Last Friday morning I was turning from my condominium’s drive onto the street when a caramel-colored 1976-77 Volaré sedan went by. I had not yet gotten any coffee into my system, yet the fact of what I’d seen still registered. Whoa!
It was truly a plain-Jane model too, with absolutely no exterior trim. No side molding, no vinyl roof, and it had color-keyed steel wheels with the Mopar dog-dish hubcaps. From the Mercedes-esque grille it was a 1976-77, and it was in pristine condition.
I wish I could have gotten more than the single shot you see here; it was truly a time capsule, with even a period-correct Kimberly C-P tag on the left side–the very same one seen on my 1979 Chrysler Newport CC. Hopefully I’ll catch up with it some day!
You should’ve gotten out of the car and attempted to talk to the owner! I’m sure he would have told you how he came to have it.
I had no time (on the way to work), and besides he was on the move too. Rats! 🙁
A like-new 1976-77 Volare, in Illinois snow and salt country? Either you have chanced upon one of the only restorations ever of a stripper Volare, without any exterior trim or rear window defogger, or a hole in the space time continuum has opened. I expect to see Mr. Spock with a beard driving!
+1
Wow. There must have been a recent funeral of the owner who rarely ventured out unless it was sunny and over 50 degrees.
You may be on to something there. Based on the S60 plate number I’d guess that car has changed hands within the past 12 to 18 months.
Maybe last summer. I bought my Town Car last October and it has an S73 plate. Lately I’m seeing V-prefix numbers, which I think are brand new.
Knock your socks off!
http://www.licenseplates.cc/
There it is, the last all-original, good-condition Volare extant. And it suffices.
i have one more
Other than the slight dent in the trunk lid (wonder how that happened?) this Plymouth is cherry. So is Southern Illinois much friendlier to cars or do cars rust out everywhere over there? Ever since I moved to the West Coast from the Rust Belt the euphoria I used to have every time I saw a pre-1996 car has diminished and I sometimes miss it.
I grew up in extreme southern Illinois; ice was a twice to thrice per winter event. Snow much less. Again, this was 25 miles from Kentucky state line. So rust wasn’t as pevalent as elsewhere but was an issue on pre-1980 models.
There wasn’t a dent–that is a part of the stamping in the center of the trunk lid. Not sure about southern IL; I’m in the northwest part of the state.
I’m here in Alton, (due east of the North St. Louis County burbs) which still isn’t really considered “southern” Illinois. Garden of the Gods, SIUC, Marion Federal Pen, now THAT’S southern Illinois!
We do have our share of salt and rust around here. Most of it is found in the wheel arches and rocker panels of late ’90s and earlier pickups and truck-based SUVs, regardless of manufacturer. I haven’t been down to Carbondale in over 20 years so I really can’t speak for that area.
What really shocked me was how many rusty cars of somewhat recent vintage I saw on a recent trip to northern Wisconsin (Minocqua/Woodruff area). It was like the ’70s all over again, only the rusty cars were early to mid-2000s vintage Camrys, Accords, W-body Impalas, Altimas and other popular vehicles. It’s rare to see any of those with rust around here.
I wish I would have taken a photo of a particularly rusty second-gen Dodge Durango I saw in Minocqua.
Thanks for the info.
Nice to see at least someone still has love for these under appreciated cars .
-Nate
I agree. I’ve always had an interest in these cars. People can criticise these cars until the cows come home, but I’ve always liked them. I don’t know why. Probably because I liked American Mopars.
Not a bad looking car overall, just like its twin, the Dodge Aspen. The only thing that made it less attractive was its grille. The rest of the car looks very nice. I prefer its twin, the Aspen, though. My aunt Sandra had a 1976-77 Aspen SE coupe she bought used. Despite its reputation as being a poorly built car and generally unreliable, it was a awesome car to drive. I would’ve loved to have bought the car and driven it.
Our ’76 Wagon was no frills as well. Three options I remember: A/C, AM/FM Radio,
and the 4-speed OD manual transmission: It had a floor mounted, dog-legged stick that came out of the tranny hump as if the car was trying to be a ’30’s era Air-Flow (well, one could dream, anyway).
At least the manual transmission kept the engine engaged and running as it stumbled and tried to stall in every left turn….
This reminds me of how cars used to actually utilize a specific floor pan for a floor-mounted manual transmission. You could tell whether a car originally had a manual because the floor was built up just to the left of the transmission tunnel and the shifter boot would mount level instead of following the curve of the transmission. I guess this was required to have the proper orientation and positioning of the external transmission shift linkage.
I don’t recall how prevalent this was with GM or Ford cars, but Chrysler, for one, did this a lot.
Wonder if it still has its original fenders?
Perhaps it traveled from a less salty locale?
My aunt and uncle had an Aspen in this same color, except with a white vinyl roof. Bought used sometime around ’80 and I think it managed to survive until 1986, when it was traded for a Ford Aerostar. They do not have particularly fond memories of the Aspen. (Or the Aerostar for that matter).
The later ones of these must have been pretty well screwed together though…there was a taxi operator in Greensboro, NC who was running a large fleet of green and white Volares well into the 1990’s. So for a group of them to have survived so long in a demanding role is actually somewhat impressive!
Yes, the early ones were the problem cars. I knew a guy who inherited an early one after his elderly parents passed away. He was driving home on the interstate and discovered that if he had the air conditioner on and rolled down a window for any reason (like for ventilation while smoking) the window would not roll back up and stay in the track. But if you turned off the a/c, it worked normally. One of the odder Volarspen stories I have heard.
Perhaps it traveled from a less salty locale?
It was sold new just across the river from Tom in Davenport, Iowa, making its condition all the more amazing. The dealership is still around today as a full-line Mopar store.
Yep. Kimberly Car City used to be Kimberly Chrysler-Plymouth-Jeep-Eagle. My dad bought a new Grand Cherokee Orvis there back in 1995.
About four years ago there was a late 70s volare wagon in pea green on bling rims regularly parked outside a housing project a few blocks away from me. It was in ok shape, not sure where it came from, but stayed for less than 6 months.
Tom, was this one tracking straight? Every one that I saw in the 70s and 80s, even when brand new, crabbed its way down the road.
There are two of these very near me in the rust belt Hudson Valley. Both are nearly immaculate and (to my knowledge) used regularly. One is a sedan in the same color as the one you spotted. The other is a broughamified two door with a heavily padded vinyl roof. I’ll try to get pictures.
Crabbing – EVERY one? Not doubting, just in awe of the production prowess that permits this…..
I swear this was true. I could spot them 1/2 mile ahead of me on the highway.
Can’t say that I recall this platform having dog tracking issues as we called it. But, another compact of the era, the Chevy Nova and it’s cousins were quite notorious for it.
Look at all that glass! You never see that on today’s cars, sadly.
Excellent point!
Glass. Sadly missed.
Cool.
Wanna see rusty new cars, come to Cincinnati…St Louis is a paradise for old iron compared to what I see around here…rocker panels GONE on Ford minivans, Chevy Mailbus with no quarter panel below the fuel filler door, relatively new Crown Vics and Town Cars with rusty fenders above the wheel openings, and rusty quarter panel doglegs.
Amazing ANY TIME I see a real, clean survivor car . . . . more amazing that this is Illinois and, unless this car was covered, sealed in a dry garage, never driven in slush/salt/snowy conditions, even if extraordinarily well kept, this thing looks BRAND NEW and looks like a very pampered California survivor. They did work the bugs out of these and I wouldn’t mind having this car at all. I had in the mid-90s a clean, ’78 Buick Skylark 231 V-6, THM 200 (which survived all on its own up to 140K). Detective’s special.
I agree. I like original survivors. It shows that the owner (or owners) took good care of the car throughout its life.
I’m going to go on to say that this car is perhaps, a very low mileage original as I see what appears to be the bias-ply tires on this car (radials were an extra cost option for this vintage Volare).
If the tires are original on a nearly 40 year-old car, that’s frightening.
I looked at an Aspen the other day that was like new and all original. But you can get that down here in the Sun Belt. Though not often.
I was thinking about buying it, but decided to get a beater to restore instead.
I was the reluctant owner of a 79 wagon!? If it weren’t for a patch of black ice and a cab directly in front of me, I think I’d still have it!? This thing fired up at -40 and did everything one could ask of a family vehicle. Our semi-yearly 1700 mile (one way) treks from northern Canada to central Ontario were trouble-free and enjoyable.
These weren’t trend setters in any way, but provided reliable and comfortable transportation. The 318 in mine achieved as good a gas mileage as the six!? Go figure!? In the mid seventies, Chrysler had a severe issue with quality control. (i.e. Two different build sheets for the same vehicle!? This resulted in some Aspen/Volare hybrids with green seat belts on one side and blue on the other!? I wonder if any of these made it past their stringent quality control techs, and into the real world!?
Great car!
Great site!
Nice to see one of these still in such fine shape. Probably has the original 225 Slant six with 1BBl carb and 100 horses and maybe PS and PB as options. I’ll never forget one of my high school friends with one of these. The engine ticked a little and ran okay but never really impressed us. His dad made him take it to an old time former Chrysler technician and he went through and adjusted the solid lifters, carb and distributor and the way that car ran after we picked it up floored both of us! It ran so quiet and smooth you couldn’t tell it was even running. It would lay a small patch of rubber and had no trouble climbing up to speed. And this was with over 200K on the clock! He was so happy with it he kept it for another 50K miles before some dope in a Honda cut him off in an intersection and T-boned his driver’s side.
I agree. My aunt had a 1977 Dodge Aspen SE coupe. I found it more attractive than its twin, the Plymouth Volare. Not only that, but it rode better than most other cars I’ve ridden in, while also handling better than a European car.