This T-top terror is a 1979 Dodge Aspen R/T. Well, maybe it’s not a terror with a 318 engine, but it sure looks nice. It’s posted on Craigslist with an asking price of $5,500 and is located in Middleborough, Massachusetts. Thanks to Rocco B for sending this tip in!
The first thing that caught my eye on this one, after noticing the unusual assortment of cut-off photos in a combination of night and day shots, was the cracking on the driver’s side rear window louver. I’m assuming that this car was painted at some point and hopefully that can be touched up without painting the entire left quarter panel. I think that I can spy a red leaf spring in front of the LR wheel, too? In fact, the grille should be black, so there has been some paint work done on/to this one.
The car sure looks great, though, at least to me it does. I’ve always liked this body style, but I’ve never owned one. There are usually a few comments on some questionable craftsmanship and rust-proofing on the Aspen/Volare twins.
There aren’t many photos of the overall car other than a side view and a couple of others, but it looks like it’s in nice condition from what is shown. I don’t know if this is a stripe-delete package, I thought all of the R/Ts came with stripes.
The interior looks good but there are cracks in the dash top and the seats will need work. From the bottle of water on the passenger side floor, you can see that there was no cup holder in 1979. Could you even imagine suggesting to anyone back then that literally billions of bottles of water would be sold some day?
For some reason, the engine photos are all verticals, so that’s why this one was combined into one to follow the same horizontal format as the rest of the images. This 318 V8 was rebuilt 10,000 miles ago, and had a few upgrades including an “Edelbrock Performer intake, Holley 600 Performance Carb, MSD Ignition with distributor and 8mm MSD wires.” The seller says that this car will need a few things, but they don’t mention what those things are. Is this R/T worth the asking price?
I also liked this body style, they were dependable mechanically, but you could sit on the porch and hear them rusting! This one looks good, but I would look this over closely for hidden rust and bondo. I would paint the grill and louvers black. It’s going to need some work inside ( dash pad and seat covers ) so I wouldn’t want to pay too much, $3500 maybe?
She did not come from the factory with a body color grill, they were silver and some sort of black trim.
Yeech
A Dodge Aspen R/T? Never knew such an animal existed.
In 1988 I made a trip down to Peru and was surprised to see these being sold as brand new cars. Seems that Chrysler shipped the tooling to Brazil, never realized that was common to do at that time.
Good looking car. I would say the stripes are repaint delete not factory delete. Sometimes red can be difficult to match and blend. So the touch up might get into painting more than you want to blend. Because of the tv shows including the auctions, everyone thinks every older car is worth 2 or more times more than it is. Wish people would get educated that location and condition affect prices. Not every pice of scrap (you may drop the S) in your back yard is worth a zillion dollars.
A lot of resale red cars out there for sale lately.
Once again, naysayers to this car aren’t very educated on what was going on in the auto industry in the late ’70’s. People,,,,if you wanted a sporty “R/T” in 1979, this was as good as it got. It was a sharp looking car, aside from dismal build quality, and Chrysler wasn’t the only one grappling with government regulations. We should be glad we got even this! I really like this one. Be careful with “red” cars tho, I hear, it’s the #1 car police stop.
Here’s my survivor 79 Aspen R/T E58 360 4 brl!
Nice colour, but I’d say it looks a bit rusty underside. ☝️ agree with Howard, these were pretty good rides for their day. And typical of big three when you sell a lot of a basic car to release a “juiced” up version. See the slit in the rear bumper? I Remember jacking these up by the bumper. No bumper in 2017 is gonna withstand that action.
This is the one I’d like to have. I’m old enough to remember the rusty fender recall and Chrysler having huge unsold inventories of their F body Aspen and Volare.
Hi 408, I think these cars, at the time, were the “poster child” for recalls. Surpassed only by Saturn. These come through here a lot. Here’s one for you. http://barnfinds.com/super-coupe-1978-dodge-aspen/
Those paint cracks appear to be from body flex due to the location and direction of paint tear. The question is, are these a result of the t-tops, body rot, the driver, or a combination of any or all three?
I really shouldn’t like this car, but I do. Perhaps it’s because it was new when I got my driver’s license… These were the “muscle cars” of the late 1970s. If, like me, you were getting your license at the time, they still look pretty appealing.
Chryslers from this era are notorious for rusting, as are cars from Massachusetts. This one checks both boxes so I’d have to do a very careful inspection of this car from top to bottom before I’d be will to offer anything.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the huge dent in the passenger side quarter panel underneath the louver. Paint work is definitely in order, so I would budget for a full repaint.
I actually like the color matched grille and lack of stripes; it is a subtle way of making the car look a bit different from stock.
talk about a look that would benefit from bigger tires. I liked these cars and Want one. This may just be it .
i.ve got a restored 76 roadrunner velar show car. motor is not your typical 160 hp 318. this one is pushing 300 hp.. cal. car. no rust &; no interior rest. currently appraised at 21,000 mite sell for rt offer. i have over appraised value in it. the paint job strip kit was around 9,000. this car needs nothing.
the steering toe and camber were dangerous on these f bodies and the late model Cordova’s and magnums. you put some power in it an change the stance of the car you’ll feel how dangerous they are. I built one in the 90s and drove it one week and scraped it. scared me to death.
Picture #7 and #9 are the deal breaker for me, the air freshener hanging on the rear view mirror. This car smells!
By the look of the interior quarter window trim panel in picture #3 this car came with a half vinyl top.See how square it is from the inside?No Aspen R/T’s came with any kind of vinyl top,full or half.Also the rear spoiler is a one piece unit.This type spoiler was only used in 76-77.This isn’t a real R/T at all,just a cobbled together vinyl top,v-8,t top coupe.Cool looking but not the same thing.
Mine did! I know they weren’t suppose to.I bought my 79 E58 360 4 brl. back in 1981 from Dodge City. But never say never!
I do enjoy looking at this Unique Barn Find though 👍
Got this last year.These were taken exactly how I found it,Where it had been sitting for a few years,Sans one top.Haven’t found one yet.
For some reason I always liked the looks of these cars. The T-tops are an added bonus. I think it would look better with the factory stripes, the grille painted correctly and a bigger set of rally wheels and tires.
You have to remove all the rubber isolators on the suspension & cradle. Speaking of tthe cradle…until about midway through the’88 model year of the M-body, an identical twin underneath, they were made “Off shore” with crap metallurgy. So find a RWD 5th Ave, Gran Fury, or Diplomat of the right vintage and place a swap. Also, install subframe connectors. Wouldnt hurt talk to Dick Voss at Firm Feel…these cars can handle.
the same car was on CL for a few months prior I believe in rhode island for $4500. my gut says either flipper or buyers remorse when they found out they got duped, going by imperial1scott’s observations.
Owned a 76 coupes 318 auto on the column, car rode nice decent power.
I live in PA they were terrible in snow