1966 Dodge Monaco 2dr...

Small update.

Got the tank back. Nice, black, and no rust. :)

I received the FSM I ordered, and now I'm waiting for the fuel neck grommet and the battery tie down. Once I get those two things, up goes the tank, in goes some fuel, and hopefully the car will start! YAY!!!!
 
Did you ever confirm the engine size? What's next on the agenda or will you just drive through the summer?

Well... I know for sure that it's a Monaco 500 now. As for the engine size... I don't have anything to go on that would suggest it is anything but a 383. I still need to grab the manual and decode the VIN. I will probably try to do that tonight or tomorrow.

Next on the agenda? Too much. LOL

I was able to put the tank in, with the new sender and filler neck grommet. Put 2 gallons of gas in, and BAM! fired right up and idled nicely. It needs to have a tune up probably, but for now having it running is important. I need to get the hood torsion rods in place and put the hood back on. That means I need to get some bolts for the hood.

After that, it's a matter of driving it around the block a couple of times and making sure everything is working properly. The throttle seems to stick a little, but I think it just needs to be lubed.

We have a fabric shop here in town that sells marine vinyl, and currently they are running a 40% discount on it, so it would be about $10 a yard. My wife wants me to measure the roof and the seats, and try to figure out how much vinyl we would need to recover the roof and the seats.

I am thinking about doing white with a red piping on the seats. She wants me to do red with white piping and inserts. :icon_rolleyes: We will see though.

I need to get some tires on it for sure.
Need to fix the driver side outer tailight.
Need a new windshield.
Need the rear piece of the center console that houses the rear cigarette lighter.
Also need the window seals for both sides.

Want: a matching 500 passenger fender. I'm not liking the Polara fender that is on there right now.
Also want a hood with the emblem.

I found a car that would be awesome for parts, but the guy won't take less than $1k for it. Unfortunately I don't have that much right now.

The plan is to drive the car every so often. Mostly when I'm not riding my motorcycle. :)

Hopefully I will have more meaningful updates soon. LOL
 
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Per the VIN decoder on decodethis.com:
DP23G63129347

D Line Dodge Polara, Monaco

P Class Premium

23 Body 2-door hardtop

G Engine V8 383 CID 1-2BBL "B"

6 Year 1966

3 Assembly Jefferson, Michigan

129347 Serial 129347


Looks like it originally came with the 2 barrel, but later someone put on a 4 barrel.
 
So, while reading through the owners manual that was in the glovebox this weekend, I found something pretty cool. At least I thought it was. Toward the back of the manual, there was a stamp, indicating when and where the car was delivered. Turns out it was delivered to a dealer here in town, that is still around, on September 21, 1966.

I wonder if I can go down and see who bought it, and how much they payed for it?
 
...Turns out it was delivered to a dealer here in town, that is still around, on September 21, 1966.

I wonder if I can go down and see who bought it, and how much they payed for it?

Did that with my Polara and the IL dealer provided copies of the all the paperwork and identified the original CO owner who I was able to make contact with. She in turn sent me all the original paperwork. It was great learning the history of the car first hand. Good luck with your quest.
 
That is awesome to be able to go to the dealer where it was sold new and possibly get paperwork or information about the car from when it was new,
 
3 bbl??must be a sixpack?eng should be a 383 4bbl

The carb could have been swapped at some point for a Holley 3 barrel, which was popular in the 70's. It bolted to a 4 barrel manifold and I believe that it had 1 big secondary jet, rather than 2 secondary jets.

I came back, re read this thread, realized that there are multiple pages and I'm way behind! Doh!
 
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Well, didn't get much done this past week, anniversary stuff and all that. My mother-in-law came over and helped the wife clean the interior. Looks a ton better.

Still need to find a driver side outer tail light lens, among other misc parts.
 
Yeah, now to just redo the seats. They are cracking or cracked. The Drivers side is the worst. The rears are in really good shape, and the passenger side is somewhere between.
 
Well, a little update...

In order to get this boat on the road, I finally ordered the roof rail rubbers - mostly to keep the rain on the outside of the car, LOL. Also, I've had to make a compromise on the tail lights, since the outer ones were cracked or broken. I ordered a set from a 66 Polara. It will look goofy for a while, but at least that will give me time to source some correct Monaco ones.

Oh! and I also get to drop about $400 for a new windshield. Yay.
 
Well, just got about another 1300 to drop into the car. New windshield is on the top of the list.

Maybe now I can get this bad boy on the road. :)
 
According to the Commando School of Economics,
you know that will buff right out nicely, don't you?

fymusk.jpg
 
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