Regular Car Reviews: 1980 Dodge Aspen
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2024
- “Aspen and Volaré were introduced in 1975, but they should have been delayed a full six months. The company was hungry for cash, and this time Chrysler didn't honor the normal cycle of designing, testing, and building an automobile. The customers who bought Aspens and Volarés in 1975 were actually acting as Chrysler's development engineers. When these cars first came out, they were still in the development phase.
“Looking back over the past twenty years or so, I can't think of any cars that cased more disappointment among customers than the Aspen and the Volaré. … But the Aspen and the Volaré simply weren't well-made. The engines would stall when you stepped on the gas. The brakes would fail. The hoods would fly open. Customers complained, and more than three and a half million cars were brought back to the dealers for free repairs - free to the customer, that is. Chrysler had to foot the bill.” ---Lee Iacocca, Iacocca: An Autobiography (pg. 160)
So this is the official horror movies car that always refuses to start.
VEC7ORlt This
I know for a fact if I ever make a horror movie, it would be set in the desert and there would be Dodge Aspens as far as the eye could see.
VEC7ORlt It makes so much sense now. Me being a starry eyed youth, thought it was ridiculous that cars reliably wouldn't start, but low and behold here is the Aspen.
You don't know the half of it!! Watch virtually ANY movie from the 60's, 70's and well through the 80's even into the 90's..... if the movie or TV show is using that "car won't start" trope, they will ALWAYS use the Chrysler gear reduction starter sound clip. Even if they're trying to start a Chevy Malibu, it'll sound like a Chrysler. Only Chrysler starters sound like Chryslers (due to the gear reduction) - it's a very particular whiny sound.
It's hilarious. I've even seen TV shows where they're trying to start a Toyota or Datsun and the sound they play when they try to start the car is the Chrysler sound.
Shane Smith you're assuming that there would be enough left. "as far as the eye can see, if you're blind!" haha
I think you need to sign on with Rockstar and have your own in-game Radio/TV show in GTA.
Trevor Cowles 😍yes
That would be amazing.
he could review fictional cars
Floyd Looney I'd pay money for that
MAKE THIS HAPPEN
I showed this to my dad because he had a 1970something Dart, and he said, "That looks like what we had!" then you mentioned the Slant 6, and he went, "That's what we had." Then you mentioned Vapor Lock, and he said, excitedly again, "That's what we had!"
Thank you.
119fatty Nice! What did he say when I gave Patrick the Poop-Call?
I'd showed him the lawnmower one before, which is one of my all time favorites, and so during this one he said, "What? Does this guy shit in every video?"
Yeah I know 2 years late for the show. But which video is the lawnmower one you're talking about?
Yardman
"The Dodge Aspen makes arriving a victory." genius
+Joe Gavin ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
We've all had cars like that
@@rockabillycat1954 My old roommate had a car like that. Survival was a victory, much less arriving...
Once talked to someone who had a 12 year old -"Ass Pit"- Aspen (so this had to be the late 80s - early 90s) and he hit the brakes, and got nothing. He said that he had to weave though traffic with luck and low gear, then when the car was looked into, its brake caliper pins were pulled out.
Is there any chance whatsoever that this is possible, is the design of the brakes different on these?
(And yes, he did joke about it as an "Ass Pit" car.)
You should make more creepy phone calls to automotive personalities. Put one in every video
***** I'd love to!
RegularCars I hope not. It did not creep me out or make me laugh. It also had nothing to do with the car you where reviewing. It seemed like one of those look who I know type of moments. I watch for the car reviews. I say stick to that.
Ryan Hudson
How about no? These parts are very funny and make RCR what it is. Go watch SaabKyle if you like dry reviews of every car ever made.
Ryan Hudson
You must be new here. The weird thing about turning 30 is that the inside of my belly button doesn't smell like a Calcutta porta-potty anymore. Seriously. Everyday was a bacteria-rager in there. I mean, I still have gas. and OH god I farted just now again. It's hot. My farts are HOTTTTTT. I have to go to the background and test-wipe because I don't know what collateral damage may come. Ever have farts to bad they interrupt masturbation? I mean, I'm already leaning back in my computer chair. It's like they're funneled up past my Bodygrommed penis, right into my nose.
Ryan Hudson
That's what makes this show so hilarious! If you want lame attempts at humor go watch Motor Trend videos.
I had a 77 Volare, the trunk was so rusted out that I lost a full sized spare tire threw the gapping rust hole.
68Barracuda11s You could see the road through the trunk, that's why I sold it to a junk yard for $400 bucks.
Did someone notice and steal it though?
It fell out
1969L78Nova must have run on magic and tires.
james pringle me too on a 76 Aspen on each side of trunk king size rust holes
I just found these, these reviews are fucking insane, and they keep getting better and better. Some of this stuff is just fucking brilliant.
sidefx996 Welcome! how did you find me?
RegularCars Grew up with old Vettes and was surfing some Vette videos and I think I saw the 88 vette video and then proceded to watch several hours of these while working lol.
+sidefx996 you sir are a shitty worker with great taste
+sidefx996 Since he asked, I might as well throw in my first discovery of this channel as my opinions are identical. Plus it's fitting, in that it was another dodge video; the Neon SRT4.
Is this Marge Simpson's car?
The slant-six is the engine for the apocalypse, nothing can stop that old beast. If you are one of the types that wants to get a car to keep in storage at a secluded location in the middle of the forest, just in case society collapses, get a Chrysler with a slant six, if you can manage it, one with the manual transmission. a close contender would be the AMC straight 6 four liter.
MrAtaristic or the .307 Olds V8 out of a late 80s GM B-body.
+twotailedavenger or the Ford 300 straight six. Say what you want about Ford, those things do not die.
84Bronco351 Other good "apocalypse cars"
include but are not limited to:
-Any Honda Accord
-Early 90s Ford Panther-body
-RWD Volvos (240 especially)
An old Iron Duke. Quite a few unkillable engines were made. Just remember they have to have a carburetor and no EFI.
You guys are forgetting motorcycles. If there is a societal collapse wouldn't you want to get through all the panic traffic?
"This is a 1980 Dodge Aspen."
_CLUNK_
"OOOOHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
Don't knock the Slantsix. It may be weird, but it always starts. It will always get you home. The trick to starting it is to pump the gas pedal 12 times and then hold it to the floor. Keep it held down when it catches until you have all cylinders. It'll drive like it has a governor until it warms up. I've gotten a slantsix to start at 40 below without being plugged in. They're amazing and also have absolutely no power. They always start.
That phone conversation with Patrick George was gold.
"conversation".
*_MY POOP IS GOING ON A WATERSLIDE_*
I love the way jalopnik thinks someone other than me invented the front mounted powerpack with the front wheel drive transmission between the front wheels, and engine just ahead of the firewall, for neutral handling, and a complete unit that can be bolted up into the body with quick connectors, thanks to all being contained in a tube steel subframe. Yeah. I did that
Sure the /6 has problems, but I would argue no modern engine comes close to the burtality that engine could endure. I had a truck with a /6 that hadn't moved in ages I pulled it out of the field it was sitting in and drove it almost like a daily. The only major parts I had to change were the carb, replacing it with the same carb re manufactured, and a starter. The beast was bullet proof. Also, due to its compactness and the fact every car that had a /6 had a V8 option, you had massive amounts of clearance to work on that engine in the event anything did every need to be repaired. I love the /6 despite its flaws and eccentricity.
Like burning oil and such low compression it wouldn’t hold our 1977 Dodge Tradesman on the slightest of inclines at only 50,000 miles? Maybe ours was built on a Friday... but it was the epitome of Maliase Era vehicles that I remember from personal experience.
@@Bartonovich52 That has to be a really worn out Slant. They are very capable engines, and it shows in how long they were used.
Modern engines last 300k plus miles and don't burn oil. This thing will go 80k and die
@@catinthehat5140 what car was your slant six in?
@@catinthehat5140 what car was your slant six in?
My brother bought a '76 Volare from an estate sale. 48,000 miles on the clock and damn near everything was original. AM radio with a single speaker in the dashboard. No slant-six, this had a proper 318. Car rode like it was on a cloud and I can assure you the steering effort really was a one finger job.
We wound up destroying the 7.25 rear-end from too many burnouts. Twice.
Matthew VandenBerg love the 318
I knew someone years ago who owned a 76 Aspen R/T with the 360
Why did you do that?
That 318 would have run forever if you had not abused the car
One finger steering, so your 12 year old could be your designated from the local sketchy bar.
How Patrick George kept a straight face for that long is a modern mystery.
He wants to laugh
I remember hearing tales of the Slant 6's legendary durability.. such that when they were doing infomercials in the 90s at 2am for some miracle oil additive that was so good you could drain all the oil out of it and dump sand on the valves and it would keep running because this additive was AMAZING... GUESS WHAT ENGINE IT WAS!?..
This is how Top Gear USA should be like.
I'm trying to imagine a version of UK Top Gear but it's Regular Top Car Gear Reviews.
Both my vehicles have AM only radios. You get caught up on your talk radio in rural areas like the one I live in lol
The "Every cop stake out in 80's-90's gangster movies" car.
This mopar is best mopar
yes
as a proud owner of a garage housed aspen, I can assure IT ISNT! an Horizon is way better... which I also like a lot
Eonin HD
Eonin HD
Noooo that Plymouth Horizon was
You can't just get into that car and not check the back seat for an Italian man with a length of wire.
So that's where that trope came from....
I had a 79 Volare with a slant 6. It didn't have enough power to pull a greasy string out of a cat's ass, but the engine way out lasted the car.
You think that's bad, it was still the base motor in the 1987 D/W Series pickups (with a 2bbl carb and 110hp)
Thank you for that phrase, it was a new one for me. Pulling a greasy string out of a cats ass. Thanks again
the one side view mirror on the dodge aspen reminds me of that bathroom mirror that girls use to pluck their facial hairs
HI CYR ILY
cyriously?
You watch regular car reviews?
Cyr?
For real 🤣
I just love how Patrick is doing everything he can to not burst out laughing.
He did something I never could.
amen, I'd be dead quickly lol
Guys. I seriously can't make it through my Monday morning without you.
Slant 6 was truly bulletproof, especially the pre emission versions had some good torque, but your point about vapor lock, hell yeah, I remember flooring my 75 Dart on a warm day after sitting to get it started, also it hated wet days, take your foot off the gas, stall!
LOL
The carb heat soak is supposed to be worse in the reformulated gasolines that we have now because of emissions regulations. Adding alcohol is said to cause the fuel to evaporate faster from the carburetor bowl. You can replace the metal fuel line to the carb with a rubber hose and install a heat shield under the carb. A carb actually needs heat to properly vaporize the fuel, all of the carbed inline sixes have this arrangement. If the carb had been on the opposite side of the motor it would need an exhaust crossover to heat the carb, which is how its done on a v8. Often the flapper valve in the exhaust manifold gets stuck on the slant six. Once the motor is at operating temperature the valve should close. The short is, shade tree fixes can address this common problem.
The 1976 Aspen was Motor Trend's Car of the Year. The engine was fine. About 100HP on a good day. But my dad must have gone through four starter motors. Oh, and in the base 1976 Aspen, a radio was an option (forget the base AM).
That was a 70's Chrysler thing. My parents had 4 starter put on their '72 Baracuda until they traded it for a Mustang II in '76. In hindsight, it seems so wrong in my book to make that kind of a trade but they still say it was a smart decision.
Gary Blatt mopar starters had a reduction gear. thats the sound you hear after the engine is running. it's like an under drive to aid the starter. most starters fail because of worn bushings which are an easy fix but shops would rather charge labor and parts.
i had a 79 Volare with the 225 6 "Super Six"and it was loaded, AC,cruise,power windows and the 3.08 axle with tow package (it had a reese hitch)....it had over 300,000 miles when i bought it in 2000...i put 175 miles a day on it, 5 days a week for 4 years and all i did was change oil,tires and brake pads and a set of plugs 1 time. I sold it at almost 510,000 miles for 750 dollars,which is what i paid for it, in 2005..still ran fine. It never "vapor locked" because it was the 2bbl "super six"...it even got about 30 mpg highway. These were good cars if you did your maintenance. They still can be
that has a different carberator
Mine was an '80 Volare, and that had the 225 6 "Super Six" too. But it wasn't as loaded as yours.
My neighbor had a 1979 Volare Brougham Two tone Green with green int 225 Super Six Alum wheels Auto PS/PB Bucket seats A/C Tilt wheel Cruise Control Am/FM CB and 8 track combo rear defrost Power mirrors and Power Driver's Seat Power Locks no Power Windows. Everything back then was added on options at an extra cost. My dad brought the car in 1990 for 450.00 with 89k miles mint shape> we cleaned it up and sold it for 1500.00 It was a rust free and gauged kept as well. If I remember correctly with all the options including a Vinal Top was less than 8,900 new. 318 V-8 was a 169.00 option if you got the Slant 6 choice of two engines Chrysler gave a credit of 79.00. Every option still worked including the A/C
what the fuck was that phone call
Fantastic.
+Underdose brown gold!
Had a 1980 Aspen with 318. Was a police car then a taxi. Bought for $350 at an auction in 1987. Never lost a race versus any car in high school. Great car. Only problem was rubber fuel hose would kink when hot and would not start until it cooled. So my dad put in a metal fuel line. Miss it much
I have a Smith and Wesson mountain bike.
Oh the shame....
hahaha really???? thats awsome, you got your special moment out of it. it finally paid off!
Is it a . 38 or . 44? Special or Magnum? Bicycles ARE revolvers, after all! 😜
I learned to drive on an older wagon model of the same generation. Solid car. Parents paid $500 for it in 1992 and was in great shape. Kept it two years without issue. Then sold it to some one else.
Thank you Mr Regular. I just got a 1980 Dodge Aspen today, this review sealed the deal for me.
I laughed at the AM radio. Those went on longer than you'd think. My parents' '89 Ford Aerostar had an AM radio.
Say what you want this guys aspen is in a lot better condition than some people's cars that are less than ten years old, and the slant 6 will last longer. That's only if you manage to survive a crash in this thing...
You think that car is in good condition? I couldn't peel my eyes off the front right corner, which is sagging like a half-century old wood porch
TwistedKestrel paints fine and chrome is "eh" which says something in comparison to "midlife crisis' wife's" pt cruiser with the bush scratches. There is the rust problem, I'll give you that. This guys kept that aspen in a lot better condition than most
Paris France It was a Florida car originally, probably owned by some retired grandma so thats why the rust is minimal but it could be worse.
*****
can't argue, drove down to florida recently and the amount of rust, or lack thereof, surprised me
TwistedKestrel I think a lot of them came from the factory that way (grin). Actually, overspray of paint and other "fitting issues" were pretty common in 1980.
Best line in here: "This car makes ARRIVING a victory"
Just got home from work and i see this in my feed, perfect.
This is one of my personal favorites...I love when you do vintage "driver" cars...especially as an owner of a vintage "driver". Meaning an OLD car that is being driven, not an old car that is a classic :)
It's the Ultimate Generic Car. I have never seen anything more bland.
Volvo.
Fairmont!
RevengeofGothzilla Why? because Volvo!
But You could always spot a Volvo though, they had a unique look. The fairmont/Aspen and other boring cars like them were damn near interchangeable!
Try a late 90's buick century.
Loved it!!! When I was a little kid my grandmother use to have a Dark Green 2 door 76 Aspen with Lite Baby Shit Green interior. We took on a cross country trip to Walt Disney World in 1985 and it over heated on us the way home. Then my mother tried to cool it down by emptying the ice chest on the engine... Unfortunately all she did was completely put it out of its misery while leaving us stranded hundreds of miles from home... What a mess...
Review the Cavalier. A 1990's one. I would die happy
Yep the Z34 version. LOL
The Z24 Cavalier was pretty cool. The 1986 one rocked the socks.
***** That's a Lumina/Beretta. You mean the Z24, baby!
Yea typing error oops. Lumina Z34 and the Beretta was a z26. My buddies mom had a Mystic Blue 95 z26 Beretta. Those things were cool. I really liked the wheels on them.
*****
@dcinhere
Lumina. A boring car that had an even more boring Nokia cell phone named after it.
I had a 77 Aspen with the 318. It drove fine, even when on fire.
I feel like there's a story that needs to be told here........
Mr Regular, the Slant 6 is the PERFECT RCR engine. You really missed the boat on this one. C'mon. Made from 1960-1989 with almost no changes. Designed to be cast in aluminum but cast in steel instead. Slanted engine means longer intake runners which means more torque. Heated carb means better mileage. Undisputed "most reliable engine ever made" champion of ALL TIME! How could you miss that?!? Check out your own BMW M3 video and look at that engine - notice any similarities?
***** I was circumcised by a functional alcoholic.
"Heated carb means better mileage"........eeeehhhhhhh, sort of, it was to help atomize the fuel so it all burned to lower HC and CO emissions, cuz that was all the rave, the downside is......well no power........and now that Ive read what I just said I feel like a dick/car bore!
RegularCars I have to question if you're a functioning drunk 30
Kip Amore I agree on the slant six but the body construction was poor.
The people who bought these cars were not interested in power! They wanted basic, reliable transportation. The Slant Six provided just that and more. It was a favorite of taxi fleets for years because of it's longevity and economy.
80hp I think you're being generous.
Leroy Butts 90 horsepower actually. Ninety horsepower from a six cylinder engine! WTF Chrysler?!
The Leaning Tower of POWER!
+disturbedrocks1996 reliability.
+GenickbruchTube I'll take changing the fuel filter a bit more often for more than ninety horsepower
+Leroy Butts The bases had 90, and with the super six option you could have 100! The long stroke of the engine meant it had about 170 lb-ft of torque, more than enough to move most cars in Chrysler's fleet at a reasonable pace.
Making Mondays more tolerable since, uh, some point about two years ago. I think.
only a year. regularcars is a very new show. and i agree
Thank you! I almost forgot that Chrysler’s used to be known to make the best power steering pumps in the world
One of the best episodes ever. You sure made Pittsburgh look nice. I know, I live here.
Doesn't seem that bad. Then again, I'm spoiled living in Vancouver, BC
Naoto Shirogane I like it, it's pretty nice here.
***** insert reference about nice sports stadiums
Pgh is awful and full of sports nuts lol.
TJC450
Oh god, not the sports nuts! They're worse than the Bloods, the Crips, MS17, and the Latin Kings!
And I'm sure they're more vicious than the ones in boston and New York combined!
If that's your biggest complaint about a city, I'm going to say it's doing pretty alright.
My cousin and I one night had one of those going literally, literally 100 mph down a dirt road, ran the stop sign where it intersected a highway. Did a dukes of hazzard launch over the highway and also cleared the railroad tracks that ran parallel to the highway. We were thrown up into the roof since we had no seat belts on. No damage to the car whatsoever. That was in 1993. The highway at that time was a 2 lane but has since been widened into a 4 lane.
The trade school I attend has 2 Slant 6 Rams, As Demo Cars for Automotive students.
My dad drove one of these in the early 80's when I was a wee lad. I remember we road tripped it to Disney Land. My dad said it had over 200000 miles when it died...
I'd have one! I think it looks pretty cool.
***** no
Lextube hey lex aka figureight
My Stoner Mind ayyyy
It looks cool up until you haven't seen a proper American car...
...like a 1980 Chevette.
How nice to see one of them again. In 1980 Peru purchased that car for Police use. My dad being involved with the actual government at the Ministry of Security, he had a Dodge Aspen assigned for him. Cars like Dodge Aspen were a novelty in these days as our market had been closed for foreign cars for long time. Thank you for bringing me back to childhood days riding in what then was my dad's assigned car.
The slant six had a few design flaws for sure. But a few cheap upgrades and you have yourself a great motor. A few more and you're cranking out 300hp.
By the late '90's, my dad's 1980 Plymouth Volare was nearly 20 years old and had well over 400,000 km's on it and it was STILL running on the original engine and transmission without any mechanical failures. The only parts he replaced on that car was the starter solenoid, and he installed a new set of leaf springs and did some front end work in the tie rods and ball joints.
Whenewer i see one of your videos anywhere on youtube, i end up binge watching RegularCars for hours :)
I've been watching video for like 5 years... To this day nothing beats that curb hit into. Legendary
"The Dodge Aspen is for a man who's seen some things and he sips Boilo while coasting along Route 78 on a desperate journey to forget"
Completely accurate! Had a 1981 Dodge Diplomat, basically the same car, impossible to start, top speed maybe 80 mph with a tail wind, rusted away at 86,000 miles....but it was a big, cool boat.
I started my automotive apprenticeship in 1985 and replaced many differentials in these cars and other similar Dodge vehicles. I think the differential internals were biodegradable.
My dad bought a 1980 Plymouth Volare with the slant 6 in 1996. It was the most dependable car he's ever owned to date. We drove the Volare from Toronto to Newfoundland (a 4 day drive,) without any incidents or failures. The engine was slow getting up to highway speed, but once it got revved up, it was unstoppable. We simply called it the BEAST. The Volare's only notable flaw worth mentioning was it was very difficult to start in our -25 degree Toronto winters. After sitting outside overnight, the Volare often took anywhere from 10-25 minutes of cranking before it would start... but once it DID finally start and warmed up, it never stalled and it ran like a top. Honestly, I've had other cars that were much more expensive, better looking and that claimed to be "luxury" models and the 1980 Plymouth Volare was far more reliable than most other cars we've had in the family.
hey... you said Volaré wrong.
vo-lar-ay
+Evan B Volarayy lmao
isn't Vo-lar-ay Italian for "To Fly"
The accent mark over the e clearly indicates that it's not silent. Just like how resume and resumé are two clearly different words. (But you can never trust people who spell it résumé but then don't pronounce the two accented es the same way. They clearly don't know how to word.)
Dean Martin. Volar'e
Hey, I have a 1978 Volare and love the crap out of it! Similar colors to this Aspen, love the video. Can't understand why people can't pronounce the name.C'mon Mr Regular, you're an educated man, everybody listen to Dean Martin' s rendition of "Nil pinto di blu" you'll never get the pronunciation wrong again! Tjanks again for the review!
Some how the Aspen is still one of my favourite cars you've reviewed. I just love the generic car shape it has. It's like Chrysler came out of the 60's forgetting it's stylish pasts and hadn't hit the brand awareness of the 1980s yet. Such Nondescript design could be celebrated in this day and age.
Why oh why, have I spent years on the interwebs and have never across this feast for the senses. By the Lord's of Light, I salute you funny car man, I salute you.
i cannot get enough of those first 5 seconds
My family had a Dodge Aspen that my dad described as "buzzard puke green". It had no AC and the plastic seats were torture if it sat in the sun for any length of time, so of course we used it for summer road trips. Dad made us pat the dashboard and say "Nice car. Good car." in the hopes that it would listen and not break down on us 200 miles from home. When we managed to coast over the 200k mile mark we had to stop, get out and take a picture to commemorate the occasion.
"This car makes arriving a victory." Could not have said it more perfectly.
Aspen didnt fail. It was poorly built its first year 1975 but it was a volume seller for 5 years.
20 mpg is a generous assessment. Had an Aspen in high school. Although it had its misgivings, it was legend.
It looks great, like some random car from 70s action movie. Too bad its so shitty under the hood...
Exactly, this a car a plainclothes 1970's TV detective would plow into five cars, three guardrails and a tree and walk away with no fucks given.
Not -that- shitty. Actually, the V8 was pretty decent, as fast as a Corvette of its time.
Mike Cronis That said a Corvette of that time was about as fast as waiting for the bus...
+inudude15 When a Subaru BRZ has more power and weights less. You done fucked up (I know I'm comparing cars that are nearly 40 years apart but still)
Jermaine Riley ONE OF US! ONE OF US!
Patrick George’s face and silence during the whole thing is the best part
What a lovely piece of crap.
My aunt had a 1977 Dodge Aspen SE coupe. I can't remember now whether it had a 3.7 litre slant six engine, or if it had a V8 engine powering the car. But I remember her enjoying the car very much. It was more reliable than its reputation makes it out to be. I remember hers having an AM/FM radio, something not many cars of the time came with, you had to order it.
had a 1976 Dodge Aspen 4 door sedan with the 225 slant six with auto trans and the engine outlasted its rustbucket body.
I've never seen the slant 6, a legendary engine in its own right so brutally eviscerated
I like the term Leaning tower of power. I loved that engine.
The ford 300 cubic inch i6 in its carbureted version has intake and exhaust on the same side and doesn't have any of those problems and everyone loves that engine
The only thing is that's a truck engine
Hahah true! I have a slant six in my 67 plymouth valiant and sometimes you have to pump the gas while cranking to start the car. The slant six is one of the best engines made. Reliable, bullet proof, efficient, and they last forever!
Mr. Regular: No one, NO ONE want's a small car that isn't a Honda Civic. Buyers want Trucks, SUVs and CUVs. The market has spoken.
You are correct. Unfortunately, in the us, demand is for Cuvs and SUVs. The move away from sedans to taller sedan based wagons is a well recognized trend. And learning from GM, having a full line up across every brand is in the past too. Dodge may never get a small car again, they seem to be the company's performance brand.
I guess all of those Ford Focuses and Volkswagen Golfs I see are imaginary.
ford's best selling vehicles are the f150 and the ford escape
I still like sedan-based land yacht station wagons. I'm in a minority, I suppose. Either that or I don't exist for the new car market.
These are anti enthusiasts cars
Just bought a 1966 Plymouth Fury with the same 225 slant 6. This thing doesn't haul, but it is definitely a good engine. Almost as bullet proof as the AMC 4.0 straight 6. It's already at 108k on the tac.
That Patrick George cameo! :D
My first car was a 1979 Plymouth Volare. Keep doing the lords work. #godspeed
You guys need to do a Saab Sonett!
Amesie's Automotive Corner The sonett Was a one of a kind road race car.
My dad purchased a 78 Plymouth Volare station wagon with a slant 6 2 bbl carb.
These engines are virtually indestructible as my dad neglected maintenance for the first 60 000kms. ( no oil changes up to this mileage and the engine internally was still strong). We traveled a lot in this vehicle and racked up over 320 000kms in our southern Ontario climate.
We didn't have the typical f body ills on a regular basis. the only major repair we did on this vehicle is replaced the carburetor when it was near 4 years old.
We owned it for 12 years before we sold it to a friend who kept the vehicle running for a few more years!
God that intro and I'm already busting a gut.
My Uncle had a 76 Volare' wagon new, and was in the military and actually took that car to Germany in the late 70's. He'd sent me this story some years ago., and it really shows the state of these cars back in the 70s. Long but fun interesting read. Enjoy!
From my Uncle Lloyd:
Hey Mike,
I learned a lot about car repair with the 1976 Volare Station Wagon that we drove over there in Germany. That was in the middle of Chrysler's cheap shot at meeting emission requirements and their previously good running engines were suddenly low power and poor running. The worst, and down right dangerous characteristic, was when you pulled out into traffic from a stop sign. The car would surge away from the stop sign for about a half of a second, just enough to get you directly into oncoming traffic, then stall. After hesitating for 1 to 2 seconds, it would again rev up and be on it's way. Making the problem worse, the more you tried to accelerate, i.e.. the farther you initially pushed down on the accelerator, the worse and longer it would stall.
I had a set of tune-up tools, left over from my Corvette racing in California, including timing light, dwell meter and vacuum gauge, and went to work on the Volare (bought it in Poplar Bluff, MO and shipped it to Germany with less than 1000 miles on it). Normally, you have vacuum distributor advance on a carburetor engine, which advances the timing as soon as the carb is off idle. The vacuum port hooked to the distributor has no vacuum at idle, but immediately has several inches of vacuum when the carb starts to open. This immediate advance in timing gives the engine an immediate power boost before the increase flow of air and gas through the carb can reach the cylinders. When I started watching the timing on the Volarie, I noticed that the timing actually retarded when you first opened the carb. I could not believe this at first so I hooked my vacuum gauge to the port on the carb where the distributor hose was attached and sure enough, there was actually vacuum at idle, which would immediately go to zero when the carb opened, but would then slowly recover over a 1-2 second period. So the factory configuration was to time the engine with vacuum present, which would then retard when you opened the throttle, which would not burn the fuel completely when the throttle first opened, but that reduced the initial surge of Nitrous Oxide gases on acceleration. And as a byproduct, the car would stall. Amazing and dangerous!!
My solution was to try other, blocked off, ports on the carb and sure enough, I found one with no vacuum at idle, but immediately had a jump in vacuum when the carb butterflies were opened, and continued to increase in vacuum as the engine revved up. I'm sure this was the port used in the past before the pressures of emissions controls. So I rerouted my vacuum hose to the distributor and retimed the engine and all of a sudden I had a 318 that ran like a charm, with no hesitation. I made this same change for several other people who were afflicted with mid 70's Chrysler cars as this configuration was common on both their 6 and 8 cylinder engines.
While I'm on a roll concerning the Volare, while in Germany, found that the car would not hold front end alignment in camber and caster. Turns out the upper A arms did not have the grooved surfaces that were common on front ends so no matter how tight you tightened the bolts on the camber/caster adjustment, after a few hundred miles, the front wheels would have negative camber and who knows where the caster would be. I could actually get factory warranty service on that car in Germany, but at the time there was no factory fix for this so the German mechanics, who laughed about the poorly built American cars, aligned the front end then tack welded it in place. It stayed this way until I returned to the states and the factory finally put out a recall.
If you remember one of my other emails, this is the same car that would overheat when I got back to the US and started to pull my 20' boat, even after installation of an oil cooler and transmission cooler.
About 2 years after we moved to GA, I was washing this car one evening and felt a lump behind the right front wheel down low on the fender. I thought it must be gum or something but got a flash light to look and found it was a big bubble under the paint. My Volare was rusting from the inside out!! This also turned out to be a recall item. The front fenders had pockets where dirt and moisture would collect but did not drain. So Chrysler put two new front fenders on the car. A few months later, I found similar bubbles under the paint behind the rear wheels. That's when I went down and ordered the deep blue Olds 98 Regency Sedan "mafia car". I think it was a 1982 but it looked like the one in your other email. Now THAT was a great car!
That Volare was a real jewel. I believe there were 7 major recalls on that car while I owned it, and it was the last Chrysler product for my lifetime.
Forgive the long message.
LT
As someone that owns a 2013 Dodge Dart, it is definitely not a small car. Chrysler wants to call it a small car, but it isn't. It's just about as roomy inside as the 2008 Chevy Malibu that my girlfriend's dad has. And it is a bit of a porker at 3200lbs. I couldn't live with a Ford interior or a non-Uconnect infotainment system, so the Dart was it for me. At least it's a pretty entertaining drive, and the exhaust note is really great (1.4 turbo). Helps to lessen the sting of catastrophic depreciation.
I don't know if Dodge will get a really small car? I would think Fiat wants people to buy the 500. I don't know if they'll want people to have to choose between the 500 and a small Dodge. Maybe they could get away with a 4-door version of the 500 that isn't the 500L?
hahaha...Dude,that analogy between Franz Ferdinad's and Dodge Aspen's fate was pure crazy brilliant.You are the only one who caries the torch of truly free and funy autmotive journalism.You should be on Top Gear US,not those muppets.Greetings fom Serbia!
This is one of those cars that you can still get on Craigslist for $300 running and driving -_-
benjamin bonilla WHERE?!
Goat Boy Now, I'd like to know too. I had a 1980 Plymouth Volare back in the early-1990's, and the OP has made me reconsider one as a future purchase.
That says it all there are still some of them out there i had 5 or6 of them when i started driveing in 1986 some of them cost $100.00 but they still ran well just rusted out for a 16 teen year it was a great cheap car i have many good memories in the Aspen and Volare
I remember back in 2002, here in Phoenix, someone was selling a running 75 Dart Sport (Duster clone) with a 318 4bbl and a 4 Speed for $2,500. If I had had the dough at the time, I would have bought it
I had a 77 Aspen wagon as a young married in the early 90's, It was actually as dependable of a car as you could possibly ask for. Had the 225 Super Six, so two barrels, after a quick carb kit, thing ran perfect and got respectable mileage, and made me about twice what I paid for it. Got hit where I worked, the company was self insured so I went and got 3 estimates (smashed quarter) they cut me a check for $1400, and I sold it as is for $600 which the new owner was very happy with. So win win.
Damn! Nice new rendition of Angie in the end.
This explains why I saw so many 1976 Aspens and Volare's for sale in the local paper (no eBay, no CraigsList back then) in 1977. A church friend of mine and her husband bought a new Aspen in 1977. They went through four transmissions on it. A guy at a car show a couple of years ago told me that it was "because the children (employees) were running the company".
it isnt a mid 1970s design...it is late 1960s design....no different from the 1967-69 Dart or Valiant
Wrong! Only the drivetrain is similar, the body is a completely different design.
@@stephendavidbailey2743 body ok but engine transmission are the same
@@gaguy1967 I love A-bodies - owned three over the years - but the Aspen and its brothers are much better cars. They had to be, to compete.
@@stephendavidbailey2743 they were awful..dart were even better
I love how timeless rcr is, I didn’t even realize this video was 10 years old
Trevor Philips is pretty particular about his cars.
In every old movie with a car chase where a hubcap goes knifing off into the middle background, this is the car the cops in the chase slam into when overshooting a turn the main character cleverly makes at the last minute
DAT TOILET SCENE DOE
I've owned a slant for a while now, and I have never experienced any kind of vapor lock. The slant 6 is among the most indestructible and most reliable engines to ever have been made.
YES, the slanted tower of power!
Try to make a 1979-81 trans am video review and also this car is less annoying then a honda civic.
I like 73's
Honda Civics get a bad rap from all the people that ruin them with the Fast and Furious treatment. In stock, or reasonably stock form, they're actually great cars.
splewy I agree with you on that front despite my own personal experience.
My girlfriend had a 2003 dx sedan from high school until she graduated college. It had 240,000 miles and still ran awesome. She traded it in for a new Fit, despite getting like $1500 for it maybe.
So I bought a 2003 ex coupe with 101,000 miles on it off of Craigslist to replace my dearly departed 2000 Outback. It blew a head gasket, a power steering pump, a radiator core and the headers started cracking. I had for six months before I decided I didn't want to deal with it anymore. I traded it in (and lost money) toward a 2006 WRX.
If anything it's a testament as to why you shouldn't buy cars off of Craigslist.
A second or third gen f-body video would be hilarious.
splewy They are great cars, it's piece of shit low rent cars like this that made Honda and Toyota so successful in North America
I was a salesman at a Dodge dealer in Connecticut. The Aspen sold well, especially the station wagon. The dealer I work for sold about 100 a month. The two barrel version had more power and much improved drivability. Aspen was a huge improvement over the dart. You could order power windows that were not available on the dart. Chrysler beat the Ford and chevy downsized models to market by two years. I bought a wagon and drove it for years and I replaced it with a slant six Dodge Mirada. I still have my Mirada and at 370,000 miles it still runs well. The Aspen and Volare were roomy, durable cars, and at $5000 with air cond and auto were reasonably priced. By todays standards all 1970"s car, had appalling build quality. The Diplomat version was made until 1989.
The Aspen was not a huge improvement over the Dart. One car was durable, ran like a champ and you could take pride in owning and the other was an Aspen.
It feels like a cigarette with an asbestos filter
This car was featured in Kummeli: Kultakuume ( Finnish comedy film) which to me at least is the legacy of the Dodge aspen