“I had a 4cyl Chevy Monza. Going downhill, I was able to get it up to 84.”
In 1975 they put a 350 V8 in for California for those wanting more power but had to meet CA emissions and it was detuned to 125 hp!
I think it was a 305 V8, not the 350. They were dogs not just in California. I knew a guy long time ago who drove one of those in the IMSA road racing series. It was the DeKon Monza and had a whole bunch more than 125 HP. I think he won the series for a year or two in that car.
The V8 was shoehorned in, and in the first run of that model, you couldn't change at least one of the spark plugs without loosening a motor mount, and jacking the engine.
Later models had a recess in the firewall to allow access.
Now that I remember it, the 4cyl had some annoying, in-the-way rigid metal tubing that ran across the top of the cylinders. Dexterity was needed for changing the plugs.
I had a 1976 Monza with a V6 3.8L and a 4 Speed. It was geared pretty high, to yield quite good acceleration in a heavy car. Fuel mileage on long trips was poor, so I replaced it with a 5 Speed. Still decent acceleration, and trip mileage was much better.
I drove that car for ten years. Drove from California to Florida and back again. Very reliable.
Oh my, that’s just wrong. How on earth can you make a 350 V8 only put out 125hp????? ...hopefully it still had loads of torque.
My wife’s car has a 3.5L V6 that puts out over 300hp. I had a 1987 Porsche 944 Turbo, 2.4L V4, putting out 300hp.
For a V8 - that’s criminal!!! lol