For Sale 1965 Dodge Monaco (Ebay)

[Little Pete]

Yes . . . there has always been a lot of confusion about this, but it all has to with marketing. In 1965, the Dodge Monaco was "created" by the marketing people to compete w/ Thunderbird and Grand Prix - sort of the first wave of the "personal luxury car", so to speak. 2-door hardtop, 4 bucket seats, console, big engine. Also, the Dodge dealers probably wanted something to sell in their showrooms, instead of their customers driving up the block to buy a 300 or a Sport Fury. So, they created the Monaco - a one-year only car in this configuration. There NEVER was a "1965 Monaco 500".

In 66 this all changed. The actual 65 Monaco was modestly successful - sold a little over 13,000. But, again, the marketing people - in their never ending quest to move more iron - thought that the name "Monaco" had a certain European flair to it (remember Grace Kelly?) - certainly more sexy than "Custom 880". So, in a stroke of brilliance . . . they moved the Monaco nameplate downmarket. In 1966 you could now buy a Monaco 2HT, 4HT, 4SD, convertible, and even a wagon (just like the Custom 880 range of 1965). So . . . what about the original Monaco sport-luxury concept? Simple! We just take the same basic (Monaco) car from 1965, and rename it "Monaco 500"! And this is the same overall lineup hierarchy which was maintained up until around 1970.

And then there is the Polara 500 story . . . and the Canadian Monaco which used Fury interiors, had a whole different variety of engines, and was available as a convertible in addition to the hardtop. But I'll leave that to another post.

Hope this helps to clarify . . .

Thank You! A lot of very good information here. I guess I never really thought of things from a marketing standpoint and how big new innovations were. The body lines and styling do enough for me.

I know 65 was a huge design change year and kind of a one off year. Very unique! No more push button transmission and very large size luxury cars came forth.

I thing "Monaco" was indeed a bit of an exotic naming for a car at that time. Funny how still to this day I tell people I have a Dodge Monaco, they hesitate and say don't know I've ever seen one.

Not enough good history out there like in your post and Polara_500's post. My only hope is this kind of knowledge is not lost with our generation and that many new enthusiasts embrace C Body cars later down the road.

 

[rapidtrans]

The 65 "C" bodies were a huge deal for Chrysler. Dad was working O.T. all summer in 63, in body design, on the 65s. After making the mistake of downsizing their big cars for 62 the all new 65s had to be done well. I think they hit all three cars out of the ballpark. The 2dr hardtop's long lean looks made the new boxier Chevy and Ford look old.

 

[Little Pete]

6 hours left on the auction. Lowered the buy it now price to $5500 dollars.

 

[Polara_500]

Still about twice what it's worth.