How Hollywood Helps Mundane Cars Become Hits: The Strange Tale Of Too Many Monacos

"It's got a cop motor, a 440-cubic-inch plant. It's got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas."

From 1965 to 1978 Chrysler produced a full sized top of the line car called the Monaco.  Today, no one would care, if not for two things that happened after the last 1978 models left the showrooms.  In 1980, a movie by the name of “The Blues Brothers” featured a 1974 Monaco (ex police car specifically chosen by Dan Aykroyd for being the hottest police car offered in the 1970s), and in the early 1980s Rosco P. Coltrane was wrecking them by the dozen on “The Dukes Of Hazzard”.

The Bluesmobile was a nearly indestructible Monaco, able to perform insane stunts, sustain incredible high speeds through downtown Chicago, and take no damage.  At least until the Blues Brothers reach their destination, and the car immediately self-destructs into a pile of parts.

Rosco’s 1977 Monaco, however, was far from indestructible.  Precisely the opposite- if he looked at it wrong, something would fall off.  While not a knock on Chrysler’s quality of the time (though this could also be accurate depending on your source) it was more of a knock on the character- Rosco was supposed to be inept in later seasons. 

There were some companies that chose to replicate the Monaco based on the real car’s merits alone.  Kidco did a coupe version, that served as a police car for their regular range, as well as their Lock-Ups series and Burnin’ Key Cars assortments.  Hot Wheels tooled up the stylized Sheriff Patrol in 1977- before either “The Blues Brothers” or “The Dukes Of Hazzard” hit movie screens and TV sets respectively.  While generic, the Sheriff Patrol is very obviously based on the Monaco- the quad stacked headlights and split grill are unmistakable.  Yat Ming offered theirs in the mid 1980s and this casting is still available today.  Ertl was doing a range of Hollywood cars in the 1980s, so the Bluesmobile was an obvious choice for them.  In 1976 Tomica offered a Dodge Coronet police car.  Zylmex copied it but gave it a different grill and called theirs the Plymouth Fury.  Matchbox did the full size C-Body Plymouth Gran Fury in 1979 (odd because the real model was discontinued in 1977).

The next Monaco to be made was the Johnny Lightning Bluesmobile in 1998.  This was a tie-in with the “Blues Brothers 2000” movie and also involved the new Bluesmobile (a 1990 Ford Crown Victoria).  But only recently has the Monaco started popping up everywhere.  In the last five years the Monaco has been offered by Charawheels, Matchbox, Johnny Lightning, with a forthcoming casting from GreenLight bringing the total up even more.  Not bad for a car that would be all but forgotten these days if not for Hollywood destroying a bunch of them thirty years ago.

Tragically, there are precisely zero pre-1974 Dodge Monacos available in small scale.  Likewise, there are no 1990-1992 Dodge Monacos in small scale.  Sadly, there are no Monaco station wagons in small scale at all.  Matchbox offered a Super King Monaco station wagon, but that is too large for our small-scale focus.
So which manufactures were singing the blues?

Ertl

Johnny Lightning

GreenLight (coming soon)

And which manufacturers are trying to help Rosco catch them pesky Duke Boys?

Hot Wheels (the stylized Sheriff Patrol)

Yat Ming

Hot Wheels Charawheels

Matchbox

Johnny Lightning
Kidco (a rare coupe version)
Kidco Burning Key Cars (likewise a coupe)
Kidco Lock-Ups (also a coupe)