It’s hard to choke down the idea of a wicked Plymouth Volaré. From the basic slant-six powered machines that developed a reputation for being a horrific ball of rust to the Volaré Road Runners, which were tape-stripe musclecars that barely kept any kind of performance flame alive, the F-body Plymouth has not and probably never will earn a modicum of respect in the aftermarket. It might look ok to some, but looks can only take you so far when you’re known for rotting fenders and the fun of the Lean Burn system that liked to choke out the engine at random points during any given drive. Who would build one? Who would go out of their way to sink money into a…
Oh. Oh damn. Ok, there’s someone who would. And did they ever do a job of it. We will let them tell the story because frankly, they need to:
“If you know your Mopars you know what this is. If not: 1979 Plymouth Volare Duster. Completely modified. 440 engine with Edelbrock/FAST self tuning fuel injection. Indy Cylinder Heads 440SR heads. Comp Cams solid roller cam and roller rockers. TTI headers. Tremec 5 speed. Chris Alston Chassisworks front suspension. Adjustable ladder bars on the rear. Braced 8 3/4 with 3.23 Sure Grip. QA1 coil overs and Wilwood brakes all around. Fiberglass hood, bumper, fenders, doors, and quarter panels. Full frame welded in with custom cage. 18″ Colorado Custom wheels with 275/35 front and 335/30 rear Michelin tires. Full custom dual 3″ stainless exhaust with x-pipe and Flowmaster mufflers. Original plaid interior. Custom gauges and sound system. Has AC that needs to be hooked up. T-Top added during build. Was featured in Mopar Action and Mopar Collector’s Guide magazines. Have pictures of the build and receipts. Yes it’s fast. Yes it gets constant attention (mainly because most people don’t know what it is). Fun car. Time for someone else to have fun with it.”
Don’t bother sending someone to check on me. You already know the answer.
Craigslist Link: 1979 Plymouth Volaré Duster
The F Body was the first platform EVER designed from the ground up for light weight and fuel economy. I’d love to find another rust free example and exploit THAT fact for performance. To take one and weld in CONVENTIONAL underpinnings to fit it’s quite frankly AWKWARD looks strikes me as DUMB. But I think most Pro Touring builds are dumb anyway. He coulda had a Duster….. or a Mirada!
$32K worth of dumb. That’s a LOT of dumb. And how much better is it than one on T-Bars and leaf springs? It MUST be a LOT heavier! Oh yeah, I just overlooked the Pinto and Vega. So did the rest of the world I guess.
Holy hell, you are one angry, bitter old man. What is the purpose of spending your life waiting to tear apart others and vent your impotent frustrations on them? Lay off the coffee, get a life, and get over yourself.
I alw says say be careful how much you put in a car in case you ever need to get out of it . This seems like a $25,000 car if you p as int it a good color and don’t get too weird on the interior . If that was stock ………well , it’s still too weird .
I do like it , I just don’t want to own it . That much money buys me a awful lot of corvette .
$100K of build. Trying to salvage $32K. $68K of FAME and EGO.
As an aficionado of odd cars I like it, I also understand that to sink money into something so personal is a commitment to keep it or lose money. Like it-yes, want it- no. Actually the deal breaker for me would be the T-tops.
Pro Touring. Too Much of EVERYTHING does NOTHING.
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I like it, the styling works and seems well thought out, and its not a camaro, vette or mustang so it has that going for it too. The fact its not a car thats expected just makes it so much cooler in my eyes
Well at least its a big block and not an LS Chevy in it.Don’t care what ya’ll think.Cause Mopars rule
I’ve got to give him props for building something unusual to such a high standard.
I’m not going to give him $32000 for it, but I’ll give him props. Like others have noted, an outside the box build can’t be done expecting to get a lot of the money back. I’d probably have gone with a different color, maybe Plum Crazy. But the coil overs are probably lighter than the original torsion bar suspension, and almost certainly has better geometry – the transverse torsion bars on the F-bodies was a marketing compromise to keep advertising they had a torsion bar suspension.
Could be a nice car. One of these needs to be properly built but the vomit colour, wasted effort on fender flares that it don’t need, plus the sloppy upholstery installation takes away from what would be a really nice car. The price? The market will decide
Oh look! There is a polished turd!
Sorry just don’t feel the love of this car. It has a front bumper but a rear bumper roll pan? Plaid interior?
Its a mopar ! haters hate us. Too many talkers jealous who probably dont even know what a muscle car is. I dig it except the rear bumper
Despite a few detail issues I don’t know how anyone could hate this car, I like it, but yeah the price/self-valuation thing…if you really put that much into your dream car without consideration of what stuff sells for later, why not just keep it? An ultimate ego trip is, “I wanted it, I have it”, done deal. Laying it out there for the market just dirties it up.