Dodge Monaco

Sunday 1 March 2015
The Dodge Monaco was a full-size automobile built and sold by the Dodge division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1965 to 1978, and 1990 to 1992.
As a lingering result of the 1973-74 energy crisis, Chrysler decided to shift the Monaco nameplate to the mid-size B platform for 1977 while the previous year's full-size C platform Monaco carried on one more year as the Royal Monaco. The "new" 1977 mid-sized Monaco replaced the previous Coronet 4-door sedan, 4-door station wagon and Charger hardtop coupe. The Monaco Brougham replaced the previous Coronet Brougham 4-door sedan and Charger Sport hardtop coupe, while the Monaco Crestwood station wagon replaced the previous Coronet Crestwood. The Charger S.E., which at this point became the sole Charger still available, continued unchanged.
The "new" Monacos, for all of the marketing hype, were little-changed from the Coronets which had gone before. A revised front end design with stacked rectangular headlamps gave the cars a resemblance to the contemporary Chevrolet Monte Carlo when viewed head-on. With Chrysler Corporation in dire financial straits during these years, there was little that could be done to give the cars a fresh look, so changes had to be minimal and as inexpensive as possible.
The 1977 and 1978 models can be seen as the police vehicles in the 1980–1985 seasons of The Dukes of Hazzard, also the TV Police Drama Hunter (U.S. TV series) as Rick Hunter's L56 (also known "Lincoln 56"). Large numbers of still-unsold vehicles were bought inexpensively and then suffered ignominious ends, destroyed in stunt crashes but due to the toughness of the design, were often repaired and reused repeatedly.

Technical data:
- engine: V8
- capacity: 5210 cc
- horsepower: 150 HP
- gearbox: 4+1
- top speed: 160 km/h