The Count of Monte Carlo?
I'm finding a dearth of information on the '82 non-SS Monte Carlos on the web so I thought I would put together a webpage offering the little I know about these contrary animals for those other poor souls like me trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!
I have been fooling with old cars since before my parents gave me a '55 Chevy 210 2-door Sedan for my High School Graduation gift in 1967. I still have the '55 (Mr. 5-by-5) and have gone through a variety of other old GM cars through the years including a small-block, 4-speed '72 Chevelle, a 455-powered '70 Olds Delta 88, a '69 GTO, and my present "summer car" - an original 283-powered '67 Nova 4-door (Bluebelle).
In late 1999 my son was in need of a reliable used car and asked for my assistance in finding one. I told him to circle everything in the Sunday paper classifieds that had under 50,000 miles and was priced under $5000. As I scanned the ads he had marked in the paper I shook my head disbelievingly at the ad for the '82 Monte Carlo with 2700 miles on it, oh well, even if it is supposed to be 27,000 miles this might be worth looking at!
My son called the man and got the story that it belonged to his 90+ years old grandmother who bought it new and never drove it further than the shopping center about 5 miles from her home. We looked at it, made an offer, and bought it - I won't tell you the price but it was a steal for a 17-year old "new" car!
True, it had a dent in every corner and it was a basic V-6 with vinyl upholstery, but it was the real McCoy and had spent it's entire life in a garage! The front carpet was covered with a clear vinyl carpet runner and had never been stepped-on! The silver paint looks like it just came off the showroom floor and the car had all the original tires, GM-coded V-belts and hoses, and (most important to my son) came with a decent aftermarket AM-FM-Cassette unit. (More important to me, the original radio was in the stereo box in the trunk!)
Here are pictures of the silver Monte taken just after we got it home: (Silver Monte Pix)
And here are a few of the difficulties we have run into with this 17-year old "new" car during the past couple years of trying to make it a daily-driver: (Silver Monte Problems)