Yesterday, I penned this piece on a ’68 Plymouth Valiant, one of Mopar’s more famed entry-level compacts. It, along with its Dodge Dart counterpart, successfully held up the ChryCo’s C-segment for many years. All things come to an end, of course, or at least encounter a change (evolution?), and today’s find, courtesy of Tony P., is a 1980 Dodge Aspen – the successor to the Dart. This example has been duded up a bit, so let’s take a look and see if we can determine whether the Aspen was a worthy successor to the venerable Dart. Hanging out in Stamford, Connecticut, this stylish coupe is available here on craigslist for $7,500/negotiable.
Riding on ChryCo’s F-platform, the Aspen was produced between 1976 and 1980 and body styles included two and four-door sedans as well as a station wagon. Dodge produced about 67K Aspens in ’80, of which 19K were two door sedans. That total was a precipitous drop from the 189K copies that hit the street in the inagural year of 1976 – a 64.5% decrease! Why the big drop? By ’80, the Aspen and Volare’s reputation had preceeded themselves. Major recalls, impaired driveability characteristics, poor workmanship, and significant corrosion problems soured the potential customer base. That said, this Aspen shows well with the seller stating, “Currently daily driving the car so it does run and drive. For the most part car is completely original aside from the simple maintenance parts.” The dreaded rust issue isn’t apparent (though I’d suggest making a close inspection), and the finish appears to be in pretty fair condition. One deviation from stock are the oversided American Racing-styled wheels – they help with the visuals but the seller will include the originals for those with an interest.
That plaid upholstery takes me back, the pattern looks like a pair of pants that I used to wear when I played golf…The interior is a mixed bag. It initially shows well but further inspection reveals a cracked dash pad, missing headliner and rear package shelf. The instrument panel with its federal 85 MPH speedometer is clear and legible, however, and the carpet has been replaced.
Metric was in for 1980 and this Aspen’s tried and true 225 CI “Slant-Six” engine was now known as the 3.7 liter, and in this case it generated a mild 90 net HP. As previously mentioned, this 84K mile Dodge is used as a daily driver and it does just that, it runs and drives. The engine compartment appears to be original and not modified other than the chrome-plated valve cover. The seller details a long list of implemented replacement parts in the listing so give it a looksee, it’s extensive. While a four-speed manual transmission was interestingly optional, the original orderer of this Aspen chose the usual TorqueFlite three-speed automatic gearbox.
The verdict? This example appears to be in sound and original condition, but a worthy replacement for the respected Dart? Doubtful. The target market for this car? Hard to say but there always seems to be a beehind for every seat; price always ends up being the deciding variable, right?
Quality control and reliability issues definitely hurt Aspen/Volare sales as early as 1978, but the big culprit in 1980 was the K-car. Chrysler’s dire financial condition in late 1979 forced them to reveal and aggressively promote the 1981 K-cars in order to secure government loan guarantees. With Chrysler’s PR department loudly proclaiming how great the upcoming K-cars would be, few people were interested in the lame duck F-bodies.
Sansabelt pants 👖 J.O ? ⛳️ 🏌️♂️
Looks like a Chevy Nova with a weird grill and taillights.
Didn’t you have the part’s car to this thing posted on here just the other day should be able to take the two and make a nice car
The worst cars of the Malaise Era that usually come to mind are the Chevy Vega, Ford Pinto, Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare. But, which ones are most likely to still be found with their original drivetrains, firing right up and plying the streets and highways? It’s the Aspen and Volare. The Slant Six and the 318 were bulletproof engines and the TorqueFlite transmissions held up amazingly well.
Just like Dodge trucks of the same era. Junk bodies (the saying was 150,000 mile drive train under a 10,000 mile body) Only the engines were poor also because of the engine controls. All Aspensand Volares are good for now is upgrading brakes and rear differentials for older Darts and Valiants.
These later F-bodies actually represent an excellent case study in the power of the earned “reputation” of consumer goods. By 1980, the problems suffered by the early Volares and Aspens that earned them their horrible reputations were behind them, yet to this day, they’ve been unable to shake the reputation of the 1976-77 models. The source of 1976-77 fender corrosion problem was identified and resolved by the ’78 model year, and in fact, this ’80 model doesn’t even use the “improved” version that eliminated it. Instead, it uses the same fenders as were used on the Diplomat/LeBaron, which never had that problem..
The engineering of the underlying platform was mechanically sound, and a huge improvement over the A-body platform which it replaced. It was so good, in fact, that far more versions of it were sold for significantly more money as the LeBaron/Diplomat/Caravelle/Gran Fury/Fifth Avenue and Cordoba/Mirada models that were ever sold as Volares and Aspens, even though all of those models were built on stretched variations of the F-body platform.
The 1977 Diplomats and LeBarons did have a fender rust issue in New England. Not so much in Connecticut but every where else in New England.
Those cars were smaller volume and not part of the fender replacement programs Chrysler had at the time. The 1980 model Aspens and Volares were pretty much bulletproof.
Actually, while competent, the Transverse Torsion Bars weren’t as good as the longitudinal torsion bars of the older A Bodies. They were quieter, (trying to keep up with GM) but when the rubber isolators wore out, they were evil handling and dangerous. To make them really handle well, you need to replace the rubber isolators with the Police Pursuit, Cast Iron K-Frame spacers. And the Bump Steer still remained.
Daddy bought one for Mama to drive and they got 500,000 miles out of it (with more maintenance than normal – 2 separate trans rebuilds (one due to the mechanical lock up torque converter), replacing the 7-1/4” rear axle with an 8-1/4” rear axle, we rebuilt the slant-six, after the local mechanics couldn’t figure out how to press on the balancer – hint: the crank is still tapped and a 318 balancer bolt makes for the perfect installation tool).
1980 was the last year for the solid lifter Slant. Too bad the 2-barrel Super Six (and a 2-1/4” exhaust all the way back to the end) was gone, as it extended the rpm range to 4500 and had better drive-ability all the way across the curve .
Those look like late model Mustang “Bullitt” wheels