“Tribute cars” have become trendy in the old car hobby for a while now. A ’58 Plymouth is painted red and becomes “Christine”. An old Ford sedan from the early ’60s is done up as a patrol car from Mayberry, USA. Late ’60s Dodge Chargers get a Confederate flag on the roof and “01” on the side, and we have yet another “General Lee”. I’m really not a fan of this stuff because it’s inherently fake. So often, for instance, a 4-door hardtop Impala becomes a police car, even though Impala hardtops were never used in actual police service. But here is a case where, if you wanted a true Bluesmobile from the movie “The Blues Brothers”, this is about as authentic as you can get!
From the Craigslist ad (location: Orange, CA)
Mopar 440 Chp Police Pursuit cars 17k a piece! 34k on the pair.
2 California Highway Patrol cars, both run and drive. New fuel system, brakes, fluids, radiators, carbs etc. Needs resto or not.
Just dont find these original and untouched any more. Firm on price. One was a slick top, the other a light bar car. First come first serve.
Both dry and original condition!
Nos material for the seats included.
Vins verified and title on the way. Out of the dmv system. Only original once!! No body work, original paint.
Normal business hours for inspection.
Bumps, dents, bruises etc.
Thanks for looking.
As Elwood said, “It’s got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant; it’s got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters, so it’ll run good on regular gas…” One little nit: The car in the movie was a 1974 model, while the cars for sale are ’75s. There’s a difference in the grille texture. I say, “Close enough!”
I have to tell you that The Blues Brothers is one of my favorite movies of all time, and it had a big influence on me. It introduced me to Cab Calloway and I became a fan of his, looking up his old performances on YouTube. Not to mention Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, Louis Jordan, and all the others.
I also learned a lot about the city of Chicago, including the Maxwell Street Market (where Aretha Franklin had her soul food restaurant). It was an open-air shopping district in a seedy part of town that had a flea market every Sunday. Sadly, most of Maxwell Street, with its unique stores and restaurants and charming architecture has since been wiped out by urban renewal.
That led me to discover this excellent documentary/art film “And This Is Free” (1964) which shows you the real-life atmosphere of the Maxwell Street Market while it still existed. (Great musical performances–and some of these dance moves are incredible!) If you can find the complete film, there are a lot of interesting “Curbside Classics” to see. I have a high-quality copy on DVD. You know what I love about this? Authenticity! I wish I could have spent a few Sundays there!
Then there was the Plymouth Hotel, a genuine flophouse at W. Van Buren Street and S. Plymouth Court. According to a story in the Chicago Sun-Times, “Filmmakers shot inside the hotel, including its long narrow flight of stairs up, its dingy second-floor lobby and even inside Elwood’s cramped room…It was a classic flophouse. So close to the L tracks that rooms literally shook when trains passed. Rooms so small you could almost touch both side walls while standing in the middle.”
Plymouth Hotel getting blown up.
More shots of the cars:
The following photos are a little less clear:
440 engine
Front seat
Rear seat
Inside door panel
So if you and a friend want to cruise around wearing black suits, black ties, black hats and sunglasses, I think this is your golden opportunity. The steep price ($17,000) clearly reflects the Blues Brothers connection. I’m sure that’s more than what Elwood paid for his car at the police auction!
And if you want to know why so few of these old police cars still survive, well…
Further CC reading:
Vintage Carriers: 1974 Dodge Monacos Carried by a Dodge–A Load of Bluesmobiles by Rich Baron
Curbside Classic: 1974 Dodge Monaco Custom–Bitten by Wanderlust by Jason Shafer
It wasn’t very effective if the criminals were driving a Mustang, Camaro, Charger…
A very good car for transporting criminals, not for chasing them.
The front ends look like an Olds Toronado…
The cars were often used in the early years of the CHIPS TV show of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
And these clearly transported a LOT of suspects! Back seats didn’t get much use in civilian cars. They normally look almost new.
I doubt these will follow the same trajectory as 58 Plymouth hardtops and 68-70 Chargers, in which they become valuable apart from famous TV/movie associations. If not for Jake and Elwood, would anyone want these?
Yes, a great movie!
As Downeaster pointed out above, these were spotted weekly in the first couple seasons of the 1977 through 1983 NBC TV Series CHiPs. Regular cast member Officer Baricza, often seen driving the C-Body Monaco. Before switching to the B-Body-based Monaco as his ride, in later seasons.
One of the more memorable scenes involving his Monaco.
These are the CHP vehicles I know from the 70s. On December 18, 1973 I got ticketed late at night by a 73 Polara patrol car coming down the Altmont Pass to the Livermore Valley. Gas crisis, out of gas, coasting along in a 72 Squareback right up behind the patrol car. He got off, I didn’t pay attention (last time), got back on and stopped me. At least he said Happy Birthday. I made it the last 45 miles on fumes. That VW had better gas mileage than I thought. I had my 73 Polara out for a drive yesterday and hit 100 mph on a quite highway for a few miles. Ha!
In 1974 the speed limit was set at 55. In Los Angeles, on the way north again, I was stopped by a CHP motorcycle officer on I-5 Los Angeles for doing 60 in the 55 in a 74 Duster. Ooo, I was irritated.
The truck driver in that scene was none other than Carey Loftin, one of the best stunt drivers of all time. The medium duty Dodge C series truck had an old Peterbilt bumper hung off the front. That truck was an MGM studio truck, they probably didn’t want to damage it because it was needed to haul all the equipment back to Culver City! In the late 70’s those ex-C.H.P. 440 Monaco’s were all over the place. I wonder how many were wrecked on the CHiP’s T.V. show.
Stephen, “And this is Free” is on TUBI, and thanks for the recommendation.
Great find and perfect write-up. It appears as though the seller is under the influence of hallucinations. Does the sale price include the police tape?
+1 for the Vienna Polish sausage with onions and mustard! It is not a hot dog. Right up there with the Chicago style hot dog and Chicago style Italian roast beef sandwich for best Chicago food. Oh wait, there’s spit roasted meat for a Gyro as well, never had one as good as they make in Chicago.
Growing up, I was always intrigued by the ’74 era C-Bodies. As they seemed so thoroughly out-of-place with the times. Their relative rarity, and counter-conservation brand, made them car spotting magnets for me.
Some of the largest cars I had ever seen as a kid, and seeming so impractical for a struggling carmaker like Chrysler. Representing the opposite ethos, from the era they were born. As every carmaker was promoting their smaller cars. Even little kids, picked up on this against-the-flow oddness.
The C-Body wagons were my spotting, holy grail. Looking like battle cruisers. Especially the Town & Country, with rear wheel skirts. All the C-Body wagons were genuine road beasts. A next door neighbour had a hulking and badly rusted gold Gran Fury wagon. So already out-of-place, within a few years.
One of the last cars for me, to solidly represent the past way of living/thinking. Plus in civilian form, they appealed to the pre-WWII generations. Why they do represent much nostalgia.
When I was in public school circa 1976-’77, the OPP were already quickly replacing their Gran Furys with later Monacos, Furys, and downsized Impalas. The old school C-Bodies, became obsolete quickly.
Elwood definitely didn’t pay anything like $17K for the Bluesmobile. He explains to Jake:
The Bluesmobile is also a ’74 rather than a ’75 — the cops identify it on the radio.
I so love The Blues Brothers. Great movie, but also because it serves as a tour of Chicago circa 1979. Hard as it may be to believe now, most of the blues/r&b/Stax musicians had fallen out of popularity by 1980; this film revived the careers of nearly all of them.
Exactly. The best non-on-set movies capture the feel and essence of their locations and The Blues Brothers does that with Chicago more than any other. It’s like taking a trip to The Windy City during the late seventies without actually having to visit.
Which, BTW, is definitely ‘not’ recommended to go to Harvey where the famous Dixie Square Mall scene was filmed. To this day, it’s quite unsafe, even in the light of day. Think apocolyptic urban war zone and you get the idea.
The crazy part about Harvey is that mall closed down well before the movie was filmed and even after flinging a dozen Dodge Monaco’s through it the building still mostly stood abandoned until 10-15 years ago. People would urban explore it and there’s videos on YouTube showing it, no need to risk life and limb to check out that particular filming location
Yeah, the crumbling, dilapidated Dixie Square Mall building was finally razed in May, 2012 and, AFAIK, while the city of Harvey took possession several years later, the land has remained nothing more than a large, vacant lot for the last decade.
Still not worth a trip to Harvey, in any event. There are other Blues Brothers/Chicagoland locations worth visiting way more.
Steven, a great piece. The Maxwell Street looked like a hell of a place to wander especially if I had my cameras with me. When I saw the movie, that last shot you used, always made me cringe. A lot of movies back then destroyed a lot of now classics. Oh, well. Now while I have never been in Chicago, more San Diego and San Francisco, I would wander The Streets of San Francisco (you like that?) when up from San Diego in the 70s. To visit parents after moving north. Twas out of boredom day and late night. My Market Street shot on Kodachrome.
Love the movie but I dont want a well beaten ex patrol car of any brand.
I adore The Blues Brothers and the bluesmobile is one of the coolest movie cars ever because it fit its dirtbag characters so perfectly, but yeah if I wanted to LARP as Elwood Blues, I’d be authentic about it and find a late model cop Charger at a police auction. That’s kind of the point of it, in fact it’s probably the one single thing that I didn’t hate in Blues Brothers 2000, grabbing a used up LTD interceptor because that’s what’s available.
Those running parts cars are barely worth anything .
My self, I like the occasional Bluesmobile I see at car shows .
I’m loving the Maxwell street video, was that a news item or what ? .
I began listening to this sort of music in the late 1950’s and horrified my entire family, if there was still anyplace like this I’d be there every weekend .
I’d like to see any of today’s ‘Musicians’ play guitar like that, no way they’d have the raw talent .
One had to be there when the Blues Brothers movie came out, it was fantastic .
Some years ago I was in a music store (? remember those ?) where they had a large bin of discount CD’s as you walked in, I still have my $1 Cab Calloway big hits CD, it’s glorious and includes ‘Minne The Moocher’ and many more .
-Nate
Count me in as another Blues Brothers fan. I was all about the music before the movie, but very much recognize that the film did a tremendous service to the blues and definitely arrested their slide toward obscurity in the early 1980s.
As has been said in the comments here, at movie has a tremendous amount of soul (in more ways than one) and is really a from the heart tribute by Belushi to his city and its music (Aykroyd was converted to a love of the blues and Chicago by Belushi). For anyone interested in more of the backstory behind the concept development and execution of the movie, I’d recommend a recent book by Daniel De Visé called (plainly enough) The Blues Brothers. It’s an excellent read/listen and really fills in a lot of the background as to what Belushi was up to with this movie.
https://www.amazon.com/Blues-Brothers-Friendship-American-Classic/dp/0802160980
It needs to be said, that we love these cars because of the time period they represent and because of the honorable men who drove them. It was not because of the Hollywood imbeciles who’ve proven they can only destroy what better men have built and created.
Absolutely love the Blues Brothers! Hubby and I were horse camping outside of Sisters, Oregon and we found a radio station that was playing the soundtrack. I just started dancing and got undressed to the music. It was a great night!
One of the greatest films ever made, a joy to watch from start to finish.
One of my favourite screen shots from the movie. The Cop speedometer along with the glorious soundtrack from the 440.
The story goes that the Monaco was actually driven at the indicated speed on Lower Wacker Drive. It certainly appears that way in the movie as, typically, the cameras are ‘undercranked’ so that when run at normal speed, it accelerates the appearance.
Of course, it’s also fairly obvious since the cars simply don’t look right. The biggest ‘tell’ is that, back in the day before aerodynamics, cars would ‘get air’ underneath and raise the suspension when driven at high speeds.
Another C Body Tribute car. Anyone recognize? Well, for one it started out as a Newport convertible with a 383-4V which is around 15K in this shape. All it really has is the two tone paint job which even I could do since my truck is two tone as I painted it.
“Another C Body Tribute car. Anyone recognize?”
Hurst Chrysler 300. Needs some Linda Vaughn.
But then, what wouldn’t be improved with some Linda Vaughn?
I’m late to this party, but I loved this piece. Funny thing about the Plymouth isnthat there was a Plymouth Restaurant near that locale that recently changed formats to a Mexican restaurant – same ownership. So much in Chicago has changed since “Blues Brothers”.
I also wanted to say that reading that these were former CHP Monacos made me think of one of my favorite shows, “CHiPs”, which used plenty of them as driven by the other officers who weren’t Ponch or Jon.
Everyone loves the Blues Brothers but there is no market for these cars. I’m 54 and I’m too young to want them. The target buyer is 60+ and while a rich superfan of the movie MIGHT spend $17k for a show-ready tribute car already done perfectly, nobody is going to drop 35 G’s on raw material for a whimsical project with an audience that doesn’t exist. The time to sell these beaters was 30 years ago. TV auctions have created a culture of grifters and greed.