Just about every one of the major American makes eventually released a special full-size hardtop with bucket seats and a console in the 1960s. Compared to what was arguably the movement’s shining star, the popular Pontiac Grand Prix, however, the handsome 1965 Dodge Monaco didn’t generate much buzz. It was introduced a little late in the game, only sold about 13,000 units, and became a full model line the following year, leaving this ’65 as the only year that Dodge tried to match the four-seater hardtops at their own game. This 80,374-mile example is presented as a mostly original car with “a nice repaint in the car’s original metallic silver.” I found it here on Marketplace in Frankfort, Illinois, with an asking price of $15,900.
I don’t know about you, but I love 1960s personal luxury cars, because they always stood out from the company’s lesser offerings in countless little ways. The Monaco, for example, had a standard 315-horsepower 383 four-barrel engine (although the TorqueFlite found on this car was optional). If I bought this car (and in a perfect world of unlimited money and space, I would), I’d probably ditch the yellow spark plug wires and aftermarket distributor, but the seller says that the engine runs strong, the transmission shifts smoothly, and the car “rides good.” As you probably have noticed, it has power steering and power brakes.
Ultimately, the interior was where the money was really spent, with the “Rattan inset door panels,” three-spoke steering wheel, “Rattan-backed bucket seats,” console, and optional (and working in this case) console-mounted tachometer.
Those huge gauges, that floor shifter, that console trim…no, the Monaco may not have reached the dizzying interior-design heights of the Thunderbird or the Riviera, but those cars also cost roughly 25 percent more than a Monaco. And if you were a dyed-in-the-wool Mopar fan, more especially a Dodge person, this was your option.
Unfortunately, the existence of Chrysler’s own 300 and Plymouth’s already-established Sport Fury probably held down sales of the Monaco, regardless of how neat its “Rattan-themed” interior was. But the best part about car collecting is that a car’s initial success doesn’t mean much if you like the car today, and 1965 Monacos with “solid” bodies and undercarriages don’t come up for sale too often. The color combination is nice and the vinyl top is in “nice condition,” so if you like these 1960s bucket-seated full-sizers, and you have the space and money to buy this one, why wait?
What a beautiful car. Tough to believe what an about face from styling just 5 years prior. From some of the most unusual, to the most beautiful, yet, as mentioned, poor sellers. One could say, this was a car aimed at GP/Riviera, T-Bird, Marlin,,:), cruisers, I’m sure it was merely a stopgap issue, as the all new Charger was already being talked about. This was a gussied up Dodge Polara to many. Only about 30,000 of these were sold, ironically, about the same as ’66 Chargers sold new. Best of the best, right here.
A stunner. Not sure I like the pipes. This one would support fender skirts too.
I agree, Dave. I think it would look better w/the original styled, down turned plain tail pipes. A less “in-your-face” version of the potential muscle power.
I remember our Monaco started making a weird noise when we went on a cross-country vacation in 1966. It turns out the muffler extention was hitting the bumper.
We have replaced the Painted tips with exact replica 65 stainless steel tips. It looks much better.
It is crazy to think with the size of cars today this was considered downsized
My thought exactly!
The difference is in the details. The grille is very masculine. A Remington shaver comes to mind. Can you imagine a hidden headlight option?! The back seat speaker grill is a smart, simple design – if that makes *any* sense. And that center console is work of art.
Any idea on the small round recess between the two dash pods by bottom of the windshield? High beam indicator?
I’ve made this comment before on these pages… “America was building some well styled, well built, and interesting cars in the 60s…” too bad it was a few years before I was driving… and I’ll end with a comment I’ve also made on these pages before… “then it all went in the bucket in the 70s…” I wish someone who was there and knowledgeable on the subject would write a book describing how it all went so bad… What drove the malaise….
The ridiculous smog and fuel regulations imposed by the government on the auto industry, that was based on the pure hoax of oil shortage, and the runaway psychosis in government on air pollution caused the decline in customer demand and purchases. With less and less horsepower per ci of engine displacement due to lower and lower compression ratios to meet the regulations, people gave up on having a car like they could get in the past and held onto their 60’s cars for much longer than they otherwise would have. Car makers tried to overcome the poor sales numbers with “style” and “options”, but that had very little effect on sales.
And so they “tried” to make economy cars without any more research and engineering into their projects than what a kindergartner would put into coloring between the lines, and thus produced some of the worst junk boxes the industry has ever seen. – Japan saw an enormous opportunity here and having already mastered the economy car design for their own country long ago, started to import millions of their cars to a market that needed and wanted them, and thus Japan ate American car makers lunch and laughed all the way to the bank.
As idiots in high places do; they thought it was a temporary glitch in the market and never tried to match the competition head on, but simply kept pumping out their junk economy boxes with “style” changes that broke the back of those that didn’t have deep pockets to weather the storm – hence Chrysler went flat and slid into the ditch.
However, it was Chrysler that first tried to stem the losses by importing Japanese economy cars rebranded under their name/s, and actually created a more powerful 4-cylinder design than what Japan had at the time (based on the Hemi design), which they licensed to Mitsubishi to manufacture and place in their Chrysler imports, and that was the saving grace that kept Chrysler from going completely under and not come back up. — GM tried to meet the economy car demand by importing the Opel from Germany, but the Dodge Colt and its Plymouth counterpart outsold it considerably, so GM brought in a “sports car” Opel that looked like a badly shrunken Corvette. It did better, but not enough to keep it in their line up for long. — Ford tried to do the same thing with the Ford Capri – made “somewhere” in Europe, but it’s sales were very lackluster due to its anemic performance and total lack of staying in one piece for long. – The Ford 4-cylinder engine was the only good part of the Pinto and the Mercury equivalent. The rest of their homemade economy cars were basic junk and proved as much as the years progressed, which even further soured the market on American products and the slippery slope got much slippery.
Overall; if the huge government interference in the car industry hadn’t happened, American car makers would have continued to dominate the car market and would have eventually come to produce quality economy cars without having to rush junk cars to market as they did, which would have made all the difference in the world. — Sadly – the government did what it always does – ruin industries with bureaucratic idiocy / nonsense based on hoaxes – and thus US manufacturing was crippled by its own government and has never recovered. We still suffer the consequences to this day!
Never see any of these. It’s a beautiful Mopar classic. I remember these new. I don’t know why the article kept talking about these as a personal luxury group, because they were not. This was a sporty, luxurious, upscale version of the full size Dodge. It was certainly nothing like in Eldorado, Toronado, Riviera, or Mark. But it’s certainly a good looking Chrysler product. The 65 Chryslers and Dodgers and Plymouth were strikingly handsome, fast and reliable. Too bad Stellantis has no idea on what real cars are or how to build them.
My buddy from high school has his dad’s 66 Monaco. We did a lot of cruising in that car. I like the changes on the 66 better also.
this 1 clean looking driver. agree on the distributor and the wires and the tailpipe too. rare to see it sporting bucket seats and a tach in the console
Our family had a tan colored one, with black interior and black vinyl top. It was probably the best car I ever drove. This one advertised in green is pretty. It brings back good memories of the 60s and 70s.
Maybe I’m biased being a Mopar guy but this is truly a beautiful car in a beautiful color. The wonderful design and layout of that interior is also a winner. I agree I’d go back to a factory look on the distributor and plug wires. Would be beyond proud being able to drive this classic.
Lo’ and behold? I actually have an entire roll of that rattan weave used for interiors. Do like the use of it on the doors. Too bad it couldn’t have been incorporated as a subtle trim across the dash. Just say’in.
In my 2nd year in the Navy in ’68, I got land base duty on Treasure Island in the San Francisco bay and was going to be there for a while. I didn’t want to buy a car there at California prices, so my father found a ’65 Polara 500 2-door that he had the dealer hold for me. I took leave, looked it over, test drove it, loved it, and bought it, and then drove it back from central Oklahoma to California. That was one VERY NICE car! — It was a 2-door, the paint was a cream color with the same style black vinyl roof as this Monaco, and had the 383ci 4 brl under the hood and the torqueflite tranny with the same center console and black interior with bucket seats – just like this Monaco – with the dash in the Polara being exactly the same as the one in this Monaco. The Polara had all the bells and whistles – PS, PB, AC, PW, CC, power-tilt steering wheel, push-button AM/FM stereo radio with 3 speakers, and power-adjust driver’s seat, etc.
The only differences I can see between this Monaco and my Polara 500 (besides the paint color) is the Monaco has the bullet-style fender turn signal indicators and the Polara had the standard fender turn signal indicators – and the Polara did not have the chrome strip-plate on the rear that intrudes into the tail lights, and the hubcaps were different on the Polara. Those are the only differences I can see between this Monaco and my Polara 500.
My ’65 Polara 500 was absolute fun and joy to drive in town, out on windy/twisty country roads, and it cruised all day long on the highway in plush comfort. I would think this Monaco would be the exact same if its in as good a condition as it seems to be here, and so the asking price seems to me to be very reasonable for this classic survivor.
did this car ever sell?