The pairing of the Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare was the successor to the long-running duo of the Dart and Valiant. But unlike their predecessors, the Aspen and Volare only ran for one generation from 1976 to 1980. The seller offers a running 1977 Aspen SE, which was the top-of-the-line version of the compact, here as a station wagon. Located near Stuart, Virginia, this Mopar is available here on Facebook Marketplace where the asking price has been cut from $5,000 to $3,000.
Chrysler was still selling a fair number of Darts and Valiants when the new cars were designed, so they were sold side-by-side during the 1976 model year. Mechanically there wasn’t anything revolutionary about the new F-platform cars. They were still rear-wheel-drive autos using existing Chrysler drivetrains, with 225 cubic inch Slant-Six and 318 small-block V8s being found in most assemblies. But quality control issues became evident early on and the Aspen and Volare would become some of the most recalled new cars of the decade.
The Aspen had its best sales year in 1977 (before the recall damage had been done), with 266,000 units. More than 111,500 of them were station wagons, not a body style offered during the Dart’s latter days. This wagon is the snappier edition, the SE, and it looks to have once worn fake wood side paneling, but time and Mother Nature have done a number on it. And the paint, too.
We’re told this is a running and driving Dodge that may only have 45,000 miles. It has the Slant-Six motor which was known to be almost bullet-proof. What little we see of the interior seems okay, so this might be a decent daily driver if you don’t care about what it looks like. The seller must be motivated to make the car go away as he has already cut the asking price by 40% in just three weeks. Thanks for this latest tip, Chuck Foster!
Am i the only one perplexed with this wagon having poverty hubcaps if its an upscale SE version?
As an SE, it would have come with full wheel discs. A lot of people went to the dog dishes to make their cars look “meaner” probably starting in the 1980s. That was particularly true with Mopars it seemed. I don’t know if it means much though it might make one want to check the mileage to see if the car has been on the road longer than what’s claimed .
believe it or not wheel covers were optional. my brother in law had one from new and saw on the sticker
That fake wood trim has seen better days, will it be a problem to remove? A fresh paint job without it will be an improvement. The slant six will be the horrible smoged 1bbl. In these years the two bbl super six cured that. Do not get me wrong, I was a fan of smog control back then, even if it basically made the cars horrible, but the way they ran did make me sad.
Clean, the descriptor used by the seller, now that pretty funny… Not much to laugh at about a crappy car when new, now for sale for 10x what it is worth. Even being a Mopar, this car has one step in the crusher.
If it can be moved without crumbling, these rotted very badly. My parents had a 76.
If it isn’t rotten, a guy could teach himself to paint a car and not be afraid of ruining a valuable car. 3k is a bit steep for that, maybe in at $1500 for that purpose, then we could have fun learning and maybe teaching an interested youngster how to do things.
That’s what I call a fully loaded slant six! Zero to sixty time is seven and a half minutes. I for one, like this.I would use this as a daily driver. There’s plenty of life left in it.
The Volarspens did have some QC issues when new. Everything from having an Aspen badge on one fender and a Volare badge on the opposite one, to having tail light assemblies fall out on the dealership floor. But you could sure see a lot of them on the roads back in the day, and once the bugs were exorcised they were very reliable especially with the slant 6. This particular car could be a good starter car for someone who needs something affordable, and doesn’t mind driving with a bag over their head.
I had a 77 Volare wagon with the wood trim from 1982 until 1992. Had 37k when I bought it 110k when I traded it. Rust was attacking the lower edges when I bought it. Drove it across country in 1986. Had the super 6 2 barrel carb. Time in Phoenix stopped the rust. Not exciting but did everything we asked it to do.
I had a 77 Volare wagon with the wood trim from 1982 until 1992. Had 37k when I bought it 110k when I traded it. Rust was attacking the lower edges when I bought it. Drove it across country in 1986. Had the super 6 2 barrel carb. Time in Phoenix stopped the rust. Not exciting but did everything we asked it to do.
I had a 77 Volare wagon with the wood trim from 1982 until 1992. Had 37k when I bought it 110k when I traded it. Rust was attacking the lower edges when I bought it. Drove it across country in 1986. Had the super 6 2 barrel carb. Time in Phoenix stopped the rust. Not exciting but did everything we asked it to do.
It’s pretty crispy for 45,000 miles. It’s interesting that they didn’t take a photo of the dash. That cracked steering wheel may be telling a tale.
Ever present slant six. Nice iridescent green upholstery. Man, this would have been a find 45 years ago.
The seller said “It has a little rust behind the back wheel, a cracked windshield and the wiper doesn’t work other than that she’s good the car. “
I think the seller is an optimist, even at $3,000.00.
I had a 1969 road runner then years later a volare road runner No comparison the Volare road runner was just a 318 volare with some stripes slapped on, the legend was lost
Y/M/M isa winner (sz, utility, & esp motor – ‘leanin tower a power’). ’S got it all the way. Just too old & I have the ‘fox wagon’ (ford dwn sz LTD) a close fit (not ‘match’). Wish mine wuz frnt wheel drive like this ‘uns “son” (the ‘K’ carz).
Hello, chrisful: could you please write in non-Internet English that I can understand, so that I can decipher what you are saying? My son had a 1976 Aspen four-door sedan that ran fine — until a 16-year-old discovered that it could be started simply by turning the ignition without a key, went “joy-riding” with it, and bent it handily around a telephone-pole: fortunately, the kid, who was blind-drunk at the time (0.38 blood-alcohol level), only suffered a few cuts and bruises. Sadly, he didn’t learn his lesson: after three subsequent arrests for driving while intoxicated, he spent eight years in State Prison in Gowanda for felony D.W.I..
Obviously sir, you don’t understand, or appreciate, genuine frontier gibberish. Americana, at it’s finest
It’s OK stewardesss, I speak interwebs:
– He likes it, especially the Slant 6 (which was known as the “Leaning
Tower of Power”).
– It’s well-equipped
– He is too old to acquire it & fix it up since he already has a Fox-body
Ford (an LTD wagon).
– He wishes that it were front-wheel-drive like the K-cars (the younger
generation, or ‘sons’ that came later).
Volaré and Aspen wagons were factory equipped with a Super 6 engines, with a Carter BBD 2-barrel and with a larger diameter exhaust outlet. The F-body, 4-door sedans could be ordered with these engines. The Blue Decal on the Air Cleaner is a “Super-Six” callout.
By 1979, the 904 Torqueflite got a wide ratio gear set, that accelerated the engine quicker in 1st and 2nd gears, but the wider ratio meant the engine revs would fall further when the transmission shifted, unless you wound the engine up more.
If it had only been a low restriction exhaust system, a decent torque cam, and a quicker timing curve, these would have made a bigger “splash” in the market. However, late 1970s emissions pretty much killed ALL performance off. And even the 4-1/8” stroke of the slant six didn’t help.
Where the super six engine shined was in a pick up truck until 1978. They had no catalytic converters and they exhaust fairly open.
To Rusty Frames: Acknowledged. I am Autistic, and we “on the Spectrum” tend to be linear and literal creatures: the English I understand best, is that from a formally-written book, according to the traditional rules of English grammar and syntax. I have severe trouble with irony, metaphor, or sarcasm, because I take the words for what they literally mean (you’re right, if you surmise that I might not be the most “fun” person to have around, especially where people are “kidding” with each other) — because such things go right past me, and I interpret what I hear as if the speaker (writer) means it literally. And when I try to guess when they don’t actually mean what they are saying, I often get it wrong and discover later that they DID mean it. It is very difficult for me to decode “inside” jargon or letters standing for words and expressions, unless those things are defined for me in advance. Hence, it all is gibberish to me. Asking me to understand and participate, is like asking a man in a wheelchair to get up and run the 50-yard-dash.
Well…now we know
To Rusty Frames: is that good or bad?