welcome to the forum. hope to see some pics of your unique and rare monte

 

Thanks for the welcome. I am glad to have gotten the welcome being a mopar guy. I have around 25 cars thet I own. Three daily drivers, four if you count the Monte which I recently took off the road. Most of them are project cars. I will run down the list. The only import of the bunch is a 1990 Toyota Supra Targa top turbo. For blue ovals I've got a 1967 Ford Thunderbird 2 dr HT. 390 auto.,1986 Ford Thunderbird 3.8 auto, 1986 Ford Mustang LX ragtop 3.8 V-6, 1986 Lincoln Towncar Cartier 5.0, 1986 Lincoln Towncar Signature Series 5.0 (parts car), 1993 Ford Ranger extra cab 2.9 5 spd., for bow tie cars I have a 1981 Chevy Monte Carlo T-Top Turbo, and a 1985 Monte Carlo T-Top with no power train. For Mopars I have a 1974 Dodge Charger Rallye 318- 3 spd on the column, bench seat no option car. I've been told it is a 1 of 1 car. 1974 Plymouth Satellite Sebring Plus 318 auto (parts car), 1971 Dodge Dart Swinger 383 auto, 1970 Plymouth Duster 340-4 spd, 1966 Dodge Dart 4 door V-8 auto, 1974 Plymouth Duster 225 auto, 1977 Dodge Aspen SW 225 auto, 1978 Dodge Aspen SW 225 auto, 1978 Plymouth Volare SW 225 auto parts car, 1979 Plymouth Volare SW 318 auto, 1981 Dodge Diplomat coupe 225 auto, 1987 Dodge Diplomat 4 dr. 318 auto, 1988 Dodge B-350 Maxi Cargo Van 360 auto, 1995 Chrysler Town & Country 3.8 auto, 2002 Plymouth PT Cruiser, 2006 Chrysler Town & Country 3.8 auto.. My two Town & Country's and the 78 Aspen are the drivers.
I just recently acquired the Aspens', Volares' Dusters' and Darts. It was a deal too good to pass up but were found while looking for a pair fenders for my 78 Aspen wagon. That's another story I will leave for another time.
I am glad to have gotten a warm welcome here. I joined another Monte Carlo site when I first got the Monte three years ago and the welcome was less than enthusiastic. I suspect it is because I'm a mopar guy but not certain. As you can see I have lots of projects and not lots of time or an abundance of money. I do have a soft spot for a deal and also for old cars that need some love. They seem to follow me home similar to a stay dog. Lol. When I joined this site I had plans to post my Montes' for sale as I have not found the information that I seek. I know that my car is rare. I used a Hollander Interchange Manual to decode the Vin and confirmed it is a legit turbo car. When I first got the car I assessed what I had. The missing parts that my son in law spoke of were the two heads and some new chrome valve covers he bought and miscellaneous small parts like that. The body was intact and complete as well as the interior. The turbo specific parts were gone long ago and someone put on regular heads and a 2 bbl. carb. I decided to see if I could get it running as he had it. He had overheated it and blown a head gasket. I went to a local junk yard and bought two heads from an early 80's cutlass with a 2.8 and the valve covers, carb, and all the hardware. I then got a hone and cleaned up the cylinder walls because they were rusty, got an engine gasket kit and proceded to bolt the thing together. With very little effort it fired to life and ran well enough that I used here for a daily driver for two years. I recently parked here because the T-Tops leak like a well I'm not sure but got tired of taking a shower every time it rained. I also at age 49 have started over and have a 2 1/2, and a 11/2 year old little girls with another due in October. Putting the car seats in and out was too much of a hassle. In addition to this most of my electrical items don't work like dash lights, radio, interior lights, and most of the accessories. The T-Tops have leaked down the A pillar and onto the fuse block. The cowl, door jams and A pillars are all rusted out too. In addition to this all the bolt on sheet metal is rusted. I have been collecting parts to rebuild her though. I have acquired all the bolt on sheet metal with the exception of a rust free passenger door and I am trying to find a pair of front fenders with the corning lights to replace the ones I have. I do have non corning light fenders if I have to use them. I also acquired another T-Top Monte that is almost rust free but without a power train. I have also found the top end of a turbo motor from a 1980 Monte turbo. My intent is to do a from off restoration and use the body from the 85. At some point I think someone was going to make a low rider out of my 81 because it has a funky interior and many of the parts have been changed. Before I found out how rare the car was I was going to make a Super Sport clone out of it. I have decided against that and would like to restore it to as she was when new. My problem is that all the data decals are gone from the car. Someone told me if I wrote to GM they could tell me how the car was equipped. What I got from them was a generic package that told what was available but was not specific to my car.. My question is without the data stickers how can I find out how the car was equipped? I have a wiper switch on the dash that functions and one on the column too. I know one of them doesn't belong. My car is loaded with almost every option although most don't work. If I can't find out how it was as new I'm either going to sell it or build it as I would have ordered it as new and maybe add the SS parts and keep the non SS parts that can be easily put back on. I'd like some help with this one. Thanks Gregg

 

Thanks for the pics. I have not been able to get good under hood pics of the turbo motor. Gregg

 

Wow 25 cars.lol How can you pick which one your gonna work on. As for the I think I'd build it like a grand national clone. That would be pretty sweet.

 

Welcome

 

As far as to which one to work on the choice is usually quite easy. The daily drivers get top billing and because we drove 60,000 miles last year and I expect the same again this year we only go a few weeks and it is time for an oil change or something. I am also trying to concentrate on my 78 Dodge Aspen right now. It is a car I bought last November off of Craigslist for 500.00 sight unseen. The lady who I bought it from drove it 60 miles one way to work everyday. She unfortunately had an altercation with a bus that mangled the two front fenders and the grille. The wagon drove fine even with the damage. The car is a Dodge Aspen SE woody wagon. So the hunt began for parts to fix Woody. Woodgrain fenders on an Aspen have rivets welded to the fenders for the woodgrain mouldings to attach to. It is the only difference between woodgrain and non woodgrain. Not a significant difference but in addition to needing the mouldings was enough to try to find woody front fenders. I did a search on car-part.com and didn't have success finding woody fenders. One of the Aspen Volare forums I frequent has a guy in Arizona that has regular fenders for fifty bucks a piece plus shipping but they were not woody fenders. I then checked with my mopar magazines and one of them did an article on mopar only salvage yards. I called those places and found a yard in Oregon that had the fenders but they wanted between 350.00 and 425.00 for a pair of fenders plus shipping. I guess I am cheap as I couldn't justify the difference in price between Arizona fenders and Oregon fenders for some rivets and mouldings. I continued my search and found on Craigslist three cars that were cheap and two of them were woody wagons. So now have have the parts to put Woody back together and am trying to get him presentable for The Mopars With Big Daddy car show the first weekend of November in Ocala Florida at Don Garlits drag race museum. It is a nice show with lots of cars but is mopar only. For you drag race guys there is a ton of drag stuff to see in the museum.
Do to the fact I have yet to build a garage the weather, the heat, and the size of the project dictate much of what I do. The other factor is what I have parts for. With that many project cars I am always looking for something. Gregg

 

Gregg, welcome to the Forum. You'll find LOTS of friendly help here and tons of information if you search the forums. I can't wait to see pics of your '81. What color is it? How many miles?

 

Welcome Greg!

 

Welcome to the Forum !

 

Hello Angie; I will post pics as soon as I update up computer. It is a laptop that is almost ten years old. It has very little hard drive space and almost no memory. I do most of my posting with my Blackberry but on that sending pics are a challenge.
My Monte is a two tone dark blue and medium blue. Unless you count the places where it rusted and the clear coat flaked off then it might be five tone. Lol. It needs lots of attention. I don't know the true miles because it suffered the common Monte ailment of a speedo cluster that didn't work. I have replaced it with another used one. Thanks Gregg.