The Dodge Monaco is a 4-door station wagon / 4-door sedan / 4-door hardtop / 2-door hardtop / 2-door convertible (Canada) from Dodge, built from 1965, in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. Under the bonnet: 225 cuin Chrysler Slant-6 engine.
How it came about
The Dodge Monaco is an automobile that was marketed by the Dodge division of Chrysler Corporation. It was introduced for the 1965 model year as the flagship of the full-sized Dodge product line, replacing the Custom 880. The Monaco later became a sub-model of the Dodge Polara. During its production, the Monaco was offered in several body configurations, including two-door and four-door hardtop sedans, four-door sedans, two-door convertibles, and station wagons. From 1965 through 1977, three generations of the Monaco were produced using the full-size Chrysler C platform. For 1977 and 1978, Dodge shifted the Monaco to the intermediate Chrysler B platform, effectively downsizing the model line.
For 1979, the model line was redesigned and renamed the Dodge St. Regis. After a twelve-year hiatus, the full-size Monaco was revived for the 1990 model year as the flagship Dodge sedan, replacing the Diplomat. This model was a rebadged version of the Eagle Premier, which was developed by Renault and American Motors Corporation (AMC). The Dodge Intrepid replaced the Monaco for the 1993 model year. The cars are named after the Principality of Monaco.
The hardware
Power comes from 225 cuin Chrysler Slant-6 engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It shifts through a 3-speed manual / 4-speed manual / 3-speed automatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 121 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Full-size: / Dodge 880 (1965) / Intermediate: / Dodge Coronet (1976) / 5th-Gen: / Dodge Diplomat (1982–1989); its successor was the Full-size: / Dodge St. Regis (1979–1981) / 5th-Gen: / Dodge Intrepid (1993); assembly was at Hamtramck, Michigan (Dodge Main Factory), United States. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Ford Transit, the Nissan Silvia, the Ford Bronco — show what else the money bought that year. Its Dodge stablemates include the Dodge 1500 and the 1955 Dodge.
What it costs now
There is no federal ownership record for the Dodge Monaco — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.