33K One-Owner 1978 Plymouth Volare Wagon
It has been decades since I’ve seen a 1978 Plymouth Volare wagon that looks as nice as this one does. This incredible car has a mere 33,818 miles and has had only one owner since new. It can be found here on eBay in Canton, Georgia. The seller has it posted as a classified ad with a price of $7,890.
This looks like one of those time capsule cars that we see every now and then. I know, too bad it isn’t a Hemi Cuda or something, right? Even so, I like seeing a nice vehicle from any era no matter what it is and this is one of those cars that brings me back to 1978 again. Whether that’s a good thing for everyone or not is up for discussion, but for me, being in high school and in rock bands, it was a great time.
The seller has provided a ton of great photos. Clearly, they know how to present a vehicle for sale online, that’s nice to see, well done! The Volare and related Dodge Aspen were made for the 1976 through 1980 model years, coming after the Valiant/Dart and before the K-car. This particular car appears to be in outstanding condition, top to bottom. They have included underside photos and close-ups where rust usually rears its ugly head and it looks solid. They say that there were some paint touch-ups on the right-side doors.
As with the exterior, the interior looks pretty much like it just rolled out of Hamtramck, or one of the other factories where the Volare and Aspen were made. Almost 218,000 Volares and over 166,000 Aspens were made in 1978. The seats both front and rear look just about perfect, as does the rear cargo area.
Most of us were hoping for a 318 here, but this is Chrysler’s venerable 225 slant-six Leaning-Tower-of-Volare-Power which in 1978 would have had 110 hp. The seller says that this car is strong and tight and it sure looks like it is. This Volare is 42 years old now, it’s probably nice enough to win a survivor class trophy at any car show. Whether it’s a Hemi Cuda or a ’78 Volare wagon, anything this nice deserves to win.
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Comments
Add fake wood to the sides and this would be the spitting image of my mom’s car when I was a kid, back in the days when playing in the “wayback” was considered to be normal parenting.
These days, I’m just surprised to see one in this condition. My mom’s was more typical: poorly built and unreliable, and pretty much worthless five years after it was new.
All I can say is Good Luck With That.
Sale Pending!
My parent’s had a green wagon with wood paneling. Car started rusting 2 yrs after they bought it brand new. What a POS, went with Toyota’s after that last experience.
These were the taxi cabs of my childhood. This car looks sharp, but I’ll always think of it as a taxi.
I went to high school in one of these driven by a friend’s older brother. Brown on the outside and brown vinyl on the inside. Were all these color coordinated inside an out? Swap a 360 in there and have some fun.
I have had four of these. Ok, one was an Aspen. Basic maintenance and your good. Unthinkable low mile ones are still around. Rust will take many seventies cars to the grave. And its the iconic Bobs Burgers wagon. What’s not to like.
Now that you mention it….
Agreed and by 78 they had all the recall quality control 70s crap worked out. 76 and 77 had bad carbs and front fenders that were rotting in the showroom nonetheless that slant 6 got me through the 70s and into the 80s.
I really want to turn one of these into the Fantasy Island car. This is almost the right color for that.
In 1977 my dad wanted a new Aspen wagon. Went to the dealership to see what they had. All wood grain. He didn’t want woodgrain.
Going home I passed the Oldsmobile dealership. Front rower center. Used car lot. White 76 aspen. No woodgrain. 7,300 miles.
My dad bought my car I was driving there. I told the salesman to give me the keys to the Aspen and I would go sell it for him.
Cocky 17 year old kid.
Drove the car to my dads office. He sent me back with his 74 Galaxie to get a trade in price and how big a check would he need to bring. That question was quickly answered. My dad brought the cash difference and the title to the Ford. He figured we saved at least 1200 bucks over a new 77
We had the car till 1985. He drove it. I drove it. Second time my brother wrecked it was a total. Not quite 60,000 miles.
Slant 6. We didn’t have rust issues like some people. Our mechanic got it to quit stalling. And never told us what he had to do. Just mumbled something about EPA fines and the less you know the better off you are.
Best thing in those days was swap the intake and carb from an early 1970s junk yard car. Clean air is very important, but stalling in busy city traffic is dangerous too.
Too bad it’s not a 360 and a two door. Some people on this site need a grip on reality. These were the real Volares. It’s great to see this blast from the past the way they really were.
Thats a Super Six 2bbl there, greatly improved functioning. These have gotten rare, try to find a 2bbl manifold on EBay today. This is a great car, though I think the 76/77 grills were far prettier.
Looks worth of Bob and Linda Belcher.
I learned to drive on a tan version of this with a “three on the tree” and manual steering, must have been one of the last passenger cars you could buy configured like that- my father special ordered it with as few options as possible- it didn’t even have an AM radio just a blank panel.
Love the old wagons, though this one is 10 years newer than our last family wagon when I was a kid, a 68 Satellite. Mom and dad did buy a 79 LTD wagon after us kids had flown the coup, and then mom bought a Taurus wagon later on as she just couldn’t give up the wagon lifestyle. All makes had serious issues of one kind or another in the late 70s-80s, but that doesn’t keep them from being part of our great family motoring memories.
Miserable cars. Hopefully, 40 years later, the bugs were finally worked out. Lee Iacocca himself said, “we sent a lot of crap out the door”, referring to these cars. The poster child for recalls before the Saturn. To be fair, all car companies were struggling with changing times, some adapted better than others. Chrysler seemed to be the last, using a 30 year old motor. Collectible? Nah, maybe for the sheer presence of one, but they are the perfect size, the slant 6, while strangled here, still a good motor, and for the record, they weren’t called Dusters, that ended in 1976, I read. Nice car a bit optimistic, but try and find another.
The slant-six was thirty years old in 1976? That’s news to me. It was also better than any six that Ford put into cars and at least as good as any from GM during the era. The LA V8s were even newer, so that can’t be what you meant. The small block Chevrolet engines that proliferated to all of their brands at between the ’70s and the ’90s? It was introduced five years before the slant six.
The problems with the Volare and its spin-offs was the transverse torsion bar front suspension and abysmal build quality. They were general nicely designed car with strong performance relative to the competition. It’s just that they were put together by people who either had given up hope that their jobs would last or who never thought that their work could effect their employment status. My grandparents neighbor bought one new that was delivered to them as a Volare on one side and an Aspen on the other, and there were considerably more trim differences beyond the badges that one might not haver realized until seeing that car. Nobody noticed at the plant, or the depot, or the dealer, or at least nobody that cared.
Sorry, but the poster child for recalls before the Saturn was the Citation.
They made Volare Dusters , they were coupes with special trim like rear quarter window louvers .
In 2-door form with gawd-awful decals too.
The ironworms had a field day with these dawgs. Rust so bad that xsler replaced fenders under warranty, they also had a defect with the front flex brake lines, warranteed them also. Seems they cut back somehow on the slant six as we started having troubles with this formerly indestructible mill. Said this was a replacement for the dart and valiant. What a miserable attempt. And Chrysler kept on the downhill slide after that. Shame.
Stay Safe.
Cheers
GPC
They had some quality control problems on the early ones, for sure, such as leaving the factory with tail lights hanging out by the wires and with mismatched name-plates..Volare on one fender, Aspen on the opposite.
I remember in 1978 a Trenton NJ Dodge dealer had in the showroom a police package Aspen. Green paint. Moss green vinyl roof. Wide steel wheels and poverty caps. 318. Problem was the factory put a 4 on the floor in it. $2877! Almost bought the SOB.
We had one in a fleet of assorted taxis in Brockville, Ont., , anything from Plymouth Horizons to Volvo sedans.
Anyway, it had a manual transmission, three or four speed, can’t remember, and I think it was on the floor, not the column!
Very unusual, and cool car because of those options.
I bought a brand new ’77 Volare wagon-silver with a red interior and no woodgrain. Great looking car, indestructible slant six. Loved it until the front fenders started rusting because of a design defect, the catalytic converter fell off the day I made the last payment, and it had a recurring problem with an o-ring in the carburator that caused it to stall and be difficult to start. Car was so bad I had a bumper sticker on the back that said “Don’t Bruise My lemon.” I had five Mopars before this one-didn’t buy another until 1994.
I bought a new 78 Aspen wagon. It was the lemon of my life. I put a picture of Chevy Chase standing on the hood of his Family Truckster in my garage.
My mom had a 77 Volare with the super six. It had the stalling problem until our mechanic swapped the stock Carter 2bbl carb for a new Holley. They traded it in on a new Plymouth Acclaim. Volare only had 56k on it.
I had a 77 2 door with slant six.
dependable car until the mount where the torsion bar meets the body ended up breaking loose
When I hit a big bump the car would flex a little and then a huge bang would slam under the drivers seat
Nice wagon, worthy of continued life story.
Slant six a bit of disappointment, 318 with one barrel and stick shift would have been nice, but take what you get, it’s not like you can just run down to a local dealer to buy one all these years later. It’s not likely you’ll find a nicer one. If you’re looking for an older wagon, low miles, in great shape then this is it.
Good luck to all involved.
God bless America
318 came with a 2bbl. The super six was very drive able.
The super six came with a 2bbl. That helped it a lot. I had a girlfriend back in the day with a 79 Aspen that had this engine. It went pretty good, but the rear end was definitely geared for highway speeds. You could hear the engine bog down a bit when you hit 3rd gear at low speeds.
This is just a lowly, basic, unremarkable Volare wagon with minimal equipment. Yes, it has low miles, but that poor 225 engine was so covered up with smog equipment from the time period, that it’ll never run as good as the 225’s ran in the 60’s and early 70’s. I drove a number of Mopars through those years, most with the 225 “silent slave” engine & 3 spd. torqueflite trans. This one might make a good “fishing’ wagon” for someone at about half the asking price….maybe.
Dad bought Mom one new in 76. A tan Volare Premier wagon with wood grain. Loaded up but with the 225 six and Auto. Awful car and I don’t get the love for the slant six. No power at all, no wonder they last forever. An earlier post stated the slant six was superior to GM or Ford sixes, I’d disagree. The GM and Ford 250 six cylinders are easily the equal to the Chrysler motor and the Ford 300 truck six was miles better than a 225. The Aspen/Volare almost bankrupted Chrysler and the recalls on these things were legendary. Interesting from a nostalgic standpoint but seems way over-valued.
My dad had a white Volare wagon with blue interior and the “Super Six” 2 barrel Slant Six and a 4 speed with over drive manual trans. He taught me how to drive in that car and I was sad when he traded it.
drove the grandfather (’66 dart wagon w/’64 motor) 300K around the parameter states of this country as a 20-something kid (2 yr ‘exploration’ 1976/8). Came back east (’82) to find a job drivin a fleet of volaries/aspens’n K cars (as 1 or 2 have said ‘taxi’). No complaints on any of them. Mine (not sure in memory the others) were the 170. I would Not stack it against the fords of the era as 5 out of the 6 (mopowr only had 2) were super, the 6th amazing (300ci/4.9L – ‘the gasses that’s a diesel’ went to efi its last 10 yrs to ’96) as one poster did. Just wish they hada rear wiper on’em. Perfectly sized for the purpose. No puter needed to wrk on. Great cars but nuttin like today’s…
Sale Pending!
My grandfather had one of these a 1979 Plymouth Volare wagon which he purchased new with 2 barrel Super Slant Six and auto trans he sold the car 10 years later when he bought a used Cutlass Ciera the Volare he never had many problems with.
Sold! Thanks for all the great interest! Wish we had more just like it!
Bought a used 1978 volarie wagon 318 engine had not much power week took off lean burn computer replaced distributor with point type vacum advance distributor blocked off lock up converter changed rear diferential ratio to 29.3 had a 2.45 couldnt believe the difference in power did lose a couple mpg but car ran so much better