According to its ad, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Monaco wagon could transport the entire Brady Bunch combo clan. Let’s see if this throwback ’70s icon comes with a price that doesn’t require selling off one or more of the kids to afford.
In The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare twists a biblical quote, writing, “The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children.” Similarly, the seller of the 1982 Honda CX500 Turbo that we looked at yesterday expected its buyer to pay the in-arrear registration fees that have mounted since the bike was last tagged in 2020. Few of you held much regard for the thought of paying that and the bike’s $3,500 asking price, earning the whole idea a 67 percent No Dice drubbing.
If one were to graph the sizes and weights of the North American auto market in the 1970s, the result would be a smoothly rising and falling bell curve. Cars got bigger in the early part of the decade, but due to emissions and fuel economy standards, it became necessary for them to become smaller and more efficient in the latter half.
Today’s 1972 Dodge Monaco wagon hails from that earlier, heady period and, hence, is as big as all get out. Considering that few such cars survive today, there’s almost an equally enormous appeal to such a beast.
Dodge used the Monaco nameplate for its top-of-the-line C-Body cars beginning in 1965 and continuing through 1978. The company dusted off the Monaco name for a Dodge version of the Renault 25-based Eagle Premier that Chrysler was contractually obligated to produce after buying up AMC in the late 1980s.
This Monaco, however, is the real deal. It rides on a massive 122-inch wheelbase, and according to the load capacity sticker on the door jamb, it can seat up to eight across its expansive three rows of seating. It also ticks a heck of a lot of the boxes in the coolness department, featuring hidden headlamps, woodgrain siding decals, and Mopar’s then-avant-garde “fuselage” styling.
Mechanically, these are pretty simple. The engine is a 210 (net) horsepower 360 CID V8 paired with a column-shifted three-speed Torqueflite automatic and leaf-sprung live axle in the back. Up front, torsion bars keep the long-short A-arm front suspension under control. According to the ad, the brake booster and shocks have recently been replaced, but pretty much everything else is original.
That’s amazing since the car looks to be nearly daisy-fresh. It comes in a rather shocking color combination of Summer Sand over a pesto green vinyl interior with woodgrain accents both inside and out. There are no apparent flaws in the bodywork or paint or any fading in the woodgrain appliqué. It wears its original factory full-wheel covers on steel wheels and what looks to be fairly fresh Hankook rubber.
There’s only minor wear apparent in the cabin. Some cracking can be found on the end of the dash cap, which is noticeable in the pictures. But aside from that, it’s all clean and unceasingly green.
Per the ad, lack of excessive use might be the reason behind the car’s time-capsule status, as it shows only 54,000 miles under its belt. The ad also claims the wagon runs well and that even its cruise control and A/C are in working order. A clean title and a whole bunch of maintenance records will accompany the car in the sale. What might one expect to pay for such an opportunity?
The seller is asking $20,500 for the Monaco, and it is safe to say that demand for such a car in such a condition will outstrip supply. I can’t think of the last time I saw one of these that hadn’t been modified or wasn’t on its last legs. Is that, then, a fair price?
What do you say? Is $20,500 a deal to become one of the Monégasques? Or, like the car, is that too grand for your tastes?
You decide!
Facebook Marketplace out of Lakebay, Washington, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Bill Lyons for the hookup!
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