The Dodge Aspen replaced the Dart as the Chrysler division’s compact car for the second half of the 1970s. Its badge-engineered companion was the Plymouth Volare, and both automobiles were in production from 1976 to 1980. The seller has a 1977 Aspen coupe which was a little old lady’s one-owner car until 2008, and it was garage-kept until then. It’s deteriorated since then and is available as a running project here on Facebook Marketplace. The vehicle is in Patchogue, New York, and is available for $2,500. A nod goes to Barn Finder Zen for this tip!
Engineering-wise, the Aspen wasn’t much different than the Dart. But its execution was classic Malaise Era, and its quality control led to numerous recalls during the vehicle’s five-year single generation. A Slant-Six was standard fare, and a 225 cubic inch edition lies under the hood of the seller’s car. We’re told it only has 26,000 miles, largely because the original owner didn’t drive it much for decades. But it seems a lot older given some of its cosmetic characteristics.
After the little old lady passed, her nephew got the car and eventually sold it to the seller in 2023. He’s used it some since and even took one road trip where the car performed flawlessly. So, the engine and automatic transmission shouldn’t give you any trouble. The car had already started to rust, and the seller replaced the driver’s side front fender and added some homemade patches at the bottoms of both doors. The auto may look okay at 50 feet, but when you inspect the vinyl roof covering, you’ll find more trouble brewing.
Other issues include a bad dashboard and package shelf, windshield wipers that don’t work (preventing the car from being inspected last year), broken grille, and inoperative factory air conditioning. A new battery was installed a few months ago. The seller has been using this machine as a backup, and that may be what it’s best suited for. Because how likely is it that a ’77 Aspen will see a cosmetic restoration?
My sister had this in green with a white vinyl roof. High school me was always begging her to use it, as it was the only car in the family with FM.
Rough, at the right price it might make for a decent winter beater one or two winters.
Steve R
Nice car to drive to the high school reunion, to show all of the other students that you made it!
I owned this car’s evil twin! The Volare. Same color, top, and interior. But mine had the 318 7 cylinder…
Misfire you could never make go away?
Got it for free, put a starter in it, drove it for a winter, and I think it was a lifter that went. Didn’t investigate, sold it to a teenage girl, who just HAD to have it. My one and only MOPAR.
That 7 cylinder must be really rare 🙂🏎️
Lovely looking car. My aunt drove a Dodge Aspen years ago. I was too young at the time to drive a car, but I remember she loved her car.
Ricardo Montalban is calling your name. Making you long for Corinthian Leather…if only you could have the Cordoba
When these came out there was a Plymouth dealer on one end of our little town and a Dodge dealer on the other end. Between both dealers not having a clue on how to diagnose a vibration, tin foil wheels were rarely true or round, brake drums without balance weights AND Firestone 500 radial tires. There was never a time when we didn’t have one of these in the shop. (We were a Goodyear dealer and we had a few bad tires back then, but nearly as many of the Firestones which were a bad design to start with. And the replacement tires for the 500s were not much better. The 721 Firestones were technology that Goodyear had tossed out 5 years previous to the release of the 721.) So needless to say I was not a fan of these cars. And don’t forget the “new” front suspensions/subframes that they installed on these cars. They eventually changed a little geometry and major changes in the bushings to make the system a decent system. But it just amplified all the other issues with the cars. Saying that, unbeknownst to me, my stepmother bought one of the last Aspen wagons produced. “She got a good deal!?!?” It shook like a paint mixer. Dad brought it to me. I installed a full set of KYB gas adjust shocks, the take off wheels from my new Dodge Van (twice the thickness and wider than the original wheels) and installed the top of the line Goodyear tires (American Eagles) since she drove lots of miles. That 318 that I eliminated most of the engine controls got her almost 400,000 miles before the tin worm won the war.
Lovely looking car. My aunt has a 1976-77 Dodge Aspen SE. Although I was way too young at the time to drive a car, I remember finding it the best looking car, way better looking (I think) than the Plymouth Volare.
Had a 78 Aspen super coup.
360 ci 4 barrel, very fast. Bought it
New in 1978, sold it 2 years later.
Wish I had it now!