"Sweet Volare, dude. Dig the fender flares, and the louvers."
"1978. Richard Petty Edition. Got the #43 Stickers in the trunk. 360 V8."
"SWEET! Where can I buy one!"
"Tricky, brother....tricky. Only made 247 of 'em."
"DAMN"
Are you tired of having this conversation? Us, too. When we found out that there was a Richard Petty Street Car package 1978 Plymouth Volare we literally gasped. And then started writing this post. It's kind of cool in the same ironic hipster way that's got kids riding around on bikes without a freewheel. But where oh where to buy one!
Ah, at the Barrett-Jackon Auction in Las Vegas. Lot Number 1 is this stunner. For only $10,450 you could be the owner of a 17,000-mile Richard Petty Volare...that is, if we don't show up and whip up a bidding frenzy.
jriz says:
02:25 PM, 09/23/10
All in favor of making this the next Edmunds long termer say "aye".
Aye
oldno7 says:
03:00 PM, 09/23/10
I'd park that on my lawn anytime.
slickersdrip says:
05:35 PM, 09/23/10
Aye.
I can't wait to see 1487 defend every bit of this thing.
Also, the dialogue at the beginning of the post was hilarious. I know I hate being in that situation.
kitcarman says:
10:41 PM, 09/23/10
I have two of these cars, one of witch I just bought in may of 2010 and paid 15,000.00 it also has the center console shifter. Roomer has it that there were only nine of these cars with that option. The other kit car I have had for about ten years it has bucket seats but has the shifter is on the column. Most of these cars had bench seats. All of the A 43 street kit cars were different no two were alike. With such a low production # it would suprise me if there are even 40 of these cars left in existance. I feel realy bad for the person that sold this car. I didn't see the auction but I am sure that it would have brought alot more money if it would have been auctioned on saturday? Also the decals should have been on the car not in the trunk. The graphics on these cars look awesome and could have sparked more intrest in the car. The representation was poor. Cum on it is suspose to look like a race car. This car should have been sold for 35,000.00- 60,000.00 maby more depending on how many rich dummies were there!
zoomzoomn says:
11:24 AM, 09/24/10
Sooooo...the hood scoop and whip antenna were optional, eh? Volare! Whoooaaa-oh-oh-oh!!!
firstwagon says:
08:00 PM, 09/24/10
Sorry but I'm old enough to remember that Volares were total crap. No matter which big racing name you attach to it, it doesn't make it collectible.
This is the car that made the K-car a huge success. People who drove Volares (and Aspens) then drove K-cars and decided this is an amazing improvement... and I was one of them.
Some cars should be forgotten, not collected.
kitcar43 says:
06:41 AM, 10/31/10
I also have one of these cars. True, no two were quite the same, it is believed these cars were actually built for Chrysler by "Car Concepts" using police package volares, i.e. E58 HD 360 4bbl, rear sway bars, etc. Very few, as kitcarman says were console cars. I have collected several articles on these cars, including the two 78 articles from Car Craft and Road and Track, since they were published in 78 they contain a lot of information. The Street Kit Cars were actually produced to promote Chrysler's "Kit Car" program that allowed you to purchase a full race tubular chassis from Petty Enterprises and all the bit and pieces to build your own short track race car from a catalog. The Street Kit Car was supposed to represent what the Kit Car race car would like once completed.
The Street Kit Car program was promoted under the management of Dick Maxwell at Chrysler, the same man responsible for the Little Red Express and I believe was involved in the creation of the "Direct Connection" program. The "plan" was to produce only 1000 of these units, but in 78 Richard Petty jumped from Chrysler to Pontiac, production on the Street Kit Car ceased with only 247 plymouths (two tone blue) and 145 Dodges (two tone red). These cars were built on specific dates, the assembly lines were scheduled on those dates to accommodate these cars.
Sad if this car did only sell for 10K, rarer than a Superbird, just as gaudy but not nearly as well known or appreciated for it's history. My A43 code is highly optioned, p/w, p/l, a/c, rear def, delayed wipers, am/fm 8 track. The only available options not ordered on mine were the limited slip diff and console.
I have to disagree firstwagon, no car should be forgotten, they all have stories, even the Yugo!