This is my ‘end of the year’ review for 2019 including pictures.

Date taken out of storage – 4/2/19
Miles driven – 1,645, the most I’ve logged on the car, in a year, in four years.
Longest trip – 190 miles (one way), driven to Piqua, Ohio for Monte Nationals.
Avg fuel mileage – 20.4 mpg
Date put in storage – 10/10/19
End mileage - 97,6xx

Projects – This year saw a number of additions and modifications, the first I’ve done to the car in roughly five years. First, I installed a set of gloss black SS overlays from Reflective Concepts. I removed the factory white ‘inlays’ and then installed the new black overlays in their place, as to not stack them so it ‘looks’ factory. I then had the car into a local shop to have my new set of Doug Thorley headers installed which also included having the cat removed and a piece of straight pipe installed in its place. While in for that work they also replaced the spark plugs and lower trans coolant lines with OEM stuff. I decided to hold off on the exhaust cutout for time being. Immediately after that I had the car tuned and DoD disabled. A few weeks later I installed new brake rotors, pads and repainted the calipers and caliper brackets while giving everything a deep clean while apart. That included a deep clean, polish and wax of the undercarriage, and other areas not regularly cleaned, in preparation for Monte Nationals. In addition to details, I installed new OEM windshield washer cap, hood bumpers, hood seals and hood insulator to replace the worn out originals. I started using wardrobe mirrors at shows to highlight the undercarriage and made custom ‘props’, or feet, for those out of cut 2x4s painted black.

Events – I attended four local cruise-ins and meets > MMCC’s Spring Meet (Charlotte), Lake Street Cruise-In (South Lyon), Frankenmuth AutoFest Big Block Party and MMCC’s Fall Meet (Holly). I also entered seven shows this year > Jackson Rd Cruise (Ann Arbor), Hamburg, Monte Nationals (Piqua, OH), Car Capital Auto Show (Lansing), Berger Chevy All GM Show (Grand Rapids), Milford and Great Pumpkin (Howell). Out of those seven shows, the car brought home five awards at four of the shows > 1st in class at Hamburg, Gold Class and People’s Choice winner at Monte Nationals, 2nd in class at Milford and 2nd in class at Great Pumpkin. As always I’m honored to win anything but the Gold Class and People’s Choice wins at Monte Nats took the cake by far.

Weather – It was an interesting and surprising year. After a wet spring, the summer weather was actually decent and cooperative. At least two of the shows I did were almost looking like they’d be rained out, and I wouldn’t go, but the weather ended up cooperating and staying dry for every show I had planned. The only precipitation the car saw was very light mist a couple times; I wouldn’t even call it rain. I believe this was the first year the car never saw any rain.

Now for the visuals.

April 2 - First day out of storage



April 6 - Black SS overlay install



April 21 to 29 - Exhaust work





May 11 – 8th An. Michigan Monte Carlo Club Spring Meet (Charlotte, MI)





May 22 – First Lake Street Cruise-In of the year (South Lyon, MI)



May 23 to June 7 – Brake work and undercarriage detail











June 8 – 11th An. Jackson Road Cruise (Ann Arbor, MI)



June 15 – 14th An. Hamburg Family Fun Fest Car Show (Hamburg, MI) – won 1st in class



June 22 – Waxing and finalizing for Monte Carlo Nationals





June 29 – 34th An. Monte Carlo Nationals (Piqua, OH) – won Gold Class and People’s Choice

 

July 27 – 27th An. Car Capital Auto Show (Lansing, MI)







August 9 - Photos







August 24 – 20th An. Berger Chevrolet All GM Show (Grand Rapids, MI)







September 6 – Frankenmuth Big Block Party, kickoff to the 36th An. Auto Fest



September 21 – 8th An. Michigan Monte Carlo Club Fall Meet (Holly, MI)







September 22 – 35th An. Milford Car Show (Milford, MI) – won 2nd in class





October 8 & 9 - Photos

 

October 12 – 12th An. Great Pumpkin Car Show (Howell, MI) – won 2nd in class



November 1 – Fall photos







November 10 – Last day out (got 9" of snow the next day)



And that ends it

 

Nice pics Matt! Well done!

 

Great pictures Matt , always nice to see what scenes you come up with for us.

 

Always such a purdy thing.

I guess the one thing I like the most is the few touches of bright red it has, with the brake calipers (subtle); and when the hood's up, the red panels on the LS4 just makes that engine bay pop.
Easy and effective!

 

Thank you guys! I was happy I got out and shot some more pictures this year -I've been slacking the last few years.

Good, that's exactly the effect I was going for - tasteful and subtle (not too much). The black and red contrast very well and work well together. When the sun is on the red, it pops even more. Thanks!

 

Nice looking ride. Ive got a black one also Im in the early stages of fixing up. Can i get some tips on lowering and undercarriage appearance? Thank you.

 

Thank you. Regarding lowering, you can go two routes - lowering springs or coilovers. For lowering springs, there's Canuck Motorsports which is what I'm running on mine paired with Bilstein HD-Series struts (pictured below). The ride is noticeably firmer but not obnoxious - I'd daily drive it if that says anything. For coilovers, there's BC Racing. My previous Monte, an 03 SS, was also lowered on lowering springs.



Regarding undercarriage appearance, mine's actually in very nice condition considering it's seen snow in the past and has 97k miles. In preparation for 2019 Monte Nationals, I detailed everything and waxed all the body panel metal surfaces (pictured below).

 

Wow the detail work you have done is just awesome. I can see why you got the Gold Class trophy. Great work, and nice Monte Carlo!!
Mine doesn't come close but it is clean under it. I need to switch out the Trailing arms and also new tie rod ends, I should most likely do the brakes too.
an alignment after that an it should be good.