1976 Plymouth Volare 6 cylinder slant 6 from North America

Summary:

Bullet proof!

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

This was my first car!

Hahaha, ol Yeller as it was this puke yellow color, but this car was solid.

These motors were bullet proof. The good ol slant 6 that ran forever.

What can I say? It was fun.

My father gave me this car when I was in high school, as before had been our family car. He worked for a propane company, and converted this one to run on both gasoline and propane, since he was paying 32 cents a gallon for propane in the 80's. Needless to say you know what fuel we mostly ran it on.

I replaced the motor at around 220000 with a wrecking yard motor. Quite the experience. Then traded it in on a newer Pontiac Sunbird Convertible. Great car though.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 31st October, 2008

2nd Nov 2008, 15:49

If the "Good Old Slant 6 that ran forever" actually did run forever, why did you have to change the motor?? The slant 6 was a good motor though... I will say though, 200+K miles is pretty good for any car.

1976 Plymouth Volare 225 slant six from North America

Summary:

Unbelievable work of automotive technology for the economically minded driver

Faults:

Everything under the hood has been replaced due to wear, but the engine has never been opened, except for the valves which have been adjusted two times. Trunk locks have been replaced 4 times and door and ignition locks have been replaced 2 times. All glass in this four door has been replaced with tinted glass. Front seat totally shot... presently sitting on pillows! Left fender and front left door replaced from car being hit while parked. Rear quarter panels have been rusting last 15 years, but are still there. Transmission has been replaced at 160,000 miles. One of the torsion bars broke and had to be replaced. Master cylinder replaced 4 times.

General Comments:

This car is truly an amazing vehicle. It now has 522,000 miles on it and shows no signs of quitting. It burns one quart of oil every 1500 miles and doesn't smoke. It is easy to work on and maintenance costs are low. I never would have thought it would have lasted this long, but all my cars have been cars with the slant six 225 engine in them so I knew they would give good service. It is my work car at the moment. My Sunday driver is a 1967 Dodge Dart with the slant six 225 engine. I am seriously thinking about fixing the rust spots on this car and giving it a new paint job as it's reward for giving me these past 29 years of excellent service, reliability, safety, and economy on the road. If it lasts another 10 years, I might think about fixing up the front seat! I just wanted to find out how far a slant six engine would go, but I'm afraid it's going to outlast me!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 20th January, 2005

8th Dec 2005, 11:15

For me, I think the biggest issues would be the advances in safety. A 1976 Volare is nowhere near as safe as virtually any car sold today, mainly due to the advent of ABS and airbags.

But more to the point, I bought a 1984 BMW 318i with 170K miles on it in 2002. It was previously owned by a BMW mechanic who had rebuilt many things including the engine. I had the car inspected by a BMW specialist who declared it the cleanest one he had ever seen.

I paid $1,900. Over the next two years later I ended up spending nearly $9,000 on repairs, most of which were for replacement of parts that had worn out. For that money, I could have bought the Chevy Aveo I ultimately did and have change leftover.

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1976 Plymouth Volare Station Wagon 318 from North America

Summary:

This car will get you there and back again consistently over many years and miles.

Faults:

My Volare has eaten two water pumps at awkward times.

I've had to replace the brake master cylinder.

The front disc brakes occasionally scrape and need to be fiddled with.

The alternator has been replaced once.

The biggest fault is that she is a bit cold-blooded, needing carburetor adjustment every so often and yet still really not running smoothly until warmed up.

It does lack the gas mileage of later cars, probably not quite 20 miles per gallon.

General Comments:

This car has been very reliable overall, going up and down the Pacific Coast a number of times in weather from 110 degrees to snowstorms without problems. We have taken it far back in the Cascades, car camping on miles of logging roads with no real handling or mechanical difficulties.

In the course of owning it since 1991 it has been parked in the grass for extended periods of time, once for two years and just recently for four years. I changed the oil, filters, spark plugs and wires, and put in some fresh gas over the half-tank still in it. After just two shots of ether in the carburetor the engine took off and she ran as if she'd just been parked the night before.

My Volare is also comfortable to drive, responsive on the highway and quiet.

And it is old enough that I can fix everything that does go wrong myself, which saves a lot of money over having problems analyzed by a mechanic.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 22nd April, 2003

16th Mar 2005, 17:25

Since last year I drive a Plymouth Volare too.

She is a Premier Station Wagon sold in Switzerland when new. Her name is Valerie.

She has been used as a daily driver for all the time, so I have a lot to do to fix her up. My Volare is one of a few in Germany. It's hard to get information about this cars here. Her VIN is: HH45G6B100655 if I'm not wrong, she is a very early Volare. I love this cars.

Adrian (Hamburg/Germany)

25th Nov 2005, 01:36

I have a 1976 Volare station wagon. I replaced the motor, because it was running without oil and I seized the motor. Bummer! A friend kept the care as I wanted to shoot it. A year later I bought a slant 6 and put it in, and it runs great. I replaced and alternator once and an, ignition switch. I get a kick out of driving it around because it is old and somewhat ugly with all the rust. It is cold blooded, but I installed a engine heater in line with the heater hose. I plug it in during the winter before going to bed and when I start it, it blows nice warm air. I suggest buying an egnine warmer that heat the water, not a block heater. It makes cold early morning more tolerable. I have three other cars, 05 Expedition, a Saturn and a minivan, but I still enjoy taking the Volare out. I can hear Dean Martin belting out Volare. The AM radio has problems on mine. When I acclerate, the radio makes weird noises. Well, nice to see others are driving this vehicle. My dad owned a Pacer, but we won't go into that.