(first posted 2/4/2015. Updated 2/3/2021 with new and more images) Looks a bit like a BMW 3.0/Bavaria or Fiat 130, eh? Under that re-tailored Italian suit by Carrozzeria Fissore is a…Plymouth Volare. After Swiss Peter Monteverdi’s attempts to build powerful luxury coupes powered by big Chrysler engines in the late 60s just didn’t pan out, he turned to modifying more prosaic ones. The first was the Sahara, a tricked-out IH Scout. The second was this Sierra, cleverly re-styled by Fissore too.
The Sierra used the Chrysler 318 (5.2 L) V8 and Torqueflite automatic.
Interiors were upgraded to Italian standards, with tasteful classic round gauges set in the Volare’s dash.
The front headlight assemblies came from a Fiat 125, and the tail lights from a Renault 12. A wagon and convertible version were prototyped, but not built in production. As it is, only some twenty Sierras were built, so don’t expect to find one curbside anytime soon.
Related reading:
Monteverdi Shara and Safari and Felber Oasis – The Scout Gets Tricked Out
Whoah *mind blown*
Yes, it’s gorgeous, and it doesn’t look more expensive to me (on a volume basis) than the frumpy Aspen/Volare was.
Nice looking car. It’s too bad it was never sold in North America. I think the Monteverdi Sierra is way better looking than that of the Plymouth Volare, if not the Dodge Aspen. I believe that the Volare should’ve gotten the Sierra’s front end and the tail end.
Did the tops of the front fenders on these rust out in fifteen minutes like on stock Volares or did Fissore fix that problem?
It’s a 70s Italian body, of course not!
…More like 15 seconds 🙂
With the Chrysler mechanicals, probably a better bet than some of the luxury sedans of the era. Very nice styling too. The trick, or lack thereof, was probably to convince people that a cleverly rebodied Volare was worth….how much were they asking?
It really is a very nice, clean shape though. I think it works better with the whitewalls and more restrained wheels of the black example.
Would this be an example of putting lipstick or a pig?
Holy crap. Who knew you could make a Volare attractive?
Exactly what I was thinking.
Kind of hit me as the Lancia Fulvia’s 4 door big brother. Not sure if the 1970’s American buying public would have fallen for this car; but in my eyes that is one clean and handsome design. Very nice.
It looks like they didn’t alter the doors or the greenhouse, which makes it that much more impressive that they pulled off such a good looking rebody.
I’d be curious to know what the wheels are on the black car.
+1. Shape is well modified
Exactly right. I eyeballed the doors for a long time, and then I could see the original car very well. I think they get some help by adding a 70s-Pininfarina fascia of some sort behind the back door (compare a Peugeot 505).
tachometer is added in the dashboard which is a European plus. But I think Chrysler did a better job dressing up them as LeBaron in the interior, especially the glove box panel with optional clock and generous wood trim looks better with proper color.
But I didn’t find the radio though. Those AM-FM optional radio on LeBaron is quite a popular upgrade to most AM radio equipped originally on Aspen/Volare.
And I do hope someone is still selling the trim on the C-pillar because mine was lost most probably during a car wash… Mine isn’t Monteverdi though.
Nice looking car, really hides it’s Chrysler roots well. But if only about 20 were built, Monteverdi must have lost a fortune on these cars.
This is what the LeBaron/Fifth Avenue should’ve looked like (but keep the interior High Brougham, though)
Wow, You read my mind!
Given the Sierra’s Chrysler roots, I’d easily see a 3G Hemi being installed in this car.
I remember reading about this car on Allpar a while back. It’s a shame that Chrysler didn’t sell it in North America as a Chrysler branded car. It could’ve been their answer to Mercedes. Not that it would’ve been a true competitor, but definitely a more realistic “budget Mercedes” than the Ford Granada.
Well if it was priced anything like the Scouts it would be much more expensive than a Mercedes. IIRC the few Saharas that they imported back into the US had price tags in the $25-30K range.
I still remember the Volare tv commercial, with the Italian like guy singing ” Volare, cantari , wo wo ,,, wo wo wo wo.”
Sergio Franchi, he was the pitchman for the Plymouth Volare’ (in which the song’s actual title was El Bleu de Pinto) much in the same way Ricardo Montalban aka “Rich Corinthian Leather” was for the Chrysler Cordoba.
IIRC clearly Ricardo Montalban also drove Plymouth Volare’ Doorless Wagons prior to driving an AMC Jeep in the show.
This 1958 song was named “Nel blu, dipinto di blu” (In the blue, painted in blue), a great success from Italian composer Domenico Modugno.
Yeah, De Pinto would have been DeFord, and that would blow the entire MOPAR vibe, especially when one deplanes Di Plane !
Randy Newman’s song “Kathleen (Catholicism Made Easier)” alludes to this song at 0:48.
https://youtu.be/4ob56yvY6e0
I thought Volares were reasonably attractive when they were new, let down by indifferent assembly and a poor choice of colors. (Between the Volare and Aspen I’d rather own a Volare.)
Can’t imagine what was behind Monteverdi’s decision to re-body these cars.
Double whoah
http://www.collectioncar.com/files/1978-Monteverdi-Sierra-124921344328141.jpg
http://www.collectioncar.com/files/1978-Monteverdi-Sierra-124911344328141.jpg
It’s actually hard to believe there’s a Volare under there, the F bodies and later M bodies had such a stubby upright look to them that I don’t see at all in the Sierra, which looks lithe. Love the slot mags on the first one too.
A big improvement. I always felt the F bodies were a clean and attractive design to begin with. But this elevates them to a higher degree of elegance. Especially, the front clip.
I found the mid level Custom trim package, and the Premier/Special Edition packages on the Volare/Aspen, looked old fashioned. An example is shown below. The mid and lower beltline bodyside chrome trim was clumsy looking, and very mid 70s. Plus the trim was a source of premature rust. I like the subtle upper beltline plastic molding on these models. Much cleaner.
Interesting too, how they appeared to have extended the chrome trim (where the drip rail usually is) into the C pillar. The blacked out rocker panels help it look leaner too. Not sure if the extended black plastic bumper ends were necessary.
A subtle, yet significant improvement in design from the F Bodies IMO.
I think it’s a really good job considering the resources at hand. In another case of convergent evolution, it reminds me of another Italian job, the updated Euro-Granada. And the Granada was also an update, it was also a clever reskin on previous hardpoints. And I think Ghia did the redesign, it certainly has some flair the usual Fords don’t have, there’s just a certain litheness to it. And they debuted at almost the same time! I don’t know the release date on the Sierra, but the Ford was out in the fall of 1977.
I miss that generation of European Fords – Mk 4 Cortina, Mk 2 Granada, Mk 3 Capri and original Fiesta. All very crisp, clean designs with nice (for their time) interiors. (And previous generation mechanicals for the most part, but there you go.)
Vauxhall’s range was a mash-up of old and new; Chrysler UK was in its death throes, BL was a disaster area, and Ford ruled the roost – the real competition was French, Japanese and German (in that order).
The “Erika” Escort completed the set, then the Sierra blew the whole thing apart.
+1 why couldn’t Mopar come up with something like this?A silk purse from a sow’s ear.I confess I have a soft spot for the Volare and Aspen,not enough to buy one but I’ve started to become interested in them.I wonder what Monteverdi could do with a Volare Roadrunner
Yes, the Euro Fords from the mid-late 1970’s were beautiful. It’s funny to compare those Euro Fords with their Ghia badges and see the North American Fords with the Ghia badges. You can definitely tell who *actually* had their cars styled by Ghia…
I was in Germany in the late 70’s and when I came back to the states and told my friends about the Euro Granada, they just laughed. Of course how many teenagers had seen pix of the Euro Granada back then had to be very few. Having seen those cars and then seen the spy photos of the Fox body Mustang (and the existing Fairmont/Zephyr) gave me lots of hope for future Fords.
But then, they (US Ford) crushed my hopes anyway…
Learned of this car some time ago, but found out about its Molar roots only much later. When you look at how much is actually changed, it isn’t really all that much but really cleverly done – I mean, the doors probably fit right on a normal Aspen but that tiny bit of trim over the full length of the car makes it look so different.
They couldn’t hide its roots so well in the interior though.
The Monteverdi Sierra convertible.
The one whose photos were linked to by Dude, above, was red. Is this a different one, or is one or the other a repaint?
DAMN, that looks pretty good!
And here is the Monteverdi Sierra wagon.
SOLD. With either a 360 or a modern Hemi hooked to a manual…how awesome would that be? Keep those slot mags, too!
The rear quarter looks Aussie XDEF Falcon almost.
I like the wagon even more.
Damn…
The article has a silver sedan and a black sedan.
Here is a RED sedan.
And this could be the same black sedan with different wheels.
Or a different black sedan.
The Sierra definitely takes the F-body to a new level. This is what Chrysler should have gone with all along…as well as holding off for a year or two in order to make sure assembly quality would be up to par.
Wow what a difference a little styling makes. I saw (and loved) the wagon and the droptop….was there ever a coupe given this treatment? I don’t like sedans, but the black one and the silver one mounted on those slot mags both look pretty spiffy.
It’s not bad looking, but very generic and bland, like a “no-name car” from a car insurance advertisement. Could easily be a Peugeot, Renault or euro-Ford from the same era as well. Not that the original Apsen / Volare twins were any different in this respect from the US point of view, of course.
Agree with you ,it is a bit generic.I prefer the shape and dimensions of the Monteverdi 375/4 four door sedan.I used to look at a white with red interior one at the now defunct Australian Motor Vehicle Museum in Sydney,I never grew tired of looking at it from every angle and even though it was parked next to an early 1950s Corvette,the Monteverdi seemed very low for such a long and elegant beast.
I wonder if the generic styling was spotted by someone…
Who makes the video games, Driver 3…
Which the car should be a Diplomat…
It’s plain, but I like it. It’s like thr H-Body LeSabres- they’re nice and comfortable, but don’t scream “Look at me!”
I’ll take a station wagon in dark red, please.
I’ve known about the Monteverdi F-body Mopar conversions for a while now, and still am impressed at how good they look. Of course, if I had grown up in Europe, this may not be so impressive as it does look a bit like a lot of the contemporary cars there.
In addition these things were NOT inexpensive, either there or here (if any made it to North America). I have to imagine that they were sold on exclusivity and status and not on technical specifications.
Imagine trying to sell an exclusive car with a push rod engine and an archaic rear suspension… Oh wait, the contemporary Rolls Royce featured that… Ah well…
Who knew that the F / M body that rolled around as one of the Broughamiest of Broughams in the form of the Chrysler Fifth Avenue could look like a credible European car? Most custom efforts like this just don’t work, but this is a nice surprise. The fact that they tweaked the rear quarters – something Chrysler frequently was not willing to do between F / M models, really finishes it out.
The front end reminds me of a Jensen Interceptor. Not having 5mph bumpers helps but I can see it still looking good with larger but not battering ram bumpers.
I like the styling of the Monteverdi Sierra. It’s a shame that some of its styling cues never made it to the Plymouth Volare.
Front end resembling a Jensen Interceptor , rear lights are exactly a loan from Renault 12 Edition II , coachwork based on Plymouth Volare . At the first glance this (Monteverdi) car looks a puzzle .
Ok, what is the “choke/throttle” knob sticking out of the dash just to the left of the spedo?It is not the brake release, nor hood release.
Could it be an actuator for some remote power driver door mirror control repurposed from something else? Being behind the steering wheel necessitating that stalk to be useable?
I believe it’s a high-beam “flash to pass” lever. Odd looking for sure, but the Volare would not have been equipped with this common-in-Europe feature at the time.
MMMMMMM 8 Track player………..Dig it !!
It would be fun to take this to a Mopar show in the US. Even after all these years I scratch my head at why they did this to a Dodge Aspen but I guess some suspension tuning, engine tuning and a bit of extra quality control would make it a better car.
What the squack?! Wow.
That’s a much nicer looking exterior, much better seats, and look, look, the rear passengers, too, are protected from whiplash! But the instrument panel looks, erm, slapdash—like something Harvey Hobbyist threw together with JC Witless gauges and a can of black spray paint. And while they were chucking those ugly (but at least usefully large, unlike the round stockers) black plastic sideview mirrors on, couldn’t they please have done something better than those thrown-on factory door handles?
I’m glad others have raised the idea of comparing and contrasting Italian quality versus the original Chrysler build job. Means I don’t hafta. 😇
And then Monteverdi made the Hai model with power sourced from the 426 Hemi!.