My buddy in Spokane, Jason Bagge, AKA That ’70s Car Guy, AKA The Brougham Whisperer, has found yet another remarkably well-preserved land yacht. This time, it’s the C-body Dodge Monaco, made famous on The Blues Brothers.
“They broke my watch!” “You want out of this parking lot? OK!” “You traded the Cadillac for this?” “Hi! you want to hand me the mike? Thanks a lot. Uh, this is car number…what number are we?” “Five five.” “Car fifty five. Uh, we’re in a truck!”
Yes, I can’t see one of these cars without thinking of what is probably my favorite movie ever, The Blues Brothers. It has it all. Belushi, Ackroyd, Candy. Awesome music. Awesome car chases. And it’s damn entertaining.
That movie is a double edged sword, however. Many a mint, little old lady owned, 1976 Royal Monaco or ’74 Monaco Brougham four door hardtop has been de-chromed, painted black and white, and had a big ass loudspeaker added to it, all in the name of those Blues boys.
But we don’t have to worry about that with this one! Jason loves bringing these ’70s cars back. As we speak, he’s in the process of losing those blackwall tires and Chevy rally wheels for proper Monaco wheel discs and whitewall tires. And he’s already sourced the correct stand-up hood ornament. The burgundy paint with matching interior and white top is just perfect. This thing is going to be a beaut!
Oh, and the best part? He got it for a grand. Yep!
Is a 360 under the hood?
I hope it has a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, cop tires, cop suspension, and cop shocks, but unfortunately it isn’t a model built before catalytic converters so it won’t run great on regular gas.
Fix the cigarette lighter.
Fix the cigarette lighter.
And replace that CD player in the dash with a proper 8-track, for playing Sam & Dave.
Great looking car. Will he scatter cigarette butts all over the dash too !
Kudos to the Brougham Whisperer for restoring the Royal Monaco into what it was to the people that built, designed and bought it. A strong yet relaxed drivetrain, ample room but modest trim and price.
People are so tolerant of a movie where coastal ethnics are airdropped on middle America to spit on such Americana as the cop on the beat, supper clubs, malls, country/western music and yes Dodge Monacos. Our heroes then represent for ethnic minorities because apparently with out them the musical savages would lack for vocal cords once the song is over. Probably how Democratic party bosses see themselves. Bet Biden, Steyer, and Gary Hartpants loved this movie. Me?…not so much.
John I don’t know any Republicans who didn’t enjoy the Blues Brothers movie, but you do raise some interesting points. The movie certainly does make fun of the Chicago PD, which isn’t very nice given the fine reputation the department had for fairness, honesty, and lack of corruption before the movie came out – no wonder Al Capone had such a hard time operating in the city with such vigilant cops on duty. Both kinds of music – Country and Western also take some ribbing in the movie, but the band did perform renditions of Rawhide and Stand by Your Man, which must of corrupted me because I thought they were well done. They also certainly wrecked a lot of Mopars, and also a fair number of Chevies and Fords in the chase scenes, but the “heroes” chose the Monaco because it was tough, which they demonstrated by outrunning not only the cops but also a Winnebago driven by the Good Ole Boys and a Pinto Wagon driven by Nazis. In fact the only foreign car that received prominent attention in the movie was the E-Type Jag which inaccurately started and ran when driven by Twiggy. You are also correct about all that cultural appropriation by Jake and Elwood, as their appearance in the movie totally undermines the contributions of Ray Charles, James Brown, Cab Calloway, Sam and Dave, and Matt Murphy, who was so offended by his role in the band he agreed to replay it in Blue Brothers 2000 – I mean how dare some white guys dare perform black music.
Thanks to you John I now have to look at a lot of my favorite movies and artists in a new and woke light. Smokey and the Bandit and just about all other Burt Reynolds movies from the 1970s share many of the same sins, and Elvis and the Rolling Stones were totally unethical in making a career out of black music. From now on only movies and music by woke and diverse artists for me.
Does anyone REALLY think that James Brown, who was so sensitive about getting proper respect as a black man that he did not allow anyone to call him “James” but always “Mr. Brown” – and who insisted that his associates and colleagues also be referred to the same way, thought that Belushi and Ackroyd were “looking down on” or “felt they needed to speak for” him?
Do you think that Cab Calloway, who was a world-renowned entertainer (and foster father to bebop) before Belushi and Ackroyd were even gleams in the milkman’s eye, felt condescended to?
The great black artists who appeared in that movie were all highly intelligent people who were well paid for their participation, had really been through the wringer of racial prejudice, and had plenty of resources so they didn’t need to do it unless they wanted to.
The “great” black artists appeared in the movie for money. It was not a black production and whatever words they managed to get out of their mouths between the songs were put there by John Landis.
Jake and Elwood are clearly a take off on the Freedom Riders who boldly go into foreign territory to claim credit for the Civil Rights movement. Stingray, if Republicans are too stupid to see the spit coming at them and their Royal Monacos, well…….
It’s quite simple, John is either having some psychotic break that’s been going on for the past 16-24 months, or he’s an odd troll. It’s not worth pondering for any substantial period of time.
Tom’s GIf might work better if he wasn’t the one saying there is nothing to see here with that movie. But I understand Tom, the truth can be hard to face, why not just tap your feet to Mr. James Brown and HRH Aretha Franklin as presented by Landis and not think about deeper meanings.
Sure thing! By the way, trolling only works if the intended target gives a flying fig about what you say. Have a lovely evening.
Wow, you’ve pegged the nutty meter today John…….
Really, John C?!
The Blues Brothers?!
I just thought it looked like a bunch of people playing music and having a good time making a movie. I am sad to hear that it was actually a miasma of cultural appropriation, and race savior-ism.
I leave it to my intellectual betters to ‘whitesplain’ to the artists in the movie how their participation somehow devalues their existence. I will just relive the first time I heard John Lee Hooker sing “Boom boom”
How dare I not like a movie. I must be crazy…… just look at Tom’s gif. Suspect JLH might have rather played something current that might have rejuvenated his career rather than lip-syncing something from 1962. But John Landis pulled his strings and slipped him the shekels so you know all is well here.
That’s a phenomenal find. Congratulate Jason for me. One item, though. I think the wheels that are on the car are the police spec steelies. They look suspiciously similar to the reinforced cop wheels we used on our street spec circle track car we campaigned back in the 1980’s. They had the five kidney bean shaped holes similar to the GM wheels, but not quite the same. IIRC, the bolt pattern was different.
FWIW, the cop wheels are valuable all on their own…
Crap… That was supposed to say Street Stock circle track car…
Thank you, this is brings back memories.
My grandfather had one of these, quite similarly equipped. It started out silver, but ended up porch and deck enamel gray via roller after many salty Waterville, NY winters took their toll. He didn’t have the means to do paint and body the proper way, but he made it look decent from a distance.
With spare cash and garage space I’d have a clean example of Grandpa’s car, with requisite CB radio.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=hill+street+blues+opening+sequence&view=detail&mid=B9906858475DBA126238B9906858475DBA126238&FORM=VIRE
This car reminds me more of the opening sequence of Hill Street Blues than the car from the Blues Brothers. Oddly, the cop car is the only thing I remember about Hill Street Blues. I didn’t watch much TV at the time though. I suspect that I watched whatever was on before HSB and then turned off the TV after the opening sequence.
I like the car. It is a shame about the perils of Lean Burn though.
Now I know what happened to the tooling for the 1973 LeSabre.
These tend to get even less love than the equivalent GM broughams…Hope it goes to an appreciative home.
*VERY* nice and good to see it get into the proper hands .
A friend of mine in Boston, Ma. had a brief thing for cop cars and bought a 1976 Royal Monaco that had been a Ma. State Police pursuit car ~ it was near immaculate at 5 or so years old , he found a green cover for the old square light bar and ran that thing hard until his management career took off, that was the end of it .
VERY good cars these .
I’m not a fan of MoPar styling but how the run, handle and last are always good .
-Nate