When I saw that speedometer my first thought was "Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don't fail me now!" 😂 I have seen that movie so many times, first on VHS (it might even have been Video 2000) and then on DVD, I think I can recite the entire script verbatim. And sing along with the soundtrack which I have on CD.
Yep - exactly the same here! Many years ago this was on the telly whilst I was travelling home from work; my mate was feeding me lines via SMS and I replied...
My parents ran a small video rental store from our home in the early eighties and of course we had to "test" all the videos. I've watched this one dozens of times and not only is it one of my favourite films, but it also played a big part in my musical education.
105 miles and (Steven Spielberg) was on his lunch break when they got to the assessors' office? A slightly longer version showing where Elwood got the spray glue and where the car was parked gave it special powers.
That for sure is a classic, Dan of course was from Toronto Ontario.The suits and hats are a must when driving that vehicle. Many thanks from the southern shores of Georgian Bay.
One of the most famous cars in movie history, you are so lucky to drive that incredible replica. The Blues Brothers will always be one of my favourite films and the 3 albums linked to it are far and away my favourite soundtrack/albums. Great story, great and varied actors, great cars and chases/crashes and incredible music. I have loved everything Blues Brothers since i first watched the film on VHS rental back in the 80s. My dad had heard about the Blues Brothers and they soon became family favourites, watching the film repeatedly and having the various albums on in the car on journeys. I've always dreamt about driving the Blues Mobile, you are a lucky guy! The owner is quite obviously a true Blues Brothers fanatic though.
Love it! Love it! Love it! Even down to the missing cigarette lighter. If only Twiggy had been filling up her E type at the gas station. Thanks for this, great memories.
Okay, I've owned a few of these 70s Chrysler boats. Some background for friends across the pond. The 400 (6.6) and 440 (7.2) were the same family of RB big block engines. The 360 was an "LA" small block. The 400 was an "emissions" engine, usually equipped with a two-choke carburettor and making 175-200 horsepower depending on emissions equipment. The 440 made 230-275 horsepower depending on emissions equipment and whether or not it had a two or four choke carburettor. 440s were frequently "conservatively" rated, like the contemporary Pontiac 455 (7.4), which similarly breathed fire. The 400s were quite optimistic at 200 horsepower. The transmission is a 727 Torqueflite. I guess that it is possible to break one, but I've never seen it happen in street use over the last 40 years. The 727 backed everything from 150-horsepower 318s to 500-ish (officially 425) horsepower 426 Hemis. Lap belts only is curious. I was under the impression that North American market went universally to inertia reels in 1974, and the 3 point belt can be seen in the movie car. This may be a retrofit from a 1972-73 car to fulfill the needs of an MOT inspector when the car was imported to Britain. (I am also noting the Imperial speedometer, which would have been one of the last seen in Canada, which went metric in the mid 70s.) Now let's get to the Cook County assessor's office! We have to save The Penguin.
Back in the 80's when we had local video hire shops, I rented the VHS so many times the owner sold me my own new copy at cost price. I still have it somewhere. Later I bought the DVD uncut version. Relaxing with a few beers I often choose it for laughs. I once went to a live stage show musical, almost lost my voice after from singing along.
Matt, I don't usually watch the car review videos but I loved The Blues Brothers so I had to watch this one. Steve Cropper and the late great Donald "Duck" Dunn were one half of Booker T. and the MGs. Paul Shaffer who was the original keyboardist did not appear in the film because of SNL contractual obligations but was in the sequel. RIP Donald "Duck" Dunn, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Alan "Mr Fabulous" Rubin and John Belushi.
I remember in the 80's my mate had a 74 Pontiac Firebird 350 in tomato soup (Buccaneer) red & big angry chicken decal on the bonnet (hood), we used to cruise slowly around town, dressed in faded Levi's white tee shirts with packet of Marlboro in the folded back sleeve. Giant pizza box on the dashboard & Bruce Springsteen playing on the cassette deck. What a couple of berks we were ! At least we out posed the boys in "Starsky & Hutch" style Cortina's. LOL
I have the 1.18 scale model of this car, speaker and all. The weathering is great and gives it that extra touch of realism. It brings a smile to everyone I have shown it to.
Is the fact that so many Monacos were destroyed in making of "The Blue Brothers" also a contributing factor to so few being avilable these days? This has to be INSANE driving around the UK. Great stuff, and you know your Americana!!! I had the pleasure of meeting Dan Ackroyd very briefly once, nd just a really nice guy. Cheers, and thanks for keeping FD always so unusual and unexpected!!!!
When Blues Brothers came out, I swerved it, thought it was just a sort of blues musical. 🤔 Never gave it another thought. 🙆♂️ This has put me out of my ignorance! Just watched the trailer. Then bought it on Amazon prime.😎
This movie also altered US law enforcement especially Swat teams. They once used a certain word they never used again after that movie! You are in for a treat watching this one.
I remember seeing the film upon its cinema release. One of my regrets from working in Atlanta 25 years ago during the Olympics was failing to visit "The House Of Blues", which was a project Dan Ackroyd was involved with at the time. I did visit other smaller blues venues though.
Very interesting indeed. Monaco in 74 replaced the entry level Polara models. I believe it was 76 that the Coroner name was dropped, and Monaco and Monaco Brougham took over as the mid-sized offerings. The base Monaco was renamed Royal Monaco with the fancier car called Royal Monaco Brougham. These were great cars to drive. They handled better in stock form than the General Motors competition and about the same as the two offerings from Ford. It is quite easy to improve the cornering ability using the antisway bars front and rear from the Police Package or Trailer Towing Package. Being a Canadian car originally, this car never had catalytic converters. Notice the fuel filler neck does not have the restrictor. Back then, the nozzles on pumps with unleaded fuel were, and still are, of smaller diameter than those of pumps dispensing leaded fuel. Chrysler only fitted catalytic converters to cars with 2 barrel carburetors. Cars with 1 bbl and 4 bbl carbs were able to meet our emission standards without needing them. Monaco could be ordered with many, many options. In the base car, brocade cloth or the all vinyl interior with the bench seats front and rear were it. Tinted windows, air conditioning, power windows, power locks, power seat, and even tilt/telescopic steering wheel were all individual options. That example has incorrect seatbelts fitted. Shoulder belts were mandated, and came on an inertia reel, so the latch on the front seats had both lap (ratcheting reel) and shoulder straps. Sure is a pretty car. Bet it was very sharp in its original deep Red metallic with that white interior.
Thank you for the Canadian-Specific background. I knew that Canada used 2-way catalysts well into the 80s, but not that certain engines were catalyst exempt.
That is an awesome film (for some reason I always remember a whole street doing the twist dance to Ray Charles). I saw this car in the last Regent Street Motorshow in 2019 supporting the tribute band. It does appear briefly on my video of the event.
Iconic movie and iconic car. I am hungry, can I please have 4 fried chickens and a slice of dry white toast lol. Would love to see this car driving around my town blurting out the rhythm and blues review. I bet this car gets alot of smiles when driving around :)
That’s really cool. I remember seeing the bluesmobile driving around Brighton in the late eighties. Think it was a tribute band at the time. You would certainly get noticed driving that Blues Brothers ex police car though.
I do like these older American classics although my favourite is the 1952 Hudson Hornet which I would love to see a video of come onto your channel in the future.
Just last week I saw a Bluesmobile replica here in Finland and it was an actual '74 model too. Didn't peek inside to see how accurate that was as it was parked on a private yard, but otherwise seemed to be pretty close to the movie right down to the bars and spotlight in the front and the missing "D" in the back. That's the third such replica I've seen around here, but this was probably the best.
Does the airflow pass all the way through that huge tannoy on the roof? As if it were a jet engine? I assume it must, otherwise it would blow off the roof, surely!
They Weren't bad old cars, I bought a 1977 Royal Monaco (Green & Rust) and ran it for almost three years back & forth to work. for the equivalent of 325 pounds, a timing chain for the 360 v8, and a few minor repairs. Had the best air conditioning I ever saw. Used to play " SOUL Man " on the tape player ( Sam & Dave) Cheers
Thanks Ant, great Tribute Monaco. My absolute favorite Full Size American from the 1970s. Mopar always did their own thing, I prefer the Ford LTD to the Chevrolet Caprice but the Dodge Monaco and Plymouth Fury just looked so much better and the 440 Magnum was pretty fast. Hey, 360, 400, 440, they were all a cut above a Granada 3 litre. Until the first roundabout at least. Were the brakes any good?
I want an ex-West Virginia State Police 1969 Dodge Polara pursuit. They were stripper 440 powered 4 doors that were delivered to the headquarters motor pool where the engines were pulled and modified (bore and stroke) to displace 505 cubes. I know for a fact they would outrun a Six Pack Charger....
Oh yes, a lot of police vehicles, even now, are a lot more special underneath than even the factory figures would make you think, like the British T5 Volvos that came with TWR-built engines that gave quite a bit more power than you'd get from a civilian car, and possibly more than R cars. When you think about the equipment that is generally carried around in a police car, even back then, then even with the cars being in a basic specification they still needed an extra edge to go up against what they might be chasing, even with the police drivers behind the wheel...
I can't stand television, and I haven't watched any films since 1993. BUT .... The original Blues Brothers movie is just an incredible piece of film, great music, great car chases, and great storyline.
I saw this car and the tribute act at Great Yarmouth, couple of yrs ago , and I filmed a couple of mins and is.on one of my vids , on my channel , great video and story there mr furious , cheers shaneweightman
RU-vidr video Bob Mosely specialises in producing movie prop cars such as this and the Delorean time machine. He even purchased soda cans on ebay from the blue brothers era, so he could crush and place on the tea shelf.
I'm imagining the dirty looks you'd get driving this old Dodge Monaco into the real Principality of Monaco! But somehow seldom has a more appaling piece of old pig iron seemed more appealing.
Well absolutely great fun. But my goodness you can understand why those gargantuan vehicles stayed very much in America.. they really were crude to say the least. Even the big Fords and Vauxhall's over here were a splash in the ocean compared to this.. great vid...
Didn't they get these dodge's cheap at the time, because of the dire situation at Chrysler and the many quality issues their cars had at the time? I've read something about it in Lee Iacocca's auto biography I believe (also reading tip!).
@@xxrs2009 Smokey and the Bandit 2 had a load of free Pontiacs done up as police cars that had been sent to California without air conditioning. Not sure which movie had cheap Dodges though…
@@CycolacFan wow for free.. Nowadays when you enter California there are signs that warn you for cancer. Guess it makes sense, good luck keeping your windows closed without ac over there..
@@xxrs2009 basically it would have cost more to send them back, have workers strip them and fit A/C then send them out again than it was worth. And being Cali cars with LA emissions equipment I suspect they couldn’t be sold anywhere else without modification.
No cup holders until the 80's or 90's. The glove box is right in the center! This bodystyle was made until 1977. Must have taken out the 3 point seatbelts starting in 1974. You need to find a civilian Dodge Monaco! Nice review!
Second time I've seen this car. The previous time was a few years ago driving through Cambridgeshire when I followed it along the A14 (I think) for quite sometime.
