Dave C's 70 Monte Carlo

[Belair62]

My 1970 Monte Carlo

This 1970 Monte Carlo was sold new at Ken Lafferty Chevrolet in Berlin PA, I bought it my senior year in high school for the tidy sum of $1200 from the second owner in Gaithersburg MD. Having inherited and semi-restored a 1972 Monte Carlo, the family car I grew up in, I knew this 1970 was something special. It was delivered with an LS3 big block, M20 4speed, buckets, console, tach dash, and a hand full of other “nice” options, not to mention body colored hub caps and fender skirts. I was correct and later discovered that only 589 big block 4 speed Montes were produced in 1970.
I drove it through the following summer of 1988, when I disassembled it for a semi-restoration I had planned.
There it sat at my Uncles body shop for the next 13 years while I attended college and completed a full frame-off on my 1972. Every couple years I’d pump a few gallons of fresh gas in it, borrow a dealer tag, and terrorize some of the local South Jersey roads.
Emptying the body shop shelves of all left over gold paints one weekend, I painted the car a resulting shade less autumn gold than original.
I came very close to selling both of my Montes soon after my son was born, but the discussions I had with potential buyers re-kindled my interest in the old cars, and with the advent of my daughter’s birth in 2001 I knew it was “now or never”.
So the real work began, the frame was dropped, engine, and suspension were rebuilt, brake and fuel lines replaced. I used as many of the NOS parts and trim I collected over the years when reassembling and mating the body back to the chassis. For the finishing touch, I reupholstered the interior. While doing so, I found the build sheet to go with the original shipper paper the second owner had given to me with the car. I also discovered a build sheet in the shell of the driver bucket for a very interesting red Monte SS454 ordered without A/C, or power steering, and radio delete, delivered to Georgia.
I have enjoyed the car with my family for the last 4 years.
I look forward to the day I can strip it down and apply the correct autumn gold color. I also plan to remove the A/C system, which I added for my “young family” during the frame-off. Ultimately I plan to bring the car back to its as-delivered glory and may reconsider terrorizing some of the less traveled South Jersey roads.