VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1971-1979 4 speed Monte Carlo

Did Chevrolet ever offer and or produce and Monte Carlo with a 4 speed manual transmission? Thanks Don

Yes

what year? limited production? Thanks Don

I think they were only offered in 70 and 71.

3 on the tree Monte Carlo must be really rare. My first car was a 72 Chevelle with the Heavy Chevy option. It had a 307 with a 3 on the tree.

There is a member of our region wih a 70 4-speed Monte.
The best part is that he bought the car new.

Yes,
Regular Monte Carlo's were available with 4-speeds in both '70 and '71, and they came with either the 350 or the 402 big block. The SS454's had Turbo 400's.

With A body parts a monte carlo can be converted to a 4 speed,one came into the shop about 15 years ago and I was told it was converted with Chevelle parts. I never knew they were available from the factory with a 4 speed.

Don, Using the reference book called: "Chevrolet by the Numbers" by Alan L. Colvin, he states that a 3 speed and 4 speed manual was available on 1970-75 Monte Carlo with 350 2bbl. 165 hp. By 1975 it was ordered on "Federal" orders and "California" orders. No other engine/trans. configuration offered the manual. According to the book, "Chevy Super Sports 1961-1976," by Terry V. Boyce, he states that the SS 454 in 1970 and 1971 could be "special ordered" through the Central Office Purchase Order with a M-20 or M-21 4 speed.

Why the new versions of Chevrolet do not have 4 speed Monte carlo?

There were a few 1978 - 1980 Monte Carlos sold with factory 4 speeds, other then that there haven't been any offered since the eighties, with one exception. In 1984, about 500 Monte Carlo SS's were built to be sold only in Mexico. The Mexican SS, as they are known, came with a 350 4BBL V-8 and a Hurst shifted 4 speed. It also has the interior of a Grand Prix in it. www.montecarloss.com has an excellant write up about it and also all sorts of Monte related info.

I would assume that previous sale of manual transmission cars dictated that the buying public had lost its desire for stick shift cars.

Mainly because the 5th and 6th Generation Monte Carlos were essentially 2-door Luminas with V6 motors and FWD and no appropriate platform exists at this time on which to base a new Monte Carlo. The only RWD cars are the Corvette and Camaro. Btw, if you got to Chevrolet.com's Volt page you'll see a background image shot from the mountains above the Bonneville Salt Flats. Interesting.

Many Monte Carlo enthusiasts (myself included) have hoped for and even petitioned Chevrolet to bring a front-engined, RWD Monte Carlo back into production. Our efforts fell on deaf ears. FWD cars are much cheaper to produce and can use modular drive trains that bolt in from underneath the car, making them more versatile (able to use different power trains - I guess "modules would be a better phrase), quicker to assemble and more profitable.

Several years ago, a couple of friends and I created the The 'Offishul Monte Carlo Spotter's Guide' and it's been on my web server ever since.

Our research showed that 4-speed manual transmissions were available in 1970, 71, 73, 74, 75 and 79. Interesting to note that 4-speed transmissions were available at the beginning of the 1st 3 generations and then discontinued. I can only guess that the marketing strategy which presented the Monte Carlo as a "personal luxury car" (I know that's kinda pushing the envelope of definition) attracted buyers who didn't really want to shift for themselves.

When the MC was adopted by NASCAR as its "homologated" Chevrolet platform in 1983, the biggest engine available was a 305 and even with the "performance" motor installed in the Super Sports, it was still much less than a performance motor. I believe that CAFE and emission requirements prevented a larger motor (350, 400 or 454) from being offered as an option and a 4 speed would have messed with the final drive ratio (designed for an overdrive top gear) and the T-5 5-speed, while available in Camaros was and is too weak to work with a motor larger than the 305, even if it had an overdrive 5th gear. The T-56 wasn't an option at that time.

Right now I have an 85 MCSS that's becoming more and more of a salt flats car as things progress. It has a healthy (about 500 hp) 406 and this past September the pinion yoke broke which allowed the driveshaft to beat the underside of the car all to h*ll and (I didn't find this out until later when I tried to get it off the trailer) took out the brand-new race-built TH200-4R transmission. I'm trying to decide what direction to take to get it back on the salt, since my budget is pretty limited. I'd love to put a 9" rear end and a T-56 into it, but I just can't afford that at this time.

Here's a link to the section about the racing experience in 2011

A quick word on the Mexican Monte Carlo SSs: I almost had one. A web acquaintance who lived in Mexico had one and was willing to sell it to me. But the number of hoops required to jump thru in order to get it legally brought into the country would have added 10s of thousands of dollars and as I recall, would have required that it be retro-fitted with the US-legal drivetrain, which would have defeated the whole purpose. I considered several options, including a "VIN transplant" but eventually gave up when the owner sold it to someone else in Mexico. Bummer.

I hope this sheds some light on your question.

A 70 to 72 came in the shop about 10 years ago but it was home built using chevelle parts and if anyone wants a 78 to 87 with a manual trans the malibu parts should work,I had the clutch parts from a 78 malibu and was looking for a SS to put them in but the prices were still kind of high for them so I gave the parts to a friend for his 81 malibu.

Hey guys, I am the original owner of 78 factory 4 speed Monte, you can check my ride out on my Cardomain page: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3156772?cmd=related&order=2 There were 1,719 Montes produced in '78, about the same number of Elcaminos and then again Malibus. The rarer of the ealry downsized (late 70's)A bodies(which became G bodies later on) were the Grand Prixs and Grand Ams, and also a few Olds Cutless manual cars available until '80 with even a 5 speed and tiny V8( I think about 260 CI). The Monte 4 speeds showed up again in '79 though were only available with the V6 whereas one could order the '78 non Landau model with the monsterous "balls out" 145 hp 2 BBl 305. Mine came black/red with 305, T-tops, posi, split bench, HD suspension & radiator package, upgraded interior and dealer installed 3:23 gears. While not screaming musclecar fast, it wasn't slow either... for the time and was always somewhat of a novelty. In '96 w/ 46K miles on it I pulled the 305 and put a ZZ3 crate motor and Super T-10 in it, which still resides in it. I kept Saginaw all these years though parted with the low HP 305 long ago. The beauty with these cars, was and still is, that they were relatively light, they weighed < 3,100 lbs (for gas MPG) and respond well to some real HP & Trq. A set of sticky performance tires also makes them handle fairly well also. I also wanted to add, my research over the 33 years I've owned this 4 speed Monte was that 4 spds were available in '70 & '71(big&sm blocks)and then not again until '78 &'79, after that, only the small run of Mexican built 4th gen cars were ever available with a stick, as previously mentioned. I don't believe that any of the 2 gen land yaght (but beutiful) Montes were ever factory produced with anything but Turbo 350&400s. There are currently several 4 speed 3rd gen cars available on Craigs list, don't know their authenticity or condition though they do seem to be popping up recently.

Monte4speed, Welcome to the chat. I enjoyed your first post, I love storys about buying a new car,taking care of it and keeping it! I visited Cardomain and you Monte Carlo is trully beautful. But what you didn't say was you were only 15. You must have been very mature, as most kids who get a "daddy bought" new car promptly tear it up.
Congratulations on preserving it and all you have done to the Monte.
Hope you enjoy the chat site there is much to learn here.
Jay

Never seen one before,plenty of malibus and a couple regals but no 78 and newer montes.

It is nice to see an active discussion about the Monte Carlo. RayTheRat has a lot of good input...

Yes they did! I owned 1. A 1978 monty with a factory 4 speed. They built 90 of them in Canada. GM Canada built them special order for Iran for police inforcement, but did not take them. So GM distributed between the provinces.