Rusty But Trusty

Just this past weekend at the CSRG season opening historic races, there was a flared and spoilered, Italian-looking sports coupe with racy paint and wide wheels. In the interest of spotting and possibly documenting the find, closer inspection was required, and it turned out to be a Chevrolet Monza Mirage. Internet research revealed it was a stickers-and-body-kit package applied to fully built Monzas by Michigan Automotive Techniques Corporation, designed to resemble the IMSA racing Monza GT. The Monza itself was based on the Vega, and yet sold alongside it, which must have been interesting on the sales floor. It was originally intended to be powered by the Wankel rotary engine GM was developing. You can find this 1977 Chevrolet Monza Mirage for sale for $3500 in Buford, GA.

Non-original (but cool) covered headlights, with red and blue stripes over white paint, together with polyurethane fender flares and turbine-style wheelcovers, made for a real sporting look. The deep airdam didn’t hurt either, along with about 13 other polyurethane aero parts. It’s definitely got the late 1970s road racing aesthetic.

The photography is less than ideal, but you can see the rear fender flares and ducktail spoiler here. Is it just the angle, or is one of the dual pipes longer than the other? Louvers are also visible on the rear side windows, and frankly, it’s hard to understand why the car did not have them on the back window as well – this was the late 70s, after all.

And here’s where the mirage of sportiness starts to fade – squishy red front bucket seats, and an interior no different than that of any other Monza. While there was a standard 4-speed transmission available, this car is equipped with a Hydramatic. Carping about the concept aside, the interior looks in remarkably unspoiled condition, especially compared to the weathered exterior.

Further fading of the mirage occurs underhood – for 1977, the 305 V8 engine had an output of 110hp. According to the seller, only 2400 Mirages were made, although Mirage enthusiast sites list figures just under 4100. The car is said to show only 60,000 miles, and comes with a parts car and many spares. Would you go for the illusion of speed? Perhaps a 350 out of a later Camaro would make it more real.

Tags: american, chevrolet, coupe, Feature, mirage, monza

This entry was posted on April 8, 2014 at 2:16 pm and is filed under Feature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.