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Rare 1978 Plymouth Volare Kit Car Has Richard Petty Written All Over It

Introduced in 1976 as a replacement for the Valiant and discontinued in 1980, the Plymouth Volare is nowhere near as iconic as its predecessor. But there's at least one reason why this car should be remembered. It's called the Volare Kit Car, and it's a tribute to famed NASCAR racer Richard Petty.
1978 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car 14 photos
Photo: hemiviper/eBay
1978 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car1978 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car1978 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car1978 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car1978 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car1978 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car1978 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car1978 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car1978 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car1978 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car1978 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car1978 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car1978 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car
Launched in 1978, the Volare Kit Car was a part of a limited-edition series that also included the Dodge Aspen Super Coupe. Both cars honored Chrysler's long association with Richard Petty and featured NASCAR-inspired body kits with wide fender flares, louvered quarter windows, big spoilers, and race-style liveries.

The package also included hood pins and window retention clips and straps, but the Kit Car's association with NASCAR was mostly limited to visuals. Sure, the "race-ready" Volare also featured a heavy-duty suspension with a rear sway bar, but the power came from a regular-production, 360-cubic-inch (5.9-liter) V8 engine.

Rated at 175 horsepower, the Kit Car wasn't faster or more powerful than the standard Volare with the same engine. But hey, it was the Malaise Era, and the Ford Mustang barely made 150 horsepower at the time.

On the flip side, Plymouth sold only 247 Volares with the Kit Car package, a figure that's low enough to turn this limited-edition Mopar into a rare classic. Likewise, Dodge delivered only 145 Aspens fitted with the same bundle. And these low figures are directly related to Richard Petty, the man to whom these cars were dedicated.

You see, 1978 was Petty's ninth-consecutive year racing for Chrysler. He had won the NASCAR championship four times, driving Plymouth and Dodge race cars but had to settle for second-place finishes in 1976 and 1977. And following a disappointing campaign with no wins and only seven Top 5 finishes in 19 races, Petty left Dodge for Chevrolet for the final 12 events of the 1978 season. Richard's decision prompted Chrysler to pull the plug on the Kit Car.

Of course, Mopar had a few other reasons to stop making it. The Volare already had a reputation for poor quality in 1978, while the "Kit Car" nameplate was viewed as an unfortunate choice in the marketing department. All told, only 274 Volares with NASCAR-inspired body kits and liveries left the factory, and very few have survived to see 2022.

Rare enough to include it on my list of "Five Malaise-Era Muscle Cars that Are Worth Collecting."

The car you're looking at is one of them and, amazingly enough, it's in fantastic condition. Pampered for decades, the Volare is not only rust-free, but it comes with original paperwork and minor upgrades, including an Edelbrock intake and a Mopar Performance electronic ignition kit.

Making this ad that much more interesting, the seller claims he's "a retired Chrysler Engineering mechanic that personally assembled the very first prototype pictured on the cover of Motor Trend Magazine." It sounds like a good opportunity if you're into late 1970s Mopars, but this Volare doesn't come cheap.

The seller isn't planning on letting it go for pennies, so the eBay auction comes with an ambitious opening bid price of $32,000. That's a hefty premium over the $15,000 stickers that used to grace Volare Kit Cars a few years back. But the auction has a bidder with two days to go, so at least one person thinks that this Kit Car is worth more than $30K.
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About the author: Ciprian Florea
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Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer.
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