In Italian, volare means to fly, ironically however the only flying Plymouth's Volares ever did involved parts dissociating themselves from them. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Volare wagon has managed to keep its best parts, but is its price pretty fly?
Flies, along with mosquitos and the occasional scrub jay and squirrel, are what your teeth would likely be peppered with should you have spent any time behind the ape-hangers of yesterday's weird 1985 MR2 Rickshaw. Unsurprisingly, less than 43% of you thought that would be a pleasant choice, even with a price that was only a grand.
Reacting to the success of Ford's baroque Granada, Chrysler attempted aggrandizing their mid-size offerings with the introduction of the Plymouth Volare and Dodge Aspen. The new models replaced the long-serving A-bodies - Dart, Valiant, etc. - and carried over the earlier cars' drivetrains while replacing nearly everything else with a horrific propensity to rust.
Fortunately today's Volare Wagon is a 1978, and by then Chrysler had pretty much vanquished the tin worm through a comprehensive 7-step rust-proofing process implemented at the factory. That's probably the reason why this one is still rolling around intact, and not a junkyard wedge of swiss cheese. Another reason may be its drivetrain, which is Chrysler's lean-burn LA-series 318 V8, backed up by the company's A833 four speed overdrive. The fact that that V8-stick shift combo is wrapped in an under two-ton wagon body is just gravy on the sundae.
The 318 came with only 140 horsepower in ‘78, a number that could propel the Volare to sixty in about 11 seconds when it wasn't burdened down with a full load of passengers. Of course, those eight pots are the perfect place to grow more ponies and should you want to change that lean burn to a lean burn-out king, it wouldn't take too much.
The body - as best can be told from the pics and exclamation point infected ad copy - is all original and looks complete, and he says that it runs and drives nice. There's even some extra parts to go along with it, and as it's a wagon, you can also take advantage of his moving sale and compelling !!! Over 100ft. of Tables full !!!!! for some great home accessorizing. Maybe he'd even help you switch out the described rally wheels with the chrome ninja stars presently on the car so you wouldn't look like a douche on the drive home.
Inside, the Volare sprouts a tall, kinked shift lever from the side of the transmission hump, and seats that left the factory covered in a Scotsman's skirt. Sadly, the cloth inserts were apparently NOT forever plaid, and look to have suffered from decades of caustic flatus. Of course that's what those beaded seat covers are designed to hide, and you can steal one of those from a cab driver while he's off practicing being Robert DeNiro.
You never get a second chance to make a first impression and the Volare and its Aspen twin never fully recovered from their botched debut. That said, once the major problem had been worked out, the cars weren't all that bad, and the wagon body style remains to this day an excellent balance of size and style. Throwing in that V8 and a stick and this could be a Plymouth that really rocks. The only impediment possibly being its price, which the seller notes has been ‘DROPED' and now rests at $2,275.
What do you think, is that a price that would have you singing this Volare's praises? Or, is that a price that makes this Plymouth a Ply-miss?
You decide!
Missoula Craigslist or go here if the ad disappears.
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