How Detroit was lost. Those four words could serve as a current subtitle to this review that appeared 38 years ago in the April 1976 issue of Road & Track. The Plymouth Volaré was not the sort of car normally tested by Road & Track, a magazine that focused on sports cars and other vehicles built for performance rather than practicality and everyday transportation, but a Volaré wagon nevertheless received strong praise in this review. The reviewers mostly praised traditional Detroit virtues that they expected from the new Plymouth Volaré and Dodge Aspen twins, but which they would not live up to. It was part of a series of failures that would doom Chrysler Corporation before the end of the decade and drag down the reputation of the entire American automobile industry.
The expectations of Road & Track were clear from the beginning of the review, in which its editors stated, “While Road & Track may often take Detroit products to task for a variety of reasons, we also readily admit that for sure, reliable transportation, it is difficult to beat the products of Turin on the Rouge. Little in most American cars is likely to break simply through repeated use, and you have to severely abuse most Detroit iron before it even gets cranky.” They then related an anecdote about a professional race engine builder who drove a Chevrolet Monte Carlo and completely ignored any sort of maintenance for 30,000 miles until the oil idiot light became annoying. Inheriting the major mechanical systems of Dart and Valiant, the Volare promised cast-iron durability combined with reasonable size, a tall and airy roof and window design, and improved interior space and comfort. It should have been a winning formula.
Even when the test revealed design issues that put off the editors of Road & Track, they were willing to give the Volaré the benefit of the doubt. They noted the redesign of the front suspension, which switched from longitudinal to transverse torsion bars and added more rubber mounts to give a softer and quieter ride, but at the expense of vague steering and uncertain cornering. They disliked the Volaré’s ride-handling balance, citing Peugeot and Volvo as better at making that compromise, but they were willing to give some praise to its “big car ride,” which mainstream American car buyers preferred. They were even willing to set aside poor braking performance by the test car, declaring it to be a possible aberration given past performance by Chryslers and results obtained by testers at other magazines.
A strong tone of respect is evident in this review, which concludes with declaring a properly optioned Volaré to be “an excellent transportation car” and “a solid set of wheels that, given proper maintenance, could return 100,000 miles of dependable, if not terribly exciting, driving.” As we know, the story of the Volaré and Aspen instead would be one of premature rust, disappointing build quality, multiple recalls, and loss of a long-established market segment that had played a major role in sustaining Chrysler Corporation for over a decade. A decade later, automatic respect for the dependability of American automobiles would be an outdated notion, and GM, Ford and Chrysler are still struggling against public and press perception of their products as lagging behind foreign competition in quality and durability. Reading this review is a reminder of the past reputation of the Big Three and of how far they have fallen.
Note: a rerun of an older post.
Related CC reading:
1976 Plymouth Volaré and Dodge Aspen: From an A to an F – Chrysler’s Deadly Sin #1
I drove around a Volare wagon as a winter beater one year. I didn’t have it long, so I didn’t include it in my COAL series. Mine had the two barrel Super Six and in my opinion, the 318 was a waste of money. I loved the torquey feeling of the Slant Six and it got reasonable fuel economy for the era, about 18 MPG Imperial or 15 MPG for US gallons.
I was used to driving Rabbit diesels and for me, 18 MPG was terrible. I didn’t factor in that the car only cost me $500, so fuel consumption was not really a big deal. Anyway, when motorcycle season started, I sold it to my cousin for $750, a tidy profit. He drove it a couple of weeks and then wrecked it.
Bring that wagon back, minus the rust issues, out the hurricane 6 in it. I don’t care if I have a Jeep tattoo, I’d buy one.
A high school friend, who’s dad wasn’t at all good with car selections , bought his a 1979 Aspen wagon. I don’t remember much about it at school other than it replaced a 62 Dart 270 wagon.
My friend told me years later that his car prone to stalling all the time. He said he would even take his dad with him to show him how bad it was, but dad didn’t seem to care.
I thought these were a great way to move on from the Valint and Dart but Chrysler just didn’t have the money to fully bake them. I’d own an old Dart or even a Dart Brougham any day.
U can blame the lean burn system for that problem.
Friend of mine was a committed import buyer until the Volaré came along. He bought a new 1977 Volarë Premier wagon and loved it. We don’t have rust issues here on California except in salt spray areas and his wagon was tight and reliable. It would seem that assembly bugs were worked out in the first year but it was a shame that 1976 buyers became beta testers. He kept his Volaré for twelve years in California and when he retired, drove it back to his retirement home in the Appalachians where it rests in the winter while a succession of beater Japanese cars have rusted away in winter.
I kept my Aspen Custom V8 until 1998 when I was offered silly cash money for it at a car show…and at times I regret having taken the offer.
Aside from the wheels the interior and the A/C, R&T’s test car was nearly identical to the one my parents bought in the fall of 1975. The recall notices just kept coming…
That car did do one good thing: it taught me that the 904 didn’t survive reverse drops very well. It also taught me that Foltz Transmission of Rockford, IL was extremely good at diagnosing the cause as well as the problem.
The story of Detroit’s decline fascinates me. I can easily understand getting one or two cars wrong or the vagaries of recessions. I can grasp how a smaller independent can go bankrupt trying to compete. But for an entire industry to collapse, one that had been making mass-market cars for over 70 years…it’s mind boggling.
I have always given Detroit ample consideration when buying a new car but I’m a small sports car guy and they have never understood that market. I’ve had a few used American cars but nothing newer than a 1971 Cutlass. The only new American car I bought was a 1991 Escort wagon (first year for that gen). It was reliable, rust-free and served me well for ten years until I got bored of it.
My own issue simply became after having car after car after car not just have stupid stuff go wrong but the same stupid stuff, I was unwilling to accept “no, seriously, it’s better now” and have Lucy pull the football away again.
Only new Detroit-derived new vehicle I was ever involved in the purchase decision for was a Saturn L-Series, best described as competent.
That gen Escort was more Mazda than Ford.
Just look at how comfortable that front seat looks. No huge console to restrict your legs and make you feel like your lower body is stuck in a tunnel. Clean and simple dash. Just a nice looking wagon that I wish we had way more of today in place of all these boring SUV’s.
These things looked like they were 10 years old after only 1 or 2 years. Someone a couple houses over had one when I was growing up and they moved away in 1979, their Volare looked terrible for only being a couple years old. Dentside Ford trucks also seemed to be this way/
The wagons had thicker inner fenders like the police and taxi versions. Being a unibody it made a big difference.
“How Detroit was lost”, but also “How lost was Detroit?”
I cannot recall which magazine it was, but one did a review of the most basic Aspen. They called it a “plain Jane” version. And it seemed at first like that might be a good entry level car.
Then the recalls started, I heard about the stalling issues, and while I had never thought ill of a Chrysler product, dad said their bulls quality was very dicey at best.
As I’m aging, I believe I’m growing wiser or at least seeing things differently. When I read Paul’s hatred for the 71 Ford, I quickly went back remembering our 73 LTD. With my sister beefing the wheel, treating cars as badly as she dos for her whole life, and remembering how well that Brougham just kept going, I couldn’t understand.
Now, I see clearly. It wasn’t that Paul hated those as much as it was the reasoning behind Detroit for not building better quality, fuel efficient cars without all the glitz. I can only say that my sister owned two VW Bugs and the most dad would ever say is that they are dep. I also recall him pointing at a neighbor’s house and laughing at the 73 Datsun he’d bought.
It makes me wonder, then, if Detroit was just satisfying customer wants, or were they not listening to what customers were saying they wanted? It is something I’ll never understand.
I remember seeing these dead on the side of the road when new. Was it the electronic ignition? How is it possible to update a Dodge Dart and make it a turd. I’m assuming they pushed thru changes without proper testing.
I worked as a engineering co-op student during the summers of 1976 and 1977. My boss, Ken, was a terrific guy who had always been a VW loyalist. He somewhat reluctantly purchased a brand new Volare wagon sometime in late ’76; primarily because his growing family (3 kids) didn’t fit well in his wife’s VW squareback and he didn’t want to get a VW bus. As I recall, Ken’s Volare wagon was equipped with a slant 6 and 4-speed manual transmission.
The Volare turned out to be a nightmare from a reliability standpoint. It was recalled several times, and began rusting almost immediately. Ken’s wife refused to drive it because it constantly stalled and was difficult to re-start. He was somewhat embarrassed to use it to take our department out to lunch because of the driveability issues. No matter how hard he tried to feather the clutch and rev the engine, you could count on the Volare to stall at intersections, etc.
Ken was a rising star within the company, and after receiving a nice promotion he ditched the Volare after a couple of years and moved on to a Volvo wagon, which he loved.
There was an excellent CC post of a Popular Science comparison of the 1978 Volare, Zephyr, and Malibu station wagons, which were all of similar size. Of the three, they liked the Malibu best.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/vintage-reviews/vintage-review-popular-science-tests-chevrolet-malibu-mercury-zephyr-and-plymouth-volare-station-wagons-size-confusion/
My company had a ’80 Volare or Aspen (can’t remember which) stripped down to the basics (3 on the tree, slant six, A/C, vinyl seats). Chrysler was still have issues as it would overheat; yet, it had less than 30k miles on the clock. While crossing a bridge over the Mississippi River, the engine started knocking heavily on the up rap. Once we got to the apex, we turned off the A/C and let the engine idle to cool off the engine as we coasted down the incline. Based on that experience, never entertained a Chrysler product in my future car purchases.
I remember these and expected typical ‘A’ Body economy but slightly fancier .
One of my Mechanic friends wife bought a Volare wagon and he’d tell me how awful it was but never really specified why .
Then I began reading trade magazine articles about how awful they were .
Chrysler Corp. has a history of poor build quality dating back to the 1950’s but these cars were, IMO _dangerous_ ~ random stalling and hard re starting plus iffy brakes are the worst thing possible for a daily commuter vehicle in traffic .
Add in poor handling and it’s a nope .
I like handling so I don’t mind a harsh / noisy ride but unsafe is a whole ‘nother ball game .
Shame on Chry. Co. for releasing these 1/2 baked cars as end user beta test units .
-Nate