Rolling Violation #6 - rv6		Next: rv7
	1977 Plymouth Volare		Back: rv5

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click for a higher res pic

Specs:
    225 cubic inch (3.7L) Slant 6
    1 bbl. Carb.  Single exhaust, no cat, occasionally no muffler.
    100 hp @ 3600 rpm
    170 ft-lbs @ 1600 rpm
    3 speed torqueflite transmission.

Performance:
    0-60:  yes.  Maybe 13.5 seconds.
    1/4 mile:  yes.  Low 19's?  Does it matter?  100hp, 3200+ lbs.  You do the math.
    Top Speed:  158 km/h.  (Just under the edge of a 100 mph speedo.)

When and how much:
    $60.  January 1994 to December 1994. 12,000 km.

Stories:
    Another Volare.  I must be a sucker for punishment.  Actually, I thought it was a good deal after I blew up RV5.  I could take all the parts I wanted off RV5 and give it and $60 to my uncle in exchange for this one.  Even though it was a typical -40 Manitoba winter, my ever faithful assistant Darren helped me change 4 tires, remove a starter, alternator, radiator, headlights, and drain the gas tank.  (You'll be hearing lots more about Darren and his father (nicknamed "Crazy Ivan") in the upcoming cars and on his own page.)
    This was a good car.  I managed to get 12,000 km out of it before blowing the differential.  Unfortunately, I discovered that Chrysler must have used aluminum foil and cheese whiz for the guts of the rear ends, as they were hard to find, and expensive.  $200 for a used diff on a car that I bought for $60?!  It's not even like a slant-6 is much of a torque monster - I don't think the car could even do a burnout on dry pavement on snow tires.  I decided that I wasn't going to try and change a diff in the driveway in 40 below (again) on a rusty old car, so I junked it.  Got $110 from the shredder, almost got run over by the helper.  (Someone forgot P is for park....)

    Rolling Violation points were earned for:

• Blue carpet.  Stock beige carpet spray dyed blue.  I tried dyeing it back brown, which only half-worked.  It's hard to describe how well blue/brown/beige carpet looks, so I'll leave it up to your imagination.  It probably won't even be close.
• Racing Fenders.  The rumor mill is full of stories of late 70's Chrysler Products that had rust "issues."  It would appear my Volare was one of those, and had the front fenders replaced with lightweight fiberglass ones.  Of course, the driver's side one had a huge chunk taken out of it, so I couldn't even sell them.
• Quick Change Exhaust.  No rusted on exhaust parts here, in fact I had trouble keeping the exhaust on the car.  One offroading trip left the muffler behind, another hard right left 1/2 the exhaust behind. (Darren to the rescue again!)  Take one exhaust hanger, bend to fit under floor.  Drill holes in floor, use long bolts through hanger and floor.  Use sledgehammer to bend bolts at a 90 degree angle.  Voila! Instant exhaust hanger permanently mounted!
• Hood Pins.  Only later do I realize how much of a "rice" thing this must have looked like.  I installed them for my own safety - more than once I thought the hood was going to open on the highway.
• Stereo worth more than the car.  Doesn't every $60 car have an Alpine tape deck and amp?  4 speakers and a 12" subwoofer?
• Bodywork by Mother Nature.  When your quarter panels are so rusted the side marker lights fall in, you know it's bad.

More pictures:
    See the links section.  Weirdly enough, there aren't many web sites devoted to Volares.  I wonder why?

Links:
    www.allpar.com - They have a lot of info on Volares/Aspens and other Mopars.

Credits:
    I bought this one off yet another of my uncles.  That makes three cars from relatives.  That's definitely too many.
    One from Uncle Denis (RV2), one from Uncle Paul (RV5), and one from Uncle Louis (RV6.)
 
 

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