Page 1 of 2 Next >> During the early 1970s, production sports car racing in North America had become very much a European, or better yet German affair with the Porsche 911 RSR absolutely dominating. To add some American flavour to the mix, Jon Bishop of IMSA (International Motor Sports Association) created the All American GT (AAGT) class. This effectively opened the door to silhouette racing cars that shared only very few components with the road-going equivalent.
Although created by Bishop, the AAGT class was the brainchild of Chevrolet's Vince Piggins. He had looked at a way to successfully pitch the recently introduced Chevrolet Monza against the dominant Porsches. As Chevrolet did not have an official competition department, the actual development and production of the AAGT Monza was entrusted to DeKon Engineering, headed by designer Lee Dykstra and constructor Horst Kwech. Needless to say, they did receive plenty of backdoor support from the factory.
DeKon received the first stripped out Monza shell from Chevrolet late in 1974. Grafted onto the monocoque was a purpose-built tubular space frame chassis. The suspension consisted of double wishbones at the front and a live axle at the rear. Coil-over shock absorbers and Lockheed discs brakes were used on all four corners. A choice of small-block V8 engines was available, equipped with either four Weber carburettors or fuel injection. They were tuned for sprint events or long distance races. They were mated to the 'rock crusher' Muncie gearbox.
To comply with the regulations, the silhouette and some of the steel body panels (roof, doors and deck-lid) of the road-going Monza were retained. Penned by Dykstra, the other panels were crafted in fibreglass. To clear the bigger wheels, wide fender flares were fitted as was an integrated rear wing. The completed DeKon Monza tipped the scales at less than 1,100 kg and equally important this weight was split virtually 50:50 front and rear. Ready halfway through 1975, DeKon offered a race-ready Monza for $38,500. Page 1 of 2 Next >>
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During the early 1970s, production sports car racing in North America had become very much a European, or better yet German affair with the Porsche 911 RSR absolutely dominating. To add some American flavour to the mix, Jon Bishop of IMSA (International Motor Sports Association) created the All American GT (AAGT) class. This effectively opened the door to silhouette racing cars that shared only very few components with the road-going equivalent.