I began working at the bank in November of 1993, and around 1997, I transferred to a branch where I first met Olga. We hit it off as friends from the very start, and we remain friends even long after our retirements.
At the time we met, Olga was driving a 1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which she bought brand new and which had remained a San Antonio car since new.
The 1977 Monte Carlo was the last year of the Colonnade cars that were seemingly everywhere in the 1970s, and to see one even 20 years later wasn’t that unusual. Engine choices ranged from a 305 ci V8 all the way up to a 454 ci V8, and models were either the Monte Carlo S or the fancier Landau Coupe. The ‘77s weren’t all that much different from the ‘73 model, which was the Motor Trend Car of the Year; popular since day one, it’s little wonder Chevrolet still sold 411,000 MCs in 1977.
Olga was practical, smart and sensible. She bought her Monte Carlo S model with the small 305 ci V8, air conditioning and cloth seats. This car served her and her husband very well for over 35 years. Until it was parked. As is usually the case, there was every intention to restore it and get it looking nice and new again. And as is usually the case, this never happened. I had always told Olga that if she ever wanted to sell the Monte Carlo, to let me know; since my son in law Dylan and I were always interested in classics like hers. In May of 2020, she finally called to say OK and I bought it for $500.
I towed the MC to Dylan’s home, where he fixed/repaired/replaced the usual items needed when getting a “Ran when Parked” car:
- Oil was pooling on top of the cylinder heads, causing massive amounts of smoke. Cleaning out the drain holes solved that problem.
- New brakes, battery and oil.
- New tires.
- New gas tank, fuel filter, fuel pump
- Sealed the transmission to stop the leaks.
- Etc.
So with some time and effort, Dylan got the MC up and running, but now what? The car had been in a few fender benders, which were only adequately repaired, and of course, there was rust. Even though this car lived all its life in San Antonio, it was still a mid 70’s GM, which meant it rusted. Even though there was never a vinyl top, there was rust in the usual places, and the floor pans were poor. I ended up trading it to Dylan in exchange for paint work on my El Camino, and he ended up selling it to someone who painted the poor thing yellow and threw a $10,000 price tag on it!! I’ll be nice and not make obvious comments on that; I’ll leave that for you:
Is there a Part II of Olga’s Cars? Yes, there is. Wait for it in a few days.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1976 Chevrolet Monte Carlo – Finding Your Comfort Zone
CC Tech: 1973-’77 GM Colonnade Chassis Design – Corner Carving In The Brougham Era
In its original color, that was a sharp looking car.
In ’74 we ordered a ’75 Monte in that color of red, white vinyl interior, white vinyl top, no 305 yet so 350 with its 11 MPG city/ 13 MPG hiway whatever, my wife at the time wanted it, I was thinking station wagon for our new fun lifestyle to come. I didn’t care for the mixed styling, thought they just used sheet metal from here and there to cover over the 4 wheels/tires… LOL
In late ’76 ordered a ’77 Gran Prix, metallic mint green, white interior, puffy white half top, usual fabulous Pontiac instrument panel/dash, new Pontiac 301 V8 of 16 MPG city/23 MPG hiway… Loved that car, loved the styling, should have kept it more than 5 years… didn’t know it was last one before the downsize…
Few years later I spotted it in a parking lot and walked up and was admiring it when a young lady walked up and asked if I’d like to buy it… I answered: ” I already did “…
I had just moved to Houston in 1977. I had a sweet job and a wonderful secretary. My first month on the job I arranged for her to get a significant salary raise because I couldn’t do without her. With her new income she bought a new vibrant green metallic 1977 Monte Carlo with white interior. If I remember correctly she was the first in her family to ever buy a brand new car and she was only 22. I remember going to lunch with her in her new car and she was so proud.
Love this. She must have been proud as punch of her new Monte.
I never knew the 305 was standard, unlike the majority of V6 badged Collonade Regals I remember. As a kid, I thought the Buick V6 had to something impressive, as the sixes in Z cars and BMWs meant business.
Yellow…ugh.
As a young man these Monte Carlos did nothing for me. In fact, only one of the Collonade cars ever got my attention and that would be the Cutlass. Yet, in 2025 I’m intrigued by them and would certainly allow one in my dream garage. Perhaps a 1977 Malibu Classic now on its second owner?
Never liked the style of this series of Monte Carlo. Still don’t. It is too over the top in its steel pressings. I did like the original design.
I like the Colonnade MCs (’73 being my favorite), red interiors, and yellow exteriors. However, this car’s current overall color scheme reminds me of condiments for grilled summer foods. I hadn’t realized the Monte Carlo was the MTCOTY for ’73, which means I’ll probably be reading about this on my commute home today. Great musings.
I just don’t get repainting a car a completely different color unless it’s a total restoration with repainted door jambs, under the hood, trunk etc. And I suspect this MC didn’t get that. I was a Colonnade fan when they came out, as a senior in high school I thought they were even more innovative than the blended C pillar of the previous generation had been in 1968. But I was not a fan of the Monte Carlo. There’s one Colonnade I see daily around the corner from me, an El Camino which I’ve posted here as an Outtake. It still looks good sitting Curbside in 2025.
A different color is bad enough but yellow makes this car look like a taxi cab.
As General Motors did in 1980, with the Buick Century and Oldsmobile Cutlass, bastardizing what was a unique and groundbreaking marque styling effort, only a few years earlier.
The 1980 Century and Cutlass sedans, looked like junior knockoffs of original 1975 Cadillac Seville styling. While the Colonnade-era Monte Carlo, looked like a poor man’s 1967 Eldorado.
Only gaudier, for the ’70’s PLC market.
While conflicting with its flamboyant exterior, the Monte Carlo’s bland dashboard appeared like it belonged in a Vega.
No vinyl roof colonnade MC–unicorn!
Nice this once common car survived, sad it wound up as it did .
-Nate
I never really cared for the MC. I had an aunt who wanted one so badly that my uncle got her to give some specifics of what she’d want if she ever got one. She told him, and as a retirement gift, he ordered her a new 78 MC with every option.
I was surprised to see that the 305 was standard. My 77 Cutlass Supreme Brougham sedan listed a 231 V6 as standard.
Nice article. And I liked the featured car better in red
Hard to believe anyone would actually buy a new car with that original oddfire V6!
They irritatingly ran like a V8 with two bad spark plugs. And shook back and forth 6″ when idling. I did buy one used once, the car was very cheap priced because it had a rod knocking and I figured I could fix it for little out of pocket and sell it for 3 times the price. When I got it home, turned out the rod wasn’t knocking, a torque converter bolt was just hitting its dented in dust cover, so even better deal!
It dawned on me recently why Buick didn’t build that V6 with a proper 120 degree crankshaft for smooth running. A smooth powerful iron V6 (even better than the later evenfires) would have made it hard to upsell most buyers to that aluminum V8 of similar size!
I’ll put in a vote for the yellow, looks better than the faded red. My ’75 Monte was that shade of red but new and shiny. I hate those vertical stacked headlights, though, on the ’77, I think its the tacked on looking housing on them, they somehow look even worse with the car yellow, maybe because taller than the grille, much prefer the single headlight on the ’75. I liked the vertical headlights on my ’65 GTO.
It is kind of hard to remember a world in which this was one of the most common automotive shapes on the streets. I didn’t love them at the time because they were so common, and preferred the more dignified 1970-72 version. But I like it more and more.
I spent a lot of time in colonnades back then, including my step-mom’s 74 Cutlass Supreme. If I was going to recreate my colonnade youth, it would probably be that car – white, white vinyl interior and a light blue vinyl landau roof. With the Olds styled wheels, it was a really sharp car.
This old Monte really looks great to someone in the rust belt. Or looked great, before that awful yellow repaint.
A very nice write-up and much appreciated. My best friend’s parents had an MC, silver with red interior, their pride and joy.
Re: this featured car, a couple hundred things come to mind… the exterior styling looks like a hundred grand, and the interior quality looks like a hundred even.
I prefer the original ’73 restyle of the Monte Carlo. I like the single headlamps with the very nice die cast tail lamps, and no impact bumpers. I really like the slightly over the top styling with the fender swoops. Montes were “build by option” cars. They were quite plain in base form, but had many higher level trim options available. Plusher seats with fancier door panel trims, power assists, bucket seat and console set ups, even swiveling front seats! Am/Fm radio with eight track tape players and even CB radios, very expensive. Base wheel covers and several different types of hub caps and Polycast wheel designs. Some Montes were almost strippers, some were almost as fancy as an Eldorado, it all depended on what the customer ordered.
I admit that quality control wasn’t the highest, compared to the first series, but these were much better screwed together than the series that followed. I was employed at GMAD Fremont at this time assembling these cars, in ’76 through ’78. I would return later for a brief time as a supervisor trainee for the 81’s. Working in a big assembly plant was quite an eye opening experience. It wasn’t as bad as Richard Prior’s movie “Blue Collar” but it was close!
One of the reasons Chevrolet sold 411,000 1977 models was because they had an ad campaign stating that the 1978 Monte Carlo was going to look a lot different without mentioning the drastic downsizing coming and if one liked the current “big” styling now was the time to buy.
I had a big beautiful Monte Carlo 75 with a 350 eng , I had it for 39 years , I lost it to rust n I took the car to a friend to fix it but one year later the rust came back but it was worse than before
I had one in exactly the original color starting. The interior was vinyl. And had hub caps over the rally wheels. It was in 83 and I was stationed in Norfolk. I had the car till 87 when I was stationed in groton and was rear ended and totaled by a drug addict. I really miss that car
They sold a ton of these things, someone had to like them, but it wasn’t me.
I saw garish styling but it seemed like they had trouble keeping up with me in a VW bug in the canyons around LA. You know, the ones half of which recently burned. They could pull me on the straights, but not by a whole lot, but hit the curves and I was either losing them or on their back bumper depending on who was in front.
It was a 4,000 pound car, 210 inches long, with room for 2 front seat passengers, maybe 2 small children in back and a modest trunk. A perfect car for the Disco era. But they sold a ton of them, someone liked them.
Late 70’s. I had a Simca 1204, think VW Rabbit size, but with a French accent. FWD hatchack. I knew a girl who was moving who asked for help, before pickup trucks were considered commuter vehicles. She needed someone with a big car to help move, meaning me. With a car almost 5 feet shorter than her Monte Carlo. And no, it wasn’t a romantic come on, trust me, it was not. I did help move the big stuff though.