Joliet, Illinois – Honestly, we were hoping—HOPING—we’d spot a 1974 Dodge Monaco during our first stop on the 2026 Hot Rod Power Tour. And if you’re a fan of movies, music, or just pop culture in general, you can probably guess why:
“Joliet” Jake and Elwood Blues.
Yes, the trusty Bluesmobile has earned its spot in the pantheon of iconic movie vehicles right alongside the DeLorean, ECTO-1, and the Wagon Queen Family Truckster.
And we have a father and son team to thank for making this faithful recreation and bringing it on the 2026 Hot Rod Power Tour.
“I got this in 2011.” Tony tells us. “I had a Pro Street Plymouth, but I felt with a new family coming, a four-door was more practical.”
The car began life as a typical Monaco sedan, but then Tony—a Joliet local—decided to give it the “Blues Brothers” treatment.
“I kind of figured this would be a cheaper build,” he chuckles. “That was not the case.”
“I just couldn’t do it cheaply. I wanted to do it nicely,” Tony admits.
So rather than cut corners, he painstakingly went through every aspect of the car. Thankfully much of the Monaco could be re-used after a thorough bit of cleanup.
“I’m lucky,” he quips. “I had to do one fender on it and I had to do some welding, but other than that, everything’s pretty much original.”
Instead of a down-and-dirty build like its on-screen namesake, the faux-weathered exterior belies the Monaco’s laundry list of upgrades that enhance the hulking Mopar.
“I upgraded everything: engine, transmission, differential. I touched everything on this car,” Tony explains. We asked him if that included things like “Cop Tires” or “Cop Suspension” and he begins to smile.
“It’s just a cruiser. I had it down the track last year, but it did an 18 only because I spun the tires three quarters of the way down the track,” he laughs.
Under the hood is indeed a true-to-the-film 440 “Cop Motor” backed by a 727 Torqueflite.
When we asked Tony about his future plans with the car he did reveal that he had entertained selling it in favor of a Super Bee recently, but then his son Anthony stepped in.
“No, you’re not getting rid of my inheritance,” Anthony exclaims.
…Which made us happy to hear this particular 1974 Dodge Monaco will continue to make its way around the roads of Joliet, Calumet City, and the rest of Northern Illinois for a long time.
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