Lets not give up hope yet as (I am very lucky to have this woman in my life) the Mrs. gave me an idea, I know I'm going to be fighting hard to keep her (the car) for as long as possible, has decided to try taking Eleanor to a body shop and seeing if they can grind all rust and weld new steel in. if they indeed do this, my sweet little Monte will be around for many years to come.

also, STUMPMI, I also am and have been looking forward to meeting up with you. the 5th gen is my favorite body style of the Monte, (aside from the 1st gen) however, after having two and driving both of them around my part of the world, I have come to the realization that the 5th gen Monte Carlo around these parts is the most ragged out, least cared for car ever to roam the streets here, but people love them so much (the Z34 at least) that they wont sell them until the transmission gives up.
If I do end up fixing her, Im still going to have to save for a trans of my own as mine came from a Chevy venture with OVER 300,000 miles on it 50,000 miles and 2 years ago. It still works fine, but you know how these things don't like to give warnings. and the one Im saving for is a ZZP trans. (I like their work)