I found these Chrysler press photos of the new-for-1976 Plymouth Volaré Premier coupe at the Detroit Antique Mall, just a couple of weeks ago. This vintage shop, located just off the Fisher Freeway downtown, contains an incredible amount of furnishings, books, light fixtures, and architectural elements, the latter presumably from many of this city’s since-demolished buildings. It’s easy to spend at least a half hour winding through the two floors of this brick building looking for that one, cool treasure to take home. I had found a 1960’s black-and-white photography book of works from late, Lithuanian-born photographer Algimantas Kezys and went to the cash register to pay for it, when my attention was directed to two, nearby bins of glossy photographs.
These containers were chock-full of vintage, mostly-Chrysler press photos ranging from the 1950’s through the early 80’s. I flipped. Since my family had owned a burgundy-colored, ’77 Volaré coupe when I was growing up, these two pictures were my immediate choices. It was a genuine “Eureka!” moment when I realized the picture above was a pre-production image of a car that was genuinely attractive but quickly challenged the loyalty of its company’s customers, from a time when Chrysler’s hopes still ran high for the F-Body replacements for the venerable, A-Body Plymouth Valiant and Dodge Dart compacts. For me, it was not unlike discovering a photo of the Hindenburg from right before it ignited, or of the Titanic just before it made friends with that iceberg.
The interesting thing to me about the second image is the “Valiant” badge on the right side of the trunk lid. Perhaps this late in the game, Chrysler had still planned to market their new small Plymouth as a Valiant, but backed out as they felt their new compact was really that special as to merit a new, clean-sheet name and image. Maybe one of the head guys in Marketing was still really into lounge music, and was a fan of the Rat Pack, especially Dean Martin. “Let’s call it…Volaré!“, he exclaimed, as he threw back the rest of his second lunchtime martini at the old, original location of Joe Muer’s seafood restaurant on Gratiot Avenue. The other guys were in agreement. “I like it!” “Great idea!” “It has a ring to it!” The decision was nearly unanimous. If anyone knows the real story behind the “Volaré” model name, share it here and you will be my hero.
Related reading:
- From Paul Niedermeyer: Curbside Classics: 1976 Plymouth Volare and Dodge Aspen: From an A to an F – Chrysler’s Deadly Sin #1; and
- From Robert Kim: Vintage Review: Plymouth Volare, a “Solid Set of Wheels”.
So, what else was in the bin? Do they have a website? Any cordoba photos?
Marlon, there were *tons* of photos, though I didn’t see any of the Cordoba (of which I am also a fan). If you Google “Detroit Antique Mall” or “Detroit Antique & Props”, it should pull up contact info. I don’t think they have a proper website. I’m sure many of the photos are still there, as it was just under two weeks since I was there.
Were there any original factory photos from the Forward Look era? That would have been hard to resist!
Geeber, yes there were! I could have purchased a bunch more of these pictures / illustrations, but I figured I’d leave them for someone who would appreciate them more than me. 🙂
Unfortunately, we won’t be in Michigan any time soon!
And the passenger side of the car was Aspen, right???
That would have been a stroke of brilliance, IMO!
Dart Aspen.
In a sort of sideways CC effect, this weekend I bought a 1/25 model kit of an ’80 Plymouth Volare Road Runner coupe. Even though I haven’t built any plastic models since I was about 12 years old, it immediately grabbed my attention as an authentic obscure malaise-mobile–has an option to build as a very period custom but I’m going with stock. It just has to be a reissue from the early 80’s…
Really love antique/consignment shops too. My neighborhood is full of them and it’s how my interest in vintage furniture began, not to mention all the other interesting oddball things one can find.
Not an ’80, but…
Chris, what an awesome find! I’m like you – I would also prefer to build that model to look factory stock. That’s what I did with an AMT (?) model kit of a ’71 AMC Javelin AMX, instead of adding all the extra stuff to it.
And Old Pete, I would actually want that car in real life, sans the Sawzall targa roof. :). Still looks cool, though!
My ’71 AMX model is by JoHann, built mine stock also, in colors of my real one.
Heh. There’s a lot of skillful touch-up work on that second image, visible when enlarged: thin lines have been strengthened, tire tread added, the PLY476 plate wholly fabricated. So, the Valiant script could have been added, strengthened, or removed (for that matter) sometime after the car was photographed. Ditto the Plymouth tag ?
I drove the Dodge Aspen version of this car — red with white vinyl, just like the first photo — cross-country in late 1979, packed with possessions for a transplant to the West Coast. I drove the car from Concord MA and delivered it to the owner in Concord, CA. I was delayed for a day in Plymouth (!) when one of the dash warning lights came on. Turned out to be a false alarm. The car performed faultlessly for the next seven days. I wonder where it is now . . .
Great observations, Stephen. I’m especially curious about the retouching of the rear panel.
Was the taillamp design changed after the car was photographed? (Was the Volaré’s rear design swapped with the Aspen’s at the last minute?) Did something in the unretouched photo not “read” in the press photo the way it should have?
The side moldings on the Volaré and Aspen were completely different. Maybe this photo was retouched after some late decisions were made as to what trim belonged on which variant. I’m very curious.
If I recall correctly, the old Valiant/Duster and Dart were supposed to disappear when these debuted for the 1976 model year. But Chrysler saw how Ford had positioned the Granada and Monarch as upscale compacts, which resulted in the Maverick and Comet receiving a brief stay of execution. (It also sticks in my mind that the Maverick and Comet continued to sell better than anyone had expected.)
Chrysler opted to continue the Valiant/Duster and Dart for 1976. The new compacts were also supposed to be a step up from the Valiant/Duster and Dart. Thus, the new names.
Wow, such high hopes everyone had for this car. After the Valiant’s seemingly eternal life, the first new compact in nearly a decade was exciting. And then reality hit.
I really wanted to like these, but everyone I knew who had one seemed to have trouble with it. And then the rust started.
During the recession of 1974-75, Lynn Townsend laid off the company’s engineering staff to keep the lights burning. These cars bore the brunt of that decision.
Townsend’s decision was one that undoubtedly looked good on the balance sheet, but resulted in a real-world disaster.
It sticks in my mind that the problems were largely corrected by 1979, but by that point, the damage had been done, and the cars looked old-hat compared to the Ford Fairmont and Mercury Zephyr.
I remember checking out the new Mopars at our local dealer on a regular basis (in Pennsylvania, dealers cannot sell cars on Sunday, so that’s a good day to visit the lots to see the latest-and-greatest). It wasn’t uncommon to see cars with Plymouth badges on one side, and Dodge badges on the other.
Very true – any engineers not working on emissions or safety mandates were out of work during the dark days of 1974-75. And by 1979-80 it was a pretty good car that nobody wanted.
But with a little “plastic surgery” the late to the party “Seville Wannabe” Fifth Avenue Edition (Even more related to Volare than Seville was to Nova!) spun money until 1989!
The other problem with this platform (shared with other Chrysler sedans of the mid 70s) was that they lost the rigidity of the old A body. Drive any old Dart or Valiant, and no matter how badly abused it was, the body was a very tight structure. But the Volare was not quite there. Even the tarted up M body displayed a bit of structural quiver that was never in the older car. I experienced this sensation in a 74 Chrysler C body sedan as well (though that flaccidity was oddly absent from the 4 door hardtops).
I wasn’t around at the time but I feel like the design of the sedan and wagons looks pretty contemporary next to the Fairmont/Zephyr. The coupe not so much, since they still carry a lot of early 70s fuselage duster shape in the quarters. The square headlight 1980s look especially Fairmont like at a glance.
They had been around for three years by 1979. The fact that they looked like an evolution of the Valiant/Duster and Dart didn’t help.
With the Fairmont and Zephyr, meanwhile, it was obvious that Ford had started with a clean sheet of paper. (Granted, given the age of the platform under the Granada/Monarch and Maverick/Comet, that was a necessity. The Maverick/Comet, in particular, REALLY looked dated by 1977.)
The wagon body style held up the best.
The Chrysler twins did look more modern than the old GM X-bodies, but they were gone by the spring of 1979, replaced by the new front-wheel-drive versions. The front-wheel-drive GM X-cars were THE hot domestic car for the remainder of 1979. I remember my high-school principal bought the first Citation five-door hatchback in our town. He traded his 1975 Caprice Estate wagon for it! One wonders how he felt about that trade after two years.
Probably the biggest problem, however, was that by the spring of 1979, it had become apparent that Chrysler Corporation was in very serious trouble. Questions were being asked about whether the company would be able to stay in business. That scares away many potential buyers.
Yes, the combo of high fuel prices, recession, and Chrysler’s shaky finances kept showroom traffic way down at ChryCo dealers in 1980. When my mother was shopping for a Horizon there was a silver-blue Volare sedan on the showroom floor, six with a floor shift manual, a sedan in base trim. It looked really grim and I don’t recall anyone looking at it with any seriousness when I was there. It shows you something when that was the model they chose to feature on the floor, not one of the high trim cars. Price was the only thing working for the Volare in 1980. I would imagine that high-trim 1980 versions are quite rare.
Indeed, the feeling of the average auto buyer at the time surely had to be that ChryCo was “dead auto company walking”. The K-car (which Iacocca had nothing to do with) might not have been enough of a success to save the company if not for Iacocca’s showmanship, sort of like Studebaker’s last gasp right before that company folded.
And then there’s the minivan, which surely would never have seen the light of day if not for Iacocca.
From what I have read, the 1980 redesign was a direct copy of Fairmont that Iacocca influenced following his leaving Ford Motor Company in 1978.
I owned an ’80 Volare, a friend owned a ’78 Fairmont. It was amusing to park them side by side. The outside hood release lever was even recessed in the same place.
The Fairmont’s hood release was inside the car.
I’m guessing the Mopar’s was in the bumper, since the Dart had an outside latch (as did the GM X-car, aka Novas, of that era).
In 1979 or 1980, as Chrysler was on the verge, Iacocca put out a Volare for $4,995, with power steering and automatic (remember, these were options!), and a bench, so he could advertise it as the “only 6-passenger car in America for less than $5,000”.
The Volare/Aspen Wagon was a great idea (and perfect size) at launch, but after only 2 years, the 78 Fairmont (cheaper and better) and 78 GM mid-size cars (nicer and better) joined the fray
These were heavily promoted in Canada in 1980 as well.
Are you sure the Fairmont’s hood release was inside the car? Or maybe only on certain trim levels? We had a ’79 when I was a kid, and I pretty distinctly remember the hood release being triggered through the grille.
I assume they would have already addressed this by the time the layoffs hit. but it’s always struck me how, after doing a great job integrating the 5mph bumpers in the new ’74 C-Bodies, and a pretty good job with the ’75 B-Body refresh, they went all Ford with these and just stuck chrome slabs out in front and in the rear.
Also, would be fascinating to know how well these would have sold as Valiants and Darts, the latter being what they were sold as in Mexico.
The 4-doors look better in strippo dog-dish form anyway, IMHO. They had a cop look to them.
That’s exactly what I thought these photos conveyed, high hopes, and like you say, a shame about the reality.
Which is really too bad in another sense. While the coupe is a little too much warmed over Duster for a new car, these really were pretty nice cars for their intended mission. I got to drive a decent mid trim Volare coupe for a week or so when my car was in the body shop, and found it to be enjoyable in many ways. Roomy enough with much lighter handling than the big GM cars I typically drove, and interesting in the way Mopar products were if you were mostly a stranger to them. Fender mounted turn signals are always cool.
Is this the same basic car as a a Demon or Duster? Can you imagine trying to market a car Today, with the name Demon? There’s an occasional outcry when something around here is linked to Mount Diablo!
It’s the successor to the Demon and Duster but not the same basic car – although some older parts were used, the platform was pretty much new. Also, Dodge now makes the Challenger SRT Demon, which puts out up to 840 horsepower.
In addition to Demon name being resurrected, hellcat has been around for a few years now too. I think it’s more of a miracle it survived as long as it did in the early 70s when religion was taken more seriously and it’s institutions had more power to push back. Today that kind of pushback is done by PC type institutions, it’s more surprising today Jeep still has two models named Cherokee.
“New for 2018! The Chrysler Cthulhu!”
http://www.allpar.com/cars/plymouth/naming-the-volare.php
P.S. I’m your hero!
Leave it to my brother! Awesome.
Please tell me you guys have a brother named Kenny.
That would be a “negative”.
Mopar did get return on investment in long run, with the M bodies [virtually the same car] in the 80’s. Built until ’89. Imagine if there was a 1990 model, covering 3 decades?
That would had been interesting to see. Would Chrysler would had but the V6 3.9L under the hood of the M-body and the old 318 version got the upgrades of the versions send for the Dakota and Ram? Being available with ABS brakes and a following an evolutive design like the Ford Panthers Crown Victoria and Grand Marquis as well as the Lincoln Town Car got?
I came close to buying a Volare 2 door at least 2 or 3 times. The 1st time was when they were new (1976), the 2nd time when they were not quite 3 years old. The 1st coupe was an attractive light green with a white vinyl roof, the 2nd was white with a maroon roof….for awhile it seemed as though 80 percent of the coupes were either white or silver with a maroon vinyl half roof.
Since then, I’ve been looking at Volare wagons.
Between this post and Brendan’s Seville I’m reliving moments from my days as a 9 year old. I distinctly recall riding in various cars to sporting events or CCD classes or whatever, and there was always some smart-ass kid who’d spot one of these and break into song. (They early commercials for the Volare actually featured the song, but I believe Jerry Vail was singing it, not Dino.)
I never warmed to the styling on these coupes, particularly with the vinyl half-top. There was just something “off” about the upswept line of the vinyl treatment and the sort of “off kilter” look of that oddly shaped rear side window, which never seemed to really define itself as either a too-small regular window or a too-big “opera” window.
I guess even as a kid I was a cranky contrarian pain-in-the-ass.
Correction: A bit of Googling proved that it was Sergio Franchi in the commercials.
Indeed, it was Sergio Franchi!
I’ll agree that the opera window treatment on the coupes isn’t my favorite. The look is very similar to the “Barcelona II” treatment on the AMC Matador coupe – just looks a little off. Our burgundy ’77 had a pebble-grained, white vinyl half-roof treatment that went from the A-pillar to the B-pillar, that I thought looked great.
Let’s not forget that Al Martino had a top-40 pop hit in ’76 with his discofied version…
…An abbreviated version of which was used in a commercial from Chrysler of Mexico for its “Chrysler Volaré”. (I love this commercial, with no trace of irony.)
I had completely forgotten about the Al Martino remix version. I’m now obsessed with that Mexican commercial. That is just fantastic.
I’m curious about the relationship between Al Martino’s version and Chrysler’s use of the name on a car, particularly in light of the comment at the allpar.com link that Peter provided above, stating that Chrysler’s ad agency “visualized an Italian[-American] singer like Jerry Vale, Al Martino or Sergio Franchi” appearing in ads for the car.
Martino’s version actually reached its peak on the Billboard pop chart in December 1975 (the final week of calendar year 1975 was its last week in the Top 40). The song had first appeared on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart – what would now be called the “Adult Contemporary” chart – before crossing over to the pop chart, and it made its debut on the Easy Listening chart the week of September 20, 1975. So Martino must have recorded the song shortly before the car went on sale to the public.
On the front end, it seems like too much of a coincidence that Martino decided to remake this song right around the time the car came out. Was Martino approached by Chrysler’s ad agency, and that gave him the idea to record the song? Was there even a time when he was slated to do the ads, then that fell apart, but he decided to record and release the song anyway?
On the back end, I’m assuming that the song owned at least some of its chart success to the public’s familiarity with the car and the ubiquitous ads with Sergio Franchi. Does anyone know exactly when the Volare and Aspen went on sale? ISTR that they came out a little late, a bit after the other ’76MY cars had gone on sale; the first press photo in this article is dated October 28, 1976.
MCT, you make some very interesting points, all of which are worth investigating. Now that you mention it, it does not seem purely coincidental at all that the release of Al Martino’s version of “Volare” slightly predated the introduction of the Volaspens. There has got to be backstory there.
Thanks, also, for adding that chart history of that version of the song itself. I eat that stuff up. I was a Billboard junkie for years, learning chart positions, counting the number of Number One hits (on various charts) for an act or artist, it goes on. For the past five years, I’m not so into Billboard, only because on any given week, I can no longer name even maybe 2 of the 10 acts in the current top ten – in addition to other interests and responsibilities.
What you’ve written about may be my next, temporary research project…
Dang you, now I have Sergio Franchi’s voice running through my head, warbling that dreadful song in the TV ads for this car that ran endlessly the year that they launched.
I still think that the commercials with Rex Harrison singing about the Dodge Aspen were even worse.
Arrgh! Now I’ve got it too! “Vooolaaare! Woo-ooo-oo” Noooooo!
I grew up with Dean Martin’s rendition almost-continually being played, until the radiogram broke. No, I didn’t break it!
Take a Volare’, change name to older well known one, add Dodge Diplomat front end and voila! Gran Fury an “Old reliable RWD car”.
in St Louis appliance dealer Steve Mizerany did ads on tv for his cousin Jan
Mazzuca at Mid City Chrysler Plymouth Remember him telling people
about da new VOLAARAY !!
I thought these cars were a great send off for the Dart/Valiant. Too bad the original models were so bad. I had a friend in college in 1985 who had a 1980 Volare with the Slant Six. By the time we graduated, he’d put about 150K miles on the car. No rust, no major mechanical problems, just a tank of a car. If they had started out that way, Chrysler would be in a far different place today.
I was at the local Grand Rapids cruise in this weekend (Woodward Avenue’s little brother and I do mean little) and saw a Super Coupe. Back in high school, I would have given a body part for one of those…
Great finds! I can’t explain why but I kind of like it, especially from these photos.
I was only eleven years old when a friend’s Mom bought a new Aspen two door. It was well equipped, lots of stainless trim, light blue paint, and a white “vinyl half roof treatment”. Slant six and three-on-the tree. First time a had ever seen that configuration. Surprised, I was told it was “for economy purposes”. The tree was no issue for her, as she had grew up with manuals.
As for me, I still want a Volare/Aspen, but only if it looks like this:
One of my colleagues had a Volare as a company car. I got to drive it occasionally. I recognize that free has a lot to recommend it, but if it were my company car, I’d never put oil in it.
My best friend’s family bought a 76 Volare Wagon, absolutely stripped with the exception of power steering and an automatic transmission. It was an orange ‘red with blackwall tires and dog dish hub caps. Interior was cream bench seat with a peg board headliner…at least it wouldn’t sag. The engine was the venerable straight six and performance was leisurely. We were seniors in high school and would travel every weekend to our cross country meets all across New York State loaded with six high school students. The car was abused but never missed a beat.
The year was 1979, and I was 12 years old. My great uncle was taking me and my Mom to my Grandmothers for Sunday dinner. When we got in the car, there was a very foul odor, almost like spilled milk or maybe even a dead rat. I thought it was my uncle! When we got to my Grandmother’s house I asked my Mom if she smelled it too. She said it was making her sick! Well, a few weeks went by and we forgot about the smelly uncle car. One day we were at my Grandmothers and she mentioned how uncle had a “problem” with his new car. His driver side window had broken, so when he brought it to the dealership he left it there until they could fix the window and find that god-awful smell. Luckily, they needed to remove the door panel to fix the window. When they did, what they found was incredible. A paper lunch bag was stuffed in the door with a banana peel and old sandwich in a plastic bag, rotting away. Apparently when the car was built one of the disgruntled workers decided to play a trick. The mystery of uncle’s smelly car was revealed!! And that car was? A 1978 Dodge Aspen Coupe!
“I thought it was my uncle!” ??
I’ve been laughing since I read that.
I missed a few CC posts the last few days, as I was out riding my bicycle for three days. When you’re somewhat old and very slow like me, you get passed by a lot of cars, plus have a lot of time to look in driveways and fields, so saw quite a few CC-worthy cars. Catching up on CC, I see that the CC effect kicked in for one faded maroon, vinyl-topped 2 door Volare, and for an immaculate early Taurus (albeit a SHO).
The Aspen and Volare could’ve been real winners if not being a victim to Chrysler’s short cut engineering practices and sloppy assembly. These cars looked much nicer than the frumpy (but durable) Dart and Valiant, but with the recalls, premature rust, suspension issues, and a lack of available service parts angry owners revolted. Chrysler was having major financial problems when the Aspen and Volare were on the drawing boards in the early ’70s. Cost was critical in ever direction and the workers’ morale in the assembly plants was at an all time low. As a result the Aspen and Volare, looking as nice as they did, became a product that was the most recalled automobile in history until GM’s X bodies took that “honor” four years later. The Aspen and Volare eventually had the bugs worked out by 1978 the time when Chrysler filed for bankruptcy. The Aires and Reliant may have spared Chrysler from death, however the Aspen and Volare were better looking automobiles than those early K-cars.
Chrysler did not file bankruptcy in 1978 (or 1980). They were certainly in tough shape and the government guaranteed a line of credit. Which was paid back and cost the government nothing.
What people also forget is that the original “bailout” didn’t consist of the government handing over money to Chrysler.
The corporation was in such sad shape by 1980 that no responsible lender would extend it credit. The government simply agreed to pay back the loans if the corporation couldn’t do so, if I recall correctly.
Chrysler did pay back all of its loans, as J P Cavanaugh notes. By 1984, it was making money hand-over-fist, thanks to the success of the minivan, and the prior closure of factories and serious reduction in the workforce.
A lot of people badmouth Lee Iacocca, but the truth is that he almost completely uprooted that company and started over. Where the Ford Motor Company was in 1946 with antiquated systems and processes from an earlier age, Chrysler was in 1979. What Iacocca modernized inside the walls of the buildings dwarfed the changes in product that we on the outside saw. In a way, the Ford “Whiz Kids” of the late 40s rescued Chrysler too because it was the systems and processes that they instituted at Ford after the war that Iacocca brought over to Chrysler 30-some years later.