Introduced by GM in 1970 at the peak of the muscle car era, the Chevrolet Monte Carlo was a popular two-door coupe that enjoyed six different generations. The Chevrolet Monte Carlo did not see continuous production, however.

The first four generations covered the years from 1970 through 1988, followed by a seven-year hiatus. The Monte Carlo reappeared in 1995 and was finally dropped by Chevy in 2007.

With the Monte Carlo, Chevy sought to attract buyers with a sporty, more upscale V8 coupe that offered a balance of comfort and performance in one nicely wrapped package. This Chevy model had a plush interior and a body styled to compete with the Ford Thunderbird and the Pontiac Grand Prix, but it was more structurally similar to the Chevy Chevelle.

Although the Monte Carlo received only lukewarm reviews in the car magazines, customers still bought approximately 150,000 of the cars during its first year. Perhaps that was because this early Monte Carlo version was a powerful car that was also quite affordable, making it the vehicle of choice for drag racers.

From its early sporty years, the Monte Carlo evolved from a muscle car into a luxury coupe and experienced dramatic engine downsizing when the new emissions regulations came into effect. Nevertheless, it persevered as a popular rear-drive sport coupe until 1988, when the front-wheel drive Lumina coupe finally took its place.

When the Monte Carlo reappeared in 1995, it was a much softer version of this once powerful muscle car. The newer cars featured a front-wheel-drive platform and V6 engines, causing many car enthusiasts to mutter that the Monte Carlo was really just a coupe version of the Chevy Lumina.

The 2006 versions tried to return the Monte Carlo to its roots by offering more power, better driving dynamics and sportier chassis tuning. Despite these changes, sales stayed down and GM discontinued this model after its 2007 run.

Options

Although the Monte Carlo was designed to be a two-door hardtop, it was actually as big as the mid-sized sedans of the time. Its 116-inch wheelbase gave the car an attractive but uncommonly long hood.

Chevrolet occasionally offered this car in an SS addition. The first Monte Carlo SS featured a 454 engine and 360 horsepower. This package added over $400 to the price of the car and few of those editions were sold.

Chevy offered another limited SS edition in 1983 that featured a 305 V8 engine. Chevy brought the SS option back for the final generation, offering a Monte Carlo SS that came with a 200 horsepower 3.8-liter V6 engine. It added an SS Supercharged edition, which offered an even more powerful supercharger V6 engine that produced 240 horsepower.

The final generations of the Monte Carlo came with front-wheel drive and offered several engine choices, including one V8 and various V6 engine options. Chevy also decided to include some of the popular traits of the older Monte Carlos, such as tail lamps, rear bumpers and traditional wheel flares. Despite these nice little blasts from the past, Chevy Monte Carlo cars didn't sell very well and the name was dropped once again.