First kit car I ever saw was one Rick Mast showed up with at Southside Speedway - #22. We'd never heard of him and he didn't fare too well against the Tant/Mitchell and Zervakis Chevelles!
Y'all correct me if I am wrong, but the Volare, etc. were still all rear wheel drive, correct, with the 1981 K-Cars being the first Chrysler front wheel drive models?
Again from the ALLPAR Chrysler enthusiast site :
The Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare were introduced in the fall of 1975 as 1976 models, and were followed quickly by the 1977 Chrysler LeBaron. They were the successors to the A body Valiant and Dart (along with their like-bodied but other-named friends). The A body continued on through the 1976 model year alongside the new models and was then dropped. Gas mileage was initially rated by the EPA at 18 city, 27 highway (slant six, manual transmission, sedan or coupe).
The Aspen and Volare were produced under those names for 5 model years, 1976 through 1980, when the cars were tweaked and renamed to Dodge Diplomat, Chrysler New Yorker / Fifth Avenue, and Plymouth Gran Fury, with a similar Imperial confusing matters further. The newer vehicles had a much higher price class, with an almost identical drivetrain, suspension, and body.
The Aspen/Volare were replaced as standard family cars, by the six-passenger, four cylinder, front wheel drive K body Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant starting with the 1981 model year. Because it was designed to have, at most, a 2.6 liter four-cylinder, the front-drive Reliant managed to have almost as much interior and trunk space as the Volare. Technology had finally moved on; but many people preferred the feel of the Volare and Aspen, the culmination of decades of rear-wheel-drive innovation.
The Aspen and Volare were designed to look more luxurious and upscale than the A body models, following the success of the Ford Granada. It was also intended to attract economy-minded people who would normally buy more expensive B and C bodies, following the success of Chryslers own Valiant Brougham.
Aspen and Volare two-doors had a 108.7 inch wheelbase (similar to the 108" Duster and Dart Sport), while four door F bodies got a 112.7 inch wheelbase, making them slightly bigger than the Dart and Valiant, which rode a 111" wheelbase (the LeBaron two doors and four doors both rode on a 112.7 inch wheelbase). The station wagon (on the 112.7" wheelbase) was new to the compact line, the Valiant and Dart wagons having been dropped in 1966. The Volare had extra sound deadening material, door seals, and body insultation, an upper door chrome package on the sill under the outside mirrors, and thicker carpeting.
The Aspen/Volare were hot enough to get a true luxury version, above the Chrysler LeBaron. The Monteverdi Sierra boasted a redesigned front suspension and radically different sheet metal that gave it a decidedly European look; the interior was redone as well, though the basic dimensions and drivetrain were the same. The 318 was standard on the Monteverdi Sierra, the 360 optional.
1977 Plymouth Volare Pre K-car
Here's a first year history of the K-Car from the MOPAR enthusiast site, ALLPAR.com:
Sometimes hailed as Lee Iacocca's baby, the K-car was already in the works when he came on board. Chrysler had introduced the first mass-production front-wheel-drive American subcompact car, the Omni/Horizon, in 1978. The K-car was to be the second 6-passenger front wheel drive American car. (The first was GM's notoriously troublesome X-body, the Citation/Phoenix/Skylark/Omega.)
The K cars appeared for the 1981 model year as the Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant. A two door coupe, four door sedan, and four door wagon were available. Base power was provided by a 2.2 (135 cid) in-line-four fed by a 2 barrel electronic feedback carburetor with a progressive opening (opening first the primary bore and then, as the pedal was depressed further, the secondary bore), churning out 82 hp and 111 lb-ft of torque. Transaxles were a 4-speed floorshift manual or a 3-speed automatic. The car did 0-60 in the 12-13 second range, far quicker than the Toyota Corolla. A 2.6 Mitsubishi motor with hemispherical heads was optional, and cars bearing this motor - for 1981 at least - were adorned with the badge "2.6 HEMI." It should be noted that when Chrysler introduced the 2.5 liter engine based on the 2.2, it produced about the same power as the Hemi 2.6.
1981 cars had no roll-down rear windows. They weighed about 2300 - 2400 lb, and cost $5,880 for the base model.
Early sales of the K were poor, due to some bad planning on Chrysler's part. Ads touted the K's low price, but Chrysler was building cars with options like automatic transmissions, A/C, and upgraded wheels. People flocked to the showroom but did not buy; they expected the price they had seen advertised, and found cars costing hundreds or thousands more. Chrysler quickly realized their mistake and started building bare-bones Aries and Reliants, and sales took off, giving the Reliant and Aries their best sales year ever though, to be fair, this was before the Chrysler LeBaron and Dodge 400 were (and seemingly for no justifiable reason) added to the mix.
Driving up that banking from the Bristol infield to that famous "Michael Waltrip crash" turn two gate was no fun atall in traffic. You really needed a running start. I about stalled anything I ever drove up that banking in traffic.Do you remember when Eddie Gossage crashed the Bristol pace car at that gate? During a test session (I think) he drove in the open gate and was hit by a wrecker.
A little technical/historical correction. The '77 Volare was a Chrysler Corp. pre-Kcar platform. The first two K-Cars were the 1981 Dodge Aries and 1981 Plymouth Reliant. In 1982 I had the misfortune of renting a Plymouth Reliant at the Ontario, California airport for a Riverside race. That was no car to be driving on Los Angeles area freeways. Zero power. Hard to believe that the mind of the man who invented the Mustang for Ford - Lee Iacocca - was also the brains behind the K-Car. However, those two Chrysler models were credited with saving Chrysler Corp. and Iacocca did pay off the government loan - Early! His biography makes for fascinating reading. Highly recommend it. My oldest daughter's first boyfriend picked her up for a date driving his grandmother's K-car. She didn't want to leave the house.
Cale & Derrike took a 1993 Mercury Cougar to Daytona Testing, but Ford was very COOL to the idea of the Mercury or Lincoln nameplate any longer being associated with redneck racing and pulled the plug quickly.
I could never get enough '57 Chevys. My buddy, Frank and I always said that somebody ought to build one of those indestructible Checker cabs for dirt track GN races.Of course, they'd have had to have one of those NASCAR E.I.R.I. exemptions - might not have met the minimum 500 vehicle production requirement and the Checker folks didn't produce their own motors. That would have relegated it to the Late Model Modified status I guess.
Awesome that you were able to come up with the photo (as posted below).
I note that the link indicates that the photo of Lennie in the #58 Sportsman was taken at Richmond's Southside Speedway by Walt Wimer.
Great work Mr. Shady!
I remember Bob and the paper being distributed at Southside. I want to remember Bob have a sewing machine and vacuum business, maybe on Hull Street Road?
There are not enough plurals to describe Richmond's 4-H boys who beat the pants off just about everybody who was anybody.
