The new Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare were quite an update from the old Dart and Valiant, although some quality-control issues plagued the early cars. I don’t see any of that related to this beautiful 1977 Plymouth Volare Landau Premier Coupe. The seller has this almost-perfect car listed here on eBay in Lakeland, Florida and the current bid price is $5,000 but the reserve isn’t met yet.
This is a familiar eBay seller and it seems as if they’re the real deal, not a lick-and-stick/quickie car-flipper, but they seem to have some really nice cars and their feedback is impeccable. That’s what I look for now after having been burned too many times with online vehicles. This Volare really does look almost like it just rolled off of the showroom floor, at least from the exterior. The Premier trim level was as good as it got for a Volare in this era.
That being said, it does have a new landau vinyl top which was optional for this car and the engine has been rebuilt, so this one isn’t 100% original. But, it appears to be 100% original “factory-spec” without any added aftermarket touches that sometimes different owners do when they buy a car and want to personalize it a bit. This car only has 65,000 miles on it which is incredible after so many decades, and the seller has a huge stack of receipts and other literature that goes with the sale.
There is no Corinthian Leather here, of course, this Volare has nice era-correct velour and tan velour at that. No bright red here with the nice Caramel Tan Metallic paint scheme outside. The seats appear to be in really nice shape both front and rear but if you look at the photo of the rear seating area, you will see some scratches on the side panels and what appears to be fading (?) on the sides of the front seats. The only surprise with this car is that the seller hasn’t included any underside photos. They have dozens of great photos on their listing, though.
The uber-clean engine bay houses a legendary and optional two-barrel version of the 225 slant-six engine called the Super Six, which in 1977 would have had around 110 horsepower. The seller says that it has been rebuilt and it’s unusual that they don’t give any information at all as to how it runs but I would have to assume that it runs like a top/charm given the overall appearance of this car. Any thoughts on this one?
The regular 225 SS’s of this era were a problem. Too choked by emissions and other hindrances to run well. The solution was to go with a 2bbl carb. What a difference. The 77s ran so much nicer then the poor 76s. My question here is with only 65,000 miles, why the need for a rebuild? Nice car but the vinyl roof on this thing does it no favors.
Back in 1987 i was given a 1979 plymouth volare slant 6. What a piece of junk. Unless i let car heat up 10 min e wn in warm weather the car would stall around corners. To much g’s i guess. I would have to start car while going around corners. A cop pulled me over coming out of the lot from hs. And said i was doing 45 mph. I laughed at him and said this car wont do 45 mph in a quarter mile maybe 1/2 mile.
Volare! Oh no!
Junk car yea! No no no no!
When new you were up in the clouds
Surrounded by admiring crowds
You basked in the glow of the bright auto show
And buyers all eager to sign
But you left them confused and all disillusioned as Chrysler fell further and further behind
With Corinthian Leather its only big seller
A bailout it had to find!
Volare! Oh no!
Junk car yea! No no no no!
Your memory makes my heart sting
Your engine’s perplexing sharp pings
And your rusty rear quarters
Bad front control arms
And gasoline leaking behind!
Dude, you got skills!
With apologies to Bobby Darin. LOL (BTW, I loved it!)
That’s Bobby Rydell, who just passed away last week.
Domenico Modugno would be proud!
I had a ’76. Got it for free, when it was 10 years old. A total rust bucket, with a 318. I drove it for around 7 months, til it dropped a valve. Put it in the paper for $250, and had a bidding war in my driveway!
January, 1977, I bought a brand new Volare Station wagon. Relied on all the great reviews the ’76 Volare/Aspen twins got. I still think the Volare was a good looking car. It had the indestructible 225 slant six, a great engine in my mind. When they surrounded that engine with the Volare/Aspen twins, they did it no favors. That car got recalled foa defect in the hood latch. Then it got recalled for a problem with an o-ring in the carburator. Then it got recalled because of a design defect that trapped water in the front fenders causing the top of the fenders to rust through. The final straw was the day I made the last payment and the catalytic converter fell off. I got rid of it in 1980 and did not own another Mopar until 1994.
what does “uber” clean mean?
“Uber” is a descriptor that implies something is at an extreme or excessive level. Thus, the writer is describing the engine bay as extremely clean.
it’s German for super
it’s Lyft clean actually.
It means none of the Uber riders got sick in the back seat.
My sister had the green version of this back in the early 80s. I always wanted to borrow it because it was the only car in the family with an FM radio. The AM station that played music went off the air at sundown. THOSE WERE THE DAYS BABY
Yes, those were wonderful times. To be a kid, 3 TV channels. That signed off shortly after midnight. The last show was always, Mission Impossible or I Spy. I hated both those shows. (I was 10) I have great memories to cherish. It was a much simpler time. Great cars too!
The only AM radio station here NOW that i can pick up that plays music is while i’m sleeping – one nite i could not sleep & within 1 1/2 hr, the oldies station cut off 3 < 3 min songs RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SONGS!- with jabbering too fast commercials!
I called the radio station & they said there is no DJ – it's all automated. They'll look into it – that nonsense/disrespect is still going on months later. Wolfman Jack must be turning in his grave! During the day, AM & FM is now jambed full of talk radio & plenty of other startions whose language i can't understand. & there is not ONE station on EITHER! radio band that has "music" that i want to listen to! I might as well saw off the antenna on my old car.
At least disco is gone tho. lol
My girlfriend at the time (now my wife) bought a 76 Volare that was light blue with a half white vinyl top. It had the slant 6 with no power steering or brakes. It had an AM/FM radio but that was about it. She hated that car. After we married I traded it for a 79 Bronco at my local Ford dealership. A few weeks later the dealership had a promotion where Bigfoot the monster truck showed up and ran over some vehicles. Yep the Volare was one of them. She cried her eyes out while taking pictures of it.
I learned to drive on a ’78 Volare wagon my parents factory-ordered with wood grain, plaid seats, 318 and a three-speed floor shifter! My Dad *showed* me what he was doing with the pedals and shifter then just pulled over on the side of a road and it was my turn. Luckily we survived. No parking lot practice or anything, just “Here you go, kid.” I know better than to criticize the Leaning Tower of Power, but I’d have to find one with the 318 and maybe hold out for the four-speed. Nice find, Scotty!
Back at the end of summer 1977 at 19 years old I bought the sister car, Aspen S.E. 2 dr…white w/ green vinyl top/ velour interior. Mine was a dealer demonstrator and had 7000 miles on it…was ordered w/nearly every option…318, power windows, seat, door locks, tilt, cruise, AC and AM-FM stereo but no 8 track tape! :( Even had factory T-tops and wire wheel covers…I put Mag 500 road wheels on it and put 45k on it in 2.5 years then sold it to a friend…NEVER had a problem with it, was a sweet car!
These cars were such a shame. They looked good, rode nicely, and were just big enough to feel comfortable driving on the L.I.E. along with the semi tractor trailers, yet small enough to park with ease in a crowded lot. Only problem was that they were a mechanical nightmare! My dad had a 77 Aspen SE wagon with the 318 V8 and wood grain. Bought it in 78 with 15,000 miles from Avis Car Leasing Used Car Sales in Westbury NY – it was the district manager’s company car. By the time the spring of 1980 rolled around, it had chewed up 3 rear ends, burned oil like mad, smoked out the tailpipe as if it was a diesel, and the front fenders rusted out. The last straw was when it stalled in the toll plaza of the Verrazano bridge and wouldn’t start again due to a ballast resistor that went bad, causing a major traffic jam. Not something you want to be involved with in NYC in the July heat! He finally traded it in on a low mileage 78 Monte Carlo with the 231 V6, and got well over 100 thousand miles out of it with no more than regular maintenance put into it. SWORE he’d NEVER buy anything from Chrysler Corp again! Or take one if it was free!
Until he bought an 85 Dodge 600 4 door in 86…
You were lucky to get that kind of mileage with a 231 v6 , those things always needed head gaskets before 100k..That, and the fact the rear frame rails rusted away before they were 8 years old ( in New England anyway) sent most of the 1978 -1980 mid size GM cars to an early grave. I worked the counter at a junkyard until 1985 and we had rows of those cars and never paid for any of them ;they were just another disposable car
Really nice looking car. Maybe if Nitrous would make it move, it would be driveable but the comments of how bad they were would keep me away from it.
Looks like somone took really good care of it.
you mean an adjective?
I never did understand that ballast resistor thing: why didn’t Chrysler just invent a coil that could take a full 12V? On my two Chryslers, I put Pertronix ignition coils on them, deleted the resistors, and have had no electrical issues whatsoever.
But as I say, I don’t understand it. Anyone got an explanation?
To quote Joe Dirt’s dad,” How does a Chrysler Position traction work, nobody knows it just does” …
That’s what’s great about the author. He can see beauty in a Saab Sonnett AND a Plymouth Volare. I guess that’s why he’s the writing guy and I’m the complaining, reading, commenting,,guy. The Saab, not so much, but I do agree, the Volare/Aspen was one of the nicest designs for a changing time. Too bad it had such poor engineering, it became the poster child for recalls. Almost singlehandedly took took down Chrysler, it did. Even Iacocca said himself, “we sent a lot of crap out the door”. Amazing example, so many hated these cars, and for good reason, it always amazes me SOMEONE loved a certain car enough, despite what others thought, and keep it like this,. Proof positive, people is the craziest people. Super find,
I guess I’m in the crazy group, I always like these cars . My father traded his huge 1976 Mercury in on a 78 Volare sedan with the “Super Six” . He was an electronics salesman and put many miles on that car. The only issues it had was a cracked exhaust manifold after 100k, and my cousin and I blew the 9 bolt rear to pieces trying to do holeshots . At 150K he had me replace the water pump just because it was old and he was driving 4 hours to pick up my sisiter at college , not that it needed it. He sold it at close to 180k as he was so concerned something might let go with the high mileage. A few years after he bought his I bought a used 1978 Volare slant six
coupe in the same color as this but with a brown vinyl top. I drove that nearly everyday , I actually wore the rear end out and replaced it as it was getting close to 200k on it and I wanted to reach that milestone .After 1995 after 14 years of ownership I finally had to retire it as the New England weather finally took its toll on the old girl and I drove it to the junkyard. It still looked good , but the front rails were rusted . Not too bad a record for a New England car that was never garaged !
I had a 1967 Dart with a 225 slant 6. The only reason I let it go was because I was taking parts off of it to put on my 67 Barracuda. The Dart had 306,234
miles on it and still ran fine.
The 904 auto trans was serviced by me regularly.
It was still working well at the time of the Dart’s retirement. I did something else on a regular basis, I set the valves to keep it running well.
No matter how humble a car is, it still deserves good care.
The Barracuda lasted 412,535 miles. Rust did it in.
My parents bought a new 78 Aspen 4 door in that color. Slant 6. Ran great, peppy, smooth. No problems
I personally knew the man who owned this car. It was his father’s car, and he was a retiree, which is why the miles are so low on it. The car spent most of its life in Florida before going up to New York for a few years. I knew he had the engine rebuilt, though it didn’t seem to me like that a full rebuild was really necessary. It was burning some oil. I think doing a full rebuild was not needed. I do know no expense was spared on the rebuild, it was done by a reputable shop, and this guy went through a lot of effort to get things right on this car. He kept all the documentation on the work he had done, most of which was done a out 10 years ago. He sold it to someone a few years back, so it’s a different seller now. I don’t believe the top is original. I believe it was a vinyl top and it was replaced with some type of cloth in the correct color. The paint and interior are original. It is the Volare Premier, which was the nicest model you could get. He added the stenciling on the trunk with the musical notes because of the “Volare” song. I have personally ridden in this car – and I can tell anyone on here who is a naysayer – you don’t know what you’re talking about when it comes to Aspens and Volares. You’re responding to the bad press these cars got. There was so much bad press on these cars, and while there were problems with the 1976 models, the 77 and later cars did not have all of the problems. They were much better. The criticism on these cars at the time was overkill and it was unfair. This is an extremely nice car. This car has been to the All Chrysler Nationals car show at Carlisle many times. There is no way the future owner is going to be unhappy with this car.
“I can tell anyone on here who is a naysayer – you don’t know what you’re talking about when it comes to Aspens and Volares.”
My dad had a Dodge Aspen and it was a POS…and I DO know what I’m talking about.
65,000 original miles but they rebuilt the engine? Something is fishy the 225 slant six could go easily 200k suck a valve and continue to run
The poster boy for the 1970s malaise years. Chrysler had lost its adventurous spirit and interesting designs. Sorry, but I didn’t get excited when these were new, and I can’t get excited about this Plymouth now.
On the dealer website gor $20,900.
This vehicle still has its original gas cap. Impressive.
A buddy of mine had the twin to this, same color Aspen SE.it was a hand me down from his older brother. Boy, sis it have a nice interior, but by the time he got it (it was probably 5 years old), it was already a rust bucket.
I saw the $8,000 price so far on eBay and said holy $*^&. But, I work at a local Dodge, Ram, Jeep dealer and said, well, we sell new junk Dodge trucks for $65,000, so this Volare didn’t seem like a bad deal. Just yesterday, one of our top mechanics was pulling yet another junk Hemi engine from a truck. Blown up he told me. Mileage in the low 60s. This job will set customer back about $9,000 with labor. Chrysler builds about the worst cars ever, but to be fair, I bought my grandmother’s 1963 Savoy with a Slant Six, automatic push button in 1976 for $100. I was a starving college kid with zero money. When I changed the oil, I used waste oil from the garage I worked at. I ran retread tires, remember them. Drove that thing 3 years through snow, wind, rain back and forth to Penn State full of kids who gave me $5 for gas to get them home. Wrecked it and a friend fixed the driver’s quarter that got caved in. I put 87,000 miles on it, adjusted the then solid lifters once, and I think a starter. That was it. By 1980, the body was typical Chrysler rot, rockers, floors, you name it. Sold it for $100. Then I bought a one owner 1968 Sport Satellite from the original owner. B5 blue, white vinyl top. I paid him $600. God, today, I see them on eBay for $20,000 and up in worse shape than when I bought mine. Drove that thing 40,000 miles, sold it to my brother for $950, yeah, he’s my brother, but I had rust fixed, new distributor, timing chain, etc, new tires, all new exhaust and was still in 90 percent original paint as I detailed cars then while in college and still do today, as I am retired. At least someone with limited mechanical skills can repair this Volare. The mechanics where I work spent ungoldy sums of money for special tools to fix today’s garbage. Computers have ruined our lives, no matter how you slice it. The dreaded check engine light drives our service advisors nuts. Only problem I see with this slow poke Slant Six is that soccer mom, cell phone in one hand and 75 oz Starbucks in the other is tailgating you in her Toyota Sienna blowing the horn to get around you because you can’t keep up with today’s cars.
That seller on eBay’s prices are very high for his cars…Ill pass..
The perfect “ Nicest one left?” car! A POS when new and a POS now.
Keep the humor coming, Scotty-
Auction update: this one made it to $8,700 and it was no sale.