My family 72' Dodge Monaco station wagon was like a member of the family..

Fox you are right. Plymouth was the bottom end, Dodge was the midrange and Chrysler was the high end Mopar. The T/C was the very best wagon Mopar had to offer.

 

Yeah....but still...back then you could load up a Dodge or Plymouth with all the goodies and it would be hard to tell the difference. I liked it back then when everyone wrote their own orders and waited for their OWN PERSONAL car to come in. But just like today, the top of the line had a quieter ride and other hidden goodies. I have driven all 3 Mopar wagons and the Chrysler T&C seemed to ride better. Could have just been a better cared for car though. Never did drive a Monaco.

 

My grandfather had an old 1960s Fury or Belvadre or something. I remember it because back in the 80s I couldnt figure out why the dammed thing wouldnt start one night I decided to take it out. , hell the key didnt even fit it. This was the day I learned something. After getting a nice asschewing from my grandfather, I learned ONLY mopars start with the key upsidedown.

 

I remember that now that you mention it. I also remember people bitching about it!

 

The name Town and country was dropped for the wagons. It was resurected once the whole mini van craze started. Around 1983 I think


In responce to Titanis post, the woodgrain along the sides of the Mopnaco are stickers. Giant paste ons. Not real wood. Mine happens to be one of the 2015 built. I got told on another forum that the Monaco wagon may very well be one of the absolute rarest wagon of the 1970s. There werent many made and even less on the road today. a friend I once worked with said theres a website that keeps track of cars still regestered and is always being updated. Naturally this wont count the cars people have that have been non-oped, regestrations that have lapsed. I got to track that guy down. I refuse to believe I have the only 72 Monaco wagon still on the roads. I drive it everywhere everyday.

 

You probably don't. Out of the 2015 I'd be willing to bet it's 1 of 100 or so still around, maybe 15-20 as nice and/or original.
My wagon is one of 2907, and I know of 2 others. One is in a GA junkyard(might be scraped by now ) and the other is David Freiburger's (HotRod's editor) new daily driver. I'd be willing to bet there are about 100 left, and mine is about one of 15 or 20 nice and/or original.
My dad's 60 Plymouth Savoy is one of 51,000 originally and it's one of 87 in the nation, one of 3 in the state known to exsist as of 1999.
There is a way to find out how many are known to exsist, but I can't remember the company's name. I'll have to ask my dad.

 

I, personally, know of 4 72 Monaco wagons and 4 73's.

 

Isn't there another 72 Monoco on this site?

 

In my house all our cars,trucks and tractors are family.

 

Given how rare the '72 Monaco wagons are today, I count myself lucky to have had that as our family car!
We made countless ski trips, drives in the country, and to was driven to school in that car.....

The retractable headlamps were an interesting feature- i always though it was a design lifted straight from the Oldsmobile Toronado....

The engine seized one night on the highway, and despite getting a replacement engine, it never ran as smoothly after that....

I miss that car.....In thinking back, I don't think i've spotted another one in person in over 25 years....

With the woodgrain being a giant paste on..did they have the habit of peeling off?

Are there any Dodge Monaco clubs? Was the sedan counterpart the Polara?

 

You know Martin if you could ask your dad and get some info on how to learn how many of a certain make is still out there id be grateful. Id be interested in the Monaco as well as the Merc I have. Never seen another of either car.
However I do have my Mercury Parklane for sale locally here.


In the 72 Thread I started soemoen says its one of the absolute rarest wagons of the 1970s. The Monaco with its fuseloge spaceage C Body isnt a popular car. Christ I went to Kragen/ O Riles auto parts to buy the lower radiator hose. They had to order it, and it took 8 days to get here. Friggin outragious ! I dreed the day when the motor dies that runs the hideaway headlamps.

There was a old posting on these boards started by 72KingwoodEstate where some wreckers in I think Louisana was going to crush a 72 Monaco. The wreckers posted it on cragislist that if someone wanted to buy the car to fix or use as a donor car. Im not a mopar person, Ive always owned Fords until now, but I have been told that this car is the rarest wagon of the era. Ive never seen a 72 Monaco car, let alone a wagon until I stumbled across this one.

No, many Mopar clubs but no clubs devoted to the Polara/Monaco. Ive contacted a few in the greater San Francisco area here close to me, and everybodys for Challengers, Cudas, Roadrunners, Chargers, Furys. The C Body is looked upon as non desireable Mopars. The cars that Dodge dosent want to discuss. Kinda how the Cadillac Cimmeron is to caddy dealers. They dont want to talk about that car. That was the Chevy Celebraity .... with leather

 

Welcome to the site, love those big mopars, But the B Bodies are my favorites, got a 73 satellite, drove it Indiana and back over christmas, 1200 miles, no real problems, I even got 15 mpg, need to work on that...

 

Teddy....you have pix of the new, green, DD?

 

I will post some tomorrow, need to clean it up some.

 

Forever, the name of the company is Auto Information Clearinghouse, AIC. I can't find any contact info on the internet though. My dad has yet to find any info either... If I find out I'll let you know. Hope this helps.

Titanic, the monoco was a sedan/coupe also. I almost bought a 68 coupe about a month or 2 ago. The monoco shared the c body platform with the polara.
The wood itself wasn't known so much for peeling as it was known for drying up and tuning whitish and cracking. It's a vinyl applique.

The fury is a c body...
Its not that they are unwanted... There just aren't many still around because they weren't the desirable muscle cars in their heyday. Everyone wants to relive the teenage years in that really fast car they always wanted but couldn't afford. The c bodies were mom and dad's cars... Most people could afford them, and though they were fast, they were not the heroic cars super cars the smaller muscle cars were thought to be.
I'm sure that if you went to any mopar show with your monoco, people would love it. You'd get plenty of people who hate it just because it's a wagon. But those who like wagons, would like yours.
My dad runs the /6 club. We allow all mopars and amcs at our meet, and out of nearly 40 cars my b body satellite wagon and our long time member/friend jeff's c body fury wagon were the only 2 there. And geuss what? They drew plenty of attention.



If you read this article (link below), you can see this c body wagon was the only car there that got it's own personal photo shoot. You are more than welcome to come to jersey and join us, we have had people come from florida, canada, and these last 2 years ohio just for our humble little meet. Trust me, if you come you will have PLENTY of people oogling your car...

http://www.allpar.com/i/meets/nj-09.html

The biggest thing I've noticed about my wagon is the people who hate wagons and the people who hate wood grain... Most love my wagon, but at the end of the day as long as I love it, that's all that matters.