Through the 1960s when someone spied a Chrysler product that had an R/T badge on it, they knew that it was pretty serious business happening under the hood. That badge was a sign of honor for performance enthusiasts as much as a Super Sport badge was for Chevrolet fans, a Cobra Jet Badge for Ford lovers, a GS for Buick and on and on. Then the 1970s happened. Most of the badges went away but while the cars did not really honor their older brothers with performance Chrysler hung in there. The 1970s cars could not deliver on the quarter mile times or the block long burnouts but they could maintain the image and that is exactly what cars like this 1980 Aspen R/T were designed to do.
It has the cool wheels, it has the spoiler on the trunk, quarter window louvers, and the chin spoiler that all say TRY ME! It also came from the factory with a 225ci slant six that made about 100hp that said PLEASE DO NOT TRY ME. Unlike the real hot rod that McTaggart’s Mustang find has been turned into, this car has been improved but not by a neck snapping amount. The slant six still resides in the car and it has been hopped up with a Hyper-pak style intake manifold, a Holley four barrel carb, a split tubular header, and that’s about it. Does the engine make more power than stock? Yes. Will it lose a drag race against a city bus? Totally plausible.
Don’t get us wrong. This is a cool car and you can only imagine how awesome it would be with a little wedge in it or a 512ci stroker big block that cold turn the rear tires into a bad memory. Like McTaggart’s car, this was a sticker warrior. Unlike McTaggart’s car, this one largely still is.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE EBAY AD FOR THIS 1980 ASPEN R/T
Bored .040…280CI…if they went through the trouble to bore it, and put on the header intake and carb…I’ll bet the gear’s been changed, and a few other things have also been massaged…in which case a stock sticker mustang might not get the job done…the entire charm of this car is…it’s NOT another buttstang…
Not a Hyper Pack intake; those were really crazy things that practically set the carb on the inner fender. Looks more like the Offenhauser four barrel design. If he’s gone through the engine, hopefully he added more cam and compression too. It’s probably not going to be a crazy build, but hopefully it can get out of its own way a bit better.
I thought the Aspen R/T badges could only be had on V8 cars, but maybe I’m thinking of the Volare Road Runner.
Love the look, needs more power for sure. At least a turbo or something
Good looking car. I had a pal who had a 4 door 1968 Dodge small car with a slant 6 in it. When he got done fixing up the 6 with a 4 speed and some go fast stuff, it began to crack the chassis at the back doors. It wasn’t all that fast, but he won a lot of stop light races just because of the angry bee sound that six made winding up. Those were the days! Parking lots everywhere filled with muscle cars.
Ditch the 6 cyl and install a new crate 5.7 Hemi backed by a 5 or 6 spd trans.
i like these but how are you going to get any street cred with a slant? the stang is cool but a 30 mile commute with 4.10’s gets old real fast… now you roll into work in the torino and you are an instant legend! can you imagine sliding out of the window in a track suit and casually strolling into work?
chysler execs: i bet mini-blinds on the windows will make it look like a sleeper
Is it a true RT Says no air yet it has the dash vents for air. Even so they were not a performance vehicle. My well worn 77 Volare RR first ran a pitiful 69 mph w/ 318 in 1/4 mile was doing 100 mph when I was done with mods
That is a car Begging for a Turbo. Pull the motor apart new rings, pistons if needed (wear or compression ratio), new bearings & cam. Also do a EFI -TBI conversion.
That or a 360 out of any junk yard.. A 90’s to 2002 360 TBI out of a Dodge Truck with the 2WD automatic overdrive transmission would be decent. Enough power to play with, better then no over-drive fuel mileage. Cheepish parts.
The more Adventurous might even go the 383-400-440 Route.
My first car was a 1978 aspen 4 door with a slant six it wouldn’t get out of its own way but u could do some sweet burnouts lol