"Andrew T. Maness" (theroadlessdriven)
08/10/2015 at 18:00 • Filed to: Malaise Monday, Malaise Era, Dodge, Bluesmobile, Dodge Monaco, Andrew Maness
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"Andrew T. Maness" (theroadlessdriven)
08/10/2015 at 18:00 • Filed to: Malaise Monday, Malaise Era, Dodge, Bluesmobile, Dodge Monaco, Andrew Maness | 1
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Dodge has always been an automotive outlier and I think it is for that reason that it’s easy to forget that they even made vehicles in between the glory days of the Charger and the birth of the Viper. Sure, they invented the minivan and set the tone for the modern truck market during that period, but other than those small contributions, what else did they do?
They built the damn Bluesmobile, that’s what.
Read more on The AutoTempest Blog.
kanadanmajava1
> Andrew T. Maness
08/10/2015 at 18:31 |
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I really love this model. My friend had a ‘74 Monaco 4d sedan and my other friend had a Royal Monaco wagon (‘78 if I remember correctly). I drove a lot with the sedan and had lots of fun with it. Sadly it went hibernating after it got severe rust issues but I think it still exists.
I’m not sure but I think that the poor wagon got scrapped. I had pretty fun trips with that one too. I even once slept one night on top of it’s huge hood in a sleeping bag. Drunken people started making a mess in my earlier sleeping place and the hood seemed to be the next best alternative.
How about the lesser sibling Gran Fury? I spotted this in last Saturday’s drag race event. It wasn’t the fastest one but looked pretty awesome while trying.
Svend
> Andrew T. Maness
08/10/2015 at 18:46 |
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My dad had a Royal Monaco in Saudi in a terracota colour with a cream vinyl roof. Great car. My dad wanted to drive it back to the U.K. From Saudi and my mother said ‘not a chance’.
AMC/Renauledge
> Andrew T. Maness
08/10/2015 at 22:25 |
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The blog is wrong. The last year for the C-body Royal Monaco was 1977. Only the smaller B-body carried the Monaco name in ‘78.
The only C-body cars Chrysler sold in ‘78 were the Newport and New Yorker Brougham. The big Dodges and Plymouths died after ‘77 along with the C-body T&C.
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Andrew T. Maness
> AMC/Renauledge
08/11/2015 at 01:15 |
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You are correct, I misread that on allpar.com. Thanks for pointing it out!
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Andrew T. Maness
> Svend
08/11/2015 at 01:15 |
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That would have made for a hell of a story.
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AMC/Renauledge
> Andrew T. Maness
08/11/2015 at 02:25 |
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Is that your blog? Looks good! Also, the only reason I know they ended in ‘77 is because I actually love those things. The 72-73 Monacos and 75-77 Royal Monacos with their hidden headlights were pretty damned cool.
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Svend
> Andrew T. Maness
08/11/2015 at 03:00 |
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It would of been the last straw. My mum and dad had previously been given tickets to fly on Concorde (he worked at the time for British Aerospace), my mum couldn’t as she was pregnant with my sister but that didn’t stop him going on it himself while my mother flew back on a Boeing 747. He was not in the good books for a long time so if he pushed to drive back to the U.K. in the Dodge, you can guarantee that if he wasn’t killed he would be singing soprano for the rest of his life.
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kanadanmajava1
> AMC/Renauledge
08/11/2015 at 06:52 |
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You are correct. I guess my friend’s wagon was then the last year model ‘77.
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Andrew T. Maness
> AMC/Renauledge
08/11/2015 at 14:10 |
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Yes it is, I run it for the folks at AutoTempest.
Yeah, the hidden headlights get me every time!
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Andrew T. Maness
> Svend
08/11/2015 at 14:13 |
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Hah! That’s amazing.
Would be interesting to look at Malaise Car culture in the U.K., maybe a good subject for a doc.
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Svend
> Andrew T. Maness
08/11/2015 at 15:35 |
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What was amazing was we had a storm on the Base south of Riyadh and our Dodge was parked up against the breeze block perimeter wall just behind the neighbours Mazda 323. Some of the blocks came down, the Mazda was destroyed while the Dodge only got a few scratches where they landed on the body and a caved in windscreen (the windscreen hadn’t even fully broke but literally cradled the block).