I wish we had better pictures of this 1966 Monaco. Then again, maybe not, because the beauty of this car isn’t evident in the pictures at all. Instead of Monaco, it’s actually located in Salinas, California and it’s auction listing can be found here on eBay, where no reserve bidding starts at $2,000.
I think one of the reasons so many eBay and Craigslist postings have such horrible pictures is that the seller really doesn’t want to say goodbye to the car. Perhaps they are fulfilling a promise to a spouse–“I advertised it for two weeks, honey. It’s just a bad market and no one wants to buy it right now”–while sabotaging the ad as much as possible. Here we see some scrape marks and dents, just like the first picture, but still don’t learn a whole lot about the body condition. At least I don’t see much rust.
Here we have more dents and wrinkles, but we do see those neat black plates. It’s surprising that the seller had the hood up but didn’t take any pictures under there–or at least chose not to post them. And that’s the interesting part. Unlike a lot of vehicles we feature here, this find actually runs and drives. It’s even licensed through June of 2016. It has a 383 V8 that is said to run well and has power steering and power brakes. Most surprisingly of all, it has functional air conditioning that has already been converted to R-134 refrigerant! Not what I’d guess from looking at the outside appearance–under the skin is where the real beauty of this car lies for me!
The interior doesn’t look bad at all, although there are some stains on the back seat that look like they will be challenging to remove. Hopefully the aftermarket gauge under the dash is either a temperature gauge with actual numbers or an oil pressure gauge. Either way, it’s nice information to have, although I might choose to relocate it somewhat.
The seller also showcases a very solid trunk floor, with some of the original mat still present. No, I don’t think this is ever going to be worth a lot of money, but for a solid classic that you could have some fun with while gradually improving its condition, it would be hard to do better. Maybe that’s why the seller isn’t showing off the car the way they could–because that’s what their plan is for the car, too! What do you think?
I don’t think people intentionally send in lousy pictures, probably, like me, are just crummy photographers. My brother has a BIL that has a ’66 Polara like this, much nicer shape, has had it for sale for a long time, and nobody wants it. The one year only body style, and the fact it’s an upscale Monaco, should be a good reason to buy this, and the price is right ( especially for California) Trunk looks little crusty for a Cal. car, but always liked these cars, especially the dash. For some reason, the ’66 Dodge never sold as well as the Plymouth, so it is pretty rare. Can’t go wrong here.