The Dodge Monaco was a full-sized personal luxury automobile marketed by the Dodge division of the Chrysler Corporation (now DaimlerChyrsler) in 1965.
The original Dodge Monaco was 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 a special roofline, badging, tail light and grille treatment and center console between the front seats. In 1969, the Monaco name was applied to all premium trim level, full-sized Dodge products (sedan's, hardtops, satation wagon), replacing the Polara, which was downgraded to Dodge's entry-level full-size automobile.
Chrysler Corporation of Canada Ltd fielded a Dodge Monaco in Canada, which was also available as a convertible. However Canadian Monacos were equipped with Plymouth automobile dashboards in 1965–1966 (see Plodge).
As a result of the 1970s' energy crisis, Chrysler shifted the Monaco nameplate on to the mid-size Coronet, retiring the Coronet name after over twenty years of use by Dodge. For a short time, the original, larger Monaco was called the Dodge Royal Monaco.
The nameplate disappeared in 1978 when the Monaco was replaced by the Dodge St. Regis for 1979.
In the late 1980s, the Monaco name was briefly revived for a badge-engineered version of the Renault-based Eagle Premier. The model was discontinued following the introduction of the Dodge Intrepid.
Trivia
The Blues Brothers and their Dodge Monaco
Monacos were popular as police cars and a 1974 police model nicknamed "The Bluesmobile" appears as the vehicle purchased by Jake and Elwood Blues in the 1980 comedy film The Blues Brothers.
Many of these "fuselage" style police car Monacos of the late 70's (and it's sister car the Plymouth Fury) were torpedoed in the air and/or destroyed in Hollywood car stunt scenes in the 70's and 80's.
