This listing is a little unusual in that the seller has included good photos and quite a few of them, well done. Low-mile rust-free cars from this era don’t show up that often. It can be found listed here on Facebook Marketplace. This time capsule is located in Woodbury, Connecticut and they’re asking $6,500. Thanks to Dennis H. for sending in this tip!
Even though this one is, gasp, a four-door sedan it looks like a nice one. The Plymouth Volare and Dodge Aspen were quite a change from the Plymouth Valiant and Dodge Dart and they were made for only five years: 1976 through 1980. This appears to be a base model “librarian-spec” car. Although, the whitewall tires and full wheel covers give it a slightly-upscale look.
Once it’s out in the light of day, this is one nice-looking car. I don’t mind four-door sedans at all but I only have one now if you don’t count a station wagon or an SUV. I don’t see a flaw in this car inside or out, the exterior looks perfect from any angle, at least condition-wise. There could be a healthy debate as to whether the Volare and Aspen were good cars or not due to some early quality issues or whether they were good-looking cars, styling-wise.
The interior looks like it’s in outstanding condition both front and rear. It isn’t super exciting inside but that wasn’t what a Volare sedan was about, was it? The Volare and Aspen were based on Chrysler’s F-body platform and from previous comments, I’m guessing that a lot of readers will give this one a grade of F if not an incomplete.
The engine looks pretty clean and it’s Chrysler’s 225 slant-six tower-of-power which had just over 100 horsepower by this time. This one has a Chrysler three-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission which is expected in a four-door sedan. Any thoughts on this clean Volare?
Can ask whatever you want but these cars where just thrown together. QC was terrible, Chrysler was just hanging on and these rust and leak something terrible. My father in-law back in the day had one, same color and trunk kept filling with water. Slant six was the only plus.
No, the six was awful. Had a brand new 76. After the crummy standard warranty, went to the junk yard and got the carb set up out of a 72 Dart. Then, and only then did it idle and run right. I was/am for clean air the much as the next guy, but that car was unsafe. It kept stalling in busy traffic for my wife. After that, the SS was wonderful. Rust though, was as you say. Horrible. The car was another nail in the coffin of my up until then, Chrysler addiction.
Keep in mind – the government forced them to use carburetors that ran lean to meet emissions standards, which is what led to stalling issues on some of these.
It was the carb and A.I.R. pump combo that caused the stalling, remove pump block off the opening and use an early super 6 2bbl intake and carb combo and you can really feel why people love the engine so much…300k miles one and still left under its own power…early emissions were junk
Raymond you got that right! That was the cure for my 76 Volare wagon with the slant six! Never stalled after that ever plus the mpg went up 25%!!!!
Its quality and driveability issues aside, I like to see the regular cars of the day which have survived. With its brown paint and four doors and beige interior and six cylinders, this one is about as regular as one could get.
First car was 76 coupe with slant six. Your right, super six aluminum 2 barrel is only way. The stalling was a symptom of an intake leak. Hard to seal with the exhaust in the same area. I removed all emission controls and went 100,000 miles with a starter as the only repair. I drove that car hard and except the paint mismatch on the recalled fenders, it looked as nice as a green car with a green inside could look. Good cars if gone over, I owned four.
They had a cast iron Super 6 intake manifold in some model years. My 77 came with one. It’s better than the aluminum intake and isn’t prone to vacuum leaks.
I had a ’77 Volare with the 318. Driveability issues with that engine also. Was OK after it warmed up, but warmup took a good 20 minutes!! And that was in Florida in the summertime! Wouldn’t let my wife touch it until it was totally warmed up. Yes! Was unsafe until then.
You needed to adjust the choke properly – then it would have run fine. It sounds like the choke was coming off too fast.
Nice looking car. I’ve not seen a Plymouth Volare in a long time. It’s nice to see an original survivor, one that hasn’t been heavily modified or abused in any way. Given its condition, assuming it runs and drives under its own power, and everything works like it should, I’d be willing to pay near the asking price of $6500.
boring…
OK, I’m waiting for the ‘I’d throw a 383 with a 4 speed in it’ comment.
If only the FB Marketplace ad were still there. I would’ve loved to see the pics posted. I hope whoever buys this car enjoys it.
I have owned one of these. It was also a 1977 model. I liked the car very much and I really don’t understand why these are perceived as bad cars. Mine always ran well, and rode very well. It was roomy and comfortable. I had it for many years. Mine had a good option – the 2 barrel Super Six version of the slant 6 – which this car also appears to have, based on the air cleaner. Mine had a cast iron intake manifold, which was better than the aluminum intake used on some Super 6s. Both the slant 6 and 318 V8 are known to be long lasting engines, and the 904 automatic used in these is a good unit. This is the base model, as you can tell from the interior. There was the mid range Custom model and the high end Premier – which was very nicely equipped and had nice seats. The problems with these cars were in 1976 when fender rusting was an issue. This was corrected for the 1977 model year when they began installing plastic inner fender liners. They were successful as they morphed into the Plymouth Gran Fury and Dodge Diplomat, which ran all the way through the 1989 model year. I’d give this car a thumbs up!
A former girlfriends father had a 79 sedan back in the 80s. It was a former driving school car with the “super six”. It was red and the interior was plainer than this one. I think it had the high gear rear end because at low speeds it seemed a little boggy.
I had a 76 Aspen station wagon with slant six and four speed/OD. We don’t have snow and salted roads here in the Atlanta, Ga area and it never had rust or leaks. I put 201K miles on it with virtually no problems ever. I kept reading about the rust problems with these vehicles but never heard consumer reports mention that most every 70’s and 80’s GM wide bed pickup rusted through above the rear wheels in a short time.
A friend bought a ratty 78 model in 1993 for a case of beer. Put tires and brakes on it, two cans of Bondo W30 on front fenders and drove that Slant 6 another 120,000 miolwz before the car rotted to the windows. Anvil like reliability.
That interior. Love it! It’s a ittle known fact that the Diplomat, LeBaron, Gran Fury and Fifth Avenue were basically an Aspen/Volare, even down to some body panels. And those lasted a very long time afterwards and served the public well.
These were not fundamentally bad cars. Very early models just had rust issues. But then again, so did the Japanese cars of the time, and everybody loves those. I’d love to find a nice original E85 car myself
Agree. Everyone complained s about these rusting. Toyota and datsun cars from 74 to 79 rusted way worse and all I keep hearing is how great the imports were. I had a 79 datsun 210 and it rusted so badly that when put on a lift it bowed like a banana
Wow my Drivers Ed car Lives!!! 😄
My folks had a 76 Volare wagon with the slant six and 4spd OD, purchased new: Dad’s words follow:
“ It was a simple and serviceable car but I’d had to bolt too much of it together myself to resemble what should have come from the factory. A few examples: the heater wasn’t working because of disconnected air door pull cables, the alternator had a cross threaded bolt “holding” it in that had I had to retap so it wouldn’t shake, no one had screwed a bolt on a fender brace to the cowl down enough to stop the fender from shaking, the starter motor had come with a crack in it that caused it to destroy itself three times before the crack was discovered and the casting was replaced and most of the inside of the tailgate was bare, unpainted metal, which Plymouth sprayed after I’d found it. Both front fenders had rusted away just before Marion bashed the right one against a tree – but both were replaced for free with new straight ones in a recall action just afterward. The dealer didn’t take the time to replicate the dent, for which I was grateful! It’s a wonder that Japan didn’t sell us all of their automotive products – American cars were so sloppily put together!”
Nice looking, but a boring car. This is what your pastor drove to preach on Sunday.
My 90 something yearvold neighbor had one back then (he was 90 something then…dead now). Same color as this. Same basic car as this actually.
Why does this one have a 1974 steering wheel? They didn’t even make these in 1974 lol.