The Daily Driver: 1987 Chevy Monte Carlo LS

[SSninja]

This build thread is going to focus on my daily driver, a 1987 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Luxury Sport that I picked up last September.

I'll start by backfilling everything that has happened from that point until now.


When purchased 9/2013
Bone stock (Well, except for the replacement exhaust) LS with almost no options other than A/C.


- 125,xxx miles
- LG4 5.0L V8
- 2.41 rear gears with a peg leg
- Blue split bench/column shift interior
- Manual windows and locks






Story behind buying the car:


“Forget this nonsense, I should just buy an old car”.
It’s a thought that’s crossed every gearhead’s mind, more often than not while performing a tune-up on or diagnosing the cause of a dreaded Check Engine Light for the rolling appliance that many of us use to get to and from work during the week.
If you’re like me, this initial sentiment then results in the following ritual:
- Twenty to thirty minutes of day-dreaming about how awesome it would be to drive a classic car every day
- An hour of cruising the local Craigslist, which always turns up “The Perfect Car” (I typically find this elusive beast five to six times per week).
- Another thirty minutes of rationalizing why this would be a good idea and why I should do this: “I can fix it with a ⅜” ratchet set, a flathead screwdriver, and a medium-sized hammer!”.
- Face the grim reality that I live in New England and commute forty-plus miles a day, which is why I bought a modern vehicle in the first place; begin drinking to drown my sorrows.
- Finish the maintenance/repair on the now-despised econobox and return to the house, where my wife asks me such difficult to answer questions as, “How does it take three hours for you to change the oil on that car?” and “Why do you reek of booze and defeat?”.


In reality, my wife is actually reasonably understanding of my automotive obsessions, and we’ve always had an agreement in place stemming from her absolute loathing of my Subaru WRX (A story for another time): I could buy any car that I wanted for a daily driver provided the following stipulations were met: A) I’d have to sell my WRX, B) The car could not cost more than the selling price of the Subaru, C) It had to be reliable enough to commute with daily, including in the winter.
There have been a few close calls, but I had never seriously considered taking her up on her offer until the weekend before Labor Day, when I again spotted the Perfect Car. This time around, the Perfect Car surfaced in the form of a stock 1987 Chevy Monte Carlo Luxury Sport with 125,000 miles, located ninety minutes away in New Hampshire.
I mentally went over The Agreement outlined above: Could I sell the Subaru? Yes. Is the asking price for this car less than the proceeds from the sale of the Subaru? Yup. Would it be awesome to drive and I could fix everything on the car with duct tape and WD40? Oh yeah! (I may have taken some liberties with the definition of reliable, but I obviously felt it fell within the spirit of the agreement).
Of course, there were the minor details that I hadn’t yet sold the WRX and that we were going to Maine for the long weekend. Being well aware of the wisdom that it’s better to act and ask for forgiveness later, I emailed the seller and set up a time to come look at the car in the afternoon on Labor Day. Surprisingly, my better half agreed to my crazy plan, I bought the Monte that Monday, and sold my WRX later on that month.




Exterior:



















Trunk sticker:






Interior (PERFECT dash and headliner):










No gauges though...







Crank windows! (Is it weird that I'm excited about this?)







Engine bay

















Now for some of the interesting historical stuff:




When we went to go look at the car, both Bryan and I were shocked by how rust-free the car was (Other than a little bit on the inner lip of the driver's rear quarter, the car is in fantastic shape, especially for having lived in New England its entire life).


Well, after opening the glove box and finding this HUGE mound of paperwork, now I know why!









Aside from literally every receipt for maintenance that the car has ever had (No, really):









I also found the original bill of sale and maintenance book, which was filled with copious notes (On a side note, the same woman seems to have owned the car from '87 until the early 2000s, which is cool)


















Body mounts were replaced in 1999 (Among other things)





The "lifetime" anti-rust plan (Think it's still valid? )





Anyways, I also found 3 receipts for body work that was performed on the car throughout the years (Mostly in the late 90s to early 2000s). Guessing the car was hit a few times, but having sheetmetal replaced would explain the lack of rust!




Receipts for bodywork: