We had the Dodge version of this when I was in my teens. My sister had a Volare 4 door sedan. both were slant 6 cars. Rust took over the Volare first and my sister inherited the Aspen wagon which she never checked the oil and resulted in engine failure. So at the age of 14, my buddy and I did our first engine swap in the backyard by pulling the engine out of the Volare and putting it in the Aspen. We had a very sketchy scaffold with a chain fall, but we pulled it off. we did get it together and running and yard driving, but the car never saw the road again. It was an awesome learning experience and have been messing with machines ever since.
@@12yearssober Cars are more reliable today. Everyone knew and could talk shop if they owned a car before the 80s. Its the bad thing about making things better. People don't learn or practice skills if they don't need them.
Looks like Katie is joining the episodes again. She is one very, very friendly dog. You can tell she is well treated and friendly. I wouldn't mind her in all of the episodes. Yes, correct, the Super Six had the BBD (Ball and Ball two barrel) and the regular Slant would have a Holley one barrel. Both were wretched carburetors and notorious stallers. My friend had two of these cars, both Aspens. The first was a 1979 with a 318 V8 and the second was a 1978 with a Super Six. Both were four doors. We got the VIN, we win: H for Plymouth Volare, L for low price class, 45 for two seat station wagon, D for 225 CID Slant Six with two-barrel, aka "Super Six" aka "Leaning Tower of Power", 8 for 1978 model year, F for Newark, DE assembly and the rest is the production sequence. The plant opened in 1938 as a parts depot, then it produced military equipment for a time and by 1957 it was producing vehicles. It closed in 2008. This one was made on Monday April 3, 1978 at about the 12th hour. No tag, can't brag, but possible code PY1 Jasmine Yellow exterior paint. Correct, many of those test vehicles were "wringers" and they had some tricks and adjustments made that may not have been done when it left the assembly plant. The '79 Trans Am 400/4 speed car used for test articles from back in the day was rumored to be a "wringer" and had been warmed over a bit before testing it. I think what they wanted to show was what could still be done with some tuning. Yes, those fenders were rot boxes and ruined the reputation of the car. My uncle had a 1976 Aspen and by 1978 the fenders were rotted. They were fixed by the dealer with a bit of a fight, and my uncle never bought an American car after that. He was a WWII veteran and actually bought Hondas for the rest of his life. His brother-in- law, my other uncle fought in the Korean War and he also stopped buying American made vehicles and bought a Hyundai as his last vehicle. I worked on both of their last cars and both said, "Won't buy an American car again. Too many problems". As you noted, Chrysler was in big trouble by 1978-1979 and the lack of quality in their vehicles showed. Unfortunately, it's often said that cars of this era made import buyers for life.
Great points all! And speaking of "press ringer cars" remember when Pontiac supplied Car and Driver with a 421 powered '64 GTO? And in '65 a full size 2+2 that ran 0-60 in 3.9 seconds!!! It had 4.30 gears and probably a bunch of tail ballast. Gotta love the "product planning" guys and their tricks! Every car maker did this stuff to varying degrees. Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
My first new car was an ‘89 Plymouth Acclaim LX that I believe was built at the Newark plant? I always thought it was odd that a manufacturer would locate a plant on the coast since it would severely limit the normal shipping radius of the facility. However, maybe the markets on the East Coast were big enough that the economics of locating it there still worked out, along with having easier port access for shipping vehicles overseas…….????
@@ddellwo Yes, either Newark, DE or Toluca, Mexico. The first digit of the VIN would tell you. A "1" is US made, a "3" is Mexican made. Back in the day, the automakers had plants on various coasts/sides of the country which would (in theory) service a given area.
@@SteveMagnante Even during the emission era, you can "see" the same basic engines through all of the emission controls. The manufacturers couldn't do it, but many in the aftermarket did with the caveat of "off road use only". Never really happened that way.
As for the leaning tower of power, back in the seventies, I helped a friend move from, Naperville,Illinois to Texarkana Arkansas, in a four door ,1967 Dodge Dart,225 slant six, in the summer time, pulling a double axle, u-haul trailer, packed with all his worldly treasures! We went screaming down, I-55 to St Louis, got on, I-44 west bound, that old slant six never missed a beat, of course, when we hit the mountains, we had to crack the hood open, and run the heater full blast, to try to keep her cool! Then, we got on highway, 71, up ,and down, and more curves, than Farrah in her bathing suit! That old car, which was nine years old at the time, didn’t miss a lick,it ran like a Swiss watch! The transmission held up too, it made a believer out of me! The Good ole days!
A dear departed friend of mine owned a mopar dealer in western New York during this time period. He told me they ordered replacement Volare/Aspen fenders for their parts department by the gross.
First of all, I want to tell Steve that you are in my thoughts and prayers. Hoping you get through this illness quickly! Also wanted to say, your knowledge on everything automotive, is priceless, and you always impress me with all the facts! My mom had a '77 Aspen wagon with the Super Six 225c.i. slant six. My dad worked for Chrysler, so hers was special ordered, and loaded up with options, including the am/fm radio with factory CB and microphone! I loved that radio!
We had the same set up. As a kid my seat was between my parents in the front seat and I had to watch out for 4th gear because the shifter would slam me in the balls. I learned to drive in that car, she shifted like a truck.
My mom had a '78 Volare wagon. It was silver with rallye wheels, and a red plaid interior. It had the leaning tower of no power under the hood. I got my first driver's license in that car, got my first ticket in that car (86 in a 50, after having that thing going 110 mph on the freeway.) My mom got rid of it when she raced a kid on a bicycle across an intersection and lost.
I had a girlfriend in the early 80s, that had a 4 door Aspen with the Supersix and a 4 spd. She loaned it to me when my car was in the shop. I was impressed that it was pretty peppy in town and run down the highway well. She took good care of it. Many an Aspen wagon became carpenter cars, then wood haulers with panels flapping in the wind.
I worked at a small,independent used car lot in Langhorne, PA in the early 80's. At one point I came very close to buying a black/woodgrain Volare wagon with a 318/4-speed drivetrain. It had a very plush interior, so I'm pretty sure it was a Premier. The 4-speed really threw me. Who would order a fully loaded luxury style station wagon with a 4-speed stick? But that's what drew me to it! But being a Chevy guy from birth, I bought a '73 Chevelle Laguna wagon there instead. That one had a very strong, and not nearly stock 350 hooked up to a Turbo 350 with a moderately high stall converter and a shift kit. I made a couple of passes at Maple Grove at a "Test 'n' Tune" day in the mid-13's with it... with a pair of child seats strapped into the back seat! I don't think the Volare would have been as quick, stick or no stick!
Lets remember that the 4-speed was a fuel economy measure in the panicked days of the post-OPEC auto industry. Those Aspen / Volare 4-speeds were actually equipped with an overdrive top gear that had a .76:1 ratio to drop engine revs - and fuel intake - versus the traditional 1.00:1 top gear ratio of a pre-'76 A833 Chrysler 4-speed manual transmission. The good part of the Overdrive A833 Chrysler 4-speed was how First Gear went from 2.64:1 to a nifty 3.06:1 which gave a harder launch off the line. BUT the downside was the W-I-D-E spacing of 2nd, 3rd and Overdrive. Shifting through the gears with this extra wide gear ratio spread forced engine rpms to drop more than usual which dulled full bore acceleration a BUNCH. On the upshift from 3rd to overdrive you almost have to peel your face off the inside of the windshield due to the sudden fall off of acceleration at full throttle. But for saving gas and general quiet cruising with minimal shifting chores, the A833 Overdrive 4-speed was a good solution for the time - and a bunch cheaper than actually tooling a proper 5-speed overdrive manual gearbox from scratch. And YES it is always cool to see a stick shift in any wagon or 4-door! Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
My early childhood car memories are all in a Volare station wagon. Black with red Vinyl interior. Summer months in MA were painful if my mother didn’t put towels down on the seats after an afternoon at the lake. Many times I burned my backside. It got passed down to my Aunt who delivered Want Ads all over the Merrimack Valley. It died with over 200k. We have lots of photos of camping in NH with the hatch open and I remember Rock 101 was always playing on the radio.
Try living in QLD, it's summer pretty much all year round except for 6 weeks of the year, always got a nice belt buckle branding and burnt arse on the brown vinyl seats of our old Holden as kid back then. Lol
My father had 2 Volare's back in the mid 80's and they were both manual transmissions. I forget whether they were 4 or 5 speeds because I was about 7 or 8 years old at the time. The first one that he bought at a used car dealer was a real lemon so he took it back and they gave him another Volare, just a different color. That one didn't last him but maybe 6 months because he had to get rid of that one to because it always gave him trouble. Neither of them liked to start in the rain and they both sucked. He eventually bought an 83 Buick Regal Limited, which he had for at least 10 years and gave him no problems at all. Chrysler products of the late 70's sucked in his opinion and they do in mine too. Thanks for the video Steve and the trip down memory lane.
I had a 77 Volare Wagon slant six with the 4 speed and it consistently got 25-30 mpg. Was a great car. Paid $200 for it and drove the heck out of it and then sold it to a little Mexican lady that drove the wheels off of it. I saw her driving that thing for years.
This one made me smile on Father's day. My dad gave me his Volare wagon when he bought his new Horizon. The car looked exactly like this one. My memories of the car were not good. By this point it wasn't very reliable. Though, it was much more reliable than my mid 70's Hornet.
My parents bought a 1976 Volare Premier wagon in late 1975 right off the showroom floor. It was very similar to this car, although it was white with the wood and it had a 318 in it. The lean burn system was a real problem as most of my memories with this car involve us being stuck somewhere because the car would continue to stall and then wouldn't start at all. It also had terrible rust in the lower quarters, dogleg and under the quarter panel windows....and this was all before the car was 10years old, as that is when it was destroyed in an accident. Great to see this car still in existence. It has less rust at 45 years old than ours had at 7.
The 318 did not have lean burn in 1976. The first-year lean-burn came out they were only on 400s, the next year only on 4-barrel engines. I don't believe they were on any f-body car until at least 79, at least in Michigan. The wack jobs in California always had different emissions standards.
From 1977 to 1978, Monteverdi of Switzerland made the Sierra based on the Aspen/Volare line, including one station wagon based on the Volare. If you look them up, I have to say that Monteverdi did them up enough that it is difficult to tell what kind of car the Sierra is based on. I think that the engine was very slightly touched, so they had little to no power just as the Dodge and Plymouth cars the Sierra was based on. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia: "As far as road cars were concerned, Monteverdi changed to the boutique car system in 1977 for these as well. The Monteverdi Sierra was a sedan with a 5.2-L V8 engine and distinctive looks. It was a Plymouth Volaré with slightly changed bodywork. With few modifications, it had similarities to the Fiat 130. Fenders, bumpers, grill and some smaller parts were modified: headlamps were taken from the Fiat 125 and rear lights came from the Renault 12. The rest - windows, doors and mechanical parts - remained unchanged. The Sierra soon was accompanied by a two-door convertible based on a Dodge Diplomat coupe, of which only two were made. Finally, Monteverdi also made a station wagon based on a Plymouth. It remained a one-off that was never sold."
AB-SO-LUTELY! Great points on Peter Monteverdi's last gasp Mopar-based / inspired specialty cars for the rich and uninformed. I have seen these F-car-based Monteverdis online and wonder who, who, who could have been impressed by them. I mean "the times" were tough in the OPEC / CAFE age of the late 1970's so making cars like the previous "High Speed" and "Hai" was out of the question. But what convinced Peter Monteverdi to reimagine an Aspen / Volare? A bizarre chapter in automotive history. Thanks for remembering these Monteverdi Sierras. -Steve Magnante
@@SteveMagnante he did drop 440s into some of the boutique SUVs like the Scout and maybe the Range Rovers, so perhaps that may have been a plan. It's not like it seemed like a plan to send them to the US, so may have been able to do so but I imagine space and packaging may have been an issue for that endeavor.
I totally forgot to mention the nifty 4-speed Overdrive A833 option. Yes, they add a bunch of "cool" to any Volare / Aspen (or B-van). I used to spot them and grab them in California Pick-A-Part junkyards. Some were cast iron, some were aluminum. The iron ones were preferred by the 360 guys for their (likely) added resistance to "case separation" with 300 ft/lbs or more and hard shifts. Thanks for the reminder. We did do a Junkyard Crawl on a late 1970's Dodge B-Van that was a 4-speed OD unit, so we have covered it at least once. Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
Hope you recover from your medical issue . Uncle Tony's Garage sent me here . Good info for a Chevy guy that always admired the Volari wagons. I for years envisioned a cool Dragging Wagon Hot Rod just begging to get out. If you throw some big + little tires + a flat black hood tint those back side windows + hatch window, you'll see what I mean .
There was a 150mph speedometer in a ‘79 Volare police special we had for many years. Great car, didn’t rust out like the ‘77 Aspen wagon we had before it. I was told the Specials had a different steel alloy and frame stiffener sections. Always wanted a police special wagon, best of both of them.
the steel was the same but it recieve a better rust protection, for your information, on these Volare, the innner panels were left to bare metal from the factory, this explant why they became rust buckets at the beginning of the '80 s, I've bought a Volvo 240, I never returned to american cars after that. It is sad the way they lost the market, it is a question of work phylosophy at all levels of the idustry.
Clearly , the Load Runner is intended to compete with the Wagon Queen Antarctic Blue Super Sports model with the CB radio and optional rally fun pack !
In the late 70's I had a 77 Volare wagon with slant 6 and 3 speed overdrive trans, I ran that car for close to ten years. great car, that was my truck for most of the jobs I needed to do!!
My sister had the sedan and felt that pushing the accelerator pedal all the way to the floor while starting it was the best way to get it started..lol AND my neighbor had the wagon with the slant 6. She weighed about 350lbs...the car listed to the left, but when her 300lb sister got in the passenger side..it leveled out..lol! That drivetrain was a champ😅
Wow! Great to see you do a video on an F body wagon! I have owned a '78 Aspen wagon for 12 years now and it only has just over 30K original miles on it. I'm the second owner. It is a slant Super Six with the four-speed overdrive transmission, dark tan plaid seats and door panels, and is the same color as this one in the video, but no fake wood sides. This was a one-year-only color for 1978 called "Classic Creme." I found mine online after looking literally for years for a well preserved one, bought it immediately sight unseen, and flew out from PA to Pueblo Colorado to pick it up and then drove it home with no problems. It has zero rust, being a high desert car for it's entire life, but it does have a few small hail dents in its original paint. It also has the rare optional AM/FM/CB transceiver with the original microphone and the one-year-only power antenna. I love these F body Aspen and Volare's and they are becoming quite unusual and difficult to find. It's a lot of fun to drive around shifting gears and it gets a lot of thumbs up and comments.
I owned a pea-green ‘77 Plymouth Volare with the Super Six for several years back in the early 90’s as “winter beater”. I was still living in the Twin Cities at the time and as some of you may know, in the Midwest it is common for “car guys” to own a separate vehicle for use during the winter months when copious amounts of salt are dumped onto the roads for ice control. Oddly enough, despite the reputation this car had corrosion it was amazingly rust-free - especially when you considered that by the time I owned it it had endured well over a decade’s worth of Minnesota winters! The thing leaked oil like crazy, but was rock solid reliable and I actually ended up selling it to some guy on a whim for $250 as he was driving by my parent’s country place, saw it parked at the end of the driveway, and stopped to ask if it was for sale! I always thought the “Road Runner” versions of this car were hokey and painfully overdone with needless exterior design details in classic mid-70’s fashion. However, I think a wagon version of the Road Runner would have actually been kind of cool - perhaps because since it was a wagon some of the pretensions about performance would have already been set aside? If you could find a nice, clean, 318 version of a wagon today (do they still exist?) it might actually be a fun but cheap vehicle for bopping down to Home Depot on the weekends! So many cars - so little storage space………☹
I had a dodge Aries station wagon. It had 318 I loved that old car my uncle give it to me when I was 12 I worked for him at his Amaco station pumping gas and changing tires. I live on the family farm so I could drive everywhere the road won't paved 😂
Your right about the rust. My parents bought a 77 Volare station wagon brand new. About 6 years later we had a large rust hole on the drivers side floor pan. I had to cover the rust hole with a sheet of plywood.
The 76-77s were known to rust out on the tops of the fenders, as well as inside the cowl area leading to structural issues that could not be fixed. I've seen these literally rusted in half at the cowl. A couple of the things Chrysler did for 78 and 79 was adding drains to the front inner fender wells, as well as used galvanized coatings to inner front fenders and outside door panels. For 80, they added plastic splash shields over the metal front fender liners. It's interesting to me that as badly as these cars rotted, by 82 Chrysler had the issues under control for their M cars, which were essentially the old F sedans. I had several 5th Aves that were all Chicago cars, and rust was never an issue ( though everything else was ;) )
Steve, you're giving me Flashbacks. My Grandfather had a 1977 Slant Six, Automatic White Volare Wagon with Blue Interior. My Stepdad had the 1979 Chrysler Town & Country Woodie. He called me broken down with 2 flat rear tires. I brought him a pair of G50 Pro-Trac's mounted on Solid Centerline Rims I just took off my Charger. RACECAR Wagon. Wish I had pictures of it.
The first car I ever drove on public roads was a 1979 Plymouth Volare sedan. It was spring of 1983 and it was the driver’s education car. There was a auxiliary brake pedal in the passenger footwell that the driving instructor could use to stop the car if needed.
A local drag racer ran a wagon in the brackets, what was more unusual was it ran a 4 speed. I believe it was originally an OD trans, but switched to a regular 833, and 318 or 360. There's just something about wagons on the drag strip.
Yes, I agree. That extra tail mass improves traction a bunch. And you can bring the drag slicks in the back if you drive to the drag strip! Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
When we moved grandma from Pomona to Duluth, Mn in 1980, I sort of “inherited” her ‘78 Volaré sedan with the Super Six, as she stopped driving then. After 2 years in Pomona, the blue paint was completely oxidized from the LA smog, but the car only had 13,000 miles. That car had super comfortable front seats, and with a set of Firestone Town&Country snowies on the back, it could handle all but the worst of our winters here.
There were plenty of economical plastic/polyurethane front fenders available for the cars during the 70’s. I put a new front fender on my 71 Valiant myself, just bolted right on , very quick and easy, cost me $100.00 at the Auto parts store. These cars were easy to repair and maintain in a presentable condition.
It was a 4-door sedan, but my 2nd wife and I once owned a '77 Volare. Beige color. Slant six. It was well-worn by the time we bought it. But the $300 purchase price was worth it, even though we only got about 3 years of use out of it before the engine finally expired.
In the late '80s I had a 4 door Volare sedan with the 318. It was a police package car, but not an interceptor. At one point it needed a full brake job including rotors and drums. Regular Volare brake parts wouldn't fit, so I found another police car in a junkyard, made a deal, then parked beside it and swapped all the parts over.
My buddy used to have a SUPER clean Volare wagon with a 318 and those cool plaid seats. It was slow, but it sounded AWESOME with dual exhaust and Flowmaster 40s. We got rid of all the emissions equipment and that woke it up quite a bit, then put an old rebuilt Carter AFB and an Edelbrock intake on it, which also helped. I always thought it was a pretty good-looking car.
I CANNOT believe that you encountered a "slow 218" in these cars! I owned a (beaten, but FAST) '78 Aspen coupe! This was one of the MOST MOVING cars ever! I could tell so many FUN stories about this GREAT, CHEAP, FUN old car!
@@johnmaki3046 I mean slow compared to fast stuff. Even those doggy '70s V8s were torquey and pretty spunky in these sorta-kinda light old cars. But it was snail-like compared to '60s/early '70s stuff or modern V8s.
I can't believe this video is almost two years old and nobody got VIN to win. H Volare, L low-price class, 45 wagon, D 225 2bbl,8 1978,F Dodge Main, and the last 6 are the sequence number.
Took my behind the wheel test in freshman HS 1978 in a baby blue ans spankin' new '78 Volare.. Great work as always Steve. Get well soon! Prayers for a speedy recovery.
Went cross country in 1991 in the exact model and color volare. From Washington state to north Carolina. And drove all the way back on a cracked block. Overheated the whole time. Had to fill our cooler and jugs at about every rest area. It was so stressful.. one of the most memorable times of my life.
Our first "modern" car was a 77 Volare coupe that my dad bought in 1981 to replace the 64 Valiant convertible that my mom was driving. The Volare had the recall-replacement fenders in it because they were still in primer. Super Six, automatic, silver with a black gut. It eventually got passed on to me. An idiot in a 84 Camaro totaled it for me when he thought he could make a left turn from the middle lane when someone was passing him. My dad and I found a mint 79 Volare 4 door to replace it. We stripped the 77 for spare parts and junked the body. Drove the 79 until it rotted from underneath itself and made its last trip to the junkyard. I remember our 77 being much more sprightly than the 79. Not sure if it was because it was lighter or perhaps the gearing, but both were super sixes and yet the 79 was a slug no matter how much dad and I tuned on it. A friend of mine had a 76 Volare Premier coupe with a built 318. That thing was a sleeper. Surprised many a poser street racer with that beast.
My not be the popular option but , I've always appreciate these , Volare & Aspens 🙏 A high school classmate had one , With 5 speed manual on the floor Just get the , Rusty Jones coating , In the salt belt . I bet , those Volare Road Runners would have sold well Gotta have a side kick Steve . Might as well be , Katie 💖🐶
I worked at a service station ( as a teenager ) they offered that treatment on vehicles . I watched the service manager apply it to new vehicles brought it . It was messy but , covered well
I had the 77 aspen wagon. Great car. Bought new. They actually replaced the front fenders for no apparent reason just because of a rust recall. Friend of mine bought one with the 318 in it. That was crazy.
My parents had a low mileage 76' or 77' Aspen wagon w/318. I was still a tiny tott when they traded it on a brand new Celebrity wagon in 85'. My one uncle had a coupe that had all those fun rust issues lol
Steve, our 1st car when we were married was a used 1977 Volare station wagon. Gold color, slant 6 and 3 speed with OD manual transmission. Cold AC, we live in central Texas so its a must, roomy car. We drove that car for 3 years until it died with 200K+ miles.
I delivered a number of Volare/Aspen vehicles back in the summer of 1976 when I worked for M&G Convoy out of Detroit, MI. Solid little cars for the era, but had all the manufacturing faults common to all the Big Three back then. I bought a new B100 (Dodge Van) in 1977 that had the 318 and 4spd overdrive manual (A-833), which I believe was available in both the Volare and Aspen models.
I remember riding in wagons with the rear window down in the summer. Primarily when the AC quit and all the other windows were also down. Never thought about exhaust gasses.
Had the Dodge Aspen wagon in '77. 318. Dad wanted the 6 but the only one on the lot was white, which dad didn't want. It was a quality turd. Liked the car, but not the rust. Broke lots of stuff (brakes, alternator, car was junk, ate tires>>couldn't hold alignment)
In the early 80's I was working at a LIncoln-Mercury dealer and someone traded in a 77ish Volare/Aspen wagon with a 318, 4spd, bench seat and wood sides. My Mopar friend was looking for a car so I drove it home for him to look at. He didn't bite. He ultimately ended up buying an 80 Volare coupe with slant six 1bbl and 3spd bench seat car! You couldn't kill that car!!
She's a great dog Steve and I believe that you already know that though. Get well soon and we are all praying for you and your family Steve. God bless you all and enjoy your Tuesday and get well soon 🙏
My dad worked at a Chrysler Plymouth dealership in Virginia for few years after retiring from the Air Force in the late seventies. One of the memories that has always stuck with me was his comments on new cars coming in on the haulers. They would have to push them off by hand because they wouldn't start. Then the mechanics would put them in a bay and remove door panels and other bits to inspect for drink cans, food wrappers, etc., along with the process of making them functional. No quality control in the UAW back then.
Unions really turned out to be a bad thing. I'm in one now, the lazy do nothings get paid exactly the same as the guys actually working. Everyone just comes down to that lazy do nothing level eventually.
@@bobbyz1964 Yes and no. All depends on the union and what they do. Some municipal unions will fight for a worker that is fired because of a bad boss/worker relationship. When I was taking an exam one time, a worker who was also there had sued an operating authority that wouldn't promote him after he passed a test, for no other reason (according to him) that his boss didn't like him. It wasn't performance based. Between the lawyer and the union, he not only got the job, but got every dollar of back pay. LOL. Sometimes they are good, and sometimes not. All depends. You'll have slackers and workers in union and non-union jobs. As you indicated, that's human nature.
@googleusergp I'm 58 private sector most of my life, business owner till I was 40. So I've been in a government job 6, 7 years. I see guys literally sleeping on the job, park a truck in the woods sleep, if they're awake they're watching tic tok. I've seen a few guys get fired and the union kept them on, they needed to be fired! It's crazy ! The supervisors are pretty much incompetent, nepotism and cronyism is how you advance, a few are good. It's to the point that lazy people are too hard to get rid of to bother with. One guy, the union president, was about to get fired from another state agency when he transferred to this one. The man is about my age, has been a slacker since he started out of high school and will retire with a great pension. If he works 5 hours out of 40 I haven't seen it yet. Your tax dollars at work. 😆
In 1980 ish...I had a 1970 cutlass station wagon with a 455 rocket, low rear end tow/pulling options. package...As every kid, I added dua holley 750 dbl pumpers carbs, intake manifold, headers and a loose B&M 3000 rpm torque converter... It warped reality from stop light to stoplight! And you could see the gas gauge drop after every stoplight launch... Ultimate 5000lb + sleeper back then. And it pinged on anything less then 93 premium leaded...lolz ohh the days...
I dated a girl that had a '78 Dodge Aspen 2 door coupe with a 318 V8. Her Dad drilled holes at the bottoms of the fenders for water drains, because he saw other people's Aspens/Volares rusting out there. I haven't had the time to watch all of your videos Steve, but if you haven't done so, I'd like to see one on the newly re-designed 1994 Dodge Ram trucks - like the white one behind you.
I ordered a '77 Volare wagon. It had the 2-barrel 360 V-8 (4-barrel wasn't available) and was a bit pokey. Rally wheels, tuff steering wheel and I added the fender flares shown here plus a rear anti-sway bar. Nice-looking car but it had lots of rust and water leaks, especially one somewhere in the right side of the cowl which I never could find or stop. After hearing of the front fender rust problems of the '76s, I made my own inner fender liners out of polyethylene and then a year later Chrysler added front liners which I bought OTC and installed. It was my last Chrysler product.
I have this wagon, a ‘79 with the super six. Bought it in 2014. No wood grain though. I drove it 50+ miles daily for a few years with no issues. It’s been parked since 2019 but I can’t wait to get back to tinkering on it.
The history of Chrysler Corporation can be summed up as "brilliant engineering undone by indifferent quality control." What I remember most about these cars are the fragile grilles. There were a lot of Aspens and Volares in the parking lot when I went to high school and just about every one had the grille punched in somewhere or completely missing, My other Aspen/Volare memory comes from 1979 when I spotted a wagon with a factory manual transmission with a floor shift, which was so surprising even in those days I asked the owner where he'd had it done. He told me it actually came from the factory as a special order. It was probably a three speed but I don't remember for sure. I never learned what was under the hood. The Aspen/Volare debacle is probably why Lee Iacocca made such a big deal of introducing and advertising his 5 year warranty against outer body rust through during the K-car renaissance. I know the K's and L's don't get a lot of love these days but they were the right cars for the time.
Had a 76 Volare 318. four speed overdrive station wagon with 2.9? rear gears. On level ground on long trips would get 30-32 mpg . Around town would get 10 mpg due to the tall gears and having to wind the engine thru the gears. There was a sticker in the glove box stating the fenders were warrantied when i bought it.
I believe they got rid of the three speed, with the A body. As far as I can remember, I was a Chrysler dealer mechanic at the time, all manuals were overdrive 4 speeds. At least the dealer I worked at I never saw a 3-speed in anything other than a Duster.
The aspen/volare was a great platform and is underrated.. the volare road runner, the aspen gt, and the r/t, and then of course the kit cars. Would love to have one
I got the good one - '78 Volare wagon (it said "Aspen" on the passenger side fender. Totally loaded, 318 power everything. It was a great car for the time. Comfortable and great looking inside and out! I was a salesman in Los Angeles who put 70K miles on the car in 2 years. Loved it and loved your review!
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
Katy is the Vanna White of the Junkyard Crawl.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Hope she doesn’t retire. 🤷♂️
She is! I got a chance to pet her once I met Dale.
@@seiph80 dig it! Your brush with greatness!
Steve who?!
We had the Dodge version of this when I was in my teens. My sister had a Volare 4 door sedan. both were slant 6 cars. Rust took over the Volare first and my sister inherited the Aspen wagon which she never checked the oil and resulted in engine failure. So at the age of 14, my buddy and I did our first engine swap in the backyard by pulling the engine out of the Volare and putting it in the Aspen. We had a very sketchy scaffold with a chain fall, but we pulled it off. we did get it together and running and yard driving, but the car never saw the road again. It was an awesome learning experience and have been messing with machines ever since.
Wish kids still did this stuff today at 14. I did my first swap at 16.
Yes the Aspen nice car's.
I’m calling BS. You can’t blow up a slant 6. When The Bomb goes off, you’ll see Keith Richards driving a Slant 6 in the aftermath. 😅
Your sister must have "worked HARD" to kill a "slant 6"! These motors were IRON TOUGH!
@@12yearssober Cars are more reliable today. Everyone knew and could talk shop if they owned a car before the 80s. Its the bad thing about making things better. People don't learn or practice skills if they don't need them.
The CB radio in the Load Runner mule reminds me of the days when that was our only electronic social medium.
Looks like Katie is joining the episodes again. She is one very, very friendly dog. You can tell she is well treated and friendly. I wouldn't mind her in all of the episodes.
Yes, correct, the Super Six had the BBD (Ball and Ball two barrel) and the regular Slant would have a Holley one barrel. Both were wretched carburetors and notorious stallers. My friend had two of these cars, both Aspens. The first was a 1979 with a 318 V8 and the second was a 1978 with a Super Six. Both were four doors.
We got the VIN, we win: H for Plymouth Volare, L for low price class, 45 for two seat station wagon, D for 225 CID Slant Six with two-barrel, aka "Super Six" aka "Leaning Tower of Power", 8 for 1978 model year, F for Newark, DE assembly and the rest is the production sequence. The plant opened in 1938 as a parts depot, then it produced military equipment for a time and by 1957 it was producing vehicles. It closed in 2008. This one was made on Monday April 3, 1978 at about the 12th hour. No tag, can't brag, but possible code PY1 Jasmine Yellow exterior paint.
Correct, many of those test vehicles were "wringers" and they had some tricks and adjustments made that may not have been done when it left the assembly plant. The '79 Trans Am 400/4 speed car used for test articles from back in the day was rumored to be a "wringer" and had been warmed over a bit before testing it. I think what they wanted to show was what could still be done with some tuning.
Yes, those fenders were rot boxes and ruined the reputation of the car. My uncle had a 1976 Aspen and by 1978 the fenders were rotted. They were fixed by the dealer with a bit of a fight, and my uncle never bought an American car after that. He was a WWII veteran and actually bought Hondas for the rest of his life. His brother-in- law, my other uncle fought in the Korean War and he also stopped buying American made vehicles and bought a Hyundai as his last vehicle. I worked on both of their last cars and both said, "Won't buy an American car again. Too many problems". As you noted, Chrysler was in big trouble by 1978-1979 and the lack of quality in their vehicles showed.
Unfortunately, it's often said that cars of this era made import buyers for life.
Great points all! And speaking of "press ringer cars" remember when Pontiac supplied Car and Driver with a 421 powered '64 GTO? And in '65 a full size 2+2 that ran 0-60 in 3.9 seconds!!! It had 4.30 gears and probably a bunch of tail ballast. Gotta love the "product planning" guys and their tricks! Every car maker did this stuff to varying degrees. Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
My first new car was an ‘89 Plymouth Acclaim LX that I believe was built at the Newark plant? I always thought it was odd that a manufacturer would locate a plant on the coast since it would severely limit the normal shipping radius of the facility. However, maybe the markets on the East Coast were big enough that the economics of locating it there still worked out, along with having easier port access for shipping vehicles overseas…….????
@@ddellwo Yes, either Newark, DE or Toluca, Mexico. The first digit of the VIN would tell you. A "1" is US made, a "3" is Mexican made. Back in the day, the automakers had plants on various coasts/sides of the country which would (in theory) service a given area.
@@SteveMagnante Even during the emission era, you can "see" the same basic engines through all of the emission controls. The manufacturers couldn't do it, but many in the aftermarket did with the caveat of "off road use only". Never really happened that way.
Katie is a sweetheart and I wouldn't mind seeing more of her either.
Steve and Katie are the comedic duo we never knew we needed! What a great channel! We learn we love we laugh lol.
She is a mean scene STEALER! Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
What happened to the dog statue?
Steve That Dog Love's Your Attention, You must have a Good Heart, God Bless Steve
As for the leaning tower of power, back in the seventies, I helped a friend move from, Naperville,Illinois to Texarkana Arkansas, in a four door ,1967 Dodge Dart,225 slant six, in the summer time, pulling a double axle, u-haul trailer, packed with all his worldly treasures! We went screaming down, I-55 to St Louis, got on, I-44 west bound, that old slant six never missed a beat, of course, when we hit the mountains, we had to crack the hood open, and run the heater full blast, to try to keep her cool!
Then, we got on highway, 71, up ,and down, and more curves, than Farrah in her bathing suit!
That old car, which was nine years old at the time, didn’t miss a lick,it ran like a Swiss watch! The transmission held up too, it made a believer out of me!
The Good ole days!
Dennis Weaver dual comes to mind😅
GREAT CARS!
Dating yourself with that Farrah reference 🤣🤣🤣
A dear departed friend of mine owned a mopar dealer in western New York during this time period. He told me they ordered replacement Volare/Aspen fenders for their parts department by the gross.
First of all, I want to tell Steve that you are in my thoughts and prayers. Hoping you get through this illness quickly!
Also wanted to say, your knowledge on everything automotive, is priceless, and you always impress me with all the facts! My mom had a '77 Aspen wagon with the Super Six 225c.i. slant six. My dad worked for Chrysler, so hers was special ordered, and loaded up with options, including the am/fm radio with factory CB and microphone! I loved that radio!
She ought to be in pictures, Steve!😁 Great video!🔧
We're all pulling for you Steve. Hope to see you soon
Yeah, I think Katie has figured out what you're doing and is determined to steal the show, she's trying to be a star like you Steve.
My parents ordered a wagon with a 318 & 4 speed. Had it about 3 years. It's a shame you can`t order what you want now.
We had the same set up. As a kid my seat was between my parents in the front seat and I had to watch out for 4th gear because the shifter would slam me in the balls. I learned to drive in that car, she shifted like a truck.
My mom had a '78 Volare wagon. It was silver with rallye wheels, and a red plaid interior. It had the leaning tower of no power under the hood. I got my first driver's license in that car, got my first ticket in that car (86 in a 50, after having that thing going 110 mph on the freeway.)
My mom got rid of it when she raced a kid on a bicycle across an intersection and lost.
These cars MOVED!
The videos are just that much better with Queen Katie in them Steve. Thanks for all of the hard work and awesome information. We truly appreciate it.
I had a girlfriend in the early 80s, that had a 4 door Aspen with the Supersix and a 4 spd. She loaned it to me when my car was in the shop. I was impressed that it was pretty peppy in town and run down the highway well. She took good care of it. Many an Aspen wagon became carpenter cars, then wood haulers with panels flapping in the wind.
Git the milkbones for the dog. She is the best.
Dog Treat love, Great de-escalation Steve M💪✔️
Or, a Marrow Bone.
What a treat!!
I worked at a small,independent used car lot in Langhorne, PA in the early 80's. At one point I came very close to buying a black/woodgrain Volare wagon with a 318/4-speed drivetrain. It had a very plush interior, so I'm pretty sure it was a Premier. The 4-speed really threw me. Who would order a fully loaded luxury style station wagon with a 4-speed stick? But that's what drew me to it! But being a Chevy guy from birth, I bought a '73 Chevelle Laguna wagon there instead. That one had a very strong, and not nearly stock 350 hooked up to a Turbo 350 with a moderately high stall converter and a shift kit. I made a couple of passes at Maple Grove at a "Test 'n' Tune" day in the mid-13's with it... with a pair of child seats strapped into the back seat! I don't think the Volare would have been as quick, stick or no stick!
Lets remember that the 4-speed was a fuel economy measure in the panicked days of the post-OPEC auto industry. Those Aspen / Volare 4-speeds were actually equipped with an overdrive top gear that had a .76:1 ratio to drop engine revs - and fuel intake - versus the traditional 1.00:1 top gear ratio of a pre-'76 A833 Chrysler 4-speed manual transmission. The good part of the Overdrive A833 Chrysler 4-speed was how First Gear went from 2.64:1 to a nifty 3.06:1 which gave a harder launch off the line. BUT the downside was the W-I-D-E spacing of 2nd, 3rd and Overdrive. Shifting through the gears with this extra wide gear ratio spread forced engine rpms to drop more than usual which dulled full bore acceleration a BUNCH. On the upshift from 3rd to overdrive you almost have to peel your face off the inside of the windshield due to the sudden fall off of acceleration at full throttle. But for saving gas and general quiet cruising with minimal shifting chores, the A833 Overdrive 4-speed was a good solution for the time - and a bunch cheaper than actually tooling a proper 5-speed overdrive manual gearbox from scratch. And YES it is always cool to see a stick shift in any wagon or 4-door! Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
Thanks Steve, for the license plate information, the tidbits we get from your videos are much appreciated-
My early childhood car memories are all in a Volare station wagon. Black with red Vinyl interior. Summer months in MA were painful if my mother didn’t put towels down on the seats after an afternoon at the lake. Many times I burned my backside. It got passed down to my Aunt who delivered Want Ads all over the Merrimack Valley. It died with over 200k. We have lots of photos of camping in NH with the hatch open and I remember Rock 101 was always playing on the radio.
Try living in QLD, it's summer pretty much all year round except for 6 weeks of the year, always got a nice belt buckle branding and burnt arse on the brown vinyl seats of our old Holden as kid back then. Lol
Get well soon Steve. We all miss your genius very much. Thanks for all the great knowledge..
Had one of those too. The mighty Volare. Great auto for my buddies in the 80s.
steve, missing you and your "junk yard dog" car presentations......praying for you for a complete recovery. Get well and we look for you soon.
I used to have a '77 Volare Road Runner, Orange, T-top, 360, Automatic. That thing was a lot of fun.
Let's all hope steve gets well soon that man is awesome
My father had 2 Volare's back in the mid 80's and they were both manual transmissions. I forget whether they were 4 or 5 speeds because I was about 7 or 8 years old at the time. The first one that he bought at a used car dealer was a real lemon so he took it back and they gave him another Volare, just a different color. That one didn't last him but maybe 6 months because he had to get rid of that one to because it always gave him trouble. Neither of them liked to start in the rain and they both sucked. He eventually bought an 83 Buick Regal Limited, which he had for at least 10 years and gave him no problems at all. Chrysler products of the late 70's sucked in his opinion and they do in mine too. Thanks for the video Steve and the trip down memory lane.
Steve you are the auto- nerd! Only the white tape between the lens is missing, great wealth of infromation from this gentleman!
I had a 77 Volare Wagon slant six with the 4 speed and it consistently got 25-30 mpg. Was a great car. Paid $200 for it and drove the heck out of it and then sold it to a little Mexican lady that drove the wheels off of it. I saw her driving that thing for years.
This one made me smile on Father's day. My dad gave me his Volare wagon when he bought his new Horizon. The car looked exactly like this one. My memories of the car were not good. By this point it wasn't very reliable. Though, it was much more reliable than my mid 70's Hornet.
My parents bought a 1976 Volare Premier wagon in late 1975 right off the showroom floor. It was very similar to this car, although it was white with the wood and it had a 318 in it. The lean burn system was a real problem as most of my memories with this car involve us being stuck somewhere because the car would continue to stall and then wouldn't start at all. It also had terrible rust in the lower quarters, dogleg and under the quarter panel windows....and this was all before the car was 10years old, as that is when it was destroyed in an accident. Great to see this car still in existence. It has less rust at 45 years old than ours had at 7.
The 318 did not have lean burn in 1976. The first-year lean-burn came out they were only on 400s, the next year only on 4-barrel engines. I don't believe they were on any f-body car until at least 79, at least in Michigan. The wack jobs in California always had different emissions standards.
From 1977 to 1978, Monteverdi of Switzerland made the Sierra based on the Aspen/Volare line, including one station wagon based on the Volare. If you look them up, I have to say that Monteverdi did them up enough that it is difficult to tell what kind of car the Sierra is based on. I think that the engine was very slightly touched, so they had little to no power just as the Dodge and Plymouth cars the Sierra was based on. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:
"As far as road cars were concerned, Monteverdi changed to the boutique car system in 1977 for these as well. The Monteverdi Sierra was a sedan with a 5.2-L V8 engine and distinctive looks. It was a Plymouth Volaré with slightly changed bodywork. With few modifications, it had similarities to the Fiat 130. Fenders, bumpers, grill and some smaller parts were modified: headlamps were taken from the Fiat 125 and rear lights came from the Renault 12. The rest - windows, doors and mechanical parts - remained unchanged. The Sierra soon was accompanied by a two-door convertible based on a Dodge Diplomat coupe, of which only two were made. Finally, Monteverdi also made a station wagon based on a Plymouth. It remained a one-off that was never sold."
AB-SO-LUTELY! Great points on Peter Monteverdi's last gasp Mopar-based / inspired specialty cars for the rich and uninformed. I have seen these F-car-based Monteverdis online and wonder who, who, who could have been impressed by them. I mean "the times" were tough in the OPEC / CAFE age of the late 1970's so making cars like the previous "High Speed" and "Hai" was out of the question. But what convinced Peter Monteverdi to reimagine an Aspen / Volare? A bizarre chapter in automotive history. Thanks for remembering these Monteverdi Sierras. -Steve Magnante
@@SteveMagnante he did drop 440s into some of the boutique SUVs like the Scout and maybe the Range Rovers, so perhaps that may have been a plan. It's not like it seemed like a plan to send them to the US, so may have been able to do so but I imagine space and packaging may have been an issue for that endeavor.
I dig the Volare / Aspen Wagon platform. I have a 78 Aspen Wagon with the Super 6 and a factory 4 in the floor.
I totally forgot to mention the nifty 4-speed Overdrive A833 option. Yes, they add a bunch of "cool" to any Volare / Aspen (or B-van). I used to spot them and grab them in California Pick-A-Part junkyards. Some were cast iron, some were aluminum. The iron ones were preferred by the 360 guys for their (likely) added resistance to "case separation" with 300 ft/lbs or more and hard shifts. Thanks for the reminder. We did do a Junkyard Crawl on a late 1970's Dodge B-Van that was a 4-speed OD unit, so we have covered it at least once. Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
Hope you recover from your medical issue . Uncle Tony's Garage sent me here . Good info for a Chevy guy that always admired the Volari wagons. I for years envisioned a cool Dragging Wagon Hot Rod just begging to get out. If you throw some big + little tires + a flat black hood tint those back side windows + hatch window, you'll see what I mean .
Had a 77’ painted black, mag rims . Called it the Grimm Reaper. Fast and cool.
Steve…the knowledge you have about cars across the decades is staggering…I always knew a lot about cars, you sir are amazing. And love this channel!
There was a 150mph speedometer in a ‘79 Volare police special we had for many years. Great car, didn’t rust out like the ‘77 Aspen wagon we had before it. I was told the Specials had a different steel alloy and frame stiffener sections.
Always wanted a police special wagon, best of both of them.
the steel was the same but it recieve a better rust protection, for your information, on these Volare, the innner panels were left to bare metal from the factory, this explant why they became rust buckets
at the beginning of the '80 s, I've bought a Volvo 240, I never returned to american cars after that.
It is sad the way they lost the market, it is a question of work phylosophy at all levels of the idustry.
@@jacquespoirier9071 maybe a little "planned obsolescence"?
@@kenttalsma7906 to a point that they lost the market, only the humans are sufficiently intelligent to saw the branch where they are sat on !
Clearly , the Load Runner is intended to compete with the Wagon Queen Antarctic Blue Super Sports model with the CB radio and optional rally fun pack !
In the late 70's I had a 77 Volare wagon with slant 6 and 3 speed overdrive trans, I ran that car for close to ten years. great car, that was my truck for most of the jobs I needed to do!!
My grandma had one like the one on the video. I was 11 in 1978 and remember sitting in the very back.
We're Praying for ya Steve!!! While Still Supporting Ya!!!❤
My sister had the sedan and felt that pushing the accelerator pedal all the way to the floor while starting it was the best way to get it started..lol AND my neighbor had the wagon with the slant 6. She weighed about 350lbs...the car listed to the left, but when her 300lb sister got in the passenger side..it leveled out..lol! That drivetrain was a champ😅
Wow! Great to see you do a video on an F body wagon! I have owned a '78 Aspen wagon for 12 years now and it only has just over 30K original miles on it. I'm the second owner. It is a slant Super Six with the four-speed overdrive transmission, dark tan plaid seats and door panels, and is the same color as this one in the video, but no fake wood sides. This was a one-year-only color for 1978 called "Classic Creme." I found mine online after looking literally for years for a well preserved one, bought it immediately sight unseen, and flew out from PA to Pueblo Colorado to pick it up and then drove it home with no problems. It has zero rust, being a high desert car for it's entire life, but it does have a few small hail dents in its original paint. It also has the rare optional AM/FM/CB transceiver with the original microphone and the one-year-only power antenna. I love these F body Aspen and Volare's and they are becoming quite unusual and difficult to find. It's a lot of fun to drive around shifting gears and it gets a lot of thumbs up and comments.
I found a fender from a 70’s aspen cleaning up behind my barn about a month ago. Now I know why fenders were a hot commodity lol
I owned a pea-green ‘77 Plymouth Volare with the Super Six for several years back in the early 90’s as “winter beater”. I was still living in the Twin Cities at the time and as some of you may know, in the Midwest it is common for “car guys” to own a separate vehicle for use during the winter months when copious amounts of salt are dumped onto the roads for ice control. Oddly enough, despite the reputation this car had corrosion it was amazingly rust-free - especially when you considered that by the time I owned it it had endured well over a decade’s worth of Minnesota winters! The thing leaked oil like crazy, but was rock solid reliable and I actually ended up selling it to some guy on a whim for $250 as he was driving by my parent’s country place, saw it parked at the end of the driveway, and stopped to ask if it was for sale!
I always thought the “Road Runner” versions of this car were hokey and painfully overdone with needless exterior design details in classic mid-70’s fashion. However, I think a wagon version of the Road Runner would have actually been kind of cool - perhaps because since it was a wagon some of the pretensions about performance would have already been set aside? If you could find a nice, clean, 318 version of a wagon today (do they still exist?) it might actually be a fun but cheap vehicle for bopping down to Home Depot on the weekends!
So many cars - so little storage space………☹
Minneapolis winter forecast: 1/2” of snow, 2” of salt!
In Iowa you're lucky if they "only" salt the roads. They usually put down brine, which I hear is 7x more corrosive than salt.
These basic "Mopars" were GREAT, CHEAP transportation! I WISH I could say ANYTHING like this about "modern" CRAPSKATES!
That Carter bbd was known for a lag when you stepped on it. Adjusting metering rods fixed it
My first car was a ‘77 Volare’ 2 door. Had a 318 and bucket seats, console shifter. I loved that car.
I had a dodge Aries station wagon. It had 318 I loved that old car my uncle give it to me when I was 12 I worked for him at his Amaco station pumping gas and changing tires. I live on the family farm so I could drive everywhere the road won't paved 😂
Your right about the rust. My parents bought a 77 Volare station wagon brand new. About 6 years later we had a large rust hole on the drivers side floor pan. I had to cover the rust hole with a sheet of plywood.
If they bought a 77 Camaro, the whole quarter panel would have disintegrated in 6 years.
The 76-77s were known to rust out on the tops of the fenders, as well as inside the cowl area leading to structural issues that could not be fixed. I've seen these literally rusted in half at the cowl. A couple of the things Chrysler did for 78 and 79 was adding drains to the front inner fender wells, as well as used galvanized coatings to inner front fenders and outside door panels. For 80, they added plastic splash shields over the metal front fender liners. It's interesting to me that as badly as these cars rotted, by 82 Chrysler had the issues under control for their M cars, which were essentially the old F sedans. I had several 5th Aves that were all Chicago cars, and rust was never an issue ( though everything else was ;) )
My very first project car at 14-15 was a 1978 volare slant 6
I had the Military Wagon. Blue,slant 6 w 4 speed. No a/c no power options. Awesome driver
I learned to drive in a wagon exactly like this one - same color too!
Steve, you're giving me Flashbacks. My Grandfather had a 1977 Slant Six, Automatic White Volare Wagon with Blue Interior.
My Stepdad had the 1979 Chrysler Town & Country Woodie. He called me broken down with 2 flat rear tires. I brought him a pair of G50 Pro-Trac's mounted on Solid Centerline Rims I just took off my Charger. RACECAR Wagon.
Wish I had pictures of it.
When ever I see Volare. The TV ad theme song starts to play in my head from the seventies.
The first car I ever drove on public roads was a 1979 Plymouth Volare sedan. It was spring of 1983 and it was the driver’s education car. There was a auxiliary brake pedal in the passenger footwell that the driving instructor could use to stop the car if needed.
LOL Steve throwing some shade "if you were NORMAL"
A local drag racer ran a wagon in the brackets, what was more unusual was it ran a 4 speed. I believe it was originally an OD trans, but switched to a regular 833, and 318 or 360. There's just something about wagons on the drag strip.
Yes, I agree. That extra tail mass improves traction a bunch. And you can bring the drag slicks in the back if you drive to the drag strip! Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
When we moved grandma from Pomona to Duluth, Mn in 1980, I sort of “inherited” her ‘78 Volaré sedan with the Super Six, as she stopped driving then. After 2 years in Pomona, the blue paint was completely oxidized from the LA smog, but the car only had 13,000 miles. That car had super comfortable front seats, and with a set of Firestone Town&Country snowies on the back, it could handle all but the worst of our winters here.
I’ve met Katy! The sweetest junkyard dog ever…I even threw that spitty nasty plush toy for her a bunch of times because she was such a good dog.
There were plenty of economical plastic/polyurethane front fenders available for the cars during the 70’s. I put a new front fender on my 71 Valiant myself, just bolted right on , very quick and easy, cost me $100.00 at the Auto parts store. These cars were easy to repair and maintain in a presentable condition.
This wagon isn't in bad looking shape. Looks like it could be saved. Thanks for sharing with us Steve.
It was a 4-door sedan, but my 2nd wife and I once owned a '77 Volare.
Beige color.
Slant six.
It was well-worn by the time we bought it.
But the $300 purchase price was worth it, even though we only got about 3 years of use out of it before the engine finally expired.
In the late '80s I had a 4 door Volare sedan with the 318. It was a police package car, but not an interceptor. At one point it needed a full brake job including rotors and drums. Regular Volare brake parts wouldn't fit, so I found another police car in a junkyard, made a deal, then parked beside it and swapped all the parts over.
The fender recall of 1976-77 was rust-thru in the fender crowns just ahead of the door opening.
Two barrel memory: Added a two barrel onto my 1969 232 Rebel and it made huge difference, cheers Steve!
I have been watching your older videos again because I really enjoy them. I pray for your recovery. Your a special person.
I had a 77 Volare wagon when I was a teen and it was a 4 speed manual with a slant 6 and it hauled ass. I wish I would have never got rid of it
My buddy used to have a SUPER clean Volare wagon with a 318 and those cool plaid seats. It was slow, but it sounded AWESOME with dual exhaust and Flowmaster 40s. We got rid of all the emissions equipment and that woke it up quite a bit, then put an old rebuilt Carter AFB and an Edelbrock intake on it, which also helped. I always thought it was a pretty good-looking car.
I CANNOT believe that you encountered a "slow 218" in these cars! I owned a (beaten, but FAST) '78 Aspen coupe! This was one of the MOST MOVING cars ever! I could tell so many FUN stories about this GREAT, CHEAP, FUN old car!
@@johnmaki3046 I mean slow compared to fast stuff. Even those doggy '70s V8s were torquey and pretty spunky in these sorta-kinda light old cars. But it was snail-like compared to '60s/early '70s stuff or modern V8s.
Get well Steve!
Cool video, Steve. Hope you recover 100% from your current situation.
I can't believe this video is almost two years old and nobody got VIN to win. H Volare, L low-price class, 45 wagon, D 225 2bbl,8 1978,F Dodge Main, and the last 6 are the sequence number.
Took my behind the wheel test in freshman HS 1978 in a baby blue ans spankin' new '78 Volare.. Great work as always Steve. Get well soon! Prayers for a speedy recovery.
Went cross country in 1991 in the exact model and color volare.
From Washington state to north Carolina.
And drove all the way back on a cracked block.
Overheated the whole time.
Had to fill our cooler and jugs at about every rest area. It was so stressful.. one of the most memorable times of my life.
Our first "modern" car was a 77 Volare coupe that my dad bought in 1981 to replace the 64 Valiant convertible that my mom was driving. The Volare had the recall-replacement fenders in it because they were still in primer. Super Six, automatic, silver with a black gut. It eventually got passed on to me. An idiot in a 84 Camaro totaled it for me when he thought he could make a left turn from the middle lane when someone was passing him.
My dad and I found a mint 79 Volare 4 door to replace it. We stripped the 77 for spare parts and junked the body. Drove the 79 until it rotted from underneath itself and made its last trip to the junkyard.
I remember our 77 being much more sprightly than the 79. Not sure if it was because it was lighter or perhaps the gearing, but both were super sixes and yet the 79 was a slug no matter how much dad and I tuned on it.
A friend of mine had a 76 Volare Premier coupe with a built 318. That thing was a sleeper. Surprised many a poser street racer with that beast.
My not be the popular option but ,
I've always appreciate these , Volare & Aspens 🙏
A high school classmate had one ,
With 5 speed manual on the floor
Just get the , Rusty Jones coating ,
In the salt belt .
I bet , those Volare Road Runners would have sold well
Gotta have a side kick Steve .
Might as well be , Katie 💖🐶
My Grandparents got the Rusty Jones treatment on thier new 78 Horizon
I worked at a service station ( as a teenager ) they offered that treatment on vehicles .
I watched the service manager apply it to new vehicles brought it .
It was messy but , covered well
I had the 77 aspen wagon. Great car. Bought new. They actually replaced the front fenders for no apparent reason just because of a rust recall. Friend of mine bought one with the 318 in it. That was crazy.
Friends of mine had a red with the faux woodgrain trim wagon and i always liked the size of these too
My parents had a low mileage 76' or 77' Aspen wagon w/318. I was still a tiny tott when they traded it on a brand new Celebrity wagon in 85'. My one uncle had a coupe that had all those fun rust issues lol
Slant 6 baby - leaning tower of power - all day👍
Steve, our 1st car when we were married was a used 1977 Volare station wagon. Gold color, slant 6 and 3 speed with OD manual transmission. Cold AC, we live in central Texas so its a must, roomy car. We drove that car for 3 years until it died with 200K+ miles.
Shaggin' Waggin'.....My 1st daughter was conceived in a Volare wagon beside the Gordon river in central Vancouver Island.
😂 Damn, I hope she doesn’t find out!
I delivered a number of Volare/Aspen vehicles back in the summer of 1976 when I worked for M&G Convoy out of Detroit, MI. Solid little cars for the era, but had all the manufacturing faults common to all the Big Three back then. I bought a new B100 (Dodge Van) in 1977 that had the 318 and 4spd overdrive manual (A-833), which I believe was available in both the Volare and Aspen models.
They were. A buddy had a 77 Aspen RT with the overdrive four speed.
Thanks Steve
I remember riding in wagons with the rear window down in the summer. Primarily when the AC quit and all the other windows were also down. Never thought about exhaust gasses.
I had a '78 wagon VIP, factory bucket seats and a locking rear, excellent in deep snow.
Had the Dodge Aspen wagon in '77. 318. Dad wanted the 6 but the only one on the lot was white, which dad didn't want. It was a quality turd. Liked the car, but not the rust. Broke lots of stuff (brakes, alternator, car was junk, ate tires>>couldn't hold alignment)
In the early 80's I was working at a LIncoln-Mercury dealer and someone traded in a 77ish Volare/Aspen wagon with a 318, 4spd, bench seat and wood sides. My Mopar friend was looking for a car so I drove it home for him to look at. He didn't bite. He ultimately ended up buying an 80 Volare coupe with slant six 1bbl and 3spd bench seat car! You couldn't kill that car!!
She's a great dog Steve and I believe that you already know that though. Get well soon and we are all praying for you and your family Steve. God bless you all and enjoy your Tuesday and get well soon 🙏
My dad worked at a Chrysler Plymouth dealership in Virginia for few years after retiring from the Air Force in the late seventies. One of the memories that has always stuck with me was his comments on new cars coming in on the haulers. They would have to push them off by hand because they wouldn't start. Then the mechanics would put them in a bay and remove door panels and other bits to inspect for drink cans, food wrappers, etc., along with the process of making them functional. No quality control in the UAW back then.
Many times, they purposefully did things to slow the line down. It was always a battle of speeding up the line and the UAW rules.
Unions really turned out to be a bad thing. I'm in one now, the lazy do nothings get paid exactly the same as the guys actually working. Everyone just comes down to that lazy do nothing level eventually.
@@bobbyz1964 Yes and no. All depends on the union and what they do. Some municipal unions will fight for a worker that is fired because of a bad boss/worker relationship. When I was taking an exam one time, a worker who was also there had sued an operating authority that wouldn't promote him after he passed a test, for no other reason (according to him) that his boss didn't like him. It wasn't performance based. Between the lawyer and the union, he not only got the job, but got every dollar of back pay. LOL.
Sometimes they are good, and sometimes not. All depends. You'll have slackers and workers in union and non-union jobs. As you indicated, that's human nature.
@googleusergp I'm 58 private sector most of my life, business owner till I was 40. So I've been in a government job 6, 7 years. I see guys literally sleeping on the job, park a truck in the woods sleep, if they're awake they're watching tic tok. I've seen a few guys get fired and the union kept them on, they needed to be fired! It's crazy ! The supervisors are pretty much incompetent, nepotism and cronyism is how you advance, a few are good. It's to the point that lazy people are too hard to get rid of to bother with. One guy, the union president, was about to get fired from another state agency when he transferred to this one. The man is about my age, has been a slacker since he started out of high school and will retire with a great pension. If he works 5 hours out of 40 I haven't seen it yet.
Your tax dollars at work. 😆
I worked in a chev dealer in the late 70,s all kinds of new hardware and parts would be strewn about the new cars comin in off the trucks
In 1980 ish...I had a 1970 cutlass station wagon with a 455 rocket, low rear end tow/pulling options. package...As every kid, I added dua holley 750 dbl pumpers carbs, intake manifold, headers and a loose B&M 3000 rpm torque converter...
It warped reality from stop light to stoplight! And you could see the gas gauge drop after every stoplight launch... Ultimate 5000lb + sleeper back then.
And it pinged on anything less then 93 premium leaded...lolz ohh the days...
I dated a girl that had a '78 Dodge Aspen 2 door coupe with a 318 V8. Her Dad drilled holes at the bottoms of the fenders for water drains, because he saw other people's Aspens/Volares rusting out there.
I haven't had the time to watch all of your videos Steve, but if you haven't done so, I'd like to see one on the newly re-designed 1994 Dodge Ram trucks - like the white one behind you.
The white Dodge looked like it had nice rust free doors & fenders! Hard to find here in Wisconsin
I ordered a '77 Volare wagon. It had the 2-barrel 360 V-8 (4-barrel wasn't available) and was a bit pokey. Rally wheels, tuff steering wheel and I added the fender flares shown here plus a rear anti-sway bar. Nice-looking car but it had lots of rust and water leaks, especially one somewhere in the right side of the cowl which I never could find or stop. After hearing of the front fender rust problems of the '76s, I made my own inner fender liners out of polyethylene and then a year later Chrysler added front liners which I bought OTC and installed. It was my last Chrysler product.
I have this wagon, a ‘79 with the super six. Bought it in 2014. No wood grain though. I drove it 50+ miles daily for a few years with no issues. It’s been parked since 2019 but I can’t wait to get back to tinkering on it.
Incredible show today presach steve
The history of Chrysler Corporation can be summed up as "brilliant engineering undone by indifferent quality control."
What I remember most about these cars are the fragile grilles. There were a lot of Aspens and Volares in the parking lot when I went to high school and just about every one had the grille punched in somewhere or completely missing,
My other Aspen/Volare memory comes from 1979 when I spotted a wagon with a factory manual transmission with a floor shift, which was so surprising even in those days I asked the owner where he'd had it done. He told me it actually came from the factory as a special order. It was probably a three speed but I don't remember for sure. I never learned what was under the hood.
The Aspen/Volare debacle is probably why Lee Iacocca made such a big deal of introducing and advertising his 5 year warranty against outer body rust through during the K-car renaissance. I know the K's and L's don't get a lot of love these days but they were the right cars for the time.
Yea chryslers were garbage
Had a 76 Volare 318. four speed overdrive station wagon with 2.9? rear gears. On level ground on long trips would get 30-32 mpg . Around town would get 10 mpg due to the tall gears and having to wind the engine thru the gears.
There was a sticker in the glove box stating the fenders were warrantied when i bought it.
@@mikew3443 2.76
I believe they got rid of the three speed, with the A body. As far as I can remember, I was a Chrysler dealer mechanic at the time, all manuals were overdrive 4 speeds. At least the dealer I worked at I never saw a 3-speed in anything other than a Duster.
They did make some i saw one at Ensign Chrysler in Victoria in early 1979 and the loadrunner was on the lot
The aspen/volare was a great platform and is underrated.. the volare road runner, the aspen gt, and the r/t, and then of course the kit cars. Would love to have one
I got the good one - '78 Volare wagon (it said "Aspen" on the passenger side fender. Totally loaded, 318 power everything. It was a great car for the time. Comfortable and great looking inside and out! I was a salesman in Los Angeles who put 70K miles on the car in 2 years. Loved it and loved your review!
Katie is enjoying the show too!
Front end body parts fit perfectly on the M body Diplomat platform. The 1981 Darts in Mexico had the Diplomat rear end and 1980 Dodge Aspen front end.