1975 CHEVROLET MONZA

The ‘60s and ‘70s were a golden age for the muscle car. In Australia, we had our fair share of crackers – think the GTHO Phase III, the Monaro, the Torana, and XC Cobra – but it was in the U.S., where the muscle car was born, that the concept really blossomed.

Seemingly endless models of beefed-up motors rolled off production lines, with many of them becoming collectors’ items as well as some of the most famous names in auto history. There’s the Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro, Pontiac GTO, Plymouth Barracuda, Dodge Charger, Chevy Chevelle SS, Plymouth Road Runner, Dodge Challenger . . . the list goes on.

Such was the number of muscle car models produced that there were, inevitably, some that failed to reach the revered status of those famous names, even though they too were absolute rippers.
The Chevy Monza is one such car.

Made between 1975 and 1980, the Monza is a small, four-passenger car that was called the ‘Italian Vega’ by no less an authority than John DeLorean thanks to its rather nifty looks (that resembled that of the Ferrari 365 GTC/4) and the fact it was based on the Chevy Vega and its ‘H-body’ platform.

Initially, the Monza was to be powered by a rotary engine. However, that idea was shelved and a range of engines – from a 2.3-litre 4-cylinder through to 5.7-litre V8 were used instead.
The car sold well in its various guises – which included a ‘Spyder’ performance package and a ‘Mirage’ special edition – but never seemed to capture the hearts and minds of the muscle car community.

Today, the Monza is undergoing something of a re-evaluation by those looking for a well-priced classic car with a bit of grunt under the hood. However, according to Simon Lillington, owner of this brilliant-looking 1975 model, they are still considered a ‘throwaway’ car in the U.S.

“No one wants them for some reason, so you can pick them up for next to nothing,” he says. “For me, the importation costs were more than the car itself!

“They don’t pull big money and people turn them into drag cars and so on. That’s where a lot of them have gone and they’ve been chopped up, tubbed, tubed, framed and all that sort of stuff.”

The Monza, unheralded and overlooked as it is, is an unusual car for someone in Australia to want to get their hands on. For Simon, his interest in the car goes back to motorsport scene of the 1980s.

“Peter Brock had one in the Sports Sedan series, and Alan Moffatt ran an Imza version,” says Simon. “I thought it looked excellent, although the Imza did look quite different to mine because it had wide flares, a wing on the back and a cow-catcher on the front.

“Anyway, I knew I wanted to buy a V8 and, when I had the money, I began to look around for one.

“A friend of mine, who knew where to look, said to get something from the west of the U.S., from the drier states where there was no snow and so on. He found three and the guy I eventually bought the car from was in San Francisco and had owned this car for 37 years.

“He had done plenty of modifications over the years, including changing the colour, which was red originally, and replacing the four-cylinder engine with a 327 V8.

“I did have someone have a look at it before I bought it and the body was in good shape. To be honest, I wasn’t worried about the mechanics of the car as I am a mechanic myself.

“Anyway, I had someone have a look at it, got some photos, spoke to the owner who told me all about the car, and then bought it.”

It took a while for Simon to get his hands on the Monza. He decided to get a new engine – a 350 short block – built and installed and that took a chunk of time. However, after nine months of waiting, he finally got his hands on the car in late 2014.

While he took to driving it straight away, Simon, who now works in the pneumatics and hydraulics industry, has done a fair amount of work since the purchase.

“It has taken four years to get it to where it is today,” he says. “It had been sitting for quite a while, so I replaced a lot of seals, the tail shaft, the clutch and gearbox, and generally tidied things up and fixed bits and pieces. I also put air conditioning in it after I found a guy in California who had pulled another Monza apart and had a factory air unit available.

“While things have been changed, I’ve tried to keep the original feel to it,” he adds. “It is considered modified but that doesn’t matter to me – if it looks right and drives nice, that’s what I want.”

And the Monza is, says Simon, a pretty good drive and, as an unusual sight on Australian roads, something of a head-turner too.

“I drive it as much as I can, and do go to car shows and the like,” he says. “It’s not a show car but it certainly does get a reaction. I think, in its various guises such as track cars and drag cars, that there are only about 20 in the country and a lot of times people will come up and ask what it is. In fact, they often ask if it’s a Mazda!

“As for the drive, well, it drives like a 1975 car! There are no cup holders, there is no Bluetooth, and unlike a lot of today’s cars, you’ve got to work a bit. It definitely has some get up and go and once you’ve started winding it up, it goes all right!”

While he has bought, built and sold various cars over the years – including some classic Holdens and a classic UK-built 3-litre Ford Capri, this one, says Simon, is a keeper.

“It is so different to anything else,” he says. “You don’t see many of them and it really is a great car.”