I’ve always considered these two wagons, the Volvo 240 and the Volare/Aspen the best of their kind from each side of the Atlantic. They’re both a very good compromise between being roomy and yet not outsized, on the outside.
Of course, I’m omitting the Mercedes W123 T wagon, as it was mighty expensive. And of course the first year or two of the Mopar twins were to be avoided, and the DiNoc is not exactly my cup of wood. But other than that, they both had a lot to recommend.
I liked the “Crinckle” style headrest of the 1980’s Volvo’s. By far the most weird thing about these cars interior (visually).
I’d take a Fairmont wagon. I have a Pinto wagon. But it’s not in the same class.
I am a fan of both. And I agree, the Volarspen wagon was a really clean design without the DiNoc, and was the only genuinely attractive model of the entire line. The slightly later M body LeBaron and Diplomat was a way to get a much nicer dash and interior on these. I can only imagine how perfect they could have been had they been built as durably as the Volvos were.
But if you are going to go with the woody look, then do it right. 🙂
Right on! I’m not ashamed in the least to say that I love those M Body T&C wagons. They’re so unabashedly tacked-on, thrown together and lux-ified in the simplest way that you can’t help but want to adopt one.
That is genuine fake wood done right. One of those Town and Country wagons can be seen in the movie “On Golden Pond”. A great flick worth seeing.
“What make of car is it?”
“I don’t know. It’s ugly and it breaks down a lot.”
“Ugly and it breaks down a lot? Sounds like a Nash.”
——-Henry Fonda, from “On Golden Pond”
I thought the most tasteful fake wood among the F and M body wagon choices, was offered on the Diplomat. The use of the chrome trim surround being more discreet than on the Volare Premiere. The lighter wood on the Diplomat looked more appealing to my eyes, as well.
God I love this particular car. I’ve seen it pop up a few times for sale. It is probably the cleanest M-body wagon out there. It has a 440 big block with the 6-pack stuffed into the front. The wheels and stance are excellent. I’d love to own it, but it would be a no-go here in California…. at least until the smog exemption laws are changed.
Here’s more on this particular car:
http://hooniverse.com/2013/09/18/wagon-wednesday-now-is-the-time-for-diplomatic-immunity-with-a-440-six-pack-option/
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Somebody just HAD to do it.
Cue the Beatles “Norwegian Wood” (okay, I know Volvo’s Swedish, but…)
10 years ago I would have chosen the Volvo and not even considered the Aspen/Volare twins…now I’m not so sure. Maybe a slant six-powered base model Aspen wagon with nothing but A/C and cloth seats, no “wood” would be a fun Saturday morning, going to the hardware store beater.
Add a factory 4sp overdrive (floor shift!) And an FM radio and you’ve got one of the cars I learned to drive on. The other being 4spd pinto. At least the pinto didn’t stall on a left hand turn
Raising the float a bit on the carb generally fixed the left hand turn issue.
I’d love to have a wagon. Even with the wood. Especially with the wood. I’ve seen the Mopar wagons with the HP wheels on them and they look great! So yeah. Woody with HP wheels and a warmed up small block. In the most 70s color to be found. Green or brown. Maybe red. With color coordinated interior and a rack on the top. That would be fun.
I had a 240 wagon of that exterior color with tan leather that I bought used with about 140,000 miles on it for $3,700. We drove it for like five years and sold it for $2,995. It was a great car, solid (and about as fast) as a bank safe. It was trouble free except for a blower motor failure that turned out to be an eight hour job to replace. My only complaint, the rocker panels were beginning to rust through.
My favorite Volvo Wagon story (which I may have shared on a different post here): Fall of 1977 Frank Sinatra is the guest host of the tonight show for the one and only time. On the next night’s “Tomorrow” show (my age is showing) Tom Snyder opens by talking about how the entire Burbank studio was buzzing with excitement waiting for Frank to arrive, expecting perhaps a motorcade or at the very least a chauffeured limousine, so it’s a bit anti-climactic when he shows up driving his own Volvo wagon.
One of our COALs was the Volaré’s twin, the Dodge Aspen wagon. Once the bugs were shaken out, unfortunately in the first model year by owner-beta testers, they were solid and reliable. In the wagon, I’d go with the 318 which was quite peppy with some discreet tuning.
The Volaspen wagons, with more weight in the rear, actually handled better in stock trim than the sedans and coupes.
The high-line ones had split seats that were comfortable and supportive, not in the hard Teutonic mould but good for all-day treks.
I’ll take a ’79 LeBaron T&C with the E58 360, deep dish wheels and every box checked.
Make it black with red leather guts.
My parents had that exact Dodge Aspen when I was a little MadAnthony. White with woodgrain.
The vinyl seats totally burned my little legs.
There is a street down the block from my office called Mad Anthony, I always wondered what the heck it meant.
Bring a Trailer is currently auctioning a super-clean Town & Country. The photo gallery is worth perusing.
http://bringatrailer.com/listing/1978-chrysler-lebaron-town-country/
Seeing that it is in Portland, I think that PN needs to go buy this. Surely Stephanie is getting tired of that Acura by now. 🙂
Well, actually she is beginning to realize that it’s not the ideal city car, being lower, wider and longer than the old Forester, and with decidedly worse visibility. But it’s great for the highway, and she’s off to CA in it tomorrow.
What she really wants is a Mercedes W123 wagon, but with modern amenities. Resto-mod? But she has a soft spot for woodie wagons too, so that T&C might well appeal. Until she actually drove it, that is. 🙂
It’s a shame there was never a wagon version of the Mercedes 190e.
Would be nice…..
My Aries…
Nice tight panel gaps; door fit is good too. I think you’ve got a keeper. 😉
Sigh. I miss my Matchbox collection.
So why choose the Volaspen over the GM A-body quadruplets of ’78? Other than the whole fixed rear windows thing, I don’t see why they’re not better cars. Styling is subjective so we’ll throw that out, but they’re far more compact in external dimensions (using the Malibu for comparison, 8″ shorter and ~300 lbs lighter) while offering virtually the same cargo space (72.4 cubic feet versus the slightly more ambiguous “over 70” for the Aspen). Power figures are nearly identical for the 305 Malibu (145/245) and the 318 Aspen (140/246). You could get an Aspen with a 360 whereas I can’t find any concrete evidence of the 350 being available on the GM side, but I wonder how many were ordered that way? And in the longevity realm, the A-bodies rusted less, and the 305 and 318 were both pretty durable.
The slant six was a more durable base engine than the 229/231 V6 options, so there’s that.
In 1978, my dad shopped the Volare/Aspen wagon versus the Fairmont/Zephyr wagons, as well as the Malibu wagon. In Canadian dollars, he was quoted $6,300 for the Aspen, $7,300 for the Fairmont and $8,300 for the Malibu wagon. Each with comparable equipment. In today’s Canadian dollars, adding inflation, that is well over $6,000 difference in price between the Aspen and Malibu wagons. For a retiree, that was a significant amount more to pay.
After test driving each wagon, he couldn’t rationalize why he wanted/needed the Malibu at that additional cost.
He bought the Aspen, with the Super Six, and it served him well into the early 1990s.
Another difference: One lasted for 3 years and the other lasts for 300,000 miles (other than the blower motor, as noted above).
Make mine, this guy…A Pontiac Grand LeMans Safari
The Aspelare/Volspen twins had that ugly high-forehead look, always hated the sedan and wagon, because of that.
I don’t mind the coupe, especially the Road Runner or Aspen R/T versions.
The Volvo may be easier to live with, reliability wise…But that car is driven by every single mom trying to run away from an abusive husband, in every Lifetime movie…YAWN.
My late mother-in-law had a late seventies Aspen wagon (yes, it had the wood grain) when my wife and I met in 1985. We borrowed it a few times to haul larger objects and, frankly, driving the beast scared me. It had an annoying habit of stalling when taking off, bad enough under the best of circumstances but frightening when trying to make a left turn across oncoming traffic. At this point I don’t really remember but the Aspen probably had the 318 V8; it was peppy enough when you could keep it running and wouldn’t have been a bad car if the stalling issues could have been sorted out.
Not long after we got married the Aspen was replaced by a fairly new Citation Eurosport wagon. Again we borrowed it several times for haulage duties and at least the Citation didn’t try to kill you by dying in traffic. I do remember that it had the 2.8 liter V6, not as peppy as the Aspen but more than adequate. As time went on my MIL drove less and less and the Citation would spend weeks sitting in the garage, something that is not good for any vehicle. Just guessing I would say that the Citation wasn’t driven 10,000 miles in the dozen or so years that my in-laws owned the car.
Come to think of it, the Scion xB seems like a good candidate for woodydom.
I had a Volvo 740 wagon with ~300000 miles on it, it was great until, one morning, it wouldn’t wake up (Thanks, Bosch Motronic 2.2).
Replaced it with a Dodge Aspen; it drives a lot like the Volvo, except for the steering wheel feeling like it’s not connected to anything. It has the 318, so LOTS more power.
Some things never change; I need to take out the dashboard of the Dodge.
The Dodge looks more like a Volga than the Volvo.
Anyone who read my coal knows that I’d take that Aspen wagon!!! But a Volvo is also very tempting.