Chrysler killed off the Plymouth Valiant and Dodge Dart compact wagon versions in the United States after 1966, which meant that the only fresh petite station wagons offered until the mid-1970s by U.S. Dodge and Plymouth dealers were Colt manufactured by Mitsubishi AND cricket built by Hillman. Meanwhile, American Motors was doing quite well selling Hornet Sportabouts, so something had to be done about it. This is what it turned out to be Dodge Aspen AND its sibling the Plymouth Volaré, which debuted as 1976 models and included longroof versions. A few years ago we saw a discarded Volaré wagon in a wonderful brown color, and now it’s the turn of a similarly brown Aspen wagon, found in self-service cemetery in northeastern Colorado Lately.
For a long time, American manufacturers, when naming their products after places, have preferred to operate the names of picturesque (or at least wealthy) regions with a balmy climate, e.g. Bel Air, Capri, Monaco, BarcelonaMontego, Monte Carlo, Cordoba, Granada, Turin, Riviera and so on. Aspen, Colorado, isn’t balmy, but prosperous people like to ski there, so it seemed like an aspirational name for the cheapest Dodge for the U.S. market that Mitsubishi doesn’t make. Later, other ski-centric regions of the American West were used in vehicle names, such as Tahoe and Telluride.
The Aspen became even more absurdly wealthy in the decades that followed the Dodge Aspen (which was produced for the 1976-1980 model years), so Fiat Chrysler couldn’t resist reviving the name of the luxury Durango with Chrysler badges in the delayed 21st century.
Aspen and Volare replaced the reliable but antiquated ones Arrow and Valiant, with the general assumption that they would be slightly larger and more up-to-date than their predecessors, while still being economical and plain transportation.
The chassis design was completely fresh, although it still used the obsolete torsion bar front set and rear leaf suspension. The drivetrains were essentially identical to those of the Dart/Valiant.
The Dodge Aspen’s base engine was a 225 cubic inch (3.7 liter) engine Skos-6but this car has one of the optional ones LA Series petite block V8s. These cars featured both the 318 (5.2 liter) and 360 (5.9 liter) models; at first glance they both look identical and I didn’t feel like it catching hantavirus all that rat poop I’d have to remove to check the block casting numbers. If it’s a 360 and it’s original, it’s the 155-horsepower two-barrel version, not the 175-horsepower four-barrel version.
The transmission is an optional three-speed automatic instead of the base one manual with three-speed column shift.
In 1977, American Dodge dealers offered buyers four sizes of the fresh station wagon: subcompact Colt (then in the last model year in the station wagon version), compact Aspen, medium-sized Monaco AND full-size Royal Monaco. The year 1977 is associated with the year 1964 title Summit car in United States, with 47 different wagon models available here this year. The decline in popularity of the wagons occurred slowly until 1984, when they were introduced to the market fresh front-wheel drive Chrysler minivans AND Jeep XJ Cherokee marked the beginning of the end of the American longroof.
How much did a 1977 Aspen wagon cost? This one appears to be a top-of-the-line special edition, so its MRSP with the 318 V8 and automatic transmission would be $4,758, or about $25,403 in 2024 dollars. The cheapest possible 1977 Aspen wagon (with a six-cylinder engine and manual transmission with three on the tree) started at $3,953 ($21,105 after inflation).
Meanwhile, the 1977 Colt station wagon started at $3,900 ($20,822 today), so it wasn’t much cheaper than the Aspen.
This car has few steep options beyond the $270 ($1,442 today) automatic transmission, with the biggest price tag being air conditioning at $466 ($2,488 in today’s money).
The rear window on the Aspen/Volaré wagons did not open, but Chrysler still placed warning stickers to prevent users from driving or idling hatchback-style tailgate opens and inhales carbon monoxide.
Inside were pages of notebooks containing maintenance and repair items dating back to the 1980s.
The Aspen/Volaré platform persisted, in slightly modified form, through the 1989 model year (when it formed the basis of cars such as the Dodge Diplomat and Chrysler Fifth Avenue). The last fresh Dodge wagon sold in the United States was the 2008 Magnum.
Hey, there it is Doctor Dolittle I’m crashing the Aspen car!
