(first posted 10/12/2011) It’s a good thing I came across this car. There’s a point in life where one starts to prune away the excess, getting rid of the stuff in the closets and basement that hasn’t been used in thirty years or more. And I admit that’s what I had done with the Dodge Royal Monaco: it just kind of got swept away with the detritus of the seventies. If one is going to have room for new facts and impressions, it’s cars like this that get hauled off to the memory dump first.
Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but if someone had said (prior to seeing this car), “conjure up a visual image of a 1976 Royal Monaco”, I would have drawn a blank. Or a blob. I mean, I would have known the general shape of the big Dodges that year, but the details? Forget it!
I guess its fair to say that there’s a reason for that: the Royal Monaco didn’t exactly leave a very deep impression even in its day. Big, yes, but not deep, unless of course you’re a devoted Mopar fan. In which case you’ll probably point out why this car is really a ’75 or ’77. As if it mattered.
The new-for 1974 big Mopars had a shocking lack of styling originality. After the bold new look of the ’69-’73 fuselage style, the ’74s were blatant ripoffs of the 1971 Buick. Rarely has there been a more unabashed cribbing job in Detroit, right down to the sweep line running down to the rear fender mid line, not to mention the front end on the pre-5mph bumper 1974 model Dodge. It’s pretty pathetic really, although at least they picked a fairly handsome big barge to copy.
It was a difficult time for Chrysler, especially in the big car field. The category that was shrinking for everyone, and it just collapsed during the ’73-’74 energy crisis. But while GM and Ford carried on, and planned a massive downsizing of their full sized cars, Chrysler got hit the hardest. And the timing was particular painful. Chrysler was on a different styling cycle with their big cars, bringing out the all-new fuselages in ’69, while GM held off until ’71 with their new Big-Boys. The fuselage wasn’t going to last, so Chrysler committed to a restyle for 1974, right into the teeth of the OPEC oil crisis and resulting recession.
Sales crashed, and never recovered. For example, just 35k units of the whole Royal Monaco family were built in 1976. No wonder it’s such a rare bird and has fallen off my radar. I should amend that to mean the ’75 and up models with the heavily revised front end. The 1974 model is of course the unforgettable The Blues Brothers ex-cop mobile. It’s not an exaggeration to say that a mighty healthy percentage of these cars were built for police and taxi fleets.
The big 440 was still available for police work, although its power output was on a steady ten horsepower per year diet: 215 (net) in ’75; 205 (net) in ’76; and a mere 195 in 1977. The bad old Lean Burn era! A healthy dollop of torque was still on tap, at the lower end of the limited rpm band. In a few years, the cops driving the 318-powered St. Regis would be heartily missing their 440 Monacos. The rest of Chrysler’s V8s were of course available, starting with the 318, and working up through the 360, 400 and of course, the 440. Mileage in that era was abysmal; the big blocks in those days were lucky to break into the double digits. Still, there will be those that feel nostalgic for these kind of cars; that’s ok, but just don’t try to convince the rest of us. Or at least me.
That new front end for the ’75s has a decidedly FoMoCo look to it; the 1973 Mercury Marquis, to be precise. So now the Dodge Royal Monaco is a delightful mash up of GM and Ford. And it’s quickly headed for oblivion, the junk yard of automotive history of that stellar era. Chrysler couldn’t afford a proper all-new downsized full-sized car, so after this Royal Monaco bid farewell after 1977, a re-bodied midsized St.Regis took over its former role. That’s a story for another day, but it better be before too long, because those particular memory banks are getting a bit fragile too.
You’re dead on about the Buick look. If I had seen one of these in a parking lot from that 2nd picture (rear shot) I would have been scratching my head trying to figure out why some fool put Dodge badges on a Buick 225 coupe. This story still facinates me – the world of the Big 3 is falling apart around them and GM creates the downsize B-body, Ford creates the Panther, and Chrysler “gives up” until Lido decides to make hay while the M-body’s shine.
Hopefully this sad little car wasn’t anybody’s “Midlife Chrysler.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzVDaRpUr8w
Hopefully this sad little car wasn’t anybody’s “Midlife Chrysler.”
If there’s one thing this car is not, it’s “little”. There, that’s pretty much the best I can do to defend this one…..
Oh wait, I can do better…. The front end on this iteration looks way better than the front of the 1972-73 Monaco Brougham. It looked like the stylists were trying to crib a 1966 Olds Toronado and failed.
OTOH, I have always liked the looks of the 1971 Buick Electra. The ’74 Monaco even has front-end styling similar to the big Buick, before they grafted the Ford-like front onto it for 75. 71 Electra look, but built on Mopar C-body mechanicals, sounds like a win to me! 🙂
OK little was wrong of me but was being used in a parenthetical sense. And of course you could say that the Chrysler’s were likely to be the best handling of the big three but then they just kept softening the ride thinking that was what would lead to higher sales.
I have a soft spot for those ’72-3 Monaco Broughams. My grandfather’s last car was a triple deep green ’73 4 door h/t. I really liked that front end, and the whole car looked miles better than my dad’s ’73 Fury III 4 door h/t which he decided to get in a dreary gold color for some unfathomable reason.
In the 1974 made for TV movie, ad guy drives a red (!) ’73 Monaco wagon, while his embattled, and dying boss, William Shatner (!!) tools around in a dark blue New Yorker Brougham 4 door h/t. A real, if really bad, CC Movie of the Week.
I thought ’73 or ’74 was too early for stubborn Ford to begin downsizing their barges, for the Panther was introduced ca. 5 yrs later, while GM’s ’76 B platform, I presume, was in development at this time. Or am I underestimating product cycles of this era?
The ’70s are why I have an indelible prejudice against Chryslers, not helped by Consumer Reports reviews since then (lots of ● as well). And to think that they are now part of Fiat!! BTW, the Buick Regal now ranks Recommended in their latest review, attributed to its Opel pedigree.
I’m a real fan of this car and I’m looking for a nice example to buy and then export it to my country (Switzerland). Even if the performance for the engine it has isn’t very high, this model has a symptomatic design of its era. Viewed from here, the Royal Monaco remembers me so many police cars in former TV shows and films, with a special mention to The Blues Brothers. Today it’s one of the best ways to drive “different” and this makes it so desirable. Very far from todays standards, its design has something timeless that makes it a very nice car even today. Somebody selling one of these? I’m your buyer.
You can add atrocious assembly quality to the list of sins.
That vinyl roof has likely been like that since the waning days of the Carter administration.
I hated these when they were new. Now I like the relatively clean lines and lack of goof like opera windows.
“Mileage in that era was abysmal; the big blocks in those days were lucky to break into the double digits…
Correct. My friend’s dad bought a 1974 Chevy Caprice and only got 13.5 mpg highway mileage out of it. Not a happy camper with that car, as if his other Buicks did much if no better.
Of course, the car in question only had one positive going for it, but even that doesn’t matter. Those old boats, good riddance!
Amen!
Those who lived thru this hellish decade will look on these cars with a little different lens than those who didn’t.
For me, from the fuselage-styled 69’s forward ChryCo was just phoning in their full-size cars. It got even worse as the 70’s wore on in a perpetual race to the bottom.
The 77-up GM B-bodies and ’79 Panthers were the only 1971-79 full size cars from Detroit worthy of their 1950’s – 1960’s ancestors.
As a Mopar fan in that era, I think that these were better admired as other peoples’ cars than as one of your own. Build quality was terrible, Lean Burn and multiple electrical gremlins were common, ugh. The styling was always a mishmash on these, too. This was one of the few cars that looked better as a 4 door than as a 2 door – the coupe rooflines were just off somehow.
I have fairly extensive experience with the Chryslers of the 74-78 era, but very little with the Plymouths and Dodges. The strangest thing I recall was that while the 4 door hardtops (no center pillar) were quite rigid in their structure, the 4 door sedans were not – they shook unlike any Unibody Mopar I had ever driven.
You finally found it, Paul. When you present us with a C body Mopar that neither BigOlChryslers or JPCavanaugh can get excited over, well just mark this one down for the CC book of notable events.
You finally found it, Paul. When you present us with a C body Mopar that neither BigOlChryslers or JPCavanaugh can get excited over, well just mark this one down for the CC book of notable events.
LOL! I couldn’t agree more.
“You finally found it, Paul. When you present us with a C body Mopar that neither BigOlChryslers or JPCavanaugh can get excited over, well just mark this one down for the CC book of notable events.”
Count me in for the hat trick! At least if it was a Gran Fury four-door I’d have a nice memory of Grampa’s.
C-body fans complain about muscle-heads trashing barges to get their hands on the big blocks, but this one…
Good grief the trifecta I didnt think such a Chrysler existed.
Right on, Bryce, even the most virulent brand bias has limits. To be fair this vintage C-body is considered to have better body integrity than the fuselage cars. Plus the seats got extra cushy.
I gotta say, Cavanaugh, you are forever surprising me with your automotive tastes. Every time I think you and I would probably like some car such as this Dodge, you get it all wrong and don’t! 😉
I see hardly any lines on this car to dislike. Usually, I HATE cars from this era, but to my eye, this Dodge has a nice flow to it. It is indeed a mismash, but it’s a pretty damn good mismash! The only thing I’d clean up is the tail lights-few Chrysler products of this era look anything but dowdy in this regard to me.
My dad had a Newport from this era or a little earlier that I can barely remember. He said it was actually a pretty good car.
The only reason to still have one of these cars is to build a Bluesmobile. For some reason I am tempted to do this, and have the garbage sliding around on the dash as I drive through the mall.
However, this sad example is a two door, so no point.
I cannot decide which version of the 2 door looks worse – the plain one on this car, or the hastily conceived/inexpensively executed landau version.
I was a sucker for the canopy roof that Mopar offered on its full and mid-sized coupes (except for Cordoba/Charger). It was at least, different from the landau roofs that seemed to be everywhere.
My father was a Mopar man – he started with a 1958 Plymouth Fury Sport Suburban Wagon after owning a Chevy and a Ford. In 1976 he was ready for a new car to replace the 1969 Chrysler Town and Country. We could have very easliy ended up with a big old Mopar like this example. When they went to the dealership he headed straight for the station wagons (I am the youngest of 5) because he considered a nine passenger wagon the only way to travel. My mother, sick of big wagons, convinced him to get a 1976 Cordoba, reasoning that many of the kids were gone, and that we could keep the ’69 T&C for hauling duty and teenager car.
When I see the interiors of these full-sized Chrysler products I think they look so ugly and plasticky. I neighbor had a 1976 Royal Monaco with a red plush interior that was trimmed out in what I would call ‘early bordello’.
Even as a kid I knew that these were a blatant rip-off of the GM full-size cars. The sedans weren’t bad looking, but why not just buy the real thing (and get better build quality, reliabilty and trade-in value to boot)?
By the mid-1970s, the only solid items in the Chrysler line-up were the Dart/Valiant, Cordoba and Dodge vans. Everything else seemed to be an also-ran compared to the Ford and GM competition.
Slightly incorrect there about the “pre-5mph bumper ’74 Dodge…it has the same bumpers as the featured car. The only differences on the ’74 are exposed headlights and a different grille. Perhaps that’s a compliment for how well Chrysler integrated the battering rams on this generation of its big cars….
Also, I think 1978 was a gap year, where the big Dodge’s and Plymouth’s were gone, replaced by mid-sized “Fury’s” and “Monaco’s”….and the St Regis did not pop up until ’79, the year the big Chrysler’s finally also disappeared.
This car and cars of this era (73-76) are great demo derby fodder – you drill holes in the bumper shocks and weld them solid, and go into battle!
These cars are increasingly disqualified from demo derby events — especially events with greater publicity, attendance and awards — because of an unfair physical advantage over later, lighter, more plasticized cars.
The more I look at that front end I DON’T see Mercury Grand Marquis, I see early 70s Lincoln Continental coupe. Say about a 1972 model. Am I alone in seeing that?
I can see the Continental resemblance, but my first impression was 1975 LTD Landau, especially in that detail shot of the front end. I would have identified this as a Monaco right off the bat, but it’s because The Blues Brothers is my favorite movie. I’m guessing this one doesn’t have cop tires, cop suspension or cop shocks.
I was thinking LTD Landau as well.
LTD Landau front and 73 Buick Century rear.
I always thought that this car really highlighted ChryCo’s internal competition. It seemed like Dodge and Chrysler by this point were only in competition with each other and nobody else.
Things really didn’t start turning around for ChryCo until the L body and Lido came around in 78.
Check out this Monaco. This guy always has some beautiful classics,
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/mint-all-original-1976-Dodge-Monaco-fully-loaded-just-56773-miles-a-c-pw-/120790099044?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item1c1fa6a464
Nice car. I couldn’t leave that car in entirely stock form like that, though. It would just make too unique a cruisin’ machine:
That double hump crossmember is just begging for duals and loud-ass Flowmaster 40s. It needs some modern sized wheels and tires. Poly bushings in the sway bars, firm shocks, a new steering wheel, tint the windows…I’d be stylin’.
Don’t hate.
I never hate, just wish I had more money so I could do it.
Well Dan, I sort of follow my own rules to a degree, because Claudine the Town Car at least has a nice firm suspension now complete with rear sway bar and loud true dual exhaust, though I couldn’t justify Flowmasters. I haven’t tinted the windows because I just think it would look wrong on mine, and as far as wheels I really like my lacy spokes. I have seriously considered a rear axle swap out of a later Vic whale both for the rear discs and the extra inch of track width Claudine desperately needs to look right.
If I was king for a day my first piece of legislation would be to mandate that any car with 6, 8 or more cylinders be factory equiped with dual exahusts just to make the addition of louder exhausts easier. When I get an H-body (whichever one it may be) the first place it will go (after I ensure it is mecancically sound) will be the tint shop then to the custom exhaust shop around the corner.
BTW I love spoke wheels on a true luxury car too.
I had a 1974 Plymouth Gran Fury sedan for a while, and took quite a razzing from some of my Mopar-freak pals at club functions: “Hey, get that Buick outta here” and such. That car had its problems, one of them being a tendency not to want to start when my wife, a Realtor at the time, was showing houses and had customers in it. Then after she called me, I’d come to her rescue, get in the car, try to start it, and it would start normally. Otoh its body integrity was great. No marks anywhere inside except a little wear on the driver’s side carpet…AND…no water leaks in the body. The latter is a big deal to Pacific northwest Mopar freaks. It had full power and cruise control…everything worked. It got twelve miles per gallon (360 engine) no matter whether I was going through a mountain pass or on a flat freeway on cruise control. We called it “Green Fury” because except for the white vinyl top the exterior and interior were all green except for the black plastic around the instruments.
One day in late 1975, my Dad came home with his new company car, a 76 Royal Monaco Brogham wagon. It replaced his 74 Coronet wagon.
It was grasshopper green in and out… shiny silvery green vinyl seats… I learned to drive in this car. I can remember taking one corner too fast and having the rear end fish tail on me… live and learn.
I can only imagine how few of these were sold to the public. They were popular with police and taxi cabs. After that how many of the 35k were actually sold to the public at retail as opposed to fleet.
I never thought it looked like a Buick…too squared off where as GM looks more rounded. Similarly the front hidden headlights don’t look quite as smooth as those on the Marquis. Somehow more like a frumpy older sister, or step-brother.
The second car I bought as an adult (registered in my name, not my father’s) was a one-owner 1975 Dodge Royal Monaco Brougham wagon that was 13 years old.
I have never liked another car remotely as much as I liked that one.
It rode like a living room and had the inertia of a tank – god help you if you managed to get the tires to let go of the road.
It had the ” fuel minder” system to warn if you were “burning fuel inefficiently”, and if you were light on the throttle you could get the 400V8 to get 22mpg city and 28mpg highway in a 3 ton car.
And it passed emissions testing effortlessly, one tester said it beat the standards for brand new cars.
Then a friend blew all my transmission seals, the new transmission blew up my engine, and the replacement engine had the transmission for breakfast.
God I miss that car.
There used to be a sea of these cars parked in the Michigan State Fairgrounds parking lots across the street from my house in the 1970’s. That’s when Chrysler built cars by the thousands, in advance of any orders.
Say Dodge Monaco I automaticly think Blues Brothers best movie by far. Chryslers world was begining to unravel about this time the english brands were getting old and needing upgrading and the Australian brand was in trouble.
Chrysler bet on big grunty hemi 6 engines just in time for the gas shortage it was kudos to have the fastest 6cylinder car on the planet for 15 years or so but not at the pump in 5 years Chrysler was gone from Aus/NZ and the Hillman models got 1 minor restyle then gone.
Chryco ran away and hid behind the US tariff walls shame really as the Aussie muscle car industry kept going and the little Chrysler Centura with some money spent on it could have been a success,
Here is a Chrysler promo video comparing a ’77 Monaco against a ’77 Caprice.
Summary of benefits of the Monaco: It’s Bigger!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBiJX0uC-cE&sns=em
FWIW, I like the lines of the Monaco in this CC.
If only Chrysler could have built the miserable things as well as Chevy built the Caprices, we would be having a whole different discussion here. The sedan with the optional road wheels doesn’t look bad.
You can’t blame them for trying.. Unfortunately the new Impala/Caprice just looked cleaner. Suddenly it was 1980..
We could wonder what if Chrysler had focused to restyle the A-body or the mid-size B-body for ’74 instead of the C-body if things could had been different? (Or even going back to 1962 if the ill-fated downsized Dodge and Plymouth didn’t look like plucked chicken or if Chrysler gived a 2nd chance to the E-body ‘Cuda)
I had to push Dodge cars about older areas of a major city for a few years, 6 cylinder 4 doors, terrible experience, hated them.
This body style was also used for the mid 70’s Plymouth’s, especially the Fury’s like the Gran Fury. I should know, my Dad had a ’75 Gran Fury who’s body was very similar to this, but in the 4 door sedan.
It even had a similar front end, though with exposed headlights and the taillight lenses were different, but the overall car’s styling was almost identical otherwise.
His was bought at a local Gov’t auction in I think 1979-80, was supposedly an undercover cop car, had the light gold metallic paint, parchment vinyl interior and vinyl top, full wheel covers and the venerable 360 V8 in it. He would own that car until 1982 when he replaced it with a Federal Gov’t General Service auction 78 Ford Fairmont 4 door.
I learned to drive in that old Plymouth and it didn’t seem to be a bad car at all, just your average 4 door with full bench seats up front and back and I’ve always hated this older style traditional 4 door sedan models and still do to this day. I don’t recall any electrical issues with it, nor any mechanical issues either. We also had a 70, I think it was fuselage body Fury III 4 door that other than the overly powerful power brakes, was a great car for the time we had it, 72-75?
I DO recall this car had the newer heavier winding reduction gear starters and electronic ignition and the starter would spin the motor over so much faster but still had that unmistakable Mopar starter sound from the 60’s, just faster and higher pitched.
For 1974, Plymouth still used Fury I. II. III, and Gran Fury. Then for 75-77, all biggies were Gran Fury, while the B body was the ‘new small Fury’. Confusing, yes.
Ok, I will be the odd duck who doesn’t post often but loves these. And the Dodge St. Regis.
I know they made for lacklustre cars in their time, but that’s nothing a little attention couldn’t fix.
Chicago Police had Royal Monacos from 1975 to 77, lots of them ended up in the ‘Blue Bros’ when they switched to 78-79 Impalas. My dad, a CHP. got a ’76 maroon ‘take home car’. The Dept removed the headlight covers, on these, btw.
I’m also familiar with these beasts since the plant in Belvidere IL made them, and had many unsold ones sitting most of the years of production. [Probably how the CHP got a deal]
Mopar was just copying by the mid 70’s, and these came out just when the Oil Crisis started in Oct 1973. But also, I think lots of older Mopar owners bought Cordobas instead of the tanks.
I’ve been the proud (?) owner of a 76 Dodge Royal Monaco 2 dr HT since new. Drive out price was $ 5,600. Astral blue metallic, blue vinyl roof to match, and blue Princeton cloth interior. My car is the identical style to the car in the picture, the back windows roll down. No landau. However, my car has held up much better through the years. Though deteriorating, mine still gets compliments. This morning, while getting gas, a guy told me it is still a pretty car.
Why I’ve kept the car for over 35 years is a mystery, even to me. It’s just happened that way. I always liked the styling, with the hidden headlights, even as a copy of Lincoln and Mercury. With almost 62K on the odometer, it still drives nice after you warm it up. Otherwise, it will stall repeatedly, has since new.
I guess the reason it’s still around is that I always had at least one other car to drive and the Dodge sat. It has been sitting out for the last 18 years or so, so it’s natural to find it deteriorating. (A mint 78 Eldo had taken over the garage rights.)
In summary, I feel that my Royal wasn’t the best car in the world, but after 35 years, it’s an old friend. It won’t be around 35 years from now, but neither will I. Cheers!
That sounds like a nice car, Dave. Why let it go if it works?
“…it’s cars like this that get hauled off to the memory dump first”
I disagee somewhat. If it weren’t for the ‘Blues Brothers” movie, these Dodges all would be forgotten. But, in the collector car world, many a ‘tribute’ BB car has been cobbled. Even my non car knowing faily can tell what a ‘Bluesmobile’ looks like. Also, the opening titles of ‘Hill St. Blues’ immortalized the Royal Monacos.
Well, you may not think it made a great impression on people, but they did impress 200,000 people that bought them between fall of 73 and Spring of 77. I’m not sure why people say this is a poor quality car? I own one and they are significantly better quality than anything Ford or Chevy put out at that time. Chrysler C bodies of that era were built very well, they are definately not in the Dodge Aspen catagory. Yes, they do look like GM cars. But I would say, similar to the 71 thru 73’s GM’s but refined. After 73, the GM fullsized started to look very wierd.
In high school I had a ’77 Royal Monaco 2 door w/the diplomat stainless steel roof band, fully loaded with every option my mom’s ’77 Cadillac had. I loved that car. It was well built. While the GM cars were loaded with plastic body fillers and cheap plastic exterior trim, the Royal Monaco was solid. The body fillers on my mom’s Caddy disintegrated in 5 years and had to be replaced. I think the front cap of the Royal Monaco was made of thick fiberglass material. I’ve never seen one break down because of UV exposure. The light door covers were metal and even the grill was metal. They didn’t use cheap, disposable materials. I owned it for 10 years and never had a problem w/it. Chrysler introduced a good car at the wrong time (start of the oil crisis). All big cars took a hit.
I loved my 77 Royal Monaco Brogham
Buick copies or not, I’ve always preferred the looks of the ’74-’78 Mopar full-sizers. Probably because not being alive during the ’70s, I became more familiar with the Chrysler C-bodies first. The Royal Monaco’s front fascia with hidden headlights was one of the most attractive front ends of the era in my opinion. It’s a shame these cars couldn’t have arrived a few years earlier, or that Chrysler wasn’t in a better position to develop all-new downsized replacements.
I wonder if Chrysler had guessed the carmeggedon coming to big cars in 74, would they even done this car. Imagine if the fairly unsuccessful B body had been turned into the R body in 74 instead of 79. A slant 6 big car might have really worked in 74. The old B could sell along side until the M body was available. The Volare could have been skipped as well, just a light restyle of the Valiant going back to the 108 wheelbase and taking enough weight out to get the Mitsu 2.6 four cylinder/5sp standard. I think doing this would have cost a broke Chrysler much less and left a better product line.
No one predicted such a drastic cut in big car sales, GM and Ford big cars were still bread and butter. The 74 C bodies were designed to compete with their rivals, since the Fuselage look turned off conservative big car buyers. It was like they said “bring back the 65’s!” Big cars were the money and Detroit companies relied on them for profits, long before today’s truck boom.
GM was planning their 77’s around 1973, to be smaller, but then went full steam ahead once OPEC Embargo came to be. Ford and Chrysler let them take that risk, but then it hurt them.
My mother drove a 1977 Dodge Royal Monaco Brougham it was dark red and had a 360 in it. I loved that car and it was in the family for over 10 years. At 15 I was allowed to back it out of the garage to wash it. I relished washing it and revving the 360 in park and feeling the whole car twist with the torque. I remember pushing that barge up to 130 mph and it had more beyond that, it rode like a dream. However, when I was 16 years old I took it out on a date and the very night it was decided it was to be given to me, a tree jumped out in front of me and totaled it out. No one was wearing a seat belt and we were both OK, but my recklessness caught up with me that night and I lost what was at the time my dream car.
What’s interesting, according to Brian Bouwkamp over at Allpar, is that Product Planning originally conceived of the F-body as a replacement for both the A- and B-bodies – their research showed heavy overlaps in their buyers.that’s probably why there was a station wagon in the lineup, absent from the A-body lineup since ’66. If they had simply held onto the fuselage full sizes for one more year, and done a full restyle of the B-body (including sedans and wagons) for ’75, they probably would have been in a better place to get to an R-body. But the 74 C-bodies were planned pre OPEC, so there you go…
As others have pointed out, these cars would have been long forgotten if not for The Blues Brothers. But you have to wonder if they had used a big Ford or Chevy in the movie if it would have had the same effect. There was something about those old Mopar police cars, despite their myriad flaws, that fits perfectly into that movie. I’ve always wondered about the car ‘casting’ and if someone realized that a big, flabby, old Dodge cop-car would make the perfect vehicle. It seemed like such a loser and exactly the type of car the Blues brothers would drive. OTOH, their previous car was an old Cadillac (traded for a microphone), and that seems kind of appropriate, as well.
While everyone remembers Elwood Blues’ line about it having a 440 plant, it’s got cop tires, cop shocks, etc., the line that seems more appropriate is when the state trooper sees it pass and exclaims, “It’s that sh!tbox Dodge…”.
Sweet looking car. I’ve never seen a Royal Monaco two door before. I’ve seen plenty of four door versions.
Gone, and Forgotten?
I suspect there are quite a few Blues Brothers fans who would disagree with you. Not to mention the House of Blues chain. http://www.houseofblues.com/
Nice car, just needs a new vinyl top and reupholstered seat.
I agree that the hidden lamp fascia is particularly handsome. I, too, have a soft spot for these cars, but it’s at least partially due to a little tiny version. Late in the 70’s, Matchbox created a 1/64 die cast of a police car, which happened to be a Gran Fury. And that little guy became one of my favorite matchbox cars, which turned into a fondness for the real thing. So both the Royal Monaco and its brethren Gran Fury and New Yorker have been personal favorites ever since. A stylistic rip-off, a quality gamble, and a big barge it may be, but it sill pushes the right buttons.
Good looking, smooth riding car. Dodge dealership owners deserved a nice car to drive.
Look at the way the style line runs from the hood, down the door , and down the rear fender… ’62 Polara !!
Paul, has anyone ever commented on those magnificent (and humourous!) photo captions you come up with? Mousing over your photos to see the caption always puts a smile on my face!
No, which is why I stopped doing them several years ago. This is an old post.
But maybe I will again, now that I know someone has noticed them. 🙂
Id never noticed that…sneaky. Now I have to look back at my favorite older cars…
You should continue w/the alternate text for the images. Screen readers use it for accessibility for those who are visually impaired. Your text is read by the software in place of the image, which the person may not be able to see.
I don`t care what anybody says, I like Mopars from the Malaise-Brougham era, and this is no exception. Looks even better with a New Yorker coupe style vinyl roof treatment. Not too high on my priority list,but I`ll take one anyway.
I think this car looks pretty good. I do not understand all the hate.
From Allpar:
“…back in 1971 as they began planning the 1974 models. Having just revised their tepidly-received fuselage body Fury, introduced in 1969, they were anxious to get a more conventionally-styled full-sized car on the market. They were certain the Fury they had planned for 1974 was just what the public wanted. They were right…at the time. What they hadn’t (and couldn’t have) counted on was the 1973 oil embargo…”
But the Duster/Valients ended up selling well, instead.
http://www.allpar.com/history/mopar/unexpected-success.html