If the current crop of formulaic SUVs has sapped your car-buying enthusiasm, maybe it’s time for a three-season driver from that perilous time at Chrysler just before the K-Car came along and Lee Iacocca started doing his own commercials. Yes, it’s a 1980 Plymouth Volaré with a Slant Six and a four-speed, and it’s priced at a fraction of a new Land Cruiser: just $8,995 on Facebook Marketplace in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Based on the trim, this “Burnished Silver Metallic” wagon appears to have the Custom trim package, which, according to the sales brochure, includes “belt, upper door frame, wheel-opening, and sill moldings”; the only thing missing is the “Custom” badging. The paint appears to be original but faded, and the standard gasoline stain underneath the fuel filler on the quarter-panel, a time-honored sign that you were driving a Chrysler compact, is barely noticeable. The Volaré does have a set of sporty Chrysler Rallye Wheels, which look good on just about any rear-wheel-drive Chrysler product from the 1960s on up to the K-Car era; the pictures in the sales brochure suggest that they weren’t available in 1980, but nobody’s judging your Volaré wagon based on how stock it is.
The rich red interior is where this wagon stands out, and aside from a cracked dash pad and an unfortunate aftermarket tachometer, it is nearly flawless. But the most important part is the uniquely twisted shifter sticking out from the transmission tunnel.
Yes, this wagon has a four-speed, the A833OD unit, which used an overdrive fourth gear (as noted on the neat shift knob above). It was only available with the 90-horsepower, 225-cubic-inch six, and had ratios of 3.09:1, 1.67:1, 1:1, and 0.71:1, all combined with a 3.21:1 rear axle ratio. While those are some wide-ratio gears, the combination of the reasonable tall rear axle and fairly deep overdrive means that this slant six will be barely ticking over at legal freeway speeds (at least on flat ground, you can’t expect 90 horsepower to pull a very steep hill in overdrive). Unfortunately, the Marketplace ad doesn’t include engine pictures, but you know what a slant six looks like anyway.
It’s funny how you could tell what time period a car came from by its dashboard controls. These are clearly from a late-1970s, early-1980s Chrysler product, and this Volaré even has air conditioning, but the fact that it’s not mentioned by the selling dealer leads me to cynically believe that it probably doesn’t work. It would be worth a message if you’re interested in the car.
The rear seat is perfect, as is the rear carpet. With only 87,314 miles on the odometer, it’s clear that this wagon has been well-maintained over the years, one of the few F-Cars to get such royal treatment.
Yes, this Plymouth would make somebody the perfect three-season family hauler (you certainly don’t want to drive it in a salty Wisconsin winter), and if you’re a fan of old Chryslers, Slant Sixes, or simply wagons in general, this will make somebody a conversation-promoting daily driver with a little style. The four-speed will make it fun, the AC (if it works) will keep it cool, and you’ll never lose it in the parking lot at the grocery store.
Related Reading
COAL: 1979 Plymouth Volare. A Fine Compact Car, It Was Just…..Compact (by Lt Dan)
My 1979 Dodge Aspen SE Station Wagon – Part 2: Vacation Time To Michigan and Canada (by Slant Six)
Vintage R&T Review: 1976 Plymouth Volare Wagon – Not An Exciting Car, But a Reasonable One (by Paul N)
The tach itself is fine: whoever installed it should be shot.
That’s a bit extreme.
(I’ve told this story before, but bears repeating)..
In 86 I bought a 67 Caprice, Long story, but loved that car.
Anyway, the guy I bought it from (for $400) had mounted a Tach (it was a 283 AUTO, btw), but he Mounted the ‘JC Whitney’ Tach to the left of the steering wheel, and ran the wiring, NOT through the firewall, but Through the OPEN drivers door, OVER the FENDER and UNDER the Hood. No Lie.
That was the first thing to go when I got the car home.
T
You mean there really is one still exists AND is driveable? Remember the acronym for its sister car the Dodge Aspen? A Shoddy (not the actual word) Poorly Engineered Nightmare?
At least it’s built after the early Aspen/Volare rusty fender debacle….and you had me til the red interior….
Too bad these seemed to be rushed into production. I wonder how successful they may have been with more time for testing and quality control and been released as ’77 models. They were the perfect size for so many families at the time, and would have been for years to come.
I’ve never driven a slant 6 with the 2 barrel (think they called it a Super Six) but it was available for a few years in these with the 4 speed OD. I’m thinking that would have made for a much better combination in mileage and driveability. Has anyone out these driven both? What’s your thoughts?
PS – when I see these with the round headlamps I immediately think “Calling Dr. Quincy!”
I recall ( and I can’t say why I remember this with such clarity ) a piece ( C&D or MT? ) back in the late 70s that tested an Aspen/Volare with the 4-speed and 2BBL ‘Super Six’ 225. They remarked they were able to actually burn rubber with the thing. I guess that was why the budding, bench racing gearhead I was remembered it. 🙂
I’ve double checked some of my materials, and I can’t see any evidence that the Super Six was available with the 1980 Volare (it was in 1979). If anyone has anything showing that to be untrue, feel free to let me know.
In 1979, the Super Six was rated at 110 horsepower, quite a jump over the single-barrel Holley 1945, so I imagine it would feel quite a bit peppier.
That was my understanding too, that it ended in 1979. Did emission standards tighten that year or something? Seemed like a welcome development to the engine, and the cost couldn’t have been significantly higher. I bet the mileage was impressive for a wagon of that size in those days.
Yes, federal emissions standards were tighter for 1980. The CO limit was cut from 15 g/mile to 7 g/mile, and HC was reduced from 1.5 g/mile to 0.41 g/mile. (California was tighter as well, but the rules were more complicated.)
My mother-in-law had this car’s Aspen twin…without the non-stock wheels/tires and the tach (the tach, which I agree, just seems sort of silly). Same red interior, and I loved it for that manual transmission. It’s good to know that a few of these survive.
I took Driver’s Ed in 1980. Most of the students did their practical work in Volare sedans with Slant Six and TorqueFlite. However, there was a small group of students who had already acquired licenses and were taking the classes because the certificate garnered an insurance discount. They were the only students who were allowed to learn stick shift. The sole manual car in the fleet was a 1979 Volare coupe with the Slant Six and four-on-the-floor. Four students plus an instructor stuffed into a Volare coupe with no A/C in the summer. I’m glad I wasn’t one of them.
What would be even more fun to find is the 1979 Aspen Sport Wagon with the 360 V8. I remember a C/D test of one with the lead picture showing the wagon taking a hard corner and the front bumper almost touching the ground. Also, in typical Davis-era C/D, the quote was “When your husband asks why the tires are bald, respond, ‘Heavy groceries.’”
Also, befitting the state of Chrysler in 1979, the brochure says the Sport Wagon comes with 5-spoke road wheels, and the picture shows the painted cast aluminum wheels like on the R/T.
I thought of that C&D test too when reading this, and actually looked it up (I have the issue, it’s Aug. 1979). The photo is too good not to share, so here it is. And great memory on the quote, by the way!
Awesome, Eric! Just awesome! I think this is worthy of a classic review post.
Fortunately, the quote wasn’t quite as sexist as I remembered.
Driving the Dodge Aspen with The Super Six. Mine was a LOADED 1978 with all of the power accessories. At the first change of sparkplugs, t fuel economy dropped from 18 MPG to 13! I researched the matter and learned that there was a unique plug for The Super Six. Once these were installed, he mileage reverted to 18 MPG. Power? Well, we bought it new. Some years late as we traveled through the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina (or Appalachians if you will), a local lady took her sweet time going up a hill. We were laden with six of us and luggage to the gunwales in the load area. I lost speed and could not get above 20 MPH until we crested a hill. Had the driver ahead of me kept up her speed, out Super Six would have maintained 40 MPH. Quality? Mine was well built. We ran it for 185,000 miles and then sold it. In 1992 we bought a 1980 Aspen for our daughter. It had 65,000 miles on it. She drove it and then each of our two sons. I wish that I had not sold that plain jane because it ran beautifully. No complaints from me about this ear of Chrysler “compact” cars.
A nice survivor .
The AC shouldn’t be hard to fix .
The color isn’t what I’d like but the whorehouse red interior is superlative. (proving yet again that in matters of taste, everyone else is wrong)
-Nate
Ooooh! I have long had a car-crush on these wagons, and a special car-crush on the 1980 model with the one-year grille and the best quality of the whole run. One of these came up in my area in worse shape and for more money. And the OD stick! This is seriously tempting.
Damn, that’s a really nice car I’d love to have!
The 4-speed stick shift was incredibly rare on these. Chrysler reported to Automotive News that they built 1,098 4-speed Volarés for 1980, plus 940 4-speed Aspens. (There were actually more of both with the 3-speed stick, which I wouldn’t have thought anyone in 1980 would have wanted.)
So nice to see a vehicle with a useful flat roof. One that doesn’t require rear seats to be mounted lower in order to provide head room. One that doesn’t rob cargo capacity.
I’ve always liked the Aspen / Volares, but boy did Chrysler give up on having the most well integrated big 70s bumpers with this model.
For decades I have read about car in all kinds of places and never once do I remember seeing the term “longroof”. Now it is everywhere. Can’t we just continue to all them wagons?
Never head of “hand shaker” (stick shift) nor “twice pipes” (dual exhaust) till I watched YouTube videos. Only heard of “drop top” (convertible) in the last few years.
I’m waiting for EV slag to develop….should be interesting!!
I had a 1980 Dodge D100, 8′ bed with the same drivetrain. At least I think it was, but maybe a different 4th gear ratio. Overall a good drivetrain I thought, it was RWD. With the tall final drive ratio in the Volare wagon, it must have achieved pretty decent fuel economy on the highway. My slant 6 would sometimes have trouble starting if the air was damp. My neighbor suggested pulling the distributor cap off and dry it out with a hair dryer. That did work to get it started.
I can say via experience that that the Volare/Aspen did not improve in its later years. We had a ’80 Volare slant 6 and 3 speed manual as a company pool car. Poor thing was a wreck waiting to happen. We would turn off the A/C to keep from overheating on the up side of a tall bridge over the Mississippi and coast down the other side to bring the temperature down. Never more happen to see this one leave the fleet.
I prefer the “round lights” better than the feature car.
I had a 76 Aspen (Slant 6) in 91. It Died from low oil pressure on highway the day I got temp plates for it. It had oil, but an issue with getting oil to move about the engine. 🙁
By the time the ‘low pressure’ light came on, it was too late. I have a sneaking suspicion that the seller knew about it and I was ‘Flim Flammed” as they say.
T.
Slant “6”, a/c, station wagon; the weight of this ride would prevent the car from moving with the a/c on.
With my past experiences with these cars – won’t touch them with a ten foot pole. Like seeing an ex-wife, in that I feel a familiar attraction, but then an immediate bout of nausea.