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Page 2 of 6
1985
Our overview of the winning cars of NASCAR starts in 1985, when Darrell Waltrip wrapped up his second straight championship in a Chevy Monte Carlo. Back in those days, fans could still see some resemblance between what Waltrip and Earnhardt were driving in Daytona and the Monte Carlo that Tom, Dick and Harry could buy from their local bowtie dealers. NASCAR required that the race cars wear the same sheetmetal as the grocery-getter versions on the street, and it was because of that fact that GM engineers created a new Monte Carlo model in 1983. To be competitive on high-speed tracks, race teams needed a more aerodynamic car, so Chevy dealers welcomed the new Monte Carlo SS with its prominent front air dam and rear spoiler, features that soon found their way to the body shops of NASCAR.
With aerodynamics in their favor, Chevy drivers found themselves and their Monte Carlos in the winner’s circle quite a bit during the early 1980s. Terry Labonte brought it home for Chevy in 1984 and Darrell Waltrip did the same in 1985. Fans interested in driving their own Monte Carlo could choose from the V6 or V8 coupes, or the SS model. Prices ranged from about $9,000 to more than $11,000 and horsepower was a meager 130 with the V6 and maxed out at 180 from the SS’s 305 cubic-inch V8.
1986
Despite the improvements offered by the 1983-1985 Monte Carlo SS, Chevy found itself again needing to up the aerodynamics factor in 1986 to compete with the fluid lines of the Ford Thunderbird. The solution was called the Monte Carlo SS Aerocoupe, which was basically the same car with a sloped rear window that was designed to reduce drag and, consequently, increase track speed. It was a plan that obviously worked, as evidenced by Dale Earnhardt winning the Winston Cup championship in 1986 and 1987, both times in an Aerocoupe.
Though they were abundant on the race track, Aerocoupes were much harder to spot around town. For 1986, Chevy limited the Aerocoupe run to 200 vehicles, and 1987 production reached just over 6,000 units. But that was it for the Aerocoupe, which never saw the 1988 model year, and it wasn’t long after that the Monte Carlo also met its demise, albeit temporarily. While it lasted, the Aerocoupe sold for about $14,000 and delivered 180 horsepower from its 305 cubic-inch V8.
1988
Bill Elliott and his Ford Thunderbird put an end to Chevy’s fantastic run with its Monte Carlo. It was during the 1988 season that Million Dollar Bill Elliott won six races and finished in the top ten an impressive 33 times.
Times have changed since then – Bill now straps into a Dodge and the Thunderbird he left behind has been absent from the NASCAR scene for years. But in 1988, the T-Bird was a four-passenger, two-door, rear-wheel-drive coupe offered with one of three engines in four trims: Base and LX models featured a 140-horsepower, 3.8-liter V6 with 215 lb.-ft. of torque; Sport models were powered by a 155-horsepower, 5.0-liter V8 with an impressive-for-the-day 265 lb.-ft. of torque; and the memorable Turbo Coupe came with a turbocharged 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine good for 190 horsepower and 200 lb.-ft. of torque. Ford’s 1988 T-bird looked much like it had since its redesign in 1983, a year that marked the transition from a big, boxy coupe with concealed headlights to a much more aerodynamic, smaller coupe with the option of turbocharged power. Slight changes, including revised front and rear fascias, debuted for the 1987 model year. The price for driving the civilian version of Elliott’s #9 Coors Thunderbird ranged from about $13,000 for the Base model to more than $17,000 for the Turbo Coupe.
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