Mike's 1972 Monte Carlo Restoration

It is 2016 and marks the beginning year number 9 of the restoration of my 1972 Monte Carlo. On this page, (and maybe others), I will show you the continued progress of the restoration and some of the small details that are needed to complete the car.

The car has been on the road, registered, licensed and insured since this summer, (of 2015), but as all of you know the car will never, ever, no way, done.

Over the holidays of 2015 and the beginning of 2016 I had some time off and could start to work on some of the details that need to be sorted out. As you can see from the pictures I was able to get the trunk floor spatter painted, the spare tire and wheel and the jack, (in the original case), back into the trunk.

I was also able to repaint and install the 'A' pillar caps along with the rear package shelf. You know, it is important to remember how the pieces come off so that you know the proper sequence putting them back on. It would have made the package shelf easier.

Also part of the minor details are the trunk and under hood stickers and instructions that all cars have just to make sure we stupid consumers don't hurt ourselves. Included in the application is the jacking instructions for the trunk. Under the hood is the emissions information, GM sticker for the air cleaner and the Harrison Evaporator box identificaton. Coolant sticker is on back order but should be here soon.

Before you know it is August of 2016 and I have finally been able to take the car to a show that our club has not sponsored. I can register the car, pay my entry fee, and see how the judges like my effort. There were a lot of nice cars in this show and unfortunately mine did not make the trophy cut. It was, however, fun not having to work the show but just take the car and have fun with the people.

It is now January of 2018. This marks the 11th year since I got my 1972 Monte Carlo back and started the restoration.

Since I have had the car back on the road, summer of 2016, I have had fun and a few problems, but more fun than problems. Had a good summer of 2017, going to shows and couple of cruises and just getting it out on sunny days. At the end of the show season 2017, I decided to make some upgrades to the car, nothing major but hopefully, from the pictures, you will agree with me.

First of all I had originally painted the stock exhaust manifolds with a silver high temp paint. They looked good for a while but then with the heat, expansion and contraction of the cast iron they started to look bad. I found some cast iron manifold dressing and I think they look good now and hope they still look good at the end of next summer.

My next attempt for an upgrade was the intake and carburator. The car was originally born with a 350CID and 2bbl carb. I wanted to upgrade the performance so I decided to move to a 4bbl carb. This of course meant changing the intake, getting a new carb and many associated parts.

Of course I had to get a new air cleaner, (2bbl to 4bbl), so I decided to add some bling and go with a chrome air cleaner. With that done I had to add chrome valve covers to the bling upgrade.

I hope you like the changes. Some will, some won't

It is hard to believe, however, it is March of 2020, starting the 14th year that I have had my old 1972 Monte Carlo back.

I have been doing some small things on the car since the last post, things that really do not warrent wasting your time if you have been keeping up on my progress.

But this year, (actually starting in the fall of 2019), I have installed a Vintage Air, Air Conditioning system in the car. If you read any of this site before you know that this was originally an air equiped car but the system has not worked since I got it back and I was not interested in trying rebuild the factory system.

I ordered the kit in late summer and starting the installation in the 3rd week of September, 2019. As it turned out on the last day of September I had a HEART ATTACK!! I know, who would have thought?

Anyway that kind of slowed me down a little and I did not get it completely installed and charged until the middle of February, 2020.

The kit and instructions supplied by Vintage Air is excellent and completely contained, the only thing not supplied in the kit are new heater hoses, but no big deal. Not only was everything there, (nuts, bolts, clamps, O-rings, you get my point), the technical support provided by Vintage Air was fantastic.

I had the chance to get the car out last weekend and surprising enough it was warm enough to kick on the air, (not too long, this is Illinois after all), for a short time. All seemed to work fine. Now I think I will get my wife in the car this summer since she can stay cool.

Below are some pictures showing the before and after of the installation. Hope you like it and hope it puts you in the mood for a kit of your own.

I find it hard to believe but it has been over 13 months since I last updated this restoration site. But I haven't really done much to the car with the execption of the following:

Although I love the blue color, (It is the factory color), it was beginning to be too much blue. And since I have nearly an acre and a half of hood surface I thought I would play a little. I really like the Chevelle SS stripes and since the Monte Carlo hood and trunk are nearly the same, I wondered how SS stripes would look on the Monte Carlo. Well here they are. They are tape on, so I believe there would be an easy and damage free removal if needed. I have had some nice comments so far and I kind of like them. After all, to me, my opinion is the only one that counts.