@@LongIslandMopars My friend had two F body Chryslers, a 1979 Aspen four door with a 318 V8 that was his parents from new and it was "hot rodded" (read: primer, American Racing mags, stickers) by the time he got it in 1989 when I first knew him when we were undergraduates in college. By the time I started graduate school, he had bought at gotten rid of a 1978 Aspen four door with a Super Six. The guy that sold it to him said, "Runs great, handles like a sack of potatoes". It did. It ran great and I believe even the AC worked (the 1979 had AC, but my friend took it out for some reason). He then got a 1991 Dodge Shadow new and had that car 15 years and put over 200K on it, still on the original engine and transmission. He donated it in 2006. Now he has Subarus. My grandparents bought an '80 Volare with a 225 one barrel new in 1980. I even remember part of the VIN: HE29CAB....that's H for Volare, E for Economy, 29 for two door, C for 225 CID Slant Six wit one barrel, aka "LTP", A for 1980 model year, B for Hamtramck, MI assembly and the rest was the production sequence. Theirs was made in late 1979, I remember the door jamb label. They kept it six years, but after my grandmother had a heart attack at the end of 1985, her doctor said she needed to be in the AC during hot and humid days and that car didn't have AC (ordered without it), so my dad sold it for them and they replaced it with a 1982 Buick Skyhawk from the Cadillac dealership my dad worked at. They sold that in 1989 and bought a new Cavalier which I got in 2002 from them (with only 28k on the clock, and it had never been more than 15 miles from home all those years). I still have the Cavalier, but I "retired" it years ago. It was a good car.
@@googleusergp Cool stories. That 80 coupe was good looking car. I liked the clean front end. My dad and I pulled a rear out of a wrecked 80 Volare at a junkyard back in the mid 80s after the ring gear lost a tooth when my mom "got on it". I broke that 80 rear in half when I got hit by a Camaro and slid into a curb. Cavaliers were good cars. When I took drivers ed we had a Dodge Aries which I didn't think much of. When it was being serviced for something we got to use a Cavalier. I liked the way it rode and steered vs the Aries, but the Aries was bigger and more comfortable with 5 people in it.
The Volare/Aspen mopars made very good taxi cabs back in the 80s when I lived on Long Island, my very abused 225 slant 6 kept running and never let me down.
Absolutely agree, I think it's a little ironic how people say the build qaulity was horrible,yet 44 years later the interior looks pretty good and the body looks better than some of the newer cars we see on the road every day, It wouldn't surprise me if it still runs
I have a picture of my Aunt and Uncle while on holiday in Northern Ontario 1979. In the background is a Volare Wagon wood grain and all, same colour too. Good one Steve.
Back in 1982, I worked at a dinky little, hole-in-the-wall used car lot. With a growing family, we were in the market for a used wagon. One day, the manager brought a Volare Premier wagon that he had bought at auction onto the lot. The man was NOT happy! Yes, the car ran fine. Mo, it didn't have any (apparant) rust damage. What it DID have was the standard 3-speed manual transmission, something that he didn't realize when bidding on the car! It was a nice looking car, black with a wine red leatherette interior. It looked to have been well thakn care of, with nice, shiny paint and clean whitewalls. And, of course, the drivetrain. The 3-speed was attached to the "Super Six" that Steve mentioned. A luxury-ish wagon with a 6-cylinder, 3-speed stick drivetrain wasn't likely to sell very soon, and it didn't. I took it home overnight to show it to my then-wife, but she nixed it right away because of the stick. Hey, that was a selling point for me! A week later, we bought a '73 Chevy Laguna wagon from the dealer. Pigger, smoother, more powerful. Plus, I'm a Chevy man at heart. The previous owner had done some major performance work on the engine, so it was a real sleeper! But that's a story for another time.
@@hotpuppy1 Or a dealership loss leader. The one that said in the ads, "You can get this 1978 Volare for $X out the door....." Then the fine print: "6 cylinder, M/T three speed, no AC, PS, no PB......1 in stock". LOL.
We had a 78 Volare wagon with the leaning tower of power and the late 70's version of Rally wheels when I was a teen. I took my first driving test in it, got my first ticket in it, went over 100 MPH for the first time in it (110mph!!!!!) My mom lost a drag race to a kid on a bicycle in it, so they traded it for a Buick.... lol
I'm out of the hospital and recovering. Encephalitis is no joke. Doctors say it can take a year for the foggy brain to correct itself. I'll need to do static videos at High Octane Classics in Auburn Massachusetts for a while. We did 4 new ones last week and I'll try to get back in the groove. But for now I don't have the stamina required for true Junkyard crawling. Until then, that's the latest news. Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
@@SteveMagnante I was a new subscriber just before you got sick. Watching your content, whether new or old, has been helpful in keeping my mind occupied as I suffer from a painful illness myself. Mine won't get better, but I still welcome the distraction on a topic I truly love. THANKS and please get well !!
Being a Dad and having a practical vehicle, I always thought it would be cool to have a performance version of a wagon, or if I had the skills and resources...building my own...I thought it would be cool to create a Taurus SHO wagon or a BMW wagon/touring with an M3 drivetrain. I think Plymouth would have made some sales had the Load Runner made it to production.
Another day closer to seeing you back in the yard. As stated last time: 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.
A the happy owner of a 1980 Volare four door sedan with a slant six and an automatic. Currently has about 33,000 actual miles. I bough it in 2007 with 8500 original miles. One note though, by 1980 the super six was history.
20 years ago I acquired a '78 Dodge Aspen station wagon from a co-worker's backyard. I had a trailer and he just wanted it hauled away. The lean-burn computer quit was the only thing wrong with it. It was very straight and solid, no rust! It cleaned up nicely. But under the hood was a factory 318 topped with a Thermoquad carburetor. Surprise! That made the car VERY interesting. That is when I figured why Dodge Aspens are killer in the NHRA Stock Eliminator class. I got the car running with an older Thermoquad carburetor and standard electronic ignition to bypass the lean-burn system and drove it around for a while. A car with much potential recognized by others. I traded it for an old non-running Barracuda
Drove a bunch of Volare's and Aspens. 2dr, 4dr and wagon. Its what was provided for us to deliver pizzas in. Not sure where the owner found them all from. They jumped well over the railroad tracks.
Still want to find a Dodge Aspen like my mom had. V8, floor shift automatic, baby blue with t-tops, a white vinyl quarter top and bucket seat interior. Loved that car
The family wagon.....well 3/4s of it anyway. But you Sir! 200% and peeling out!! Thank you for the video again Steve, I love to hear you describe how & why BIG auto did certain things (when one can figure it out). But you have always help celebrate our history. The Detroit Lions football team (for example) lends credence to that great city and helps us all remember how important that city and way of life was & is. You Sir do the same thing in describing what was on the menu, and the lifestyle that surrounded all of us during those fast times. Never stop Steve, you bring much momentum along with you. Thanks brother.
Back when I was a kid in Peoria Illinois we used to see manufacture's plates all the time because General Motors had a regional office there and some of the people that worked at it drove company cars and that was how they were plated.
That plate's sure not something you want to use to cover a rust hole with. Not to brag but, Michigan, where I'm from (hold it right there fathead, you can't gaslight these people with your "not to brag" disclaimer) was voted the best looking bi-centennial license plate IN THE NATION. Put that in your blast furnace and smelt it.
Steve, we miss you and your knowledge on the auction stage. I have a healthy 318 with some nice j heads that i would love to put in something like this ! Always enjoy your videos.
Chrysler didn't go into Bankruptcy, they avoided it....the Aspen and Volare didn't replace the Dart or Valiant, they were all available at the same time. The Omni and Horizon replaced the Dart and Valiant in 1978. The Aspen and Volare were a larger car than the Dart and Valiant, a different class of car with a different price point too.
Dad had a '77 Volare wagon with the super 6. It served us well. Pulled a boat trailer sometimes. Only failures I remember was a plugged radiator that got rodded out during a cross country trip, a/c condenser leak, and the horn stuck on one night while nobody was in the car.
I had one of these in the 1980's that looked just like that. We had two kids and another on the way that would not fit in my V.W. Rabbit. My Volarie had the 318. I did a valve job and put a non-smog cam in it and then it had good power. Brings back memories.
I graduated in 84. One of of my classmates had a 70 camaro rs with a 250, another had the volare with super slant both were manuals. They used race each other stoplight to stop light. King of the turtles.😂
In college I had a Volare Premier wagon for a while and was always shocked how well it rode and cornered. It was noticeably better than my 76 Trans Am on the highway and in the corners.
I bought a 7 year old used 4 door in about in 1985/6 that someone had already converted to Fiberglass front fenders. The rest of the car was still looking fine. Mine had the slant 6.
My Dad had a 78 Aspen wagon, he worked at a dealership, put rally wheels and a road runner chin spoiler on the maroon 318 powered car, with white letter tires amd the car slightly lowered, it was pretty sweet. He also had a Colt wagon at the same time, the Aspen looked good but the manual transmission Colt would get driven "hard". Dad was hilarious banging the gears in the Colt.
Hey Steve-O, quite simply one of your ten BEST reviews on the crawl to date. Your fluidity in rattling off the specifications of a vehicle approaching fifty years of age pays homage to your relentless preparation. Quite frankly fella' you never disappoint even while reviewing the most mundane of vehicles. 🚘🔍. 🎯. PRACTICE THE PRESENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . ✝️
Had a boss who bought a new car for his wife. Car came from the factory with Volare on one side and Aspen on the other. Same year as this one. Got two for the price of one, well half and half! 😂
My mom and dad bought a brand new 1977 Plymouth Volare wagon 225 with an automatic blue with fake wood grain. It’s was the only new car they ever bought.I’ll never forget the sticker by the gas cap unleaded fuel only😢
Katie is awesome. Them late 70s mopars were nice when new but after a few years... driving em was an adventure. Drove an old 77 Monaco with a 360. it would stall on right hand turns. every time. had to pop it up in neutral, start it up, rev it, and bang it into drive. all while turning right without power steering. fun times. i kinda miss that car. Drove an 86 Diplomat with the lean burn computer. Couldnt get that thing over 50 mph even if you pushed it over a cliff. Merging on to highways was a treat. Never saw so many middle fingers. Reverse didnt work till i drove it for 40 minutes or so. parallell parking was fun. the padded roof disintegrated and would leave a flurry of roof fuzz in its wake. The rest of the car was pretty nice though. I miss that car too. woulda swapped a new hemi into it just for giggles but my brothers wife made him junk it
Steve are you back at it? If so glad to have you back! If not I hope things are going well in your recovery! We all just really love the work that you do. You give these cars a chance to tell their story! All my friends always question why I enjoy going to the junkyard. I tell him all the same thing every car has a story to tell.
I also miss Queen Katie of Bernardston! I'm only a few weeks out of the hospital but am slowly recovering my coordination. One step at a time. Literally! Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
A friend of mine growing up during high school his stepdad had a silver Volare wagon with blue vinyl interior it had the Super Six and a 3speed with overdrive manual transmission it was a neat thing to drive. Thank you Steve for sharing.
I had a 2 door 1978 Volare' Brougham that I had bought new. It was my first new car. My father bought a Chrysler LeBaron around the same time. Other than the badging and the trim the cars were pretty much identical. I had the 318 'Lean Burn' engine. Overall it was a pretty good car. My car was garaged so I did not have much issue with rust which was surprising as I live in the Northeast (rust belt) where road salt is very liberally applied.
These cars bring back memories LOL. I didn't say good memories. I used to run a car rental agency called adjusters Auto rental. It was a fleet of 100 volare's everything from two-door and four-door sedans + station wagons. There was one that I drove from my home and it had the 318 that car drove very nice
My brother use to steer the car with one finger- that's how much power assist they had. He also loved to randomly slam on the breaks and the whole car tossed around like a ship.
My sister had a Volare coupe with the 360, that thing was a beast for what it was. Just remember the gas pedal was heavy to press down for some reason.
I owned a Carmel Tan (not Caramel) metallic ‘76 Aspen 4 dr Special Edition 318 powered tilt cruise AM/FM stereo 5-spoke chrome styled road wheels with trim rings light package - never had any trouble with rust - the factory installed Goodyear polysteel radials were bad and ended up replacing with Pirelli Cinturato whitewalls with Pirelli name spelled out in the whitewall - loved my Aspen
Have a 79 Volare premier wagon with a super six og manuell floor shift and bench. Power Windows, power looks and air. Love to cruise around in Norway 😊😊😊
My mom and dad’s friend had the Volare wagon in that colour, don’t remember it having wood grain panelling though, it had the slant six motor (might’ve been a super six) and it had a 3 on the tree manual transmission
As a kid l remember our local Chevy dealer getting one of these in trade. Even at my young age, l remember being fascinated that the thing had a factory manual transmission.
The tops of the front fenders over the wheel wells were also prone to rust through. High school teacher of mine had one that rotted through in about 2 years from new.
A friend of mine father had 2 sorry Volares when we were growing up. He would only drive these cars. Always with the slant 6. He spoke highly of them simple efficient cars.
That dog loves you Steve lol
… is it his ?
@@remko1238 no it belongs to the man who owns the junkyard but he is there so much it likes him lol
@@coinslotsandjoysticks2572 - Thanks a lot 👏🏽 it seems to be a nice creature (same like Steve)
She is a very friendly woofer indeed.
so do we all
I had a '76 Volare coupe, with the 225, and, I can say from experience, the 100 mph speedo was highly optimistic.
I had a 77 Volare with the 2bbl Super Six. Never got it to triple digits but I have a feeling it would done it.
@@LongIslandMopars My friend had two F body Chryslers, a 1979 Aspen four door with a 318 V8 that was his parents from new and it was "hot rodded" (read: primer, American Racing mags, stickers) by the time he got it in 1989 when I first knew him when we were undergraduates in college. By the time I started graduate school, he had bought at gotten rid of a 1978 Aspen four door with a Super Six. The guy that sold it to him said, "Runs great, handles like a sack of potatoes". It did. It ran great and I believe even the AC worked (the 1979 had AC, but my friend took it out for some reason). He then got a 1991 Dodge Shadow new and had that car 15 years and put over 200K on it, still on the original engine and transmission. He donated it in 2006. Now he has Subarus.
My grandparents bought an '80 Volare with a 225 one barrel new in 1980. I even remember part of the VIN: HE29CAB....that's H for Volare, E for Economy, 29 for two door, C for 225 CID Slant Six wit one barrel, aka "LTP", A for 1980 model year, B for Hamtramck, MI assembly and the rest was the production sequence. Theirs was made in late 1979, I remember the door jamb label. They kept it six years, but after my grandmother had a heart attack at the end of 1985, her doctor said she needed to be in the AC during hot and humid days and that car didn't have AC (ordered without it), so my dad sold it for them and they replaced it with a 1982 Buick Skyhawk from the Cadillac dealership my dad worked at. They sold that in 1989 and bought a new Cavalier which I got in 2002 from them (with only 28k on the clock, and it had never been more than 15 miles from home all those years). I still have the Cavalier, but I "retired" it years ago. It was a good car.
@@googleusergp Cool stories. That 80 coupe was good looking car. I liked the clean front end. My dad and I pulled a rear out of a wrecked 80 Volare at a junkyard back in the mid 80s after the ring gear lost a tooth when my mom "got on it". I broke that 80 rear in half when I got hit by a Camaro and slid into a curb.
Cavaliers were good cars. When I took drivers ed we had a Dodge Aries which I didn't think much of. When it was being serviced for something we got to use a Cavalier. I liked the way it rode and steered vs the Aries, but the Aries was bigger and more comfortable with 5 people in it.
I had a 76 Volare Premier Sport Coup. 318 V8 4bbl. Was same as the Volare Roadrunner.
@@timstone3441 nice!
Take 2 Aspen and call me in the morning....they dissolve easily in water....😂
Stop it😹
But your humor remains! Very good, my friend!
And watch Bo Derek in "Volero."
How's your Aspen?
@@craighansen7594 lmao
It is the nicest car in the Junkyard.
Never thought I'd watch a video with a volare station wagon with fake wood panels! But Mags makes it interesting!
I still wish they would have made the Load Runner, I bet it would have been a hit! Thank you as always sir, keep healing. ~ Chuck
How about a load runner pickup? That would be even cooler 😎
@@idontknow2293 We kind of got that with the Lil Red Express.
@@charlesdalton985 never heard of it. What is it. Or maybe was?
@@idontknow2293 youtube dodge Lil Red express
Wonder if anyone ever but one together
The Volare/Aspen mopars made very good taxi cabs back in the 80s when I lived on Long Island, my very abused 225 slant 6 kept running and never let me down.
Cool. Thanks for sharing your memories. I had a 79 Volare 4-door (civilian) with the 225 2bbl.
Had a friend on the west coast of Canada drive one as a Cab! Cool wagon!✌🏻🇨🇦
Absolutely agree, I think it's a little ironic how people say the build qaulity was horrible,yet 44 years later the interior looks pretty good and the body looks better than some of the newer cars we see on the road every day, It wouldn't surprise me if it still runs
Steve, you never fail to make me learn something with each video!! This is great stuff!
Glad to hear it!
I have a picture of my Aunt and Uncle while on holiday in Northern Ontario 1979. In the background is a Volare Wagon wood grain and all, same colour too. Good one Steve.
Back in 1982, I worked at a dinky little, hole-in-the-wall used car lot. With a growing family, we were in the market for a used wagon. One day, the manager brought a Volare Premier wagon that he had bought at auction onto the lot. The man was NOT happy! Yes, the car ran fine. Mo, it didn't have any (apparant) rust damage. What it DID have was the standard 3-speed manual transmission, something that he didn't realize when bidding on the car! It was a nice looking car, black with a wine red leatherette interior. It looked to have been well thakn care of, with nice, shiny paint and clean whitewalls. And, of course, the drivetrain. The 3-speed was attached to the "Super Six" that Steve mentioned. A luxury-ish wagon with a 6-cylinder, 3-speed stick drivetrain wasn't likely to sell very soon, and it didn't. I took it home overnight to show it to my then-wife, but she nixed it right away because of the stick. Hey, that was a selling point for me! A week later, we bought a '73 Chevy Laguna wagon from the dealer. Pigger, smoother, more powerful. Plus, I'm a Chevy man at heart. The previous owner had done some major performance work on the engine, so it was a real sleeper! But that's a story for another time.
Likely a special order car. My dad would have liked to have gotten that 6 cyl, 3 tree car when he bought out 77 Aspen wagon (318 auto).
@@hotpuppy1 Or a dealership loss leader. The one that said in the ads, "You can get this 1978 Volare for $X out the door....." Then the fine print: "6 cylinder, M/T three speed, no AC, PS, no PB......1 in stock". LOL.
Sounds like you may have bought my Volare'. Were did you find that Volare? I sold mine to a couple from Toledo, Ohio.
We had a 78 Volare wagon with the leaning tower of power and the late 70's version of Rally wheels when I was a teen. I took my first driving test in it, got my first ticket in it, went over 100 MPH for the first time in it (110mph!!!!!)
My mom lost a drag race to a kid on a bicycle in it, so they traded it for a Buick.... lol
Please give us an update brother Mags!!!
I'm out of the hospital and recovering. Encephalitis is no joke. Doctors say it can take a year for the foggy brain to correct itself. I'll need to do static videos at High Octane Classics in Auburn Massachusetts for a while. We did 4 new ones last week and I'll try to get back in the groove. But for now I don't have the stamina required for true Junkyard crawling. Until then, that's the latest news. Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
@@SteveMagnanteI’m grateful for you giving us the update get well soon.
@@SteveMagnante Recovery needs to be on your (and your doctor's) terms. I along with many others I'm sure will be waiting for you.
@@SteveMagnante I was a new subscriber just before you got sick. Watching your content, whether new or old, has been helpful in keeping my mind occupied as I suffer from a painful illness myself. Mine won't get better, but I still welcome the distraction on a topic I truly love. THANKS and please get well !!
@@SteveMagnante It's always a treat to hear from you. I'm so happy that you are recovering. So many of us prayed you would pull through. 🙏
Friend had 318 4spd o.d. 2.71 sure grip 78 volare wagon .
Favorite car ever
Did it all irreplaceable!
Keep these coming until you are ready for the yard crawl again.
I had 78 and 80 Aspen wagons. Two 78 sedans.
Slant 6 with the stick. Best car ever!
Being a Dad and having a practical vehicle, I always thought it would be cool to have a performance version of a wagon, or if I had the skills and resources...building my own...I thought it would be cool to create a Taurus SHO wagon or a BMW wagon/touring with an M3 drivetrain. I think Plymouth would have made some sales had the Load Runner made it to production.
Hope all is well brother. Greetings from Massachusetts.
Greetings from Long Island
Greetings from England
Another day closer to seeing you back in the yard. As stated last time:
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.
They were easy to work on. They ran good too.
A the happy owner of a 1980 Volare four door sedan with a slant six and an automatic. Currently has about 33,000 actual miles. I bough it in 2007 with 8500 original miles. One note though, by 1980 the super six was history.
I like the look of the 80 front end. It's clean.
20 years ago I acquired a '78 Dodge Aspen station wagon from a co-worker's backyard. I had a trailer and he just wanted it hauled away. The lean-burn computer quit was the only thing wrong with it. It was very straight and solid, no rust! It cleaned up nicely. But under the hood was a factory 318 topped with a Thermoquad carburetor. Surprise! That made the car VERY interesting. That is when I figured why Dodge Aspens are killer in the NHRA Stock Eliminator class. I got the car running with an older Thermoquad carburetor and standard electronic ignition to bypass the lean-burn system and drove it around for a while. A car with much potential recognized by others. I traded it for an old non-running Barracuda
Drove a bunch of Volare's and Aspens. 2dr, 4dr and wagon. Its what was provided for us to deliver pizzas in. Not sure where the owner found them all from. They jumped well over the railroad tracks.
Still want to find a Dodge Aspen like my mom had. V8, floor shift automatic, baby blue with t-tops, a white vinyl quarter top and bucket seat interior. Loved that car
The family wagon.....well 3/4s of it anyway. But you Sir! 200% and peeling out!! Thank you for the video again Steve, I love to hear you describe how & why BIG auto did certain things (when one can figure it out). But you have always help celebrate our history. The Detroit Lions football team (for example) lends credence to that great city and helps us all remember how important that city and way of life was & is. You Sir do the same thing in describing what was on the menu, and the lifestyle that surrounded all of us during those fast times. Never stop Steve, you bring much momentum along with you. Thanks brother.
Mr. B. Here ! 🍩☕️👀😎👍. Professor Steve , back to station wagon class 🍎📓✏️📐🎓
Mr B!!!!🐝
LOL 👍👍
yep remember my dad had a 1977 Plymouth Volare wagon and it was equipped with the 360 4 barrel engine.
That would be an awesome wagon to build now.
Pet the puppy Steve! LOL! I'll watch it for a long time (-:
My dad had an Aspen sedan. This takes me back to my childhood in the 80's
Volare and Aspens also had very fragile grilles. Even back when they were common/ cheap cars, a perfect grille was rare.
That Load runner would've been awesome! Ashame they didn't make it. Another great wagon week episode Steve!👍
Back when I was a kid in Peoria Illinois we used to see manufacture's plates all the time because General Motors had a regional office there and some of the people that worked at it drove company cars and that was how they were plated.
That plate's sure not something you want to use to cover a rust hole with. Not to brag but, Michigan, where I'm from (hold it right there fathead, you can't gaslight these people with your "not to brag" disclaimer) was voted the best looking bi-centennial license plate IN THE NATION. Put that in your blast furnace and smelt it.
Always loved these Volare wagons, a friend of mine drove one of these as a taxi back in the day, last of an era for Chrysler!✌🏻🇨🇦
Steve, we miss you and your knowledge on the auction stage. I have a healthy 318 with some nice j heads that i would love to put in something like this ! Always enjoy your videos.
Chrysler didn't go into Bankruptcy, they avoided it....the Aspen and Volare didn't replace the Dart or Valiant, they were all available at the same time. The Omni and Horizon replaced the Dart and Valiant in 1978. The Aspen and Volare were a larger car than the Dart and Valiant, a different class of car with a different price point too.
Awesome. I had one just like that with a 318 and I have some cool pictures of it with smoothie rims and dual exhaust
I had a 77 Aspen wagon with a 318. It was a great vehicle.
Dad had a '77 Volare wagon with the super 6. It served us well. Pulled a boat trailer sometimes. Only failures I remember was a plugged radiator that got rodded out during a cross country trip, a/c condenser leak, and the horn stuck on one night while nobody was in the car.
I had one of these in the 1980's that looked just like that. We had two kids and another on the way that would not fit in my V.W. Rabbit. My Volarie had the 318. I did a valve job and put a non-smog cam in it and then it had good power. Brings back memories.
Had one put flames on the front edge of the hood made it cool instantly 🤣😎👍❤️
I graduated in 84. One of of my classmates had a 70 camaro rs with a 250, another had the volare with super slant both were manuals. They used race each other stoplight to stop light. King of the turtles.😂
Thank you Steve! I need some parts off this! 👍Maybe I'll see you there!
Remarkably rust free for New England! I remember those rusting so bad the mirrors would fall off within 5 years.
Dad had one of these and was a '76 if I remember correctly. 225/3 speed O/D manual, red on red. He just loved it for its utility and fuel economy.
In college I had a Volare Premier wagon for a while and was always shocked how well it rode and cornered. It was noticeably better than my 76 Trans Am on the highway and in the corners.
Get well Steve !!
I bought a 7 year old used 4 door in about in 1985/6 that someone had already converted to Fiberglass front fenders. The rest of the car was still looking fine. Mine had the slant 6.
Glad you are. back, keep up the good work.
Keep em coming Steve! We are all pulling for your complete recovery
Always enjoy the inclusion of the dog.
That Load runner would have been cool!
Cool video Steve!
Hope you are doing well buddy! ✌️❤️🌝
We're all pulling for you Steve. Hope to see you back in the Junkyard soon
Thanks for the video and get well very soon 😮
Get well soon my friend!!
My Dad had a 78 Aspen wagon, he worked at a dealership, put rally wheels and a road runner chin spoiler on the maroon 318 powered car, with white letter tires amd the car slightly lowered, it was pretty sweet. He also had a Colt wagon at the same time, the Aspen looked good but the manual transmission Colt would get driven "hard". Dad was hilarious banging the gears in the Colt.
Love. This. All wagons. ❤❤❤❤
Hey Steve-O, quite simply one of your ten BEST reviews on the crawl to date. Your fluidity in rattling off the specifications of a vehicle approaching fifty years of age pays homage to your relentless preparation. Quite frankly fella' you never disappoint even while reviewing the most mundane of vehicles. 🚘🔍. 🎯. PRACTICE THE PRESENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . ✝️
Had a couple of driver's ed sessions in a Volare' sedan. 'Twas not a pleasant experience.
Poor little Katy. She misses you, Steve.
Thankyou Steve, what a great episode. My had a Volare woody with the V8. Its still in the garage. Always Rustchecked. We love ya .
🏆Steve🏆 great 🍀rerun 👀✌️
Good to see you back at work and looking healthy. 👌
Had a boss who bought a new car for his wife.
Car came from the factory with Volare on one side and Aspen on the other.
Same year as this one.
Got two for the price of one, well half and half! 😂
My mom and dad bought a brand new 1977 Plymouth Volare wagon 225 with an automatic blue with fake wood grain. It’s was the only new car they ever bought.I’ll never forget the sticker by the gas cap unleaded fuel only😢
Katie is awesome. Them late 70s mopars were nice when new but after a few years... driving em was an adventure. Drove an old 77 Monaco with a 360. it would stall on right hand turns. every time. had to pop it up in neutral, start it up, rev it, and bang it into drive. all while turning right without power steering. fun times. i kinda miss that car. Drove an 86 Diplomat with the lean burn computer. Couldnt get that thing over 50 mph even if you pushed it over a cliff. Merging on to highways was a treat. Never saw so many middle fingers. Reverse didnt work till i drove it for 40 minutes or so. parallell parking was fun. the padded roof disintegrated and would leave a flurry of roof fuzz in its wake. The rest of the car was pretty nice though. I miss that car too. woulda swapped a new hemi into it just for giggles but my brothers wife made him junk it
Steve are you back at it? If so glad to have you back! If not I hope things are going well in your recovery! We all just really love the work that you do. You give these cars a chance to tell their story! All my friends always question why I enjoy going to the junkyard. I tell him all the same thing every car has a story to tell.
These are re-runs.
I had one of those little stripped down, but it had the six and three speed with overdrive on the floor
Katie!! I miss seeing new Steve and Katie videos. But the reruns are awesome, too
I also miss Queen Katie of Bernardston! I'm only a few weeks out of the hospital but am slowly recovering my coordination. One step at a time. Literally! Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
@@SteveMagnante I'm so glad you're doing better and able to read/reply to your fans. Prayers are with you, my friend.
A friend of mine growing up during high school his stepdad had a silver Volare wagon with blue vinyl interior it had the Super Six and a 3speed with overdrive manual transmission it was a neat thing to drive. Thank you Steve for sharing.
Great to see you, thanks again from old New Orleans 😎
Yep Steve , I definitely have a soft spot for station wagons 😊
The Load Runner DID make production as the '79 Aspen/Volare Sport Wagon. I had an Aspen one with an E58 360.
My friends had a red one with the woodgrain side panels and another friend's mother drove one that was root beer brown
I had a 79 Volare 4-door that was metallic brown (Sable Sunfire Metallic was the actual name). We nicknamed it the "UPS staff car"....
Code RT9 if I remember right. My friend’s 1979 Aspen was similar.
I had a 2 door 1978 Volare' Brougham that I had bought new. It was my first new car. My father bought a Chrysler LeBaron around the same time. Other than the badging and the trim the cars were pretty much identical. I had the 318 'Lean Burn' engine. Overall it was a pretty good car. My car was garaged so I did not have much issue with rust which was surprising as I live in the Northeast (rust belt) where road salt is very liberally applied.
Steve I hope you kept that plate!
I grew up riding in Buick Estate wagons packed with all 11 of us, going from NJ to Fl every Easter.
These cars bring back memories LOL. I didn't say good memories. I used to run a car rental agency called adjusters Auto rental. It was a fleet of 100 volare's everything from two-door and four-door sedans + station wagons. There was one that I drove from my home and it had the 318 that car drove very nice
My brother use to steer the car with one finger- that's how much power assist they had. He also loved to randomly slam on the breaks and the whole car tossed around like a ship.
Sweet wagon. Thanks Steve. Be well.😎
My grandparents and my great uncle owned one. Both Volares. Both wagons and 78s.
Great to see you back!
That white pickup in the background is about the same age as mine, except the paint on mine is not nearly as good!
Look how well the interior held up on this car - why can't they make interiors like this anymore?
Surprised that is not rusted into the ground! Get healthy Steve!!!!
My sister had a Volare coupe with the 360, that thing was a beast for what it was. Just remember the gas pedal was heavy to press down for some reason.
Love the stats you throw out there Steve. Hope to see you on the block soon.
I owned a Carmel Tan (not Caramel) metallic ‘76 Aspen 4 dr Special Edition 318 powered tilt cruise AM/FM stereo 5-spoke chrome styled road wheels with trim rings light package - never had any trouble with rust - the factory installed Goodyear polysteel radials were bad and ended up replacing with Pirelli Cinturato whitewalls with Pirelli name spelled out in the whitewall - loved my Aspen
Have a 79 Volare premier wagon with a super six og manuell floor shift and bench. Power Windows, power looks and air. Love to cruise around in Norway 😊😊😊
My mom and dad’s friend had the Volare wagon in that colour, don’t remember it having wood grain panelling though, it had the slant six motor (might’ve been a super six) and it had a 3 on the tree manual transmission
Had a 76 aspen wagon. Got it with 121,00 miles on it. Had a 225 , 904 trans. I loved when it was'nt broken down.
As a kid l remember our local Chevy dealer getting one of these in trade. Even at my young age, l remember being fascinated that the thing had a factory manual transmission.
The tops of the front fenders over the wheel wells were also prone to rust through. High school teacher of mine had one that rotted through in about 2 years from new.
Looking great Steve 👍🏼
A wagon with a hot 360 4bbl, 4speed manual, nice wheels and ditch the woodgrain.
Those were some cool looking wagons!
I like the way the bonnet stays up just fine on that old car with the spring loaded hinges. Unlike the cheesy pneumatic actuators they use today.
I had a 1976 Volarie wagon with the 318 .. the airconditioner was thesize of a small Briggs and straton
We had this exact car it was a Volaire Town and Country
It went camping, road tripping and even deer hunting
A friend of mine father had 2 sorry Volares when we were growing up. He would only drive these cars. Always with the slant 6. He spoke highly of them simple efficient cars.
Had a 76 Aspen for 10 years. Did not get this rust, so maybe the Ziebart treatment was a success!
5:44 hard to believe how much heavier the rear was over the front!