The Parts Car '66 Monaco 500

[ayilar]

@LocuMob and @Ross Wooldridge: you are doing a great job getting me to think more and more about getting a 1966 Polara 500 -- thanks a lot, I need that like a shot in the foot

Here is a commercial for the Monaco 500, in case anyone needs more encouragement:


I wonder why the 1966 theme for Dodge commercials was "rebellion" -- perhaps because it was the sixties and all that? More relevant from a "pure" automobile perspective is the car's design. I have edited the poster below to make it level, using the wheels for alignment on a 4k screen -- yet to my eyes the result does not look level, it gives the impression that the car is diving (rake). Very, very nice work by the designers:

 

[LocuMob]

@LocuMob and @Ross Wooldridge: you are doing a great job getting me to think more and more about getting a 1966 Polara 500 -- thanks a lot, I need that like a shot in the foot

Here is a commercial for the Monaco 500, in case anyone needs more encouragement:

I never wanted this car! I just wanted a set of buckets and a console in my Polara. Oops, look what that did.

 

[ayilar]

FWIW, the front bumper on your car looks to have been "straightened" or it got punted at some point - but since it's got no major dents, it may have be rechromed, and someone got overzealous with the press... It should curve ever so slightly to match the profile of the grille. Here's my car with a correct front bumper, and yours below it. You can see the difference.

Comparing the two pictures, I wonder whether the issue is the grille on @LocuMob's car, not the bumper. Easier to fix, I would think?

 

[413]

Face in the old days

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Definitely the bumper. Nothing wrong with his grille. It should gently curve to match.

 

[LocuMob]

It's the bumper, but I'm not worried about that right now. Get it running, then worry about the cosmetics.

 

[LocuMob]

Not a lot today, but the little I did was a big improvement. I got rid of the insulation and remaining headliner, and gave the car a good vacuuming.

Almost there. I'll clean it with some water and soap this week.

 

[65sporty]

This does look too good to be a parts car, how many cars do you have now?

 

[LocuMob]

This one makes 9 for C bodies. 3 are parts cars.

 

[fury fan]

Had I caught this thread earlier, I would've recommended a leafblower as step 1 for interior cleaning, paying extra attention to blowing under the dash and then out the door.
Step 2 - creamy Gojo hand cleaner is a great cleaner for vinyl.

 

[fury fan]

One of the coolest looking speedo / instrument clusters ever.

So cool that GM used an updated version in the ~2000 Grand Am. (surprisingly, I couldn't find a pic at a better angle)
Although the rest of the interior, as was typical for GM of that era, was made by Hasbro.

 

[LocuMob]

Had I caught this thread earlier, I would've recommended a leafblower as step 1 for interior cleaning, paying extra attention to blowing under the dash and then out the door.
Step 2 - creamy Gojo hand cleaner is a great cleaner for vinyl.

I can only imagine how nasty that would have been. The insulation turned to dust when touched, vacuuming was the least air disturbing way to go about it.

I'll try out the gojo, thanks for the tip.

 

[TxDon]

Not a lot today, but the little I did was a big improvement. I got rid of the insulation and remaining headliner, and gave the car a good vacuuming.

View attachment 444067
View attachment 444068
View attachment 444069
View attachment 444070

Almost there. I'll clean it with some water and soap this week.

View attachment 444071

Are the seats leather or vinyl?

 

[LocuMob]

Are the seats leather or vinyl?

Vinyl.

 

[bigmoparjeff]

@LocuMob and @Ross Wooldridge: you are doing a great job getting me to think more and more about getting a 1966 Polara 500 -- thanks a lot, I need that like a shot in the foot

Here is a commercial for the Monaco 500, in case anyone needs more encouragement:

You should add a slab to your collection. They have a higher build quality and more solid feel than the fuselage cars do, especially the '65-'66 models.

The white Monaco 500 featured in the commercial is very likely the 4 speed car that was photographed for the interior shot in the brochure. On the commercial during the interior pan shot, they cut in just after you would have been able to see the shifter.

Jeff

 

[fury fan]

While I am a big fan of the closed-chamber/small valve 65-67 4-barrel 383, 'hot' isn't an adjective I would use to describe it.

 

[LocuMob]

While I am a big fan of the closed-chamber/small valve 65-67 4-barrel 383, 'hot' isn't an adjective I would use to describe it.

I haven't had a proper chance to compare the '66 vs my '68 383. The '68 did feel a little more spunky, but it's been two years since the Polara 500 was on the road. I hadn't really gotten on it after breaking the engine in. If I get this car running soon, I might have a better idea if the difference. Only 5hp between the two, bigger valves and HP manifolds.

 

[fury fan]

I've never had the 68-up 4-V version, but would like to experience how they compare. Would like to experience the 65-67 vs a 68 and then a 383 with the 335hp Magnum/Super Commando cam (which I believe the C-bodies never got). But likely will never happen for me - too many variables to handle. Would need to be in similar cars too, as even comparing them between Slab and Fusey might be a big weight variable.

And I've also recently read an older 'test' where a guy did some detailed parts-changeout on a low-compression 440, with dyno results, and got exciting hp/torque increases in spite of sub-8 CR. So maybe my admiration of port velocity, CR and throttle response might change if I got my hands on an engine that flowed air in spite of low CR. But his dyno data starts at 3000 rpm (like everyone else's), and I'm more interested in 1000-3000 than I am 3000-6000. Maybe I'm short-sighted - but I spend lots more time in that range.