[unruhjonny]

I have a real sweet spot for 78-80 Monte Carlos and Grand Prix's - and to a lesser degree the 81+ cars...

My the neighbor of a high school friend (graduated in 95) had a SUPER mint 1978 GP SJ;
Even though I was a Firebird guy, I LOVED that car.

Also for a good spell of my growing up, my mom's car was a 1981 Monte Carlo;
She received it brand new from her father, and he replaced it in 1994 with a Sunbird - so it was around from when I was four through to seventeen years old...
It was a two tone blue Landau model with a 305/4bbl - complete with blue cloth interior with front bucket seats and a console.

Last night I picked up the December 2024 issue of Collectible Automobile because it had an article on the 1981-1988 Monte Carlo;
I was shocked to read that the 1982-1985 Monte Carlos ALL had a front bench seat with column shift - including the SS.
I found a typo (because it just reads wrong), but figured it was a MAJOR blunder;

Not much changed for '82 ... Surprisingly maybe for a lack of interest, the semi-sporty interior option with bucket seats and a console was no longer unavailable.

The "un" in "unavailable" is the error;
When I read on it was apparent that it should have read as follows:

Not much changed for '82 ... Surprisingly maybe for a lack of interest, the semi-sporty interior option with bucket seats and a console was no longer available.

Did the GP have the same interior seating limitation between 1982 & 1985?

This might serve to explain why so many of the GP's I have seen over the years had a bench seat...

Growing up, I generally associated 1978+ Malibu coupes with bucket seats, 1978+ Malibu sedans & wagons with bench seats, 1978+ Monte Carlos with bucket seats, 1978-1980 GP's with bucket seats and 1981+ GP's with bench seats...

[jerry455]

No, you could get buckets and console on all Grand Prixs. I had an '86 LE and it was buckets, console and gauges. I also had an '86 2+2 and it was the same interior. The 81 and newer had the sleeker front ends. The Regals and the Cutlass was an early favorite in NASCAR, until the Monte SS.

[Sirrotica]

My 84 SE GP has a deluxe interior with buckets and a console, and a 231 V6 2 bbl so definitely those years you sighted buckets and console were available. The powerplant had zero bearing on what you could order interior wise.

I also had a 78 LE GP 301 4bbl (unusual option that the car was ordered with a 4 bbl), that was loaded to the max as far as options. It also had ox blood red leather interior with buckets and a console, climate control, air ride rear suspension and a power slider sunroof. This car had options I wasn't even were available on a G body GP. The window sticker was still in the glovebox, and the options doubled the price of the base car..........

[unruhjonny]

thanks for the replies guys!

i guess gm decided that the “upscale” pontiac g-body could have buckets, while the chevy couldn’t;
I never understood a bench seat in a Monte Carlo SS… until I found out buckets were not available!

That ‘78 GP was a 301/4bbl with two tone red exterior over red cloth interior.
It’a a shame that my friends cousin bought it a couple years later, and essentially wrecked it.

It’s a good thing I don’t have a larger property with more garage space, because I would for sure be on the look out for one.

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

thanks for the replies guys!

i guess gm decided that the “upscale” pontiac g-body could have buckets, while the chevy couldn’t;
I never understood a bench seat in a Monte Carlo SS… until I found out buckets were not available!

That ‘78 GP was a 301/4bbl with two tone red exterior over red cloth interior.
It’a a shame that my friends cousin bought it a couple years later, and essentially wrecked it.

It’s a good thing I don’t have a larger property with more garage space, because I would for sure be on the look out for one.

Mine came from OK, so it had zero rust on it. It was 2 tone metallic red with a padded landau roof. I sold it to a guy I used to work with at the local chevy dealer. He bought it for his step son that had just turned 16.

A few weeks later they called me and said the transmission was out of it, hey, you bought it as is, I'm not putting a tranny in it, that's your problem. Those metric 200 transmissions were so weak they broke just in normal driving. Within a month he wrecked it so badly that the frame rail broke the exhaust manifold off of the engine. Total junk within a month.

The car also had 14 inch snowflake alloy wheels on it, haven't seen those on G bodies from the factory. I have no idea who ordered the car, but they must have checked almost every box on the order form to double the price of the car.........LOL

[jerry455]

The 1983 Monte SS had a bench seat, after that they were buckets. I also had a 1986 Monte SS. It was black with a dark burgundy bucket seat interior. A friend had a 1979 Grand Am, another A/G body style, and he had a 301 4 bbl. 4 speed. It was Black and Gold with a Black interior. That car was gorgeous. It had 14" snowflakes on it.

[unruhjonny]

according to this article, buckets were not available in the Monte Carlo from 1982 through 1985.

[jerry455]

I don't know if that is accurate. I recall seeing Monte Carlo's with buckets, especially SSs except for 1983 for sure. A friend's mom had a 1983 Monte SS and it had a bench seat.