Cars - Dodge Monaco

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	Cars - Dodge Monaco

The Dodge Monaco was a fullsize automobile built and sold by the Dodge division of the Chrysler Corporation (now DaimlerChrysler) between 1965 to 1978 and 1990 to 1992.

The Dodge Monaco was originally designed to compete with Pontiac's Grand Prix model in what came to be known as the personal luxury market. Introduced in 1965 as a hardtop coupe, the Monaco was based on the Dodge Polara two door hardtop coupe. The Monaco received special badging, different tail light and grille treatment, and a center console.

In 1967, the Monaco name was applied to all premium trim level, full-sized Dodge products (sedans, coupes, and station wagons), replacing the Polara 880 at the top of the Dodge line. Taking the Monaco's place as a premium full-size model was the Monaco 500, which was available only as a two-door hardtop and convertible. Dodge terminated the Monaco 500 at the end of the 1968 model run.

The Chrysler Corporation of Canada fielded a Dodge Monaco in Canada, which was also available as a convertible. However, Canadian Monaco’s were equipped with Plymouth dashboards in 1965 and 1966.

In 1970 Dodge Monaco and Polara models featured a offered the "Super Light" option, which placed a quartz road lamp on the driver side grille for better visibility. Despite the fanfare, Dodge dropped the light option at the end of the year because of lack of consumer interest and various challenges to its legality in certain states.

As a result of the 1970s' energy crisis, Chrysler shifted the Monaco nameplate to the midsize B platform in 1977, retiring the Coronet name. For 1977, the older, larger Monaco remained available and was called the Dodge Royal Monaco. The nameplate disappeared when the Monaco was replaced by the Dodge St. Regis for 1979.

For 1990, with Chrysler searching for a way to sell the required amount of Renault-based Eagle Premiers, the Monaco name was briefly revived for a rebadged version of the Premier, differing only in grille, taillamps and badging. It didn't work; with the similarly-sized Dynasty already a known entity and by far the more popular (and some say more reliable) model, the latter-day Monaco was destined to fail.

The Monaco (and, for that matter, the Dynasty as well) was discontinued following the introduction of the Dodge Intrepid in late 1992.

Trivia

Monacos were popular as police cars and a 1974 police model nicknamed "The Bluesmobile" appears as the vehicle purchased by Elwood Blues in the 1980 comedy film The Blues Brothers.

Many of these police car Monacos of the 1970s (and its sister car, the Plymouth Fury) were torpedoed in the air or destroyed in Hollywood car stunt scenes in that decade and in the 1980s. The Dukes of Hazzard was infamous for the use (and destruction) of mid- to late-1970s Dodge Monacos and Plymouth Furys. A few were also used in early episodes of the 1980s show T. J. Hooker. The title character of the cop show Hunter (TV) drove a hunter-green '78 Monaco.

Sources

Burness, Tad, American Car Spotter's Guide (Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 1978 & 1981)

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Cars - Dodge Monaco

Trivia

Sources

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