Hi All,


My name is Mark and I'm a new looking for a resource for possibly buying a 1972 Monte Carlo and stumbled upon this website.


Since I've never owned a Monte Carlo I thought I'd look around for resources before making the purchase.


The car I found is a 72 and looks to be in really solid shape. Nothing major appears to be wrong although it does need some TLC.


With that said, are there any things I should look for or ask about with this year? Does it have certain issue like common rust areas? Just asking because I may look at the car soon.


Thanks and I look forward to being active on the forums.


Mark

 

Welcome to the forum Mark

as with buying any car that is 43 years old you want to make sure you give it a good look over.
Check the frame for certain as any car that age can have frame issues, bring a magnet along with you as on old trick people use to do was to put bondo over the frame after welding in a piece and then painting it black, but the magnet won't stick to bondo, this is also useful for fender wells and any other metal parts that may have something hiding behind the surface.
Check the brake lines as well, if a car sits for a long period of time especially on grass or concrete the moisture comes up and does some pretty damaging things to the under neath of the car, brake lines can rot out and you may not notice until you need them the most, such as on the drive home from purchasing
Give the underneath of the engine a good look over as well, and where they parked the car, this will leave tell tale signs of leaks and other things.
Pull a spark plug and check the condition of the plugs make sure they haven't been in the car for 20 years or that the car is not burning oil
Give the wiring a general once over as well, mice are evil creatures when it comes to cars and sometimes they will nest in a car that has been sitting and can chew through the wiring harness, so ensure to check all lights and just give any wiring you see a general once over
If you can pull the carpet inside the car back a bit be sure the check out the floor pans as well, another trick people use to do (myself included) was to pop rivet some metal over top of a rotted out floor pan and then put some tar over top of it, not the safest thing to do but many people have done it.
Check that the gauges work on the dash as well, may sound stupid but you can spend a lot of time and money chasing down little things, so go over the windows, make sure they are in the tracks and go up and down without a struggle, seats move back and forth, glove box opens and no hidden wiring up and under the dash from things any previous owner might have changed, also pull the carpet up in the trunk and check it over as alot of people also put new carpet in the trunk and then throw the spare tire over top of the bad spot cause most people will see the new carpet and won't bother moving the spare out of the way

Best of luck if you decide to purchase the car and if you do please post some pics

 

Common rust areas......

Lay down inside the trunk and look up near where the back window meets the body....that is a typical spot where rust will develop, especially if the car at any time had a vinyl roof installed on it.

Also, another place to look for rust is below the side edges of the trunk floor. There is a few inches of space that drops down where water likes to puddle up and stays there which allows rust to develop..

Another spot where rust develops is the bottom side of the front fenders behind the front tires where the attaching bolt secures bottom edge of the fender to the car.

Also look for rust at the bottom of the windshield pillars.

The top arch of the fender wheel openings is another spot to look for rust (especially the rears).

Rust under the battery tray.

Some thing to look for when buying a 1972 Monte is the front cosmetic pieces, Make sure they are in useable condition.....the headlight panels, the grill, the blinkers, the bumper and the wires for all those front end lights. The 72 Monte is the only one which uses 'year-specific' parts. So prices for those particular replacements are generally more yhan other year Monte's.

The aluminum trim panel pieces are expensive, Missing or damaged trim panels add up $$$.

Seats cost alot of $$$ to rebuild, especially front bucket seats.

Mechanical components I wouldn't worry too much about $$$ as the Monte mechanicals are (for the most part) shared with all 1968-1972 GM cars such as Cutlass, Le Mans, Skylark, Chevelle, El Camino, Beaumont, Grand Prix, Sprint. So the parts are more readily available therefore parts prices should be more reasonable.