Even if you don’t like Dodge Aspens, you just have to admire the condition of this car! This 1976 Aspen SE appears to have only covered 27,671 miles and I’m not sure it could look any better in what I believe to be its original butterscotch-colored paint. It’s located in Lakeland, Florida and is listed for sale here on eBay. Right now bidding is starting at $5,000, but there’s a reserve that hasn’t been met yet.
Honestly, can you see this picture in your mind in the 1976 Aspen brochure? I sure can. That paint looks great. The ad does not state that it is original, but I can’t see any signs of a respray in the pictures, so either I missed it, it’s a very high quality repaint or it really is the original paint. What do you think?
The interior looks factory new as well. Those air conditioning vents blow cold too! Just look at how perfect that dash pad is. And I’m guessing the misalignment of the glove box door came that way from the factory.
I like the seats a lot. They are original as well, or at least the original pattern. I’m sitting here thinking this would be a really nice daily driver, although it would be a shame to do that to such a low mileage car. Of course, cars are made to drive, right?
Go ahead. Try to find a nicer stock engine compartment than this one! Holy cow, this looks nice. I can believe the low mileage claim, although it’s undoubtedly helped in this case by one heck of a detailing job. With shiny paint, shiny chrome, a vinyl top in perfect shape and nothing at all that I can see wrong, is this the classic that will bring back memories of your youth? Or would you drive it like I’d like to, just for the attention?
I think you’d have to look far and wide to find a car of that age in this condition. I didn’t see anything wrong with it. Only item I saw was the carpet on the drivers door, so if you want an issue that’s the one I saw.
A cool daily driver if the price doesn’t get much higher. But who will want to put more miles on it? And once it gets to 80 or 100K, the famous long list of issues will kick in with the mechanicals.
I doubt it will take that long for mechanical failures to start.
Looks to me like it just pull out of the dealers lot. Wasn’t mopar starting to have money problems & issues with quality about this time or was it later? This is a true time capsule.
76 & 77’s rusted the front fenders with reckless abandoned. These may very well have been replaced. The list of things that could go wrong is as long as the parts list.
Power windows on an Aspen? That’s got to be uncommon. And what do they call that color? I’d call it “Old Margarine.”
This is the top of the line model. Chrysler was going for luxury in a ‘small’ car and this is the result.
I’d call it Poupon. We had a friend who had a 77 Corolla and that was his nickname it looked like mustard.
I guess I really miss that this car would even ever be collectible!!!! These were junk when new and laughable to be a classic car today!!!! Apparently no one on this page ever had to drive one back in the day!!!
I owned a ’78 and I still have nightmares about that car.
I had a ’76 SE sedan and the rear end spider gear snapped at 27,000. Carburetor troubles, ignition headaches, rusty front fenders. oh the list begins.. Must.. Back.. Away..
I’d rock the heck out of that bada$$ butterscotch beauty!
SE means special edition. This is not a base or custom model. The sunroof is a real uncommon find and it has a V8 and V8 sound. I must admit, as odd as it looks today, it is absolutely retro cool. I can’t imagine not driving it, damn the mileage.
Brings back memories. My friend had 2 of these that he inherited from his older brothers. One was a more goldish hue than this one, and the other was maroon, both SE’s.
They were maybe 5 years old and the reason he got them both is because they were rust buckets by then. He started with the gold one and once it got too rusty, he switched to the other one. Got him through HS / College, though.
I don’t like the color, but I TOTALLY LOVE & would drive this! I’d also love it more w/ buckets and a console, but the sunroof is a good consolation prize!! In 1977, I wanted to buy the triple bronze one displayed on the cover of the brochure, but was unable to find one?!? Ended up buying a one owner, 29k mile 74 Challenger, which I still own. :-)
Uniquely unforgettable
Spectacular
Incredible!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55ljzUPmdk8
Biggest problem with the Aspen/Volares were rust. Build quality (see glovebox fit) Most others were probably taken care of long ago. AS for the mechanicals, 318 V8 and Torqueflite? Not to worry. I agree cars are made to be driven.
Good looking duster but what’s that dent on door sticker?
Wrong steering wheel for an s e should be 3 spoke
Is it the angle of the photo or is the rear bumper crooked or sagging on the driver side? Paint looks very shiny in strange places for 1976 paint.
I was still working at the Dodge dealer when these were new. Build quality was indeed poor, but most of the problems could be taken care of during a good pre delivery inspection. Over all they were a very dependable car in V8 or 6 cyl if you could keep them from rusting. It was particularly bad up here in the north east. This car looks great, must have been in climate controlled storage all its life!
I think the color helps brighten up what is otherwise a pretty frumpy car. Would be hard to not want to slip a built 340 or 360 in there.
I had a green 2 door like this and it was about 10 years old at the time. A good beater car and always liked it. Mine had a 318 with a clunky automatic transmission.
It’s bid up to 11k. Someone’s smoking some really good stuff!
Dad’s got a 1980 Aspen Police Car. Original 360 with a hot cam and heavy duty police suspension, very quick car. He built dual exhaust for it and put in some suspension upgrades. Not too shabby little car!
my parents owned one. No matter how nice it is. I still have memories of mechanical breakdowns
What a fantastic Aspen ! I’ve never seen one so opted out !! The steering wheel is correct with the S/E option. I’m truly surprised that no one noticed the this also has a factory POWER SUN ROOF !! The only other thing I would like to see would be an oil pressure gauge.
The shoddy fit & finish was commonplace with all cars of this vintage; from American cars to Japanese cars, German cars, ect. It was what it was, for the time. The bulge in the drivers door was from the wiring harness for the windows & locks. The ill-fitting carpeting on the driver’s door was common to all American cars with this feature.
The rust issue was mainly isolated to the front fenders, and Chrysler did a recall on these, but boy, did they rust, right to the point of the radio antenna falling through. I don’t think that this beautiful example would succumb to this.
Truly, the power sliding sunroof sets this car off.
Love to have it !
Indeed, I’ve NEVER seen one with a power sunroof. I’ve seen T-tops, but not a power sunroof. I’ve actually never seen one with all power accessories. Amazing ! I sold C/P autos in the early 80’s. Yes, Chrysler did a recall on the rusting front fenders, and yes, I’ve seen fenders that were so rusted, that the radio antenna was about to fall through the fender. However, at the time, the Aspen/Volare wagons were in vogue. When we got one in on a trade, it never sat on the lot for more than 3 days. I REALLY like this one.
back when Chrysler made real cars!
I think I might prefer a Hellcat or new Demon, personally, but the 318 Aspen was a decent ride in ’76. About the size and general presentation of a ’70 Chevelle as my childhood memory serves. My best friend’s folks traded in their ’68 Impala on a ’76 318 Aspen in a sweet silver metallic with black interior. But my childhood memory also remembers the severe clunking of the Dodge’s tranny into gear vs the absolute smoothness of my dad’s ’70 Chevelle’s turbohydramatic.
Question: What are the weird design things on the panel between the taillights? It looks like a scroll of some sort. This is the specific pic on this site:
https://barnfinds.com/ever-seen-better-one-1976-dodge-aspen-se/u2-14/