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1976-1977 Plymouth Volare

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Please note - the Plymouth Volare was available as a 2-door coupe, 4-door sedan, and 4-door station wagon. Unless mentioned otherwise, all information on this page, including production information, refers to the 2-door coupe only.

 

1976  The F-body Plymouth Volare, and identical Dodge Aspen, was introduced in late 1975, as a 1976 model, replacing the Plymouth Duster and Dodge Dart. The Volare was more modern looking than the Duster, with a sleeker, more rounded body. The Volare was considered a small car in 1976, although it was actually bigger than today's mid-size cars. The sporty-looking coupe's styling was classic long-hood, short deck, with large front, back and side door glass, with smaller quarter windows behind the door glass.

 

The Plymouth Volare's mechanicals and suspension were classic Mopar. Rear-wheel drive, unibody construction, with the 225 cid slant-six standard, and the 318 and 360 V-8's optional. The suspension was semi-elliptical rear springs in the back, separated from the rear axle by rubber spring-seat iso-clamps, and from the body by oval front bushings. The front suspension used torsion bars with a standard front sway bar. However, the Volare's torsion bars were unique in that instead of them running from front to back, they ran from side-to-side. Called an "Isolated Transverse Suspension System", the torsion bars were separated from the chassis by three pairs of rubber mounts. This new system was supposed to give the Volare a big car quiet ride. All Volare's also received electronic ignition and voltage regulator, and standard front disc brakes. All V-8 models (and wagons) received standard power brakes.

 

The Volare was offered in three models - Coupe, Custom, and Premier. The base Coupe came with the 225 cid slant-six engine and 3-speed manual transmission as standard equipment, with practically every other Volare feature optional. Moving up, the Volare Custom added a cigarette lighter, wood-grain instrument panel trim, deluxe vinyl bench seat, belt and coupe B-pillar moldings, body-side and wheel lip moldings, and rear armrests. The top of the line Premier included a huge list of standard features, such as a chrome grill insert, 60/40 bench seat with center armrest, shag carpeting, luxury door panels with carpeted lower sides, premium wheel covers, luxury steering wheel, automatic transmission, power steering, color keyed body side moldings, body side tape stripes, landau vinyl roof, and deluxe sound insulation.

 

Hoping to capitalize on the Road Runner muscle cars of years past, Plymouth offered the Road Runner Package on the Volare coupe. There were three different options under the Road Runner heading. The Road Runner Decor group included dual sport mirrors, Ralleye wheel trim rings, and wheel lip moldings. The Road Runner Package provided E70 X 14-inch raised white letter tires, heavy duty suspension, Ralleye road wheels without the trim rings, blacked out grill, Road Runner decals and tape stripes, and the "beep beep" horn. The "Super Pak" option, only available on cars with the Road Runner package, included front and rear deck spoilers, side quarter window louvers, wheel opening flares, and special tape stripes. The Super Pak option was available in only one color - Spitfire Orange.

 

There was a voluminous number of options available on all Volares. Some of the more notable included a center console with floor shifter and bucket seats, a "Tuff" steering wheel, Sure-Grip limited slip differential, chrome styled road wheels, manual sun roof, and two-tone paint (Custom Coupe only). The Volare had enough options to turn the car into just about anything that the driver wanted - luxury car, sporty car, family car, or cheap basic transportation. Motor Trend was so impressed, the Plymouth Volare was named "Car of the Year" for 1976. Apparently buyers were also impressed, as over 85,000 coupes were sold that year.

 

 

 

 

            

 

1977  Glass T-Tops were now available on all Volare coupes. A canopy vinyl roof was also available, which put a vinyl covering over the front two-thirds of the roof. The 225 cid slant-six engine now had an optional 2-barrel carburetor version, called the "Super Six". The 360 cid V-8 was now available with a 4-barrel carburetor, which also included the "Lean-Burn" system. The lean-burn system used a Spark Control Computer to monitor engine functions to precisely time the firing of the spark plugs, resulting in the leanest fuel mixture possible. The results, however, were less than satisfying, resulting in many lean burn systems being disabled by their owners.

 

The entire Volare line-up was pretty much the same as in 1976. The Premier Coupes now included a hood medallion. Volares with T-Tops or the manual sun-roof options were called "Sun Runners". The Road Runner package returned unchanged 1977, under the "Front Runner" heading. As in 1976, there were three different options under the Road Runner heading. The Road Runner Decor group included dual sport mirrors, Ralleye wheel trim rings, and wheel lip moldings. The Road Runner Package provided E70 X 14 raised white letter tires, heavy duty suspension, Ralleye road wheels without the trim rings, blacked out grill, Road Runner decals and tape stripes, and the 'beep beep" horn. Why the Decor and Road Runner packages were not simply combined into one package is anybody's guess. Finally, the "Front Runner" Super Pak package returned, available only on coupes with the Road Runner package, and included Spitfire Orange paint, multi color tape stripes, front and rear spoilers, quarter window louvers, and wheel opening flares. Although not as powerful as the original 68-70 Road Runners, a Volare Road Runner with the Super Pak package was truly one of the hottest looking cars on the road.