It’s malaise motoring week here at Barn Finds. Yesterday it was a ’79 Volare station wagon and today it’s a ’78 Dodge Aspen coupe. But this isn’t any Aspen, it’s a genuine “Super Coupe” and an unusual take on what was once, the ubiquitous Aspen. This coupe, located in Trenton, New Jersey, is definitely worth a review. It is available here on eBay for a BIN price of $19,999.
The Super Coupe was a one year only option that came equipped, according to Dodge’s Aspen sales brochure as follows: “The one that looks as if it’s ready for the main go at LeMans. It’s coming soon…with a rich dark brown body color with contrasting black finish hood, front fender tops, head lamps, wiper arms, front and rear bumpers, and remote control racing mirrors. Body side and roof tape striping provide a vivid contrast. Then there are wheel flares, front and rear spoilers, quarter window louvers, 15×8 special GT wheels with GR60x15 raised while letter Aramid fiber-belted radials. All this show is backed by a 360 four-barrel V8 plus heavy-duty suspension and rear anti-sway bar. Why not drive one? Just so you can be sure it does what it promises. Total production equaled 494 copies.
The “rich dark brown” color reference in the sales brochure is a bit deceiving. This example looks black in many of the included images but it’s not; you’ll need to review all of them to get a good line on the true color. The seller claims that this Dodge has had a full refinish, and the new finish on this Super Coupe, along with its flat black accents, looks great. And there’s a lot here to refinish when you consider the large flat black horizontal portions, the wheel flares, spoilers, louvers, and stripes. The seller adds that the body of this Aspen is original and rust free with no patched or replaced body panels.
For power, this Super Coupe, employes a 360 CI “LA” V8 engine, fed by a four-barrel carburetor that produces 175 net HP. The seller advises, “Original car with 360 4BL that runs and drives excellent”. This Aspen is a 79K mile example, so assuming a lack of abuse and proper maintenance, this Super Coupe should still have plenty of zip left to it. All Super coupes were equipped with a three-speed automatic transmission.
The interior is a real knock out! The seller claims, “New carpets. Headliner and seat covers were just professionally done.” Mopars of this vintage, and some other vintages too, were known for having taxi-cab quality interiors but that’s not the case here. This interior and its upholstery has an all-business look about it even if the instrument panel is a bit low-rent looking. It’s in fine shape, that’s just how things were in those years though I have to admit I never got the fake wood veneer look. The genuine article on a Jaguar or a Rolls, I get that; faux contact paper quality material on a domestic? Cheesy looking – but it’s in darn fine shape nevertheless. Interesting to note is the legroom in the back seat. This Dodge was designed and built when you could actually place passengers, comfortably, in the rear seat of a coupe.
The seller suggests, “Very rare opportunity to buy a great example of a rare future collector Mopar that you can drive and show.” Rare it is but I don’t know how collectible this Aspen will ever be – only time will tell but I wouldn’t bet on it. The stripe treatment/louvers et al is really over-wrought and too typical of the era. As for performance, I would imagine this Aspen does pretty well for itself, especially considering its era, but the comparative bar was set pretty low in ’78, especially compared to just a few years earlier. I’d never buy this Aspen in the hope of a future return, I’d buy it because I liked it and wanted to enjoy it as is, how about you?
That interior floored me! I was expecting the usual mopar taxi cab vinyl as the writer mentioned. I can’t believe there were only 494 of these made. Sharp looking car. Slow I’m sure, but sharp.
Sharp car, but… my parents had a Volare when they were first married. My mother would disown me if I bought this, whatever my plans for it!
Considered one of these new, but it looked too cheesy. The engine and sway bars could be had on any Aspen/Volare, just had to check off the right boxes when ordering. That way you got a nice looking car without the kid racer appeal, but with the best performance for the day. In the end, cheaped out and bought nothing….story of my life.
If a 1978 Dodge Little Red Express pickup truck was running a Chrysler 360 engine with 225 hp and 290 ft-lb, why couldn’t they get those numbers in the Aspen Super Coupe?? Bad work by Dodge. I do like the looks though. Not sure if the market is at $20k for these yet.
Little Red Express was emissions exempt in 1978 being a light truck… the passenger cars were not so lucky.
In 1979 the rules changed and the Little Red’s exemption went away.
Because those numbers never made it into the production LRX. The truck that made that power was a specially-built prototype that was loaned to both Hot Rod and Car & Driver magazines for testing. The production truck used the same E58 360 that the Super Coupe got, with a slightly different cam and no catalytic converters (because it was a truck).
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/mopp-0111-1978-dodge-lil-red-express-truck/
Because “trucks” had easier EPA regulations. It was cheating, but Chrysler played the rules as they saw fit. The regs were for work trucks, not sport trucks.
Really doesn’t matter that much now. These are not that valuable so you’d care much about keeping the original engine and Mopar has a ton of different crate motors that will double or even quadruple the factory output if you want.
SC Super Cheeseball
While, on any given day, these would outrun it’s Z-28, Corvette, and Trans-am contemporaries, me thinks they are just a smidge proud on this one – as nice as it may be.
BTW Ford had nuttin.
Not a chance this was outrunning a 78′ Trans Am.
All four were 16 to 17 second cars in the quarter, the best were lucky to dip into the 15s stock. Look it up. Like I said, on any given day.
The Trans Am probably weighed more than 500 pounds over this Aspen , so I could see it happening .
Aspen Super Coupes were 17+ quarter mile cars. 78′ W72 T/A’s were low 15 second cars. You can look that up all day long. The difference between a 15 second car and a 17 second car is tremendous in drag racing. It’s not even a fair race.
A little less than a foot per hundredth of a second on a street car like this, you’d be looking at around ten car lengths for 2 seconds difference in ET.
Steve R
I’ll just leave this here…
The Aspen and Volare were light enough to be potent with a V8. In 0-60 times, car magazines of the day revealed that the 1977 360-engined Aspen, with a two barrel carb (it wasn’t an R/T, much less a Super Coupe), was about on a par with the 350-four barrel Camaro Z28 and Corvette L82. All three were faster than the 1977 Trans Am 400-4, showing that there might be a substitute for cubic inches after all — lighter weight. In the quarter mile, the Aspen was a bit slower by the clock, but faster through the traps than the GM trio.
Car (all with automatic trans)
0-60 1/4 mile Official Top Speed*
1978 Volare Kit Car 360-4
7.3 sec15.9 @ 88
111
1978 Aspen Super Coupe 360-4
8.1 sec
16.7 @ 85 108
1977 Aspen 360-2 HD 8.6 sec 17.4 @ 86.1 115
1977 Camaro Z28 350-4 8.6 sec16.3 @ 83.0 105
1977 Corvette L82 350-4 8.8 sec 16.6 @ 82.0
1977 Trans Am 400-4 9.3 sec 16.9 @ 82.0 110
1977 Volare 318-2 HD 10.7 sec 18.2 @ 74.4 106
Another source. Operative words from the get go were contemporaries (other like cars tjat you were likely to get into a street challenge with on the roads at the time, including different yesrs of the same model – within reason) and “on any given day”. Lots of variables back in the day, particularly in street encounters. I’ve driven both – liked the T/As considerably better but the fact remains, the Super Coupe could show it’s taillights if you got caught napping just a little bit. Seen it happen with my own eyes.
I guess that we will simply have to agree to disagree. At this point 40 years later, it’s all just bench racing in the end my friend. Good times.
Peace
There’s a massive spread between the two 360 4-barrels, and neither is fast by today’s standards. Ss I said above, these are not that valuable. So just go to Mopar and get a new crate engine.
Why would you compare the 78 Aspen to the 77 Trans Am? My comment was no way that Super Coupe Aspen was going to keep up in any way shape or form with a 78 W72 Trans Am, which has increased HP over the 77 T/A and a 3.42 rear. As you can see in the article that you “left right here”, that a 78 Aspen Super Coupe ran the quarter mile in 16.7. As I mentioned in earlier posts, a 78 W72 4-speed Trans Am was a mid to low 15 second car. That’s well over a second difference. At 90mph trap speed, that’s about 130 feet per second. That’s about a 6-8 car length difference through the trap. Basically the 78 T/A would slay this Super Coupe all day long.
Had a ‘79 L78/WS6 Trans Am, 15.3 in the quarter, bone stock and short shifting at about 4500 RPM. Only thing close was a L-82 4-speed Corvette. No way the Aspen was running with a L78 T/A, it’s competition was the 302 Mustang II Cobra.
I said it on FB and I’ll say it here. If I had $20k to blow right now i wouldn’t hesitate to to blow it on this.
Ive never seen a “special” Mopar drop in value. And these Super Coupes are rare as Hen’s teeth.
(I tried buying a set of SC wheels on Ebay 10 years ago. Bidding rolled to $900. I was out at 400.)
Just flip the breather lid..its good for 50 to 100 extra hp..at least that’s what we used to think back in the day lol
Taller air filter is even better, if you can find 1 that fits.
And if you put a K&N filter in it, you can get 40 more on top of that.
I’m pretty sure the decal package was good for at least 50 hp…….
We had. 79 Aspen Coupe with the 5.2 (318-2) which was plenty quick and could roast the tires with a corner launch with ease. Plenty fast into triple digit land too. I had two 73 Fury III coupes with the 360-2 motors. Both were nice boats with adequate cruise power. But one came to need a new intake gasket, so I had a local hotrod mechanic fix and tune it. I never had s car that hit the triple digits as fast and blew past the speedometer limit of 120 so easily. I can’t say what the top end was, I never had enough local road to wind it out, and didn’t need verification from any highway patrol to tell me it was way fast. I blew trannies on both the furys and that and non corrosion treated metal were their weaknesses. Right after I had a 75 T/A motor rebuilt for my 66 GTO, I encountered a mid 90’s Dodge Pickup who was all over me. I stayed off it because I was still on break in mode, but without going full on, I couldn’t lose him. My father had a 97 and 2000 Dodge pickups, with the 360’s and they were plenty powerful considering those trucks were tanks. I give due respect to the 318/360 motors.
I thought the Super Coupes came with fender flares. Too bad it’s not a 4 spd. Surprised a NJ car survived with no panel or floor replacement since these cars rusted out badly.
1976 and 77s had the rust issues that prompted a fender recall , but that was remedied for the 78- 80 models . Thats not to say they didn’t rust ,everything does on the East Coast ,just not disintegrate like the earlier models.
I think it was what Chrysler called “Kit Cars” that came with the fender flares. I remember a Richard Petty 43 version. It had a more NASCAR look to it. Fender flares and 8″ wide steel wheels with no trim rings. Pretty mean looking.
I understood your initial retort perfectly well, I fear you have lost sight of mine.
Just curious, Did you ever drive an Aspen Super Coupe on the streets back in the day?
Some 77, 78, 79 T/As ran 15s, some ran 16s, depending on how you held your tongue.
Some Aspens Volares ran 17s, some ran 16s.
As has been mentioned elsewhere, all you had to do was flip the breather on
a 360 and get an instant 50 horsepower. Bye bye W72 3.42 400 TA 6.6 4 speed Joey.
How much horsepower did the Firebird gain from flipping it’s breather??
Peace
Jcs…please tell me your “flip the air cleaner” comment was tongue in cheek. Pretty sure that previous comment in this thread regarding flipping an air cleaner lid and adding 50hp was in jest. For a minute I thought you might have a hint of credibility, albeit misinformed. You are now creeping into clueless territory. Yes I drove a 360 Aspen and a 78 TA (which I still own).
….
Again, people that aren’t familiar with the times, 1978 was almost the end of the line. Car makers tried their darndest to keep the muscle car alive, they were always good sellers, but regulations all but killed them. This was as good as you could get, and I think it was a sharp, mean looking car, something Chrysler had been known for, even today. And yes, there were pickup trucks that could outrun it, but they didn’t look as cool as this.
There was a guy that had a 1978 orange Road Runner in my hometown. Basically the same car, and it would really lay the rubber. His was a 360 4 barrel.
The tin worm sue got it and around 1983 it was pretty much junk
I had a 1977 Aspen as a winter car in the late 1980s and it served me well.
I had the Plymouth version. 16.20 right off the showroom floor. Supposedly the 360’s 4 barrel with black valve covers had special treatment. It’s sitting in my brother’s garage right now.
JcS, on a ’73-76 t/a it was ez to open up the shaker to get more & COOL air in the carb. & a lot of people did it. On a ’77-79, harder to open up the shaker & the ’77 shaker is too short IMO.
Shaker can also tell u if motor ain’t runnin quite right.
Best to get t/a with as few heavy(back then) options as possible, including radio. Most also ditched the heavy transverse muffler.
No way flipping an air cleaner lid gives you 50-100 more hp. lol
Maybe 10.
Direct Connection performance parts actually had Aspen stock cars available in different levels of construction.
My friend had one new with t-tops. Cool looking car for the late 70’s. I bought my Hellcat because it reminded me of the Super Coupe. Same color combo (almost) with f black hood.
Jeez… who’d a thought an Aspen would generate so much discussion and agitation!
Yes, it was meant in jest, figured that it would be pretty obvious. Not only for the imaginary exaggerated horsepower gain but for the fact that it would be pretty tough to flip the breather on a T/A. ;-)
Speaking of credibility, exactly what quarter mile ETs and trap speeds did stock 78 L78 automatic Trans Ams (as the majority were equipped – 57,000 vs 4,000 W72 4spd) run in your neck of the woods? Not to mention the 403 equipped L80s, another 9,000 or so if memory served me correctly.
I know exactly what my Martinique blue one did before and after mods and I still have the time slips from Commerce (1000 ft altitude) to back it up.
Spoiler alert, I was pleased as punch when I first finally got it to dip into the 15s.
I just picked this car up. It’s a true rust free all original panel car, needs some minor work but fresh paint and interior, it’s straight too. Body/paint was done by the sellers body shop, it looks great. Runs really good for the era it was built, it’s not stock as it’s had exhaust work, carb change, and an MSD ignition installed. I’ve owned over 120 mopars thru the years, this is my first F body. This joins my 69 Daytona in the barn.
Congrats. I have a Volare SC. Not sure that dash bezel is original. I’ve never seen a SC with woodgrain dash before.
The manufacture count number of 494 was for the Volare Super Coupe.
The Dodge Super Coupe was 531.
Dodge was Sunfire metallic Brown.
Volare was Crimson Red metalic.
Both were a stand out amongst Chevy and Pontiac. Who used a cookie cutter body an came up with half a dozen names to tell them apart.
Have been a proud owner of my Dodge.
She has 189000 miles, and one of the original 11 with T-tops.
Would not trade her for anything brand new. Always a head turner.
Enjoy and care for what you drive,
and leave the politics out.. (ttfn)
It’s the SE option interior….some conjecture about if it’s an original SE option car or was added later. The car is also coded for high back bucket seats, according to the guy who runs the Supercoupe registry it’s the only one known to carry that seat code. Supposedly those seats were not available in 78 model year. I’ve had it for almost a year now, fixed all the little bugs in it and it’s a good running car, the A/C blows ice cold and it’s cool to see people’s reactions to it as most people have no idea what it is.