When I went to his house it looked even better in daylight. I sat in the driver's seat and fired up the HO 305 for the first time in almost three years. Man, it was music to my ears!! We took the car out for a ride and I realized how much I missed driving it. After we got back to his house, we talked for almost two hours about the car. I went home and gave it some serious thought, since I had a lot of memories attached to the Monte. I made him an offer the following day, and he delivered it to my house the day after that. The whole process from sight to purchase took just four days!
I had lots of fun modifying my Monte over the next six years. The '85 received a heart transplant in 2000, when my friends and I rebuilt and swapped in a TPI 305 from an '87 IROC. During the summer of 2002, we rebuilt the entire front suspension and swapped in 1LE 12" brakes with Caprice spindles and calipers, and tubular upper control arms. The last modification to be installed in the ProTouring '85 was the addition of a World Class T-5 manual transmission and mechanical clutch linkage in the spring of 2003. I found some serious rot in the floors and bodymounts while doing the conversion and decided that it would cost too much to try and repair the car. Besides the rot in those areas, it also needed new doors and a quarterpanel due to extensive rust damage.
So, after enduring 18 years and 199,500 miles of abuse and Northeast weather, the original "ProTouring" 1985 SS was officially retired on November 29, 2003. The '85 became the "prototype" ProTouring SS, since my friends and I transferred over the complete driveline into my new '88 SS. I will miss my first Monte, but I feel better knowing it gave it's life so my dream of cruising in a truely nice SS with my wife and son would come true. It also helped many other people as well, since the rest of the car's parts were bought by Monte lovers all over the country.
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