Once upon a long duration of time, these Chrysler B-body twins of the Dodge Monaco and Plymouth Fury were seemingly everywhere in movies and television being subjected to all manner of harsh treatment. While it seems the Dodge version was generally the more prevalent, the Plymouth certainly did not escape being bludgeoned in novel and creative ways.
So were these the most abused cars in cinematic history? While a definitive determination might be difficult, these would certainly be contenders. Let’s explore this theory…
For those less initiated with the intricacies of Chrysler’s most mistreated line of automobiles, the 1977 Dodge Monaco stems directly from the 1971 Dodge Coronet.
The family lineage is obvious, although the noses and butts differ considerably.
It was at this time when there was actual distinction between Dodge and its Plymouth cousin. The 1971 Satellite, progenitor of the 1977 Fury, is seen here.
Subjectively speaking, Plymouth did a better job with the tail of these than Dodge did with the Coronet.
Model year 1976 was the last year for a Coronet; this Dodge gained those bodacious stacked headlights and was rechristened as Monaco for 1977.
Plymouth beat Dodge to the name juggling contest a year prior when it rechristened the Satellite as a Fury.
It was also for 1975 when the two cousins (although siblings is likely more apt) started to gain a more homogenous look. The tails for both were of a theme based upon this 1974 Dodge Coronet. This tail treatment theme would be shared until the end for these B-bodies although some pretense of difference remained, as we shall see.
Now before we jump too far into this, let’s discuss climate. The frequent sightings of the B-body Monaco (and Fury; Monaco shown) in entertainment was undoubtedly a supply-and-demand issue. There was a lot of supply as these were popular fleet vehicles and there was likely little demand for them when rotated out of service after a few years. Chrysler’s shaky financial circumstances at the time likely also played toward the demand end of this equation.
Additionally, this was the Smokey & The Bandit era. While conjecture on my part, it really seems like this movie truly kicked the era of car jumps, chases, and crashes on television into high gear. This was the fourth highest grossing film in the United States in 1977, after Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Saturday Night Fever.
That is quite the divergent conglomeration of spaced out movies, isn’t it?
To be fair, other movies had vehicular shenanigans prior to the 1977 release of this Burt Reynolds masterpiece. Bullitt, from 1968, is credited for having one of the best, most realistic car chases of all time.
As an aside, Bullitt was a trendsetter. Not only did it torture a Chrysler B-body but also a Charger.
This generation of Charger could easily provide a sequel to this article. Not just the orange painted one from television, but other venues hammered them also, such the movie Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (which I have never seen).
Other movies and television shows from the early to mid-1970s can be found in which the previously mentioned 1971 and 1972 Plymouth Satellites were featured. Adam-12 is a prime example. However, other than Adam-12, few experienced profound success.
Perhaps the right automotive player had not yet been procured.
Seriously, when was the last time you heard of the movie Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens?
As another aside, the Wikipedia article about that flick is memorable.
Given the timing and circumstances, it only stands to reason the Dodge Monaco (and Plymouth Fury) were able to capture the amount of air time they did.
Previously in various comments in which the subject of the B-bodies arose, they have been referred to as being identical. Close, but not entirely; there were some very subtle, yet inescapable differences between the two.
While this is a two-door, the header panel is the same. This shows a divided grille on the Monaco.
The Fury had a remarkably less inspired, one-piece grille.
The taillights also differed; the Monaco had ribbed lenses whereas the ones seen on the Fury, seen here, are more segmented. Not exactly heady differences but enough to give one insight into what they are gazing upon.
In this shot from the NBC television show Hunter, one can see where somebody had to do some patchwork giving us a Monaco lens on the left and a Fury lens on the right.
While I have yet to watch a single episode of this show (similar to my experience with Seinfeld), the title character drove a series of B-bodies during its broadcast run from 1984 to 1991.
Some of these Monacos looked to be in pretty good shape…
Others did not.
Regardless, these Monacos were used…
…Thrashed…
…and finished off.
Next up, in order of what is popping up in my searches, is T.J. Hooker, brought to life by none other than Mr. William Shatner.
You have to give the guy credit…when he’s not out chasing Klingons, his other enterprise is driving a Dodge Monaco.
Unlike Hunter, I watched a few episodes of T.J. Hooker when it was first aired between March 1982 and May 1985. The show is currently found on various streaming channels.
As this gif shows, they were hard on these Monacos.
While these cars look great flying through the air…
…We know the landing is the unpleasant part.
Would this be considered siblicide?
“Dodging Siblicide” sounds like an episode from Star Trek.
It seems like anytime a person sees a Monaco of this era in any motion picture or television show, it is going to have the same undesirable fate as any red-shirted person on Star Trek. Just an observation.
When T.J. Hooker ran out of Monacos, they transitioned to the Dodge St. Regis.
The St. Regis didn’t fare any better than the Monaco.
While we have looked at television thus far, and will again, the movies were also chock full of Monacos for quite a while. How about The Terminator from 1984? Schwarzenegger drove a Monaco in one action-packed scene…this was excellent automotive casting. A bad-ass character drives a bad-ass car.
The front end design of this Monaco exudes unwavering determination.
So often you will see the rear tires smoking on various celluloid captured Monacos. Dodge (and Plymouth) still put a 440 in these for 1977 and 1978, but only for the cops who likely bought most of these cars when new, so this smoking likely wasn’t the result of any Hollywood trickery, such as putting dish soap on the tires.
Sadly, as is so often the case, you can witness our featured Dodges experiencing the pain of sudden and rapid deceleration. Although if you look closely at the tail lights, this is a Fury.
Another motion picture, one that seems to have acquired a cult status of sorts, is the independent film The Junkman by H.B. “Toby” Halicki who also directed and produced the original (and vastly superior) Gone In 60 Seconds.
Perhaps that horrid remake could have elevated its quality by inclusion of a few B-body Monacos.
Halicki appeared to have no preference in cars for his movies, other than inexpensive ones, since he wrecked them all. Naturally, a few Monacos make an appearance.
A Datsun / Nissan 240 (or something closely named) also makes an appearance with another Monaco.
Somebody got the short end of that stick.
Halicki obviously purchased multiple Monacos for use in his film.
Here’s at least a third one.
Disclosure: I do own The Junkman on DVD and a short included documentary showed how this Monaco was wrapped around that tree. It was pretty ingenious.
Another semi-obscure Monaco movie is 1983’s Eddie Macon’s Run starring Kirk Douglas.
Douglas, the square-jawed tough guy on a mission, drove an equally square-jawed Dodge.
I haven’t a clue about the fifth of whiskey and the underwear by Douglas’s knee.
Sadly, and predictably, we know how the Dodge ends up…and in a cemetery of all places.
Based upon the dual exhaust, I will freely speculate this car may have had a 440 under the hood. Also interesting is how it appears to have lost its gas tank.
Ultimately Douglas gets his guy, who is on the left. Convenient, since this younger guy leads us directly to our last Monaco examination (covering them all would be impossible), but likely one that achieved some type of record for creative automotive sacrifices in the name of weekly entertainment.
Yes, it’s that show with the orange 1969 Charger and in which its first ever flying car was a slightly older, C-body Monaco.
Give the show credit as all Monacos were treated in roughly the same manner. Or the same rough manner.
There was a brief liaison with AMC Matadors during the first season. These weren’t nearly as photogenic as the B-body Monacos and Furys.
The show transitioned to the mid-sized B-body Monaco at the beginning of the second season.
Remember that creative sacrifice statement?
Some Monacos were gussied up before going to that great junkyard in the sky.
Others went in a very clean fashion – into a pond.
However the award for Most Creative Monaco Sacrifice comes about from a mid-air, head-on collision.
As one who was likely in the prime demographic for the Dukes of Hazzard when it initially aired, I vividly remember flying to the television set every Friday night. Seeing the Monacos (and Fury’s, as seen here) was just as much fun, if not more, than the Chargers.
The switch to using the Plymouth Fury came about a few seasons into the show.
Perhaps after destroying seven Monacos in one episode, the highlights of which are seen here, maybe it was realized the supply wasn’t infinite and the producers had to adjust and adapt. However, while there is no definitive amount, various sources state 300 to 350 Monacos / Furys were destroyed during the series run.
Admittedly, this clip is a bit dark. However, if you watch it you’ll also see a ’64(ish) Cadillac on two wheels.
This clip proves a 440 Monaco can fly in more ways than one. Don’t bother with sound and the first 30 seconds are the best.
Monaco sedan production never exceeded 40,000 in either year; Fury production was greater, hitting nearly 99,000 for 1978. While it may seem all were destroyed in movies or television, they weren’t. These cars are still out there, albeit quite thin on the ground (I found this one in 2016), and the contribution they made to entertainment once upon a time has long been overlooked.
Hopefully this helps memorialize all those wonderful B-body Monacos and Furys that gave their all.
Related Reading:
1978 Dodge Monaco – Dark Days For Dodge by PN
1978 Plymouth Fury – I’d Recognize That Shape…. by PN
If I was grading papers, I’d give this an A+ – solid and fact-based premise, with plenty of supporting data and pictures. Well done! I could kind of see what was coming just by the byline, but I wholly agree that there’s no contest. These were the most abused cars in the entertainment industry up to a certain point (before they were mostly gone). Currently watching season 3 of “Dukes Of Hazzard”, and I was *this close* to playing count-the-thrashed-Monaco/Fury. Now I think I will.
Thank you, Mr. Dennis. I was thumbing through YouTube one day and saw a clip advertised that showed a Monaco. Then I got to thinking about it and realized how these cars could be the most abused cars in entertainment history.
Some of these pictures came from imcdb.org. Doing a search for 1977 to 1978 Dodge Monaco yielded an inordinate number of pages full of pictures, which really indicated how frequently these cars were seen on screen. What I have here doesn’t even scratch the surface of appearances for these cars.
Researching all this I learned enough to know you will want to skip most of Season 5 of the Dukes. The reasons are called “Coy” and “Vance”.
Didn’t “Coy” and “Vance” show up because John Schnider and Tom Wopat went on strike for more money?
Yeah, I call them “Scab Dukes” (in fun) because they crossed the picket lines. I remember watching that season when I was a little kid, and I just accepted it. I truly believed that Bo and Luke tried to make it on the NASCAR circuit. Naive kids…
I teach high school English, and this is a lot more entertaining (and better quality) than my honors 10th grade papers. Perhaps this might be a future example of what can be produced? I need to think of a way to incorporate this into my classroom.
Thank you. At work I have recently become the de facto wordsmith for a number of coworkers which is not the typical function people normally associate with an engineer.
For whatever reason I find adjective both wonderful and fascinating. Punctuation, on the other hand…
I used to enjoy silent movies as a young child. Impossible to speculate if the Model ‘T’ has been more abused in movies. But the Ford would have had a much longer duration of years making movie appearances, and being subject to abuse. With many ’70s and ’80s television and movies appearances giving the Chrysler’s a great opportunity to catch up, I’d say the Plymouth and Dodge would rank near the top along with the Model ‘T’.
Another TV program that abused ’70s era B-Bodies, but to a lessor degree, was ‘The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo’ on NBC. The introduction to Lobo, featuring the abuse of numerous ’70s vintage Furys and Monacos. Notable, that Sevilles would routinely be abused on that program. The series was short-lived though, minimizing its impact on B-Body damage.
Sheriff Lobo almost made the cut. The opening credits alone saw a lot wrecked B-bodies – and AMCs.
This is very perceptive, Jason, and the key is: “these were popular fleet vehicles and there was likely little demand for them when rotated out of service after a few years.”
During that time period I worked for Hertz in Denver – but also at other locations in an out of my “zone”. This pair were in the fleet in big numbers however they were only short term lease cars. Like the Matadors, the term was six months and then gone. Hertz owned (and sold retail after a year or so) the Granadas and Cutlasses, etc. from Ford and GM. But this pair went back to Chrysler after their short stay at Hertz. Where they went next I can not guess. I do know that the fleet in Los Angeles was much bigger than Denver’s so I can speculate that the local rental car fleet in SoCal was a likely source.
The low value of what was a fairly new car is an economics lesson that may stem from the infamous Chrysler “sales bank”.
Funny you mention the Hertz lot in Denver…I was at the Hertz lot at the Denver airport the last week of September. All brands were represented but Ford, Hyundai, and GM were in particular. The section for the class of sedan (standard?) my coworker reserved gave a choice of a beaten Fusion, a bunch of Malibus, or one sole Sonata. He chose the Sonata.
They do have impressively long
hoodscrumple zones.It’s a ’61 Cadillac.
How did those guys climb in through the window with such tight pants? Did Levi Strauss make jeans with spandex just for Hollywood back then?
One of the references I read said the censors at CBS took issue with the Dukes. It seems it was due to the actor playing Bo Duke wearing tight pants, no underwear, and apparently being fairly well endowed. He was often shot from the waist up.
This was fun! I think the word that best describes this car is “hapless.”
Perfect wording, Jim. It’s almost like these cars were built to be smashed; if you saw one in a TV show or movie, you already knew its fate.
These were proof not all destinies are created equal – or fairly.
Jason, I have to say that you’ve absolutely nailed the time of peak-car-destruction-TV. I think I was just a bit too old to have become a fan of shows like the Dukes of Hazzard and TJ Hooker, and thus missed out on much of the mayhem. It’s still not very attractive to me which is why I’ve never watched more than just a few minutes of any of those early to mid 80s cop/detective/whatever (I’m still not sure how one would classify the Dukes of Hazzard).
On the other hand, I was the right age for being a regular viewer of Adam-12 and older TV detective shows like the Rockford Files. If I recall correctly, those were much less destructive of the various vehicles in the shows, even if they did feature lots of car chases.
In my earlier years I watched a lot of Adam 12 in syndication.
Part of why I watched such things was due to age but also appreciation of these B-bodies. There is simply something endearing; perhaps its the tenacious look of their fronts.
Great retrospective! I remember watching ‘Hunter’ occasionally as a kid in the late 80s-early 90s. Even then it seemed completely far-fetched to me that an LAPD detective would be cruising a ’77 Monaco, as they’d all loooong since gone to pasture by that time. According to wiki it was finally replaced with a ’91 Crown Vic during the 7th and last season of the show. Far more believable, but far less authoritative!
You could easily make this a CC series, on the most abused cars in modern times. Featuring cars of the 1980s/1990s popularly used as police cars, in movies and TV. Like the St.Regis/Gran Fury, Diplomat/Gran Fury, Caprice/impala and LTD/Crown Victoria.
98-11 Crown Vics seem to be cannon fodder for just about every movie or TV show in the last decade, they’re probably the closest thing to these B bodies
On A Mission From God!
https://oyster.ignimgs.com/wordpress/stg.ign.com/2014/12/K9o1VW4.gif
I was wondering how long it would be before somebody mentioned The Blues Brothers, which IIRC set a record for number of cars destroyed while making a single film. I am obsessed with the Dixie Square mall chase scene.
It was tough not including the Blues Brothers. Showing the two C-bodies was sort of a nod in that direction.
Great article that brought a flood of memories back regarding TV from yesteryear. As an aside, a ’78 Monaco was my dad’s last car before he passed. He got it used in ’91 and it did its job well for his remaining two years.
Did I read that correctly – you’ve never seen Seinfeld? Classic stuff. Getting ready to celebrate Festivus at my house…my millennial and her crew love it.
That is correct; I’ve never seen an episode of Seinfeld.
Oh Mr Shafer, you really must. I would caution never to binge, mind you: it gets wearing watched in close sequence, but in little bursts (as, of course, it originally aired, once per week) there is a lot of the joy of sheer silliness in that show. And as intended, “no learning, and no hugging”. Just foolishness that can’t happen in the real world, (but which such perhaps satisfies a wishful urge in all of us to act as outrageously).
And the sayings from it stick to the consciousness like glue.
I haven’t seen most of these shows, and of the top movies listed from 1977 I only saw Saturday Night Fever in a theater. Perhaps snippets of the others while channel surfing years later. But I still remember lots of these as police cars on TV and on our streets. As far as rough treatment goes, I’d also nominate the 1973 Coronet we had on the last day of driver training in high school, which replaced a 1972 Galaxie. That final day was dedicated to parallel parking, our teacher taking us to some of the steepest streets in San Francisco to practice that art.
Fun fact-The upside down freeze frame near the bottom is an ex-CHP unit, as evidenced
by the 3 catalytic converters, two regular one plus the mini-converter on the driver’s side.
… and two mufflers and two resonators. Must have cost a fortune to replace the entire system.
Last photo:
What would happen if you put on a Cordoba front end cap in the same color.
Would it be Mrs Ricardo Montalbán describing the pleasure and envy of other mothers as she dropped her children off at school with acoustic guitar music in the background??
Anyone for photoshop!!
I started to try a photoshop, and found that replacing my computer last weekend, all three of my photo edit programs are MIA.
So, it occurred to me that maybe somebody had put a Cordoba clip on one of these, and it would be on the web. Nope, apparently a gussied up up civilian version of these sedans is too rare, and too unloved for someone to bother.
I did find an unexplained full-on Cordoba mock-up as a four door. It is rather stunning in my mind. Maybe Chrysler should have done one. Heaven knows Ma Mopar could have benefited highly from a hit higher margin large sedan.
I like it!!
Maybe a full vinyl roof instead of the end cap.
With full Corinthian leather interior, it may have sold well.
At the time, Chrysler needed the money.
I’d have gone the other way with that and cut an extra window into that wide C-pillar like GM did with the ’75-76 B/C body 4 door hardtops and Ford later did with the LTD II (not to mention the AMC Concord/Eagle sedan).
Even James Bond got in on the abuse!
My sister’s in laws traded their “68 Fury III” , for a new “77 Fury”, I thought it was pretty nice car @ the time..lol
Our “73 Fury III” was so ridiculously long..
It sure drove nice though.
(think that “77” I mentioned was their car till about “1983”. Been soo long now though..H’mm.
A comprehensive treatise on a car built for a hard life.
As far as civilian versions, I found aspects of these cars attractive, but as with most of the public, would have been hard pressed to actually buy one. The ’71 cars looked pretty good, but the interiors were a let down. The final ’78 cars were dated despite the updates. The ’75 up hardtop coupes were good looking if you avoided the more egregious vinyl top treatments. The merging of the Plymouth versions to the Dodge body made these even more of a commodity than they originally were.
I’d imagine that Hollywood has a hotline to California law enforcement, a direct source of cheap cars already painted in police livery. A nice symbiotic relationship.
The 70’s were a high point for highway hijinks in simple entertainment. It probably ran its course as much as anything does. But, I’d have to think it would be more difficult today. Tall trucks and CUVs are more prone to rollovers than the longer, lower, wider cars of the past. Todays vehicles fold like a house of cards to protect their passengers, and dealing with airbags would kinda deflate things – you’d have to live with them going off, or remove them – making scenes rather unreal.
My theory is some other large southern California police department must have used some 78 furys. Maybe LAPD. CHP primarily used Monacos which is why so many shows used them. Then in 79 CHP switched to the St. Regis. That’s why the St. Regis started replacing the Monaco/Fury as the defacto police car around late 1983/early 1984. This is most evident on shows like Knight Rider, Hardcastle and McCormick and the A-team. Speaking of the A-team, the CHP also used some 1980 plymouth Volares which is why they became the car of choice for Col. Decker’s MPs.
Some other cars of note were the 1978-80 Chevy Malibu and 1975-79 Chevy Nova. Both were used by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department and were heavily used as bad guy cars in the last 2 seasons of Dukes after they were retired. One other car you see somewhat often is the 1978 Pontiac Catalina. A couple show up on Dukes, as well as Hardcastle and McCormick. I believe these were ex police cars from a southern California police department as well.
The AMC matador hazzard County cars used at the end of season 1 were ex LAPD I believe as well.
Check out this clip from the pilot of Hardcastle and McCormick. Several 77-78 Monacos are wrecked.
Speaking of the CHP, we could mention CHiPs also got its share of car chases and destroyed cars with some B-body Monacos/Furys in the mix.
Bravo! Somehow these never developed into favorites of private owners like the P71 CV did in later years. Maybe buying and driving cheap ex-police cars wasn’t as much of a thing then.
I never had much love for these, but have been reassessing lately.
There is something so refreshingly candid about these cars. A few months ago when we were talking cars, Mrs. Jason asked what I wanted. I told her I wanted a new ’78 Monaco.
Thanks for the overdue appreciation of these semi-forgotten cars. They are my favorite sorta-full-size cars of the ’70s. They really were an almost a true full-size, giving up little in space to a ’70s C-body Mopar (owned 5 of those). The wagon version would hold a 4×8 plywood sheet flat on the floor! IMO the best of any of the “intermediates” of any of the US makers. Handling was still great with the torsion bars (and good replacement tires) and always bullet-proof engines (381/360/440) and TorqueFlite trans. I drove an ex-MD State Police car owned by a friend: a ‘bright yellow ’75 with 440 (like this ’77 but with round headlights) that went like a rocket and handled like a racing car, quite amazing and something I would never have suspected would be the case. Respect for these cars, and sad for their wholesale destruction!
I am amazed that MoPar tooled up for amber rear turn signals for these. Seems they stole the (U.S.) Granada’s one good idea…
I’ve saved one! 🙂
Very nice!
That looks awesome!
Both Ford and Chrysler needs to apologize to Studebaker for making fun of their four door sedans during the 1950s when compared to their beautiful coupes. Throughout the 1970s, both Ford and Chrysler decided to give us hunchbacked four door sedans based upon the stylings of their attractive two door coupes. GM was one that also did this, but by the 1970s, the GM Colonnade design for both coupes and sedans fixed this. The Colonnade sedans looked like they were designed to be four door sedans, not stretched coupes with rear doors squeezed in.
It took over a decade for all the Big Three to get it right. AMC sadly never did and just phased out the Ambassador and Matador.
Anyone who saw the new Volvo in 1966 saw the future of sedan design. Mercedes, Audi, BMW and European cars knew how to create an attractive purposeful sedan design. Japan copied the Americans and we ended up seeing the same weird results as a consequence.
A great write up. Growing up in the 80s, there were soooo many 77-78 Monacos/Furys in all manner of shows and films. I loved the distinctive stacked headlights, to me as a kid they made the car seem tougher.
Smokey and the Bandit wasn’t the 4th highest grossing film of 1977. It was the 2nd!
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/1977/
Thank you for this. I was under the impression it was the second highest grossing but then could not find any corroboration.
Thanks Jason for this enjoyable salute to one of my favorite cars.
I owned a ’77 Fury Salon for many years. It started out as an Avis rental, coming to my employer as a pool car a year later. I had it 15 years, and although I didn’t put a load of miles on the car, it was reliable (I never had to use the spare ballast resistor I had in the glove box), and so comfortable I could drive it for hours. I miss those late night drives searching for the most distant AM radio station I could find. I think Bozeman, MT was the record. I miss that car.
Long ago I knew a gentleman who bought two Furys from the pool of one of the Missouri state agencies. He said both had about 100k on them upon his purchase and looked a little rough but nothing ever broke and were reliable for many years after he bought them.
Great post – nice seeing a ’71 Dodge Coronet again – my first Drivers Ed car…
Great story. As was mentioned earlier, The Blues Brothers did in fact set a record at the time for most cars (104, mostly Monaco’s and/or Furys) destroyed in one movie. They had their own 24 hour shop and full time staff of mechanics set up to repair and patch cars up for filming. The Bluesmobile was a 74 Monaco with a “440 cubic inch plant” that was made before catalytic converter so it ran good on regular gas.
Having lived in Illinois all my life I saw my share of these cars as the State police and most municipalities ran them seemingly forever.
I must have bridged your age gap a bit – I liked the Adam-12, Hawaii Five-O (though they were mostly users of Ford vehicles) AND the later shows like Dukes of Hazzard and CHiPs. Though I think CHiPs, being the California Highway Patrol, tended to use the bigger C-bodies. And The Blues Brothers movie ushered in an orgy of automotive destruction, but also mostly C-bodies.
Actually, CHP did use the 1977-78 B-Body Dodge Monacos as patrol cars, only to be later replaced by the disasterous St. Regis a few years later.
One of the most recent, well-known, car-casting of the old Chrysler Corporation’s RWD sedans was for Mike Ermantraut of Breaking Bad fame who drove an old, M-body Fifth Avenue.
Like all of the cars in that terrific show, it was perfect for the world’s most dangerous senior citizen.
Here is a cool video on a cool 1978 Cop car Monaco 440…
Great write up ! Brought back memories of when I was in high-school back in 03. I had a 79 St Regis ex New Jersey highway patrol car with a 440 out of a 70 Massachusetts State Police car. All of the kids laughed at my 4 door grandma car until I shredded the tires doing third gear burnouts. It would smoke both rear tires till you either let off the throttle or ran out of room in the school parking lot. Had a lot of fun in that thing.
Great piece! CHiP’s used these for the last few seasons and did great work thinning the herd as well. The reason these were so prevalent in entertainment at the time and are virtually all the Dodge version is that the CHP ran the Monaco with a 440 in 1977 and ‘78. Any California agency could piggyback on their order at the same preferential price, although they were free to spec their Monaco’s as they wished (lesser motors, etc.). The 440 cars had no utility for taxi cab use when they were retired, so it was pretty much this or not much else. LAPD was large enough to do their own contracting and used the Plymouth version, but in much smaller numbers and probably with the 318. Those were more likely to end up as cabs.
Great article, sir.
I drank in all I could of any US show with cars n’ crashes. I’d get teased by my family for doing so, as they’d picked my real interest, the crashes. “It is NOT that!”, I’d protest hotly, and dishonestly. And for sure, I really couldn’t tell you to this day what the hell Chips was about beyond the action scenes. Hair units? White teeth? I really wasn’t paying attention to the boys when they weren’t causing Monacos to slide and crash.
Being ignorant of US models in the day, it never occurred to me it was all largely one model type that was getting beaten up. I just thought heaps of US cars had those utterly tasteless stacked square lights, hell, I truthfully didn’t even pick the Griswold’s family truckster as being a parody – I thought it was real! (Doesn’t say a heap for US styling across that too-long era, really, huh. That or the same about my eyesight, I guess). I didn’t know till today that these were the original quite decent-looking Chryco sedans from the earlier ’70’s with a bad and incongruously square facelift. We got the Mazda 929L in about ’77, with that exact stacked Monaco face and grille. Even then, I thought it the ugliest thing I’d ever seen, and indeed, the later facelift gave all that tosh the heave-ho and it thereafter looked like a decent w116 Mercedes copy.
I feel sure that the producers of the time did the future world a favor by the removal of so many of these grim n’ gaudy faces. For me, I delighted in their destruction then, and feel at peace with their absence now.
Chrysler must have just run off batches of those just for the movie and TV studios to consume in whatever far-fetched action scenes with the idea the free exposure would be good for sales.
Either that or they had such a surplus of unsold inventory they had to get them off the books somehow, what better way to write them off.
However you slice it, they were the throw-away cars of the period.
Until the very late 1980’s one could buy all the ex L.A.P.D. cars they wanted for about $500 each and every one had working A/C .
That’s where a large majority of TV/movie crash cars came from .
I seem to remember some Burt Reynolds ovies in the 1970’s that also chewed up cop cars like nothing .
THANK YOU FOR THE CLIPS ! .
I didn’t watch any of those cop shows but I enjoyed watching every clip here =8-) .
I remember watching “Dirty Mary Crazy Larry” in the theater and thinking it was great, it came round on cable again last year and seemed pretty lame .
-Nate
The GM Colonnades thoroughly sunk these Chrysler B-Bodies. At least Ford was able to promote faux luxury, in their equally out of step with the times intermediates. The dated coke-bottle styling, and fleet image these had, rendered them obsolete by 1973. When the Colonnades arrived.
The B-Body wagons maintained a good reputation as a decent mid-sized wagon choice. Without the baggage of being associated with police or taxi use. Though, police departments certainly used them.
The Datsun/Nissan something in that one photo is a ’79-’84 280ZX 2+2.
They should’ve cut an extra window into that wide C-pillar like GM did with the ’75-76 B/C body 4 door hardtops and Ford later did with the LTD II (not to mention the AMC Concord/Eagle sedan).
FWIU the reason they didn’t is that Chrysler found out that the B-body sedan and wagon buyer profile was the exact same as the Dart-Valiant one so they developed the F-body as a common replacement and focused all B-body development on coupes especially once the Cordoba was a much-needed success.
As the former owner of a 1978 Dodge Monaco (ex-CHP, 440 Magnum) as a private vehicle and former driver of a 1977 Plymouth Fury (tacked onto CHP order, 440 Magnum) in an official capacity, here’s my bit of trivia:
The Dodge had a one-piece divided grille, the Plymouth did not. In civilian Dodge Monacos, the split in the center of the grille was covered with a body-colored adhesive plastic strip. In late-production 1978 fleet Dodge Monacos, the adhesive strip was omitted and the split was plain chrome. Did Chrysler run out of the adhesive strip?
Handling on these cars was decidedly different between the police and civilian versions, not only due to the stiffer suspension, but also because of the rear stabilizer bar on the police package. It transformed handling at up to 9/10 to nearly neutral…and in fact Chrysler recommended only radial tires for these cars. Their specific instruction was that if a cheapskate department chose to use bias ply or bias-belted tires, it was to remove the stabilizer bar. A nearby department had leftover bias-belted tires and put them on the 1976 Fury, but quickly went back to radials due to extreme oversteer. The R-Body Dodge St. Regis, though on the same basic 1962 chassis had less of that oversteer tendency. I never got down and measured the stabilizer bar to see whether it was smaller.
My 1978 Dodge Monaco also had a thinner chrome trim strip on its sides than did the 1975-1977 models. Must have allowed a lower bid, in that era of low-bid!
A well written and thoroughly researched article; so very typical of Jason’s entries here. Most appreciated and enjoyed, Mr. Schafer!
A personal observation: in the early 1990’s I went in “halvsies” with a good friend of mine on one of these that he found at an auction. Nobody wanted it, we got it for next to nothing. Dusty and Dull it was.
A 1972 Plymouth Satellite Custom 4 door. “Period Correct” green, white vinyl top, two tone green vinyl interior. The 318 V8 engine, torqueflite, power steering, power front disc brakes, factory air conditioning, AM-FM both knobs on the same side factory radio, 3.23 final drive ratio (according to the shop manual we found in the trunk.) The odometer showed 64K. 164, 264…who knows?
A thorough clean up and detail job by me: Polishing compound, “Rain Dance” car wax, turtle was upholstery cleaner on the seats, door panels, headliner, carpets shampooed, Turtle wax liquid vinyl top wax. As my Grandma would had said: “It cleaned up well.”
New spark plugs and wires, a gumout carb cleaner regime, some used Sears Roadhandler/Michelin X radial tires, front disc brake pads and a new thermal fan clutch were added and we had a reliable “side car” used by both of us when between more exotic cars or loaned out to family & friends.
Not a terribly exciting car, but the powertrain proved to be “real world peppy” for normal driving. The “one finger” power steering was smooth and adequate. The factory A/C, with one can of 99 cent freon added, would freeze your out in August in New Orleans. It always started, never balked, never over-heated in the extended Summers here. Nobody who drove it or borrowed it complained about it….but didn’t exclaim over it either.
It was not missed until after it was sold.
Another car that I should had held onto longer!
That’s not lying or fibbing or making stuff up—heck, no, it’s marketing creativity!
There was an episode of “Hunter” in which the motor pool guy says Hunter is getting a new Dynasty to replace his ’77. Motor pool guy talks up the Dynasty, says it’s turbocharged (lol) and super fast, etc. Hunter points to the Dynasty and says “What color is that?” Motor pool guy says something like “It’s Jade frost metallic”. Hunter points to his ’77 and says “And what color is that?” Motor pool guy says “Green”. Hunter says something like “Tellya what: I want you to take the engine out of the Jade Frost Metallic, and put it in the Green” and walks away.
Great article, Jason! Have always loved these cars, the Dodges in particular and beginning with the ’71 Coronet. Feel they were one of Engel’s best designs but unfortunately, they never got that last bit of finish, instead the opposite treatment as you chronicled.
These Chrysler B bodies were used on the first two seasons of the television show The Rookies
https://youtu.be/NyF-V1yb6fA?si=HZ79sPYhDGP1-P2O