Yeah, I remember reading back in the fall of '69 that a convertible Monte was listed as a production model right up to the very last minute. You'd assume they built a prototype or two but I've never seen a picture.
nice day today (after tons of rain yesterday). Saw a few out. Might have been a car in of some sort, as I saw right near same car themed restaurant a 1970ish Enduro nose GTO, and a 1970 Chevelle SS. Both red, and nice looking.
the oddball, a later 50's Ford 4 door sedan. Looked brand new, and accessorized. rare to see that.
There's a primer-black '75 Impala that's been parked at a gas station a few miles away, for months now. I was finally able to get a picture of it over the weekend...
I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the big Chevies by the '75-76 timeframe. I think the front-end has a very handsome, upscale look to it. But I don't like that coupe style, with the long stationary windows and beltlines that don't seem to line up, and clash at the B-pillar.
Oddly, I think you could still get a true hardtop coupe Impala in '75, and it was actually cheaper than this style...for some reason I seem to recall seeing one in an episode of "The Rockford Files".
I think the regular old 4-door pillared sedan, with the little BMW-esque jig in the C-pillar, had some of the nicest lines. While I'd prefer the 4-door hardtop, something about its C-pillar area, and overall proportions, just seemed a bit off to me. Maybe because the regular sedan had more of a vee-shaped rear window, and more slender C-pillars, while the 4-door hardtop had a flat rear window, and larger C-pillar, since it had to hold the opera window?
I think the 4-door hardtop worked better on the likes of the LeSabre, Delta, and Grand Ville/Bonneville, which were longer cars overall? And especially the big Electra/Ninety-eight/DeVille...those beasts had gorgeous proportions, in my opinion.
Fewer than 800 units sold, and there's one in Fairbanks, Alaska? Curious what ends up here.
It's a small car, for sure. I think it would be quite a bit more versatile with a 48.5" load floor on it (3" wider), but it's still much more practical for loads than most small or midsize (perhaps even upper midsize) SUVs these days.
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still too big for my taste, but I always like the styling on that generation midsize GM. Is that a Chevelle SS? My favorite was always the Laguna S3 for some reason. And I really liked the Pontiac versions.
I think GM did that fixed triangular thing on many of their intermediate base models back then - trying to get buyers to spend a bit more for a Colonade roofline I guess.
Around '76 or so our next-door neighbor had that exact car, right down to the lime green paint and white landau roof. He traded in a '68 Impala 4-door sedan painted Butternut Yellow on it.
Aside from him and his wife, they had 5 daughters at home during that time. One wonders how they all fit into it.
One thing I especially couldn't stand about the '75 Impala Custom Coupe (the pillared one)--it had an "Impala" nameplate on the front fender, and another one ("Impala Custom") on the B-pillar!
Here's a beat-up example which shows what I'm talking about:
That was 'corrected' in '76. The fender nameplate, which appeared on sedans, was removed on the Custom Coupe.
The true hardtop "Sport Coupe" model was still available for '75, but I never saw many of them.
Just a personal taste thing, but I never liked the three-side-window look of the lower-end big Pontiacs/Oldsmobiles/Buicks. Funny, on the upper-end models, they had only one stationary quarter window, a la the Chevy.
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My Dad had a similar vintage Grand Prix in that lime green too. White top, white leather/vinyl interior.
My mom once spilled an entire pot of meatballs and gravy in that car. Some how she got it out, but it's a heck of story imagining red tomato stains all over white interior.
That Chevelle pictured earlier is a 1974 or 1975 base-line Chevelle Malibu.
The fastback, pillared roofline on 1973-77 Chevelles was called "Colonnade" by Chevrolet on the window stickers and in the brochures--at least '73 for certain. I can't say I recall any of the other divisions calling it that in the brochures, but I'm simply not sure.
Since that time, any '73-77 GM intermediate, even the formal-roof cars, are generally known now as "Colonnades".
The only Chevelle SS on that body was the '73. I could certainly enjoy one. My best friend in high school owned a bright green metallic '73 SS, black vinyl bench seat. I loved it.
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I'm pretty sure my 76 Cutlass Supreme was called a colonnade, but maybe it was just the dealer or press using the term generically. Personally I liked the pre colonnade coupe rooflines like in 72 better even if the greenhouse glass layout was ripped off from Boeing
Oops - Cutlass Supreme is a bad choice for that pre colonnade roofline, more like on a Malibu or Lemans back then. The Supreme had a more formal coupe design in 72.
Just a personal taste thing, but I never liked the three-side-window look of the lower-end big Pontiacs/Oldsmobiles/Buicks. Funny, on the upper-end models, they had only one stationary quarter window, a la the Chevy.
For some odd reason, I kinda like that '74-76 B-O-P roofline. I think it's because it gives the car an open, airy look about it. I think I'd like it better if they made the roll-down part a bit larger, and the stationary window a bit smaller, but otherwise I don't mind it too much. I guess they did it as an attempt to still offer a true hardtop, but make the car a bit safer in a roll-over accident. If GM had offered the Colonade intermediates in hardtop form, that's sort of how I envisioned them being, just perhaps without the stationary window. The doors on the Colonade coupes are so long though, that there's not a whole lot of space aft of the door and ahead of the rear wheel opening for a window to roll down into, though.
I did find it a bit annoying that, by that era, it seemed like the cheaper coupes still had roll-down rear windows, but the pricier ones did not. Seemed like de-contenting to me. But, at the same time, the pricier cars were more likely to have air conditioning, so there was less need, I guess for a roll-down rear window. Plus, by the 70's that sealed-off-from-the-outside-world personal luxury coupe style was really starting to take over. And the world was becoming an uglier place, in general, so I guess people just wanted to keep the outside world outside of their car.
I'm pretty sure my 76 Cutlass Supreme was called a colonnade, but maybe it was just the dealer or press using the term generically. Personally I liked the pre colonnade coupe rooflines like in 72 better even if the greenhouse glass layout was ripped off from Boeing
Oops - Cutlass Supreme is a bad choice for that pre colonnade roofline, more like on a Malibu or Lemans back then. The Supreme had a more formal coupe design in 72.
"Colonade" is simply a fancy GM-marketing term for "Pillared Hardtop", which is what Ford and Mopar called some of their cars. There was probably still some resistance to the idea of a pillared car at the time, as they were often the low-end, cheap models. So in calling the car a "Colonade Hardtop", people still heard the word "hardtop", probably wondered what "Colonade" meant, and figured it was something special, rather than just a pillared car with frameless door windows, which probably made them cheaper to build.
And Olds did use the term in the '76 Cutlass brochure...
Here's the '73 Chevelle brochure, where Chevy marketed them as "Colonnade Hardtop Sedan and Colonnade Hardtop Coupe". Apparently the wagons were spared that name, LOL.
I know this brochure by heart. I was so-hoping we'd trade our '67 for a new '73 Chevelle, which seemed space-age to me. I don't even mind the big front bumper, if it was a midyear body-color filler panel instead of silver, as the cars were introduced with. I still prefer the Malibu to the Laguna, as I don't like the body-color rear bumper on the Laguna.
I like the large quarter windows on these coupes. I thought they looked dumb, in '74 and later, with a fastback roof and a tiny opera window, creating a huge blindspot. As is so often the case, apparently I was not in the consumer mainstream though, LOL.
BTW, Dad didn't like the Chevelles at all and bought a Nova coupe instead.
I thought the styling on all of those cars from GM regardless of make was a step backwards from the year before, with the possible exception of the Cutlass 2-door for '73. Attn.: @thebean
I have a set of those wheels the blue Chevelle is wearing sitting in my garage gathering dust.
When I bought my 76 Cutlass I thought the square headlights made it more modern. Looking back, the original colonnades with round headlights look better to my eyes. Funny how sometimes time changes perspective.
I'm just curious...what is it your Dad didn't like about the '73 Chevelle, that steered him to a Nova? Personally, I never was a fan of the '68-72 Nova, and thought the '73 was an improvement. Even though the bumpers were getting bulkier, I just liked the overall style better. It seemed more upscale...even the interior seemed a bit nicer. I think in some later years though, they got so cheap that they actually eliminated the armrests on the rear doors of the sedan. One nice thing about the Nova coupe, in '73-74 at least, is that you still got a roll-down rear window...and it actually went most of the way down!
As for the Chevelle, I like the exterior style of the '73 a lot, but it was the interior I couldn't stand. Just seemed too bargain-basement. While the '68-72's were hardly what you'd call "luxury", they at least seemed presentable to me, and about what you should expect from a car in that price class.
I agree with you roadburner. Those were both neat looking cars. If I had to rank the general GM midsize series line up in 73 on looks, I think I'd go Pontiac LeMans, Olds Cutlass, Buick Century and then Chevelle/Malibu.
I thought Ford kind of went backwards with the 73 Torino styling and I wasn't all that fond of the squaring looks on the Plymouth Satellite/Sebring either that year. But that's just my personal preferences.
Andre, he couldn't hack two things, mostly--that the coupe rear windows didn't go down, and that front bumper.
Those cars drove a lot better than the preceding Chevelles, IMHO--more isolated ride, but good steering/cornering. In fact, I'd say the '73-77 mid-sizes were better than the '71-76 full-size GM's in terms of ride and quiet, and of course, handling.
About the '73 interiors, I'd have to agree at least some, with you. The Malibu seemed to have gotten decontented with the addition of the Laguna at the top of the line.
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My big complaints with the 76 Cutlass Supreme were lack of back support in the driver's seat and a hesitation problem the dealer couldn't fix. Don't know if it was because of the 4bbl carb or a vacuum leak, but was never resolved. I found a small pillow to resolve the seat back support matter. A brake rotor went in the first 6K miles, may have been a defect or improperly installed, but after that no brake issues. Otherwise it was a very comfortable and nice riding car, as well as a great highway cruiser with good looks (white with a burgundy velour interior). It had good resale value as well when I traded it in down the road for a dark blue, 4bbl V8 79 Monte Carlo.
Did the back windows of the 4-door pillared versions of the '68-72 GM intermediates roll down all the way, does anybody know? That's one thing I didn't like about the '73-77 models. The back windows still stuck up about 4 inches when rolled all the way down, and being frameless, they would rattle. Sometimes they would airbrush the back window glass out of the cars for the brochures, or even take the glass out completely for the photos. Wonder if that would be considered false advertising?
I agree with you roadburner. Those were both neat looking cars. If I had to rank the general GM midsize series line up in 73 on looks, I think I'd go Pontiac LeMans, Olds Cutlass, Buick Century and then Chevelle/Malibu.
I thought Ford kind of went backwards with the 73 Torino styling and I wasn't all that fond of the squaring looks on the Plymouth Satellite/Sebring either that year. But that's just my personal preferences.
I loved the 1972 Gran Torino but the squared-off battering ram front end on the 1973 was horrid.
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I had a '77 LeMans 2-door - still looking for pics of it - and thought it was a good-looking car. The move to quad rectangular headlights in '76 really helped the looks of that model, I think. The trunk was surprisingly small. A big spare tire took up a lot of space, and the trunk was very shallow.
I always thought the LeMans design looked backwards. The pointy end should have been at the front.
Yeah, from what I've heard the redesign of the LeMans rear end in '74 was to give it a bit more trunk space, and more height inside. Supposedly customers complained about the small trunk, but if so, I'm surprised that GM would react so quickly to change it within a year like that!
I think the LeMans trunk is still the smallest of the '73-77 B-bodies, although none of them are particularly generous. I think the '73 had about 14 cubic feet, while the '74-77 had around 15. The others ranged between 15-16. I don't think most other midsized cars of the time were much better though. I don't think the Torino's trunk was very big. And with Mopar, I think the coupes only had around 15 cubic feet, but the '71-78 B-body sedans had something like 20 cubic feet, which rivaled many full-sized cars, both pre- and post-downsizing. I think the AMC Matador had a big trunk too, at least in 4-door form.
If my '76 LeMans was a daily driver and I needed a lot of trunk space, I think I'd try to find a compact spare for it. The full-size does take up a lot of room, and it's positioned at the deepest part of the trunk. I have a beer cooler I take with me to car shows, and I have to position it just right, and even then, put a towel over it to keep it from rubbing the bottom of the trunk lid. I actually have the same problem with my '79 New Yorker though. It has something like 21 cubic feet of trunk space, but it's shallow, and gets shallower towards the back.
As for styling, when I was a kid I hated the '73-75 LeMans, but my attitude has softened on them as I've gotten older. My Mom had a '75 LeMans coupe in a persimmon color, and I thought it looked particularly garish. I really liked the '76-77 restyle though. I thought the quad headlights and bulked up styling gave it a bit of a sporty, musclecar look, something that was increasingly rare in an era where the in thing was the upscale luxury look, and "neoclassic" styling.
I think the main reason I hated Mom's LeMans was because it replaced a '68 Impala 4-door hardtop that was a really pretty shade of greenish blue, and that persimmon looked nasty in comparison. That was also an era where people tended to associate 4 headlights with more status than single headlights, so that might have been part of it, too. One thing I'll say for that LeMans though...it really stood out in a crowded parking lot. Even with all the wild, tasteless colors of the 70's, and the wide variety of shapes and sizes, between that color and the slope of the rear end, you could spot that car a mile away. It got replaced with a light blue 1980 Malibu coupe, and that car just blended in, and was easy to lose.
On the road today saw a W201 190D 2.5 - which I think was one or two year only model. It was on 8 hole wheels and had either a matte wrap or good quality black primer spraypaint job. Engine sounded healthy, no smoke.
I was never a fan of the pointy rear end of the '73 Pontiac intermediates, nor the louvered quarter window, which provided no view out from the back seat.
I have to say, despite my general dislike of fender skirts, I liked the '73 Luxury LeMans coupe. One of those rare occasions in the '70's where you got a GM mid-size, luxury trim level with the big, triangular quarter windows which made the tiny rear seat airier, IMHO only.
Here's one, but had I ordered it new, I'd have left off the optional body side moldings.
I have to say, despite my general dislike of fender skirts, I liked the '73 Luxury LeMans coupe. One of those rare occasions in the '70's where you got a GM mid-size, luxury trim level with the big, triangular quarter windows which made the tiny rear seat airier, IMHO only.
Here's one, but had I ordered it new, I'd have left off the optional body side moldings.
If it's as nice as he says, you couldn't fix up a beater to that level for that money. Presuming it IS that nice, he's maybe leaving money on the table here---but, on the other hand, not an easy sell. You have to really want one of these. I suspect that even an Amazon River Indian would find it a bit primitive.
I was snooping around one of these that was for sale up in Gold Country in California--but he just wanted too much for a running, ratty example with missing pieces. Probably still up there rotting away.
Like it or hate it, this is probably the most original/authentic 1973 Chevelle I've seen in twenty years (discounting the aftermarket radio). I post it here since we briefly discussed '73 Chevelles. I wouldn't pay the asking price, but the authenticity of even small details inside and outside the car is appealing to me. Ugh, the optional bumper guards make that front bumper look even bigger!
I can remember my friend's '73 Chevelle SS that had a Monte Carlo emblem ('knights head'; luckily it didn't say 'Monte Carlo') above the glovebox, LOL. Whoops! Someone at Baltimore reached into the wrong bin.
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If it's as nice as he says, you couldn't fix up a beater to that level for that money. Presuming it IS that nice, he's maybe leaving money on the table here---but, on the other hand, not an easy sell. You have to really want one of these. I suspect that even an Amazon River Indian would find it a bit primitive.
I was snooping around one of these that was for sale up in Gold Country in California--but he just wanted too much for a running, ratty example with missing pieces. Probably still up there rotting away.
I was looking at what the last few of these brought on BaT; this car isn't too far out of line if it is as nice as described. I've seen some harping on the web about how expensive these have become. But when I compare them where other air-cooled VW's are at now, they look a little under appreciated to me.
Well they are fairly rare, unlike a Beetle, and way more fun than a Beetle.
Of course, they are a complete Death Trap, if that's of any concern. You could be crushed, burned alive AND decapitated in a rollover---what's not to like?
Hmm...I'm kind of raining on his parade here.....sorry.
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the oddball, a later 50's Ford 4 door sedan. Looked brand new, and accessorized. rare to see that.
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I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the big Chevies by the '75-76 timeframe. I think the front-end has a very handsome, upscale look to it. But I don't like that coupe style, with the long stationary windows and beltlines that don't seem to line up, and clash at the B-pillar.
Oddly, I think you could still get a true hardtop coupe Impala in '75, and it was actually cheaper than this style...for some reason I seem to recall seeing one in an episode of "The Rockford Files".
I think the regular old 4-door pillared sedan, with the little BMW-esque jig in the C-pillar, had some of the nicest lines. While I'd prefer the 4-door hardtop, something about its C-pillar area, and overall proportions, just seemed a bit off to me. Maybe because the regular sedan had more of a vee-shaped rear window, and more slender C-pillars, while the 4-door hardtop had a flat rear window, and larger C-pillar, since it had to hold the opera window?
I think the 4-door hardtop worked better on the likes of the LeSabre, Delta, and Grand Ville/Bonneville, which were longer cars overall? And especially the big Electra/Ninety-eight/DeVille...those beasts had gorgeous proportions, in my opinion.
It's a small car, for sure. I think it would be quite a bit more versatile with a 48.5" load floor on it (3" wider), but it's still much more practical for loads than most small or midsize (perhaps even upper midsize) SUVs these days.
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Aside from him and his wife, they had 5 daughters at home during that time. One wonders how they all fit into it.
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Here's a beat-up example which shows what I'm talking about:
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ga4V2HoWmbc/VclrfGzs1wI/AAAAAAAACvk/nipD63ZSgac/s1600/1975+Chevrolet+Impala+Custom+01.jpg
That was 'corrected' in '76. The fender nameplate, which appeared on sedans, was removed on the Custom Coupe.
The true hardtop "Sport Coupe" model was still available for '75, but I never saw many of them.
Just a personal taste thing, but I never liked the three-side-window look of the lower-end big Pontiacs/Oldsmobiles/Buicks. Funny, on the upper-end models, they had only one stationary quarter window, a la the Chevy.
My mom once spilled an entire pot of meatballs and gravy in that car. Some how she got it out, but it's a heck of story imagining red tomato stains all over white interior.
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The fastback, pillared roofline on 1973-77 Chevelles was called "Colonnade" by Chevrolet on the window stickers and in the brochures--at least '73 for certain. I can't say I recall any of the other divisions calling it that in the brochures, but I'm simply not sure.
Since that time, any '73-77 GM intermediate, even the formal-roof cars, are generally known now as "Colonnades".
The only Chevelle SS on that body was the '73. I could certainly enjoy one. My best friend in high school owned a bright green metallic '73 SS, black vinyl bench seat. I loved it.
That higher mounted rear quarter window on those big Chevy coupes kind of irks me too, but the curved rear window is pretty cool.
Today on the road saw a non-turbo W123 300D in nice shape but not driven perfectly. Also saw the W126 300SD I see all the time.
Oops - Cutlass Supreme is a bad choice for that pre colonnade roofline, more like on a Malibu or Lemans back then. The Supreme had a more formal coupe design in 72.
I did find it a bit annoying that, by that era, it seemed like the cheaper coupes still had roll-down rear windows, but the pricier ones did not. Seemed like de-contenting to me. But, at the same time, the pricier cars were more likely to have air conditioning, so there was less need, I guess for a roll-down rear window. Plus, by the 70's that sealed-off-from-the-outside-world personal luxury coupe style was really starting to take over. And the world was becoming an uglier place, in general, so I guess people just wanted to keep the outside world outside of their car.
And Olds did use the term in the '76 Cutlass brochure...
It's here, in the lower right hand corner. Probably other pages of the brochure, as well.
I know this brochure by heart. I was so-hoping we'd trade our '67 for a new '73 Chevelle, which seemed space-age to me. I don't even mind the big front bumper, if it was a midyear body-color filler panel instead of silver, as the cars were introduced with. I still prefer the Malibu to the Laguna, as I don't like the body-color rear bumper on the Laguna.
I like the large quarter windows on these coupes. I thought they looked dumb, in '74 and later, with a fastback roof and a tiny opera window, creating a huge blindspot. As is so often the case, apparently I was not in the consumer mainstream though, LOL.
BTW, Dad didn't like the Chevelles at all and bought a Nova coupe instead.
https://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/brochures/_Chevrolet_Chevelle/1973 Chevrolet Chevelle Brochure/1973 Chevrolet Chevelle-10-11.jpg
I have a set of those wheels the blue Chevelle is wearing sitting in my garage gathering dust.
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As for the Chevelle, I like the exterior style of the '73 a lot, but it was the interior I couldn't stand. Just seemed too bargain-basement. While the '68-72's were hardly what you'd call "luxury", they at least seemed presentable to me, and about what you should expect from a car in that price class.
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I thought Ford kind of went backwards with the 73 Torino styling and I wasn't all that fond of the squaring looks on the Plymouth Satellite/Sebring either that year. But that's just my personal preferences.
Those cars drove a lot better than the preceding Chevelles, IMHO--more isolated ride, but good steering/cornering. In fact, I'd say the '73-77 mid-sizes were better than the '71-76 full-size GM's in terms of ride and quiet, and of course, handling.
About the '73 interiors, I'd have to agree at least some, with you. The Malibu seemed to have gotten decontented with the addition of the Laguna at the top of the line.
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I always thought the LeMans design looked backwards. The pointy end should have been at the front.
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I think the LeMans trunk is still the smallest of the '73-77 B-bodies, although none of them are particularly generous. I think the '73 had about 14 cubic feet, while the '74-77 had around 15. The others ranged between 15-16. I don't think most other midsized cars of the time were much better though. I don't think the Torino's trunk was very big. And with Mopar, I think the coupes only had around 15 cubic feet, but the '71-78 B-body sedans had something like 20 cubic feet, which rivaled many full-sized cars, both pre- and post-downsizing. I think the AMC Matador had a big trunk too, at least in 4-door form.
If my '76 LeMans was a daily driver and I needed a lot of trunk space, I think I'd try to find a compact spare for it. The full-size does take up a lot of room, and it's positioned at the deepest part of the trunk. I have a beer cooler I take with me to car shows, and I have to position it just right, and even then, put a towel over it to keep it from rubbing the bottom of the trunk lid. I actually have the same problem with my '79 New Yorker though. It has something like 21 cubic feet of trunk space, but it's shallow, and gets shallower towards the back.
As for styling, when I was a kid I hated the '73-75 LeMans, but my attitude has softened on them as I've gotten older. My Mom had a '75 LeMans coupe in a persimmon color, and I thought it looked particularly garish. I really liked the '76-77 restyle though. I thought the quad headlights and bulked up styling gave it a bit of a sporty, musclecar look, something that was increasingly rare in an era where the in thing was the upscale luxury look, and "neoclassic" styling.
I think the main reason I hated Mom's LeMans was because it replaced a '68 Impala 4-door hardtop that was a really pretty shade of greenish blue, and that persimmon looked nasty in comparison. That was also an era where people tended to associate 4 headlights with more status than single headlights, so that might have been part of it, too. One thing I'll say for that LeMans though...it really stood out in a crowded parking lot. Even with all the wild, tasteless colors of the 70's, and the wide variety of shapes and sizes, between that color and the slope of the rear end, you could spot that car a mile away. It got replaced with a light blue 1980 Malibu coupe, and that car just blended in, and was easy to lose.
Just before I got home, a brick(?) colored 57 Tbird looking brand new and a light yellow 67 or so Fairlane convertible with Colorado plates.
I have to say, despite my general dislike of fender skirts, I liked the '73 Luxury LeMans coupe. One of those rare occasions in the '70's where you got a GM mid-size, luxury trim level with the big, triangular quarter windows which made the tiny rear seat airier, IMHO only.
Here's one, but had I ordered it new, I'd have left off the optional body side moldings.
http://americanclassicscars.com/uploads/pictures/1973-pontiac-lemans-luxury-57l-4.jpg
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OK, OK, '76! I knew what you meant! The one with the sloped front end.
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I was snooping around one of these that was for sale up in Gold Country in California--but he just wanted too much for a running, ratty example with missing pieces. Probably still up there rotting away.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1973-Chevrolet-Chevelle-SS-/162518928778?hash=item25d6e20d8a:g:NhYAAOSw8lpZG8wu&vxp=mtr
I can remember my friend's '73 Chevelle SS that had a Monte Carlo emblem ('knights head'; luckily it didn't say 'Monte Carlo') above the glovebox, LOL. Whoops! Someone at Baltimore reached into the wrong bin.
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Of course, they are a complete Death Trap, if that's of any concern. You could be crushed, burned alive AND decapitated in a rollover---what's not to like?
Hmm...I'm kind of raining on his parade here.....sorry.