Curtis Perry, whose photography we’ve seen quite a bit in the past here, has uploaded more excellent shots. This one of a 1976 Dodge Royal Monaco wagon is a gem, in both subject and setting. When was the last time you saw one of these? And against such a backdrop.
I did manage to find a ’76 Royal Monaco in Eugene a few years back, but it was a mere two door hardtop. My take on it, whose title is “Gone, and Forgotten” is here. Quite true, as I’ve never seen it or another since. And it is rather forgotten.
Here’s a page from the brochure, so you can get a better look at it from other angles and the inside (click on image for full size). The line on the bottom says “Uncommon luxury…” Uncommon indeed. Less than 6,000 of these Monaco wagons were sold in 1976; the Brougham version was the biggest seller of the bunch, accounting for almost half of the sales. I suspect that it appealed to a certain understated but affluent buyer, who essentially got a Chrysler with that name.
The 400 CID (6.6 L) V8 was standard in the wagons, and the 440 was optional. 1976 was the penultimate year for the big Dodges; after 1977 they were gone, reincarnated on the smaller B platform.
The front is suitably broughamy looking but not terribly original.
It’s really interesting how derivative the styling of the Dodge and Plymouth C-Bodies became with the ’74 redesign. That year, the Fury looked like a ’71 Buick LeSabre, while the Monaco looked like a ’72 Buick LeSabre–and each had a nice dash of Chevy Impala thrown in for good measure. So Chrysler must have gotten nervous for ’75 that they were cribbing too many design cues from GM and needed to add in some from FoMoCo–hence the ’73 Marquis front end was introduced for the ’75 Royal Monaco. Ripping off styling from both your Motown rivals really was the way to go!
To be fair to Mopar, I will say that the Chrysler versions of the C-Body from ’74 – ’78 were very unique looking and attractive in that Detroit barge kind of way.
Yes, The Chrysler versions were the nicest looking and rather than being derivative, the looked like Chryslers. OTOH, cribbing one another’s styling is par for the course in industrial design. The ’79 R platform MoPars and ’79 FoMoCo Panthers obviously were inspired somewhat by the 77 GM B/Cs. This holds true in everything from automobiles to refrigerators to hardware. Every “generic” door lockset on the market has the same doorknob style and even shape of key as “Kwickset” – Copy the biggest seller – it’s safer than trying to be too unique.
The full-size Chryslers were handsome cars. The Plymouths and Dodges, however, looked as though Chrysler had simply given up, and accepted that most of them were going to be sold to police departments and taxi companies.
the Plymouth looked more like an Oldsmobile to me only better, and the Dodge looked more like the Electra without skirts. I had a dark green 72 Electra and a GreenGold 75 Royal Monaco 4 door ht. They looked like family members parked side by side. Also had 74-75 Imperials, and 76-77-78 New Yorker Broughams The RM was full power, A/C 360 4bbl and ran great for the years I had it. The New Yorkers had pw problems until replacing with older motors, all else worked well and I thought the NY was beautiful, very comfortable tufted leather, finally had problems on the Mopars lean burns after 15 years.
Curtis’s work is always terrific. This Dodge wagon, in this light, seems rather predictive for that relentlessly hyped solar eclipse tomorrow.
I’ve been looking for a C-body Dodge or Plymouth for years to write up. Finding a wagon like this, in which a few have been on eBay, would be a holy grail of sorts.
Jason:
Just this week a Monaco 4 door “popped-up” on a Craigslist in northern Florida. It’s a 73 (not a great year for Dodge), and it’s triple medium metallic green.
Looks like a better styled Country Squire AND whatever the Mercury variant was at that time.
Just looked up the sales numbers for Chevy, Dodge, Ford, and Mercury full-sized wagons in The Encyclopedia of American Cars. Even Mercury outsold Dodge in full-sized wagons by a margin of about 3 to 1.
The Mercury Colony Park was fairly popular in the mid-1970s. It was luxurious enough to be viewed as a step up from a Country Squire.
Back in those days before Navigators and Escalades, The Colony Park and The Electra Estate were the closest to Lincoln and Cadillac as FoMoCo and GM fans could go if they wanted a wagon. The Colony Park could be quite Lincoln like when fully loaded. PS FoMoCo actually did prototype a Lincoln wagon while the Panthers were being designed.
I actually think I like the looks of these better than the final Town & Country wagons, at least from the front end with the hidden headlights. Plus, what could be more 1970s bougie than owning a Dodge “Royal Monaco Brougham” 😉 It has a nice ring to it!
The names back then said “you have arrived”! I owned (and absolutely LOVED) a 1976 Pontiac Bonneville Grand Safari station wagon.
I remember when a big full size wagon was a suburban status symbol. After the addition of three row seating to these big wagons they were really at the top of their game. These were the only cars capable of towing the big trailers and boats. My Dad preferred the mid size Pontiac Tempest wagons but we had a ’67 Chevy Bel Air once. An entry level big wagon. Modern full size SUVs probably do a better job for hauling people and cargo and towing but these were so classy. Love the name too. My favorite wagon name is the Mercury Colony Park.
Farmers are often conservative, resistant-to-change people.
A pick up truck for him, a station wagon for her.
Some of us conservative farmers also like to keep a sedan around for goin’ to town on Sundays….
I recall the big Detroit wagons being popular for pulling horse trailers. Sort of high brow farming.
When I was younger a family down the road had one of these. The son was driving in a road construction zone and did not pay attention to a severe drop-off between paved and non-paved road (there was at least a foot-and-a-half drop off between the two).
He returned home with a bend in the frame just ahead of the windshield – with accordion marks on both the left and right front fenders. It was incredible that the car still drove with such an obvious bend in the frame.
These wagons were most definitely a rare beast. And I personally think they are stunning. There was a rust-colored one that I remember distinctly from my childhood that was a local doctor’s wife’s car. The family had it for about three or four years, and I believe once the kids were grown a wagon was no longer needed – the doctor’s wife ended up getting a chocolate brown 1979 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham d’Elegance.
These cars from Chrysler from 1974 through 1978, when the last Chrysler Newport was built on this chassis, were great big comfortable vehicles. I always enjoyed riding and driving them, which was when I worked for Chrysler and periodically used company vehicles.
For the last trip………..
Perfect for a Funeral home in Dodge City!?
Nice example………
Great car….these are very rare in the netherlands.
An auto writer at the time saying these were the best big Chrysler products ever. Since these were smog choked and no longer had the performance of the earlier models, he went on to observe that without the past performance, these were just another car.
A Chrysler spokesman at the time was asked about the resemblance to Buicks and Mercurys. He allegedly answered “What’s wrong with that. Buick and Mercury are selling a lot of them.” Since the spokesman wasn’t named, could be a pre-internet myth, but I thought it was funny enough that I remembered it all these years.
All of my 74-78 Mopars (big versions) especially my Imperials and New Yorkers had power. 0-60less than 10 seconds and top speed over 125 mph, with the best handling available here. One ’77 New Yorker Brougham I had ate a 68 Road Runner with 383 Magnum and 4 speed in a drag race. His car had never lost before. The sticker on my NY said it was a 440 Interceptor/police 0-60 on it was a turbine like 7.9 sec. I loved that car. It also had no skirts from the factory, just trim around the wheel well, car was triple white.
I used to describe these full-sized domestic wagons from the 70s as ‘land battleships’. Just look at that imposing front clip. The Chrysler New Yorker wagons, with their rear fender skirts, were my favorite representative from Chrysler. The Olds Custom Cruiser wagon being another example that had fender skirts. Adding a degree of visual mass to their already formidable exterior.
These were rare at the time. And you mostly saw them in summer, during camping trailer season. As they didn’t seem practical for daily driving. They did rust too. Like all Chrysler products of the mid 70s.
Seeming even more rare than the Royal Monaco, was the Plymouth Gran Fury wagon from this era. I recall only seeing a handful of those in my life.
I believe the Gran Fury lost its quad headlights after 1975. The 1976 front clip being far less distinctive than the Royal Monaco’s.
The Grand Fury Brougham first got dual headlights for the 1975 model year while the Custom and plain Gran Fury kept their quad lights. All Gran Furys had the dual lights in 1976.
That Gran Fury wagon looks AMAZING! Fabulous condition, really nice color, cool stock styled wheels. Wow.
I just looked up the production numbers for 76 Plymouth full-sized wagons, they sold just about as many Plymouths (approx. 6,000) as Dodges that year….and Chrysler sold about 500 units less than Dodge or Plymouth (if my mental calculator is working correctly) or is it 1,500?
BTW, Plymouth’s name for it’s top wagon? (Shades of the soon to be booming SUV….fad?) The Plymouth Sport Suburban.
Interesting, thank you. I knew each of the full sized wagons from Chrysler were equally rare treats to spot. I also don’t recall seeing many Gran Fury wagons with the wood paneling or road wheels.
Plymouth called their wagons Suburbans, since the early 50’s. Sure, same name as Chevy’s big SUV, but then trim names like GT were used by many brands.
I had read that the true gas mileage on these wagons with the 440 V8 was in the 8 to 10 MPG range. In part, they weighed just over 5,000 lbs.
You had to be wealthy to afford the gas bill.
In that era it was common for full-size cars with big engines to get 8-10 mpg.
True! I was luck to get double digit gas mileage in my 70 Fleetwood or 71 Electra for example.
Installed a TorqueFlite AO in my 77 New Yorker Brougham. Tuned to the teeth and on cruise control got mileage in the 20’s at 70+ mph. Got 12 mpg in original form.
Or have a company card to go with the car. This is what I learned to drive in. Dad’s was grasshopper green with matching interior.
Frank;
I had a steering failure in my Dad’s 74 Fury suburban and went off road at 50/60 miles an hour. It was a deep ditch and the car hit hard enough to stuff dirt not grass in the front bumper. Did exactly the same. Bent at the front just below the window. Dad fixed the steering and drove it several thousand more miles. From the side it looked like a puppy with its nose in the air and went thru a lot of front tires but it kept on running.
Tough old brute!
You described the after-appearance of the car perfectly!
I agree that these cars were quite tough!
I have really mixed feelings on the final C body Plymouths and Dodges. These cars came across to me as dull and not tremendously attractive. Not ugly, but not beautiful, either. I think the wagons may have been the best of the Plymouth and Dodges (while the wagon was the least attractive of the Chryslers).
I remember being excited when these came out in 1974 as I was sick to death of the fuselage and was entering my serious Mopar phase. On a family trip, we rented a Plymouth 4 door and got some rides in a Plymouth wagon that was a hotel’s courtesy vehicle. They were really disappointing on the inside. I have never warmed up to the dash design on these.
Today I would take a Fusey all day long over one of these, as I think they are much better cars.
I always liked these and wished my parents had gotten that instead of a B-body pair of ’77/’78 wagons. They were interesting enough for Matchbox to turn into a Super Kings model. I wonder if these sold better than the real car?
“… after 1977 they were gone, reincarnated on the smaller B platform.”
After ’77, the Royal Monaco was gone, but B body plain Monaco was around one last model year, ’78. Then, “new full size” Dodge St. Regis R body arrived for 1979 MY, based on the B body.
Without a wagon, of course.
True, and I didn’t like the St Regis name, should’ve kept Monaco name.
In the 80s my first car was a 76 Fury wagon that had been the family car. I didn’t want it but heck at least it ran even though it was the ugliest thing in the world. It had a smogged out 440 (170 horsepower?) that was slower then a VW bus and it got really bad mileage. One night I was comming home from a concert and My buddys and me wanted to see if the Fury could do 100. I planted the pedal to the floor, the engine wheezing and racing like mad the speedo hit 100 then 110 and the Fury is shaking and rattling violently, then there I hear this loud pop and the engine started loosing power. i pulled over and there was steam and smoke pouring out of the front. I popped the hood and the frigging engine was on fire! We all bolted from the car and watched it be consumed in flames. needless to say I was back to riding my bike again but atleast my bike looked and rode better than that old Plymouth!