This is my 1980 Plymouth Volare'. I bought it from my brother in 2001, who had bought it from a co-worker early in 2001. He had planned to "Pro-Street" the car, but soon realized he didn't really have the time or money for that type of project. I bought it build it up, but not to the extent he was planning. I have had little opprotunity to do anything substantial with it up to this time, but I do hope to change that this summer.

This is the car, in its stock form, untouched. Unlike many of these cars from this era, this one is in pretty good shape. The body is still solid, with only small areas needing work. The interior, on the other hand, needs a good bit of work.

As you can see, the interior has seen better days. There is much to do here.

    The venerable 225 slant 6

The original engine is the workhorse 225CI Slant 6. These motors have prooven themselves to be nearly indestructable.

Future Plans:

• Remove the original motor and transmission. While these motors tend to last forever, there is no replacement for displacement. The likely replacements will be either a stroked 360 (408CI), or possibly a stout 440, that my brother has. The transmission will remain a manual shift, with possible selection being either a 833OD(4-speed), 5-speed from a Dakota, or (if funds allow), a Keisler 5-speed.
• Removal of the 7-1/4 rear axle and original leaf springs. These will be replaced with an 8-3/4 Chrysler B-Body axle, and Super Stock leaf springs. The exact springs have not yet been determined, as there are a few possible options to consider, some requiring more work than others.
• The addition of side window louvers, rear spoiler, and front chin spoiler.
• The bench seat will go, in favor of bucket seats. As stated previously, there is much work to do with the interior in general, ultimately resulting in a black color for the inside.

Now, for what I have managed to do so far:

The bench seat has been removed, and replaced with bucket seats. The seats themselves are from a late 70's Magnum, and are white leather. Yes, they need a good cleaning, but are otherwise in good shape. I made the neccessary modifications to use the 6-way power seat tracks from an Oldsmobile mini-van we had, so that those tracks could be mounted to the seat and floor. This gives the driver's seat 6-way power adjustment. The passenger seat is used as it was pulled and fits fairly well, but the seat track still needs a little tweaking to properly fit.

I was able to purchase an 8-3/4 axle from a 1965 Coronet. This was Sure-Grip® equipped, but had a 2.93:1 ratio. That ratio wouldn't work for my plans. Fortunately, my other brother had a 3.55:1 open diff. case laying around. I took that gear set, and put it on the SG diff. It was all put together and now sits in primer, waiting to be painted.

I also picked up the side window louvers from ebay. I got a good deal on them, but they were not without imperfection. There was a crack that had to be repaired. The repair was made, they got sanded, and also sit in primer, waiting to be painted.

This is the extent of my progress for now. I expect to get a bunch more done to soon, and as I do, will update this page.