At what time in...........

[Dannyboy]

Hello monzalovers and others?!
at what time in life
did you all fall in love with the H-body??

Found an old add taken from the magazine "Hot rod"
From an 77 issue I think.......

[zeke]

In 1979 I went to a house party out in the country and a guy there had a brand new black v-8 Spyder with all the louvers. I thought that it looked like a baby Trans-Am and instantly wanted one. I had to wait 2 more years tho until I could afford it. The dealership was reluctant to sell me a car bcuz I din't have a drivers license yet but I convinced them I didn't need one to purchase a car. The salesman's name I'll never forget - Don Lemon I took my drivers test in my own 79 2+2 and passed np a couple weeks later. I had loads of fun with the Monza and learnt a ton about automotive with it. Did the v6 to v8 swap a few years later and the car was a little rocket with a stock 350/4spd. Always regretted selling it but now I have one in better condition than the orig one was when I sold it.

Chris

[bugdewde]

First H-body recollection: Playing with a Grumpy's Toy Vega Model that my older brother gave me. Early 70's.

Late 70's: Got my own H-body model. A Black Spyder.

Early 80's: High school- There were a couple V8 Vegas rolling around locally. But when I took a ride in an early Vega with a built 225 Jeep V6, I fell in LOVE with the styling of the early Vega(recalling the old Grumpy's Toy model).
A smaller (what-I-thought-meant--more-fuel-efficient) transplanted performance engine in a small car and still get great performance was the ticket for me.

[SunbirdMan]

I needed a car and I found this good deal on a 1974 Vega. The first thing I noticed is it fit me perfectly. Steering wheel , pedals and gearshift were just like they built with me in mind. (unlike ford products).
By the way, this is the off-topic forum where anything except h-bodies is on-topic.

[cjbiagi]

Mid 1974 right when the Monza was introduced. Read all the info I could about it and like the concept of a small car with a V8 & 4 speed.

[mldeolde]

WHEN ONE OF MY MECHANIC BUDDIES AT MY LOCAL CHEVY DEALER CALLED ME AND TOLD ME I'VE GOT TO COME IN AND CHECK OUT THE NEW MONZA V-8 2+2 THEY JUST RECIEVED. IT'S NOT THE NEW LITTLE 262 V-8 IN IT . IT'S GOT A 5.7 LITRE 350 CU IN V-8 IN IT. YOU GOOTA CHECK IT OUT. AND I DID. TRADED MY 1969 Z-28 IN ON IT. "NOT ONE OF MY SWIFTER MOVES" CAUSE I NEEDED MORE MONEY DOWN THAN I HAD AND AT FIRST SITE I DECIEDED I JUST HAD TO HAVE ONE OF THESE SO I BOUGHT IT AND IMEDIATLY STARTED TO MODIFY IT. SHIFT KITTED THE TRANS MOUNTED 50 SERIES 13 INCH BFG T/A's REMOVED MUFLER AND PUNCHED A HOLE IN FIREWALL AND USED DRYER HOSE TO FABRICATE COLD AIR INDUCTION FOR THE CARB. WAS ALLREADY TO PURCHASE AN IMSA BODY KIT AND GO HOG WILD WITH THE PROJECT WHEN MARRAGE PUT THE CABBASCH TO THE WHOLE PROJECT BUT I WAS OBVIOUSLY HOOKED ON H-BODY FROM THAT TIME FORWORD.

[gerbsinmd]

When one of my buddies bought a 78 Spyder, the medium blue one with 305 & 4 spd. That car was a blast!!! it was around 1980. That car hooked a bunch of us and for a time there were more Monza's running around town that just about any other car. In 1982 I ended up with my first, a 77 Old's Starfire GT!! That car was awesome!! It had the big swaybar up front and a rear one as well. That car did handle! I rebuilt everything on that car other than the trans and drove it for over 100k miles. It was coming up on 225k miles when I finally sold it for nearly what I paid for it 6 years earlier and it went a long time after I sold it.

[v8astregt]

It was 3.5 years ago and I was just getting ready for college. I needed a small college car that could fit in the hideously small spaces at ASU, but I didn't want to drive my Blazer since it was too nice. I was looking at anything, Falcons, Nova's, even my buddy's Studebaker Larks. Then I get word of 5-6 Vegas sitting at Wiseman's salvage yard 1 hours south from me. The owner died, and the wife was liquidating everything in his name. When I got there there was my Astre, another 76 Astre that I also have, and a 75 Vega that I bought for parts. There was also another notchback Astre as well. I only walked away with the 3 of them, for $70 a piece since everyone was flocking to the Camaros and such, and paid stupid money for nothing.

[rpoz-29]

During Christmas vacation in 1972. I was driving the parts truck for the Chevy dealership my Dad worked at. While picking up parts from another dealer, I saw a chamois colored Vega GT in the showroom. I ordered my '73 GT that February. I still have it.

[djv8ga]

1972 when they started showing up all over So-Cal. My father told me it that if it was not a big block car, It had to be a V8 Vega to be cool.

[MB77Monza]

Spring 1977 went with my then step father and ordered the Monza 2+2 that I now have. Mom is a smart cookie and got the car as part of her divorce settlement. I remember just about everything about sitting there and placing the order. The car was ordered with a front and rear spoiler. V8 & 4 speed with a 308 rear. window antenna and radio delete. and rear ashtrays, and the upgraded suspension (f41?). THat was it!

[Dannyboy]

wow, so you have owned the car since new!!
Thats cool

[Kev442]

In 1975 my parents bought my brother a used '74 Vega coupe for college. They took his '67 Belvidere in trade for my sister. I got a couple rides in it and remember two things. That hood was sooo low that you could see everything on the road like you had a microscope! The other was it was so light that when we hopped in it after an ice storm, it just slid down the road and into the intersection and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.
In '79 he came home and bought a really nice '77 Tbird, a beautiful triple blue. That was a big step up from the turd brown Vega! He sold my sister the Vega for $300. and she drove it for a couple years until she got married and got a '77 Grand Prix. She musta liked my brothers TBird, because it was triple Blue too. Soooo, the Vega became mine for that same $300. They had changed one dead 2.3 for a nice smokey one, but it ran! I used that ride for several years as a winter beater/work car until I spied a '77 Starfire SX on a car lot. Fully loaded V6 and American rims, awesome! I sold the Vega for $450. (I put Rallye rims and white letter rubber on it). Here's the kicker: I never even considered that my Vega coupe and Starfire Hatch were the same car! Heck, they still made Vegas until '77 and I wasn't a big car nut then over HBodys, so I wasn't paying attention. I figured they shared some components, but until I did brakes and found the same weird plastic slide guides, then it hit home. I sold the '77 in '86 and picked up an '80 Sunbird for the wife in '90 or so. Cheap and ran good. She hated it! Gone by '92 for an '85 Firenza.
So, from '92 until '05, no H bodies, but I always thought about the '77 and how much I liked the car. I only disliked the V6, another oil monster. So, like the ad, I could've had a V8, and I finally went out and found one! (Then another, but that's a different story!)

[Kenova]

It was around '72 - '73 when a friend bought a used Vega for the sole purpose of putting a 350 in it. I believe it was a GT, and it was orange with white stripes. He still has it.
October of '77 some drunken arse piled into the back of my '75 RS Camaro. I wanted to park it untill I could get it fixed properly so I picked up a used '77 Astre for the winter. Sold the Camaro in'79 (to buy a house), got married in '81, sold the Astre in '85 (family out grew it).
A friend of mine was selling his '77 Vega in '05 so I scooped it. Paid way too much, but I knew the car and he did put a pile of work into it. I also got a truck load of extra parts with it.
Ken

[Sirshredalot]

It was in the summer of 2002
I loved it the first time I saw it. ....I asked that age old question....Whats a monza?

So i drove down to my bosses house (who had intended to prostreet it) and saw this little rust oxide primered hatchback car that was filled to the roof with childrens toys that his kids had long outgrown.

Id never seen anything like it...At first it was that kind of ugly ...ya know...like an ugly baby....you know its ugly...but you cant help but just love it!.
And that is when I fell in love with it. I hated the way the camaros looked(screamed mullet) and chevelles where so belly button. I wanted somthing light that I could chop up and shoe horn a small block into....I had been looking at a rambler and a couple 4 door chevy II's.....but the monza just called my name...so $300 dollars later she rolled into my back yard off of my brothers car trailer and into my life.

I never liked popular cars...so the Spyder was PERFECT!
I wanted a car that i would not see another of at the cruise ins.
And I GOT ONE!

Eveytime I see it, I get that feeling that I got when I first saw it..ya know....its so beautiful...what on earth have I gotten myself into?

God Bless
-Shred