9,700 Mile Survivor: 1977 Dodge Aspen
Every once in a while a car seems worth the price being asked, although that situation is rare. In the case of this 1977 Dodge Aspen with 9,700 miles on it, the asking price of $7,500 actually seems reasonable. Whether you agree or not, that is fine. It just seems worthwhile. Located near Bristol, Connecticut, there isn’t much information that is listed on the Craigslist ad. Thank you GW Philips for the tip.
They do state that the car is a slant 6 cylinder connected to an automatic transmission. Heading into the winter months, the mention of the AC blowing ice cold, shows that the car has most likely been for sale for a while. The interior looks great and seems evident that it has been redone. The off-white interior does match the warm brown exterior very well. Someone cared about this car to keep it in good shape.
If you love going to car shows, but don’t yet have a car, this is a great entry level car to get into the car show scene. The listing does claim to consider offers. For a clean, good looking car with 15 inch wheels, isn’t it worth at least an offer? Just be sure to make sure all is in order. For an ad being almost a month old, possibly longer, and a reasonable price for a car of this age and shape, there might be a catch.
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Comments
Got to be among the best of these left. Yes, I know since they’re post-’71 they’re not awesome or that I word, but for every person who hated these cars, there was somebody who loved one, or maybe it was the first new car they saw, or whatever memory. I’d put this on my “drive and conserve” list.
Actually they are no0t awesome because they were crap from day 1.
Anybody that bought one new, knows that.
My grandparents bought a 1980 Volare sedan brand new. I bought it from my grandma in June 1993 and kept it for 10 years. It was as trouble-free as a car could be, needing regular maintenance only. It truly was a great car and I regret selling it.
And it’s not metallic pea green?
Oh Mike B
Think I just had an acid flashback! Chrysler Le Barons were basically re bodied Aspens. My dad just Had to have a 77. I did my best to steer him to another brand entirely but he missed his 64 Imperial LeBaron Crown Coupe. The ESC failed within the first 1500 miles and the brakes always had a funny feel to them. Happy to see him hand the refrigerator green catastrophy off to my stepmother.(she came with, and was the same size as the fridge ) So come to find out the front disc brake callipers we’re mismatched, one for an Aspen, one for a Newport. Ended my father’s love for Mopar products there and then, though I found a 74 Imperial coupe I let him “steal” from me towards the end of his driving days.
I agree with the BF author that this car has been for sale for a while. I remember seeing this car listed several months ago. I specifically recall seeing dog dish hubcaps on one side and full wheel covers on the other side. Sure enough, when I did some research I found that this very same car was posted on Barn Finds last spring on March 1, 2018 by Aaron Crabtree.
In that part of the country it’s nice to find any early survivors that aren’t rusty. And the interior looks like factory material so the claim could be correct.
Nice original car, really sharp with the dog-dish hubcaps rather than the full wheel covers. The pattern on that front seat alone is worth the price of admission.
Reminds me of the Dart vinyl roof option in the late 60s.
the exterior color is a welcome sight. the interior color and fabric is quite cool. looks so much better with the raised white letter tires and dog dish hubcaps than the passenger side w/wheel covers and blackwalls.
i like it. would like it a whole lot better with a manual even if it were on the tree. do i like it worth $7,500? No, but i note the seller is entertaining offers. Perhaps they’ve gotten lots of offers but none near the sellers minimum and that’s why it’s still for sale a month after being listed?
I was going to say “wait for it, someone is going to wish it was a manual “ but you beat me to it , where’s the other trolls “ not a hemi “ or better yet “swap in a big block “, it is what it is , a honest original car that was well cared for , that hopefully will stay that way
And the always delightful baby poop brown comments haven’t shown up yet.
“Not enough doors”. There’s a twist.
Top speed 87 mph, if mine was any indicator. 225 slant 6 was one of the most dependable American engines ever made, but it is a gutless wonder.
And there it is
Ugh!
Don’t pass the smell test for me. No door jamb pics, no engine bay shots, or undercarriage pics. But then I see it was featured here 2 years back.
https://barnfinds.com/under-10000-miles-1977-dodge-aspen/
Unicorns. Go figure
This very same car also appeared in Barn Finds on March 1, 2018.
https://barnfinds.com/9340-original-miles-1977-dodge-aspen-sport-coupe/
The wheel/tire combo on the drivers side, looks much nicer than the passenger side. The question is, why are they different?
I would guess that the left and right photos are from different time periods. I do agree that the dog dishes and raised white letters look great compared to the hub caps.
My carpool partner had bought a new one that said Aspen on one side, and Volare on the other side.
My dad bought a 76 Aspen Wagon in 1977. Aspen on left fender, Volare on right fender.
That’s hilarious!
Quality control.
I mean
Kwality Kontrol
LOL Thank you for posting this. $7,500?? It made my day.
He only dropped his asking price $500 in two years. Seems that he doesn’t really want to sell this car.
There is a catch, its a Aspen and 6cyl to boot.
I have owned one of these, the exact same year. This is one of the most dangerous cars I have every owned. First think take the carburetor off and throw it away, replace it with something newer and far better. These cars had a truly dangerous lean surge. You get about half way thru an intersection and the car will lose power or totally stall out. I was almost killed 6 or 7 times because of this. There is no way to predict when it will happen. Same engine transmission combination.
Get this car to be reliable performer and it is really nice to drive. Not fast, not best handling, but nice size, comfortable and really useful car. Very easy to work on and comments about the engine are totally correct. Not the most powerful but almost impossible to kill. The rest of the car is reliable. Better yet it is still not bad looking.
To fix the tendency to rust is to take some linseed oil around all the welded seams and panel gaps (NOT NEAR THE EXHAUST) inside the doors and seams there. It will form a film that will keep water out for an extended period of time. I did that to my Alfas and other cars of this era and it worked very well. Do it on a hot day or week so that the film will form quickly and the smell goes away just as fast.
Bruce, that was an industry wide problem with the early emissions controls. CR did a test of popular 6 cyl compacts in the early 70s and all of them did the same thing on hard turns.
But it was for our own good. /sarc
apprarently someone inherited Grandma’s Aspen, which would explain the options, color and mileage.
Actually a very nice color but no fender top turn indicators…I’m out.
Remember riding in a few of these with the funky interior patterns. Looks like old linoleum kitchen flooring.
Looks like this car was built as one tiny step above bare bones. The seats are original with that odd cloth patterned material. The seats also seem to have been designed by the marquis de sade. A trip of any length (more than an hour or so) leaves the driver, especially, with lower back pain that will last for days. Being a bare bones car, this vehicle was equipped with 14″ bias ply tires. Bias ply tires on these cars are simply deadly. Hit the same pothole every day for a week, and the car will dart in a different direction each time. Going to 15″ wheels and radials makes a HUGE improvement in the ride and handling of these cars. The driveability issues can be traced directly to the lean burn distributor. Retrofit a dizzy with a vacuum advance, crank the timing back to 10°BTDC, and the improvement is dramatic. The 10″ disc brakes at the front are “adequate” for 1977 traffic, but marginal for 2018 traffic. Fortunately because of the 15″ wheels, going to the 11-7/8″ front discs is a matter of relieving a ’79 Cordoba of its caliper adaptors and getting the bigger rotors. Even the calipers are the same.
I like the left side better with the raised letter tires and the dog dish hubcaps.