was switched to the A-Body platform.

Believed to have had just two owners from new, and both from the same family, this second-generation 1977 Chevy Monte Carlo shows just 26,842 miles on the odometer. The lovely gloss red finish is contrasted handsomely by the bright white vinyl landau top. Chrome bumpers and trim sparkle in the sunlight, with no pitting or patina of note. Stainless trim is equally shiny. No wiper tracks or chips are visible in the windshield or other glass. The weatherstrip shows very little age, and may very well still be soft and pliable. Rally wheels wear radial whitewall tires.

The interior of this Chevy Monte Carlo is just as sharp as the exterior. The bright red vinyl front bench seat shows no appreciable signs of wear or use. The bright red carpet has been well cared for, with no stains or wear present, likely protected by the factory red rubber mats. A bright red two-spoke steering wheel has wood tone trim in its center and around the rim. It is mounted on a tilt steering column in front of a wood tone instrument binnacle that houses a large circular speedometer and gas gauge, and is flanked with smaller circular warning lights on either side. The Monte Carlo is equipped with air conditioning, an AM/FM/Cassette player, power steering, power brakes, and a tilt steering wheel.

Beneath the hood of this Chevy Monte Carlo is the optional 350 cubic-inch V8, backed by a three-speed automatic transmission. The engine bay has been well detailed, and all the major components appear to be correct, right down to the original Frigidaire air conditioning compressor. It does appear, however, that the cold air intake hose needs to be reconnected to its mount above the radiator.

The trunk of this Chevy Monte Carlo presents every bit as well as the rest of the car, with the correct splatter paint, original trunk carpet, spare, and jack all fitted.

This nearly new 1977 Chevy Monte Carlo is being offered by Gateway Classic Cars of Tampa, Florida for $26,000.

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Comments

  1. I love this car.

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    1. My sister owned one only it was dark blue. Great American luxury sporty car.

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      1. STEP DAD A WHITE 77 ONCE. HE LOVED THAT CAR. NOW WE MISS HIM. CHARLES MITCHELL ROSS 1960-2021

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  2. Hated these cars.

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    1. The 70-72 was a much better car. Less rust, less cheap plastic, less bumpers, No sagging doors. Also much better styling.

      These are the cars that started the path of bankruptcy for GM.

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      1. TBH, I’m surprised the M/C survived after ’73 because the Camaro was a better coupe then the M/C at that point, just as the Tbird had to grow into a stereotypical ’70s dinosaur because the Mark Coupe needed cost cutting and Mustang in ’74 was too small for a normal coupe. The Fuel Crunch also effected the pony car market as well in turn made the PLC market last longer because speed wasn’t a cheap option at that point.

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      2. C8.R,

        I couldn’t disagree more. GM sold a ton of these coupes in the 1970s. The Monte Carlo, Grand Prix, Regal, and especially the Cutlass Supreme were very well received in the marketplace and good products overall. I’m sure GM made plenty of money off of them. The Cutlass was the best selling American car in the era and these coupes still have loyal fans today. GM even downsized their A-Body personal coupes in 1978 with good success.

        In my opinion what began GMs downfall and ultimate bankruptcy were all the blandly styled FWD replacements to the BOF, RWD, V8 products that GM began offering in the mid-1980s. Those cars began the decline. While people still love the Monte Carlo from the 70s and early 80s literally nobody cares about the FWD Lumina coupe that ostensibly replaced it at the end of the 1980s. The Lumina is now all but forgotten. During this era GM went from building cars that people had a genuine affinity for to building what a one-time colleague of mine called, “throwaway cars”.

        I know GM’s quality wasn’t good 40 years ago but folks overlooked that because anything from the Bill Mitchell reign had a captivating design and the old school mechanicals were pretty solid overall. The era that came next is when sales began to tank with Roger B. Smith disruptively leading the company and Irv Rybicki timidly leading its Design Staff.

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        1. I had to work on them in the early 80’s and can tell you the nightmare issues on these cars. To be fair most cars of the 70’s were crap.

          Till they they did not improve till they went smaller. But by then the damage was done and I agree the FWD took it back down again.

          These 70’s coupes rusted in less than 3 years with even bumpers rotting off and even some with the floors so gone you could pay Fred Flintstone with the cars. The doors were so heavy they hinges would give up and you had to lift the doors to shut.

          The interiors had failed plastics and seats that wore out in only a few years. Carpet that did not fit right.

          Yes Cutlass sold but they were the best of a bad lot. 1973-1977 were some dark years. The early emissions and low HP was sad.

          The A and G bodies from 1978-1987 were fine and an improvement.

          Keep in mind too that these cars in the 70’s were at a time Bill was no longer at the top of his game. Then on top of that he was saddled with the massive bumpers. It was up to people like John Schinella to save some of these cars. John was responsible for many of the cars that did work in this era like the Bandit Trans Am. He had to paint the car in the John Player colors of Mitchells motorcycle to get him to approve one of the most successful cars of that era.

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      3. Your exaggerating a little don’t you think? I live in the snow/salt belt of Upstate, NY and several family members owned these Colonnade coupes including dad so I had first hand experience with them growing up. The bumpers got larger on most cars and didn’t look out of place on cars this size. The interior plastics and vinyl’s were on par with what everybody else was doing. Sagging doors was greatly reduced by lubricating and styling is subjective. These were obviously well received looking back at the sales figures.

        Dads 1974 Malibu coupe was purchased at 5 years old being a local car and wasn’t rusted out. We owned it another 5 years and by that point the bottoms of the doors were starting to rust but the frame was still solid, the chrome bumpers were still intact and the floorboards weren’t shot. A little thing called a car wash helped here. If you neglected your car and never washed it, especially underneath it would quickly rot out. I would also like to point pout that this generation of GM’s had rock solid 350 engines and 350/400 transmissions unlike the 1977-1980 downsized B-body cars that used undersized 200 Metric transmissions, 305 engines with weak cams and valve seals and bumper supports that disintegrated.

        My uncles 1974 green Cutlass coupe was even better and lasted him into the early 1990’s. That was a great car and he missed it when trading up for a 1985 Park Avenue that he got for a steal around 1991. He like that too but it was troublesome with the FWD rack and 440 trans issues plus something with the climate control.

        A neighbor had a 1977 Monte Carlo in that common green with a 350/350 combo and it too lasted them for many years.

        Ironically 1973 to 1977 Colonnades are still seen on the ground every now and then in this area but those probably weren’t driven much in the Winter.

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        1. No exaggeration.

          Try to find good numbers for a Monte or GP in this era. My neighbor just sold a clean 74 GP wit 30,000 miles and a rotted rear bumper. It was just the nature of the beast. Washing made little difference. My mothers Malibu washed weekly and not even driven two years in the winter had the door bottoms rot in 5 years.

          Big bumpers of this era were ugly on most cars. Only the Pontiac’s really handled it well with the endura nose that predicted the future.

          Plastics and quality were crap in this era for all including these coupes.

          The doors even lubed would wear the bearings. But most never lubed them anyways. Most of the cars were not worth fixing the doors right so to fix them cheap a floor jack and a block of would to bend the door back was a fix.

          I never said these cars never ran reliably. They ran fine just low on power and most just rotted and were not the best looking things around.

          Chrysler’s not only rotted but they would not run right on lean burn ignitions.

          Fords rotted and also were not pretty.

          I get nostalgia and how it can make some folks still see things better than the really were.

          I got a real shock a few years ago when I got a 11,000 mile V8 4 speed 81 Camaro. It was all new and never in the weather. But it also reminded me of just how bad these cars were built. I’ll fitting interior, paint with tons of factory orange peal and miss aligned body parts.

          With most cars today having been restored to a better degree than built we tend to lose perspective of how bad these cars of this era were built.

          I has a 70 and at that thing styling was better and the cars while not perfect we’re built better. 78 to 87 the smaller cars returned to better builds and by then they learned to deal with the bumpers in styling better.

          Let’s face it these cars of this era will never attract the following of the 60’s or even the 80’s G and A bodies.

          So no exaggeration having had to turn many a wrench on vehicle of this era and also being a past owner of some of these.

          One I got to drive was a 76 442 Cutlass. It was not a bad looking car. The rear bumper support gas rotted. Also it was a manual car. But it only could have a 260 V8 on the 5 speed. What was up with that?

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  3. Loved these,had 2, drove like a dream compared to my 72 Duster,which drove like a bowl of oatmeal! 1st Montes were Harley Earl suspension design I believe.

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    1. John DeLorean did the original suspension, based on his Mercedes-Benz daily driver.

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      1. Not on the Monte.

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    2. Bill Mitchell was the leads of design and someone in his group did the Monte.

      Earl was long gone.

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  4. This is not a “Landau”. I had a ’76 landau, the vinyl top only covers the rear section of the roof. I bought mine new, the milk chocolate brown with white landau roof, tan interior, It was a beautiful automobile. The only car (and I’ve had many) I regret trading in.

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    1. @Dan: I thought maybe I was the only one who caught that mis-step. Yes, the “Landau” would be the 1/4 type and not a full vinyl top.

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  5. Are you sure the interior isn’t red interlude?

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    1. I believe the proper name for the color, both interior and exterior, is Firethorn red. I ordered a brand new Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu Classic back in 1977 with this same color combination except I chose the white landau top. I preferred the look of the Chevelle over the Monte Carlo back then.

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  6. Let’s hope the new owner maintains it in this condition.

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  7. The sad fact about that engine is the abysmal 170 hp that it produces, product of the smog restrictions. The rubber looks too new to be original, I suspect it has all been replaced, which is a good thing. The jack that came with that model was the old bumper style, I can see the slots on the front bumper but nothing on the rear, so they may have been welded closed and rechromed, which could be a problem when one of the rears go flat. In my 77 Lemans I have replaced that jack with an actual frame jack, much safer and easier to use.

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  8. I had a 1977 Impala with the 350 and it was rip roaring great. Nothing like it. I miss it to this day.

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  9. I’ve always like the MC’s till they went front drive and never thought those looked good ever. They drove nice and were good cars, but didn’t deserve the MC name.

    My oldest brother had a twin to this car but with the cloth interior and I believe his had the power window’s and locks. Loved it.

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    1. There was never a Monte Carlo that was front drive.

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      1. I believe it was late 80s or early 90s they used the “Monte Carlo” name again but it was actually a 2 door Chevelle. The 4 door was still chevelle. I believe both were fwd.

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        1. The GM corporate cousins body on frame, rear wheel drive, V8 finally died in 1987. Olds Cutlass sold the most coupes by far, Chevy Monte Carlo, Pontiac Grand Prix and Buick Regal which offered the turbo GNX. GM sold more coupes than anyone in 70s and 80s. Smaller FWD cars led to GMs demise in passenger cars during the 90s. It took almost 3 decades for GM to offer high quality FWD cars, always playing catch up with competitors. In 1979 GM had 50% of the US market share, now it’s less than 20%. The smaller company is much easier to manage and much more profitable. Bigger isn’t always better. GM ruled the road in the 50s and 60s.

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      3. Stupid “your comment is awaiting moderation” on my other comment means that nobody is going to see it. Simply put, I commented back to Walt with a link to show the front drive Monte Carlo (one of them). In my comment, I said Google is a wonderful thing and that Chevrolet very much did offer front drive MC’s.

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        1. Walt has apologised. I was a Ford man for too many years.

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          1. No worries Walt. We won’t hold that against you! haha.

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      4. I owned one

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  10. Walt your wrong the 2000s and up monty carlo was fwd

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    1. You are correct. I guess that model edition was totally forgetable.

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  11. Love ’em or hate ’em, I had a blue 1976 Monte Carlo / White Landau with the 350/TH350 and the Center console with the (Never seen them before, never seen them since) “Swiveling” bucket seats. It was 11 years old, with a lot of miles on it by the time I got it, but I still absolutely loved it.
    In fact, about a year after I sold it, I drove past a Buick dealership one morning & spotted it on the used car lot. I went back that afternoon after work to inquire about it, but it was gone. The salesman told me the people traded it in, but loved it SO much, they bought it back out of the deal.

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    1. Jetfixer320: My brother had two Pontiac GP’s with those swiveling bucket seats. They were great. Probably wouldn’t pass safety measures today.

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  12. I remember the looking hood’s on these cars. The engine was way back from nose. The radiator shroud was like a barrel it was so long. Miss cars like this.

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  13. I have a 74 Monte Carlo..in the making of restoring

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  14. Very very small passenger compartment in relation to overall length.

    Also the hood’s length hides a long stretch of the road ahead from the driver.

    Not my car. Never.

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  15. The Monte Carlo did indeed have the MB-inspired front suspension. Every single Monte Carlo built from ’73 through ’80, actually, had the wider wheels and tires, and what became known as F41 suspension, standard equipment. Magazines in ’73 said that the Monte outhandled Grand Am and Cutlass Salon. Check it out.

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