1970 Chevy Monte Carlo

The 1970 Chevy Monte Carlo was a personal luxury two-door coupe that was introduced in 1970 and which ended production in 2007. A brainchild of GM’s Pete Estes, the car had the look of an unusually long hood and that probably helped to sell over 145,000 buyers of this fine high-performance machine.

The’ 70 version only came out as a coupe and came with power front discs. The aerodynamically car had a near perfect power-to-weight distribution that facilitated power and performance.

Offered at a base price of $3,123, it was cheap compared to the 5 grand needed to buy a T-Bird, it was a big hit with middle age buyers who wanted a car hailed as “action and elegance in a sporty personal luxury package.”

Built on the same platform as the ’69 Pontiac Grand Prix, there were options galore: center console, Strato bucket seats, special instrumentation of tach, ammeter, and temperature gauge, and the SS 454 engine which powered it to 360 bhp, power windows, Four Season Air Conditioning, power seats, rear anti-sway bar, black vinyl top and Rallye wheels which could bring the price to comparable Ford Thunderbird. It was a very profitable car for GM, where in 1970, ordered them with most options available at that time.

A labor strike in 1970 at the Flint, Michigan plant where most Monte Carlos were being manufactured caused GM to lose approximately 100,000 sales.

The manufacturing of these cars, which were solid performers in the NASCAR racing, were finally discontinued in 2007.

1970 Chevy Monte Carlo Specs

Production 145,975 (1970 – 3,823 454 SSs sold this year)
Body Style Two-door, five-seater coupe.
Construction Steel body a chassis.
Engines 350cid, 400cid, 454 cid V8s.
Power Output 250-360 bhp.
Transmission Three-speed manual, optional two-speed Powerglide automatic, or three-speed Turbo Hydra-Matic automatic.
Suspension font: coil springs; Rear: leaf springs.
Brakes Front and rear drums.
Maximum Speed 115 mph
0-60 mph 8-14 sec
A.F.C. 15-20 mpg