Monza Towne Coupe vs. Large 1/4 window coupe

[TownCoupe75]

monza1.jpg

Is a large rear 1/4 window Monza coupe a "Towne Coupe", or only the small "formal" window coupes with the TC emblem and vinyl top? I've seen a lot of people advertising cars for sale, or advertisements showing a '75-'77 large 1/4 window coupe as a "Towne Coupe." Does anyone have the truth about this?

[hammerdown7]

As far as I know they are all Town Coupe's.

Dick

[marco_1978_spyder]

For me, I've always thought of the formal window cars as Town coupes, and the large windows as "Notchbacks" ... but not everybody likes that term.

[hammerdown7]

http://www.classiccarcatalogue.com/CHEV ... 01976.html

[Monza Harry]

I have for a long time referred to them by similar terms as Marco has, but I don't ever remember GM using the term "Notchback" in any literature. So I went to Bryans site and brought over a link for you to read and decipher to your liking. These are the period "Official" literature from the dealerships. Harry http://monza.homestead.com/1975.html

[marco_1978_spyder]

I'm scanning some pages now...they'll probably be to large... no time to resize doing this on a break... The product picture really dropped the ball on clarity, by labeling the picture of a standard Notchback Coupe, "Towne Coupe".

As you will see on the final page when trying to be clear about options, they disseminate the 2 Notchback coupe styles, with the use of the term... "Notchback" vs. "Towne". The thing of it all is... the formal roof and Smaller window, was an option/upgrade on a preestablished body style, the Notchback coupe.

[marco_1978_spyder]

Sorry for the size, will correct it later.... Check this out.... I just noticed they didn't get the designation right under the picture!! No wonder they didn't sell as many as the competition.... This gives way to my 2 other theories
1.. The Monza was built to lure you into the showroom to upsell you into more profitable choices. They simply needed to build and sell enough to recoupe the costs of the endeavor, ($$$$$ think abandoned Wankel engine experiments, Vega warranty work, ect) so the more confusion the better... and start fresh with the J body. and a brand new era the 80's...

2. It was the 1970's....and everybody was high, or feeling the after effects of illicit experimentation's.

[zeke]

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[classic_cruiser]

From what I see in the Standard Catalog of Chevrolet, 1977 Monza, the "base towne coupe had large rear quarter windows.." and "the Cabriolet Option included opera-type rear quarter windows..."

[zeke]

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[marco_1978_spyder]

Thanks Zeke... reading "The exterior body" paragraph you'll find the use of the term "Notchback"
.

[beakerztoyz]

I just looked at the build sheet for my 80 Sunbird, no where on there do I see the term town coupe or notchback. the car above with the vinyl top is different than mine, mine only has a half vinyl roof.... so does that mean my car is a little window or a big window ? I always from even days before this site called my car a notchback, I never knew anyone else who had one of these cars so I think i just used the term because of how Mustangs were labeled, there was fastbacks and notchbacks, so I thought in hbody terms of the hatchback cars being like a fastback as opposed to my trunk car being a notch... I never even thought of it being a coupe.

[classic_cruiser]

From the picture in your garage, yours would be the towne coupe with the opera-type rear quarter windows, not the large 1/4 windows. I do not ever recall seeing an h-body with a vinyl top with the large 1/4 windows, I think the vinyl-topped ones were all opera windows.

The large rear 1/4 window is like this (borrowed from a fellow member's garage pic):


If I remember right, I believe VIN digits 3&4 identify the body style, where "27" = coupe/notchback and "07" = hatchback.

It's funny you mention looking at the build sheet... I did the same. I could have sworn I thought the term "notchback" was on there somewhere!

[hammerdown7]

Is it possible all town coupes had the large 1/4 window and the outside/inside trim just covered up enough to look like a smaller window?

Dick

[marco_1978_spyder]

I just looked at the build sheet for my 80 Sunbird, no where on there do I see the term town coupe or notchback. the car above with the vinyl top is different than mine, mine only has a half vinyl roof.... so does that mean my car is a little window or a big window ? I always from even days before this site called my car a notchback, I never knew anyone else who had one of these cars so I think i just used the term because of how Mustangs were labeled, there was fastbacks and notchbacks, so I thought in hbody terms of the hatchback cars being like a fastback as opposed to my trunk car being a notch... I never even thought of it being a coupe.

To add to the confusion they were all "coupes" as opposed to "sedan's" which usually have 4 doors.