Back in the Eighties, with the original midsize coupes that used to contest NASCAR long gone, the stock car racing chores fell to the "personal luxury coupes" from the Detroit manufacturers. When Ford released their new, very aerodynamic ninth generation Thunderbird for the '83 model year, that left its G-body competitors from General Motors...the Buick Regal, Olds Cutlass, Pontiac Grand Prix, and Chevy Monte Carlo...at a disadvantage on the high banked ovals.
Chevrolet was pretty quick in getting a more aerodynamic snout on the Monte Carlo SS that same year, but the formal roofline, with its nearly vertical rear window, was still something of a built-in drag chute for the Chevy.
As so often happens when a Detroit manufacturer encounters a NASCAR challenge, Chevrolet turned to a homologation special: The Monte Carlo SS Aerocoupe, with a compound rear window shape to reduce drag.
While the cars themselves were built by Chevrolet, they went to Cars & Concepts for the conversion work, which consisted of the compound curved rear window and a shorter decklid, which required the addition of gas struts to support it when open. The trunk opening on these things was like a mailbox slot.
All 200 built for the 1986 model year were in White, so that means the Silver one in the photos is one of 6,052 produced for 1987, the only other year for Aerocoupe production. (You could get them in Black or Maroon in '87, as well.)
Under the hood would be the L69 305 H.O. small block V-8, with a Rochester 4-barrel carb and a 9.5:1 compression ratio, rated at 180 horsepower. The only transmission was a 4-speed TH200-4R automatic, with a 3.73:1 rear end standard. The underpinnings were vintage Detroit midsize, with a live axle and drum brakes in the back; there not being much point in upgrading as by '87 the platform had less than a year to live.
The Aerocoupe option package, RPO Z16, added just less than fourteen hundred bucks to the base $13,463 MSRP for a Monte Carlo SS.
The one in the photos was snapped in a grocery store parking lot just before midnight back in December of 2015, using a Nikon Coolpix P7000.
Maybe someday you'll get to spot the Aerocoupe's GM brother: the 1986 Grand Prix 2+2!
ReplyDeleteI always thought those were the cooler of the two, unfortunately there are only about a sixth as many of the Pontiacs as there are Monte Carlos.
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