Although the Malaise Era was a fairly miserable time in automotive history, Plymouth attempted to inject a touch of excitement in 1976 when it introduced the Volare Road Runner. It still featured a V8 under the hood, but performance was far below what buyers received in the badge’s glory days. However, modern technological advances make it possible to extract more power from these classics, resulting in a very satisfying driving experience. This 1976 Road Runner is a project build that stalled many years ago. It has been partly dismantled, but the removed parts are present and accounted for. It is a solid vehicle that has generated considerable interest since the seller listed it here on eBay in Burlington, Wisconsin. They have received no bids on an auction that opened at $12,000, offering a BIN option of $40,000 for those who find the Plymouth irresistible.
Plymouth introduced the original Road Runner in 1968 as an affordable muscle car, with the badge surviving into the 1970s. The company released the Volare as its compact offering in 1976, adding the Road Runner as a trim and graphics package. It featured modern and crisp styling, following the industry trend of downsizing to improve fuel consumption during an era of rising oil prices. This Pymouth hasn’t seen active service for over fifteen years since its engine was pulled for a refresh. It has spent the years since in dry storage, keeping major rust issues at bay. The seller’s photos are sadly lacking, although the Spitfire Orange paint looks surprisingly good. It would be interesting to treat it to some TLC with a high-quality polish, because it might present acceptably as a driver-grade classic without the buyer spending a fortune. The panels are straight, and the graphics feature only minor imperfections. The only question hanging over the Road Runner reveals itself in this underside shot. It shows several areas of non-factory welds, but these don’t rate a mention in the listing. Therefore, an in-person inspection is probably warranted to determine whether these are precursors to larger problems or if they are rust repairs requiring a finishing touch.
This Road Runner’s sporting aspirations reveal themselves via the bucket seats, sports wheel, and the Black interior trim. As with other aspects of the vehicle, the seller does their cause no favors by supplying substandard images that give us little to work from. It appears that a retrim is on the agenda or, at least, new seatcovers and a carpet set will be required for acceptable presentation. What can be seen of the door trims shows promise, with the same true of the dash. The interior shots also raise one further mystery, because while the gauge cluster features a shift quadrant for an automatic transmission, three pedals and the “Item Specifics” section of the listing confirm that shifting duties are tackled by a stick.
Road Runner buyers in 1976 could order their new purchase with the 318ci V8 chosen by this car’s original owner. They teamed the 318 with a manual transmission, although with 150hp and 255 ft/lbs of torque at the driver’s disposal, performance could best be described as modest. The seller states that this Volare has sat for fifteen years after the motor was pulled for a refresh. It is unclear whether this was completed or if a rebuild will form part of the project for the new owner. This may provide the opportunity to perform a few updates, because modern automotive developments mean that it is possible to squeeze extra ponies from these engines to improve the driving experience.
Plymouth’s decision to affix the Road Runner badge to the 1976 Volare drew criticism from some quarters. However, the company managed to sell 8,769 examples during that model year. It remained available until Volare production ended in 1980, although by that time, the tally had slumped to 496. This 1976 example shows promise as a project candidate, even with the question mark hanging over the welds visible in the underside shot. It seems that potential buyers agree, because while it has received no bids, the Listing View and Watch List tallies of 1,074 and 58 are quite impressive. Do you think that this classic will find a new home at the seller’s seemingly optimistic price, or will they need to compromise for that to happen?
$40,000 would be too much even if this were all
put together & in excellent shape.
Agreed.
The seller has mistook it for a desirable Road Runner, then priced it like a 1970 Cuda.
Steve R
It’s also an automatic
It’s also a 318 2 bbl car, the top dog 360 4bbl is more desirable as far as these Roadrunners go. I fail to see the value at the minimum bid here.
How the mighty have fallen…
Beep beep.
Childhood buddy had one of these after he wrapped his first car around a tree. His parents bought it for him. It was an attractive car at the time. He thought it was a [performance car with the 318 in it (what did we know?), so he outdrove the suspension and brakes and wrapped that one around a tree, too.
Yes, sounds like a child. Spoil a teenager and that is what you get. I blame the parents.
Poorly assembled cars. Rattles were standard from the factory. Fit and finish was bad, even for a plastic nightmare that was this car. Was this car a three speed? I do not see an auto by the wheel. Also note, the 76s rusted very badly, even had a recall for rusty front fenders. Chrysler replaced many, but the thickness of the replaced ones was pretty poor, so more rusting soon afterwards. By 78/79, the bugs were pretty much gone, but the reputation was damaged.
Ralph, a few clarifications if I may. There was never a ‘recall’ for the rusted fenders. In the northern states(rust belt) the customers’ fender(s) were replaced as a goodwill out of warranty adjustment at no charge by the Chrysler Service and Parts District Managers. This applied to 1976, 77 and very early 78’s. The replacement fenders had the same thickness as the 1978 OE fenders because they were OE fenders. These fenders had the addition of a baffle underneath at the back of the fender to keep all the road debris and salt out, preventing the rust situation from returning. The new fenders were essentially the same design as the old Dart and Valiant fenders which did not rust.
By 1980 and as a minor part of the loan guarantee Chrysler received from the gov’t, owners of Volare/Aspens that had not had fender(s) replaced were offered a $750 rebate toward the purchase of a new Chrysler product vehicle or a fender replacement. There never was a recall. Everything but a recall.
I was 13 in 1976,this was the Roadrunner of my youth.I know it’s considered an insult to the muscle machines from the earlier years,but this was cool as heck to youthful me.As an old adult the 1971 is now my favourite but back then..this was it.Still love them and the Aspen R/T and would not kick them out of my garage.
I think they missed printed the price. Someone’s far finger put in an extra 0.
$40k, I read that and had a good laugh! Yes, they didn’t make that many but this one is a pig with lip stick. Hard pass.
There is fantasy pricing and then there is just stupid. No bids on this one at 12K tells you it is fantasy, and 40K is stupid.
Undesirable car, taken apart and in poor condition. I doubt it would bring 5k.
The seller thinks the Road Runner stickers pump this Volare into a $40,000 car? He’s been perusing the BaT type sites.
Once a Volare, always a Volare, no matter what the decals say.
The e bay pictures show a clutch pedal and the instrument cluster shows PRNDLL and there are no pictures of the transmission and for 40 large ones have a nice day!!
Do you also get the metal barn with that price!!
In 1976 and 1977 I ran a Goodyear Store in a small town. (Not your standard tire store as we did Turbo installations and suspension upgrades and modifications for autocrossers and track day drivers) Even though we did the normal tire store stuff. Our little town had a Plymouth dealership on one side of town and a Dodge dealership on the opposite end. I spent easily 50% of my time diagnosing and repairing vibration issues on Chrysler Aspen and Volares. (Got pretty good at that kind of thing too!) Those cars, for the most part were tin foil and bailing wire from the factory. (Little did I know that my step mom bought a Volare wagon that I had to Dechryslerize and it ended up giving her over 250,000 problem free miles.
The wheels were not straight from the factory, the rear brake drums were dropped on the factory floor before being installed and the front suspension was a flexiflyer. I think I remember a TSB for adding welds to suspension mounts, but I won’t swear to it. I did a hard stop in a new wagon to get the feel of what the dealership was complaining about and the car shook so violently the rear hatch popped up. ALL THIS And many of these cars came with Firestone 500s! MY HANDS WERE FULL WITH THE ISSUES OF THESE CARS.
“Dechryslerize.” A comical but true assessment of Mopars of the malaise era. They did require a lot of updates and revamping to get them sorted out. After that they could be fairly decent vehicles.
Hmm, so I could buy this non running disassembled mess for 40 large,or a beautiful ’68 Vette that runs and drives and needs a few things for $25k. How long do I need to think about that.
Brian you don’t have to think about that for more than 2 seconds!!
I believe we have a winner for most ridiculous Buy It Now of the year.
$40K for a 3rd generation roadrunner? I’m a HUGE RR freak, but you can get a solid 1st gen for $20-25k. I think it’s way overpriced. $4k seems more reasonable for the condition it’s in.
Saying Volare and Road Runner in the same sentence is a total disgrace. Most people who know cars can agree, the muscle cars ended in1971. Some can agree they continued until 1974. But after that, only a VERY FEW that could even be considered a muscle car. This one for that price is DAM ridiculous.
I just received an updated comment notification from author Brian Schmidt. But no listed comment on here. Why?
Now it is there. What is going on?
The cache had to clear.
Wow. Really? Love them but that’s just nutty altogether. Seriously. A Volare in a dress for how much?! The seller must’ve added zeros by mistake.
can i get whatever this guy is on because it must be really good
Buy it Now price is insane. Seller should set Buy it Now price at 8K and maybe opening bid of 4K. That should get the car moved on to a new owner who can finish it up.
The beginning of the era of what became known as the Mylar GT.
$40,000 ??? It must be a typo error and mistakenly added one too many zeros!!!