Yes, it’s a 1970 Monte Carlo convertible. No, Chevrolet never made one – Pete Emeott did, in his St. Paul garage.
It took the longtime hot-rodder and Minnesota Street Rod Association board member three years of slicing and welding to craft this big blue beauty, which he’s owned since 1980. He bought the original big-block car in Oklahoma for $375 back then, when a buck a gallon was scary enough to keep people away from muscle cars.
He drove it regularly for a while then tucked it away for 17 years, until inspiration struck at an Indianapolis car show. That’s where he first happened upon an early Monte with the top cut off.
“I thought, I can do that,” Emeott said.
And he did, for a couple reasons.
In these days of six-figure-fetching muscle cars, hacking up an original big-block anything from the peak of the era seems nuts. But first generation Montes haven’t gained the auction-block stardom of Chevelles, Camaros and other bowtie brethren.
To Emeott, creating a quality convertible that looked like it could have come from the factory was a value builder.
“The price of the car never came up to what I thought it was worth, so for me to sell it, I don’t know, it just didn’t make sense,” he said. “So I thought if I make a convertible out of it, then if I felt like selling it, at least I’d get something for it.”
He had also recently purchased a 1999 Corvette roadster, which only strengthened his desire to make the Monte topless.
“There’s just nothing like a convertible,” Emeott said.
To start, he found a junk ‘68 Chevelle convertible that would be the top donor and a ‘68 Olds Cutlass convertible for extra parts. He also talked with a guy who had created a 442 convertible clone from a 1970 Cutlass for ideas.
After gutting the Monte’s interior, stripping all the chrome and yanking the engine and transmission, Emeott took the body off the frame. To give the frame the strength it would need with the top gone, he filled it with two-inch by three-inch four-gauge rectangular tubing.
The roof came off the Monte, the windshield shrunk 1-5/8ths-inch to fit the new top and Emeott changed the rear side-window glass to ‘68-‘69 A-body hard-top glass, which also happens to be ‘68-‘72 convertible glass.
The forward side glass was moved forward slightly and Emeott spent countless hours adjusting the windows to meet the top correctly.
The package deck in the trunk became the freshly re-covered cloth top’s new home, and it all fits nicely with plenty of room to spare.
Emeott didn’t stop there. He swapped the well-worn 402 with a home-built 468ci mill and the TH350 transmission was replaced with a 700R4. A 12-bolt got an Eaton posi unit with Moser axels; Emeott opted for 3.31:1 gears.
The rear was mounted with tubular control arms and the entire car was slammed as low as Emeott could get it with springs. A 1-5/16-inch sway bar keeps things stiff up front.
Leather seats keep Emeott comfy inside and he also installed custom door panels and window switches.
The car came from the factory in Marina Blue with a white top and had since been repainted in different hues more than once. Emeott switched it up again after the convertible conversion, spraying it Medium Blueberry, a color from Xotic Colours in South Minneapolis.
To finish the look, Emeott bolted on a set of 17-inch Intro Billet wheels; 9 inches wide up front and a massive 11 inches wide in back with no mini-tubbing.
Emeott has put about 7,500 miles on the Monte since it’s conversion and recently participated in the seven-day Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour from Little Rock, Arkansas to Madison, Wisconsin.
“The top was only up for three days because we didn’t want to bake ourselves,” Emeott said.
He even stormed the car down the track during the Power Tour’s stop in Topeka, Kansas, running a 13.99.
“Not bad for a big old car with the trunk full,” he said.
Emeott was brave enough to let me get behind the wheel during the photo shoot for this story and I was surprised by the neck-jerking throttle response. He said he’s not sure how much horsepower the engine makes, but he’s confident it’s pushing well over 500 ft.-lbs. of torque. That’s the stump-pulling power you need to get such a behemoth up to speed.
Emeott, 58, said he’s owned 154 cars throughout his life and he’s planning to build more convertibles.
He’s got several project cars hanging out in his and his neighbors’ garages, waiting to be built. His project of the moment is a cross between a ‘40 Chevy and a ‘91 Mazda Miata, with a removable hard top and a retractable soft top underneath, of course.
The Monte might go someday to make room for new projects, Emeott said, but for now, it’s just fun.
“It’s been a ball,” he said. “It is so much nicer as a convertible simply because it’s a convertible.”
July 15th, 2008 | Articles, Car Features, Chevrolet
I have a 1985 chevrolet monte carlo ss convertible rag top and i think its awesome someone else seen the monte carlo as a perfect car to make convertible
Comment by michael mazzeo — March 24, 2010 @ 2:14 pm