> MPC 1980 Road Runner

[Tom Geiger]

(don't know why Luc's name is popping up here)

 

The only reason I am buying a couple of these is polystyrene doesn't rust.  My investment is safe.   

 

 

Don't be so sure of that!   

Edited December 26, 2015 by Tom Geiger

[Luc Janssens]

(don't know why Luc's name is popping up here)

Someone in cyberspace must love me!

;^P

[Agent G]

I drove a police package 1980 Volare, and then only a couple of times. We bought a few and they were distributed throughout the districts. I recall it having a 318 and just quick enough for urban police work. It had NO suspension travel to speak of. I recall it riding like an unsprung wagon. The seats were one big expanse of smooth vinyl, no fabric or pattern at all. Naturally it had a black plastic floor covering. They were there in the fleet and gone so fast it was like we never even drove them. 

The department hedged their bets back then by purchasing Volares, Fairmonts, Malibu's, St Regis' and some Impalas. We used the smaller cars on regular patrol. The bigger cars had prisoner cages installed and supplemented the paddy wagons.

Fast forward to 1983 or so and all the district cars were replaced with Celebritys. Yes Celebritys. We drove those clunkers until Chevrolet quit making them.

Nothing automotive in the 80's generated any sort of fond memory.

G

[Sledsel]

Boy Dave, considering cars of that era were such pieces of you know what, we got a lot of use out of them. My first new car, my '77 Volare had problems. But, it got me were I needed to go. And I too have fond memories of different things I did with that car. And places and events it took me to. I had family and friends who owned other cars that people now look badly upon. You mention Mustang IIs. My dad had a '77 he bought brand new. Other than a broken camshaft. It really wasn't a bad car. I had several friends who owned Chevettes. Including one who own a T-1000. All got very good service from those. I couple friends with Pintos. In general they were not good cars. But, we traveled far and had fun in them. For all the bad things you hear about Vegas. A buddy of mine who was tough on everything. Could not kill his parents '71 for longest time.

I can go on with stories of Mavericks and other beaters friends had owned back then. Somehow these cars all gave us pretty good service, over all. So were they really bad cars? I'm not so sure they were really any more unreliable then the cars people were driving ten, twenty, or thirty years before. But, by the 70's the government had stepped in. Try to make the cars cleaner and safer. Making them uglier and poor performers compared to those a few years before. But, I'm not sure the build quality, engineering, or materials were any worst. My folks new '61 Comet rusted almost to junk in the 6 years they owned it. Dad's '71 Toyota Hi-Lux pickup did no better. Yet we thought they both were very good vehicles. They and the '67 Comet served us well. So did my folks '75 Mercury Monarch.

And by the late 70's, there were glimmers of hope. My mother bought a new Oldsmobile 88 in 1980. She drove that car for twenty years. It gave her great service and still looked and ran good in 2000 when she got rid of it.

Now my 2000 LeSabre is by far the best car I've ever own. At just over 122,000, nothing major has been done to the car since new. And virtually no rust. It's a wonderful car. But, still I miss my '53 Chrysler New Yorker with bad brakes. My six year old slightly rusty, but very trusty '73 LeSabre. My '62 LeSabre that I had to readjust the timing every week or so. And my first new car, my '77 Volare that would stall on certain quick turns.

Go figure?

I tend to agree, the cars of the 70's were given a bad rap IMO. Dad had a Pinto he literally drove into the ground, Had in excess of 150,000 miles and he sold it for $25 to a guy that needed an engine. I recall that guys wagon on the road for a few years after. Same with the Granadas he had, drove the dog out of them and never really worked on them other than general maintenance. 

In the early 90's I had a 77 LTD II 2 door that I bought with 110,000 miles that cost me a whopping $100. My fiance drove it a lot and I recall one morning it was well below zero and blowing like a blizzard outside and her dads Mazda truck would not start, neither would her moms Bonneville (both fairly new) She said he could jump them off the Ford, and his stubborn self said "If my cars will not start, that old heap isn't going to"  A few minutes later she went in the house and told him "The car is warming up if you want to jump yours"  We never heard another bad word about the "heap" He even complimented the heater in the car that day.

Even today, I'll take a 70's/early 80's Ford/Merc over a new car. My daily is an 82 Thunderbird. For precautionary reasons, I have a coil and ignition module in the trunk. That's about all that could strand me..... unless I am out of gas.  

Edited December 27, 2015 by Sledsel

[Robberbaron]

I always heard about the  Volares/Aspens being super unreliable and rust buckets, but there were still an awful lot on the road even in the '90s, often as hand-me-down cars for younger drivers.  One guy in my class "inherited" a mint green metallic Volare wagon from his parents.  You can imagine how thrilled he was to drive that to school everyday, but it seemed dead reliable.

When I was in college, one of my co-worker's daily drivers was an '80 Aspen 4-door, pale yellow, slant 6, that he bought from his grampa when he had to quit driving.  Aside from a busted torsion bar, he never had a lick of trouble with that car.  It was considered so "lame" that he actually wanted it to die, but it just wouldn't.

Seems like many of the other smog-era cars were similar: the ones that made it past the first 10 years seemed to have most of their bugs fixed by that point, and were then capable of going the long haul.

Also for all the talk of rust on Volares/Aspens, I don't recall any significant rust on either of those cars.  At least those two definitely weren't rust-buckets.

Edited December 27, 2015 by Robberbaron

[Sledsel]

I always heard about the  Volares/Aspens being super unreliable and rust buckets, but there were still an awful lot on the road even in the '90s, often as hand-me-down cars for younger drivers.  One guy in my class "inherited" a mint green metallic Volare wagon from his parents.  You can imagine how thrilled he was to drive that to school everyday, but it seemed dead reliable.

When I was in college, one of my co-worker's daily drivers was an '80 Aspen 4-door, pale yellow, slant 6, that he bought from his grampa when he had to quit driving.  Aside from a busted torsion bar, he never had a lick of trouble with that car.  It was considered so "lame" that he actually wanted it to die, but it just wouldn't.

Seems like many of the other smog-era cars were similar: the ones that made it past the first 10 years seemed to have most of their bugs fixed by that point, and were then capable of going the long haul.

Also for all the talk of rust on Volares/Aspens, I don't recall any significant rust on either of those cars.  At least those two definitely weren't rust-buckets.

A friend threw a rod on a slant 6 Diplomat. Broke near the crank, big hole in the block. He drove it 15 miles home! i remember him showing it to me, saw the hole and the darn thing fired right up.

Volares and Aspens usually had no front fenders around here. I saw one with the springs thru the trunk.

The only bugs were that lean burn set-up. Ford And GM had their ignition module issue periodically. Otherwise, they were all pretty bulletproof if the bodies did not fall off.

Styling was not that bad, The Mavericks, Novas, and Volares were all pretty sharp with the right paint and wheels. Even the Pintos and Vegas could be made sharp. Vega GT, Pinto Rally, AMX (Spirit) all pretty good looking from the factory. Many I'd love to own today.

Anybody remember the special edition Mustang and Pintos from 79 or 80? Black with gold stripes. Cannot find a photo anywhere. 

Edited December 27, 2015 by Sledsel

[disabled modeler]

Andy...have you check on google images..?  You might find it there....while your at it look up a Aspen R/T...that is the one I want to make we use to own one that was Petty blue or sort of.

[Sledsel]

Andy...have you check on google images..?  You might find it there....while your at it look up a Aspen R/T...that is the one I want to make we use to own one that was Petty blue or sort of.

I looked... nothing

[disabled modeler]

I looked... nothing

Andy...must be something very rare to not show up...there has to be a photo of one somewhere out there just have to figure out where..?  I know the Aspen R/T was a very rare car..wish we could have kept it...thinking it was a 360ci 4 speed car and looked close to the RR version of the kits.  I might have to see if they made a promo of the Aspen to make a R/T from..?   I do remember seeing a Pinto with the stripes on it once.  I did find the Aspen R/Ts photos on the net.

Edited December 27, 2015 by disabled modeler

[Rob Hall]

Andy...must be something very rare to not show up...there has to be a photo of one somewhere out there just have to figure out where..?  I know the Aspen R/T was a very rare car..wish we could have kept it...thinking it was a 360ci 4 speed car and looked close to the RR version of the kits.  I might have to see if they made a promo of the Aspen to make a R/T from..?   I do remember seeing a Pinto with the stripes on it once.

No Aspens were made in kit or promo form.  MPC did only the Volares from '77-80.  

[disabled modeler]

No Aspens were made in kit or promo form.  MPC did only the Volares from '77-80.  

Rob....I wander how hard it would be to make a Aspen from the Volaries or RR kit..?

[Rob Hall]

Rob....I wander how hard it would be to make a Aspen from the Volaries or RR kit..?

It would need some scratchbuilding of the grille, taillights and rear panel.  '76-77 were more different (incl. the front bumper and front edge of the hood), later years (78-80) the differences were very trivial.....

Edited December 27, 2015 by Rob Hall

[disabled modeler]

It would need some scratchbuilding of the grille, taillights and rear panel.  '76-77 were more different (incl. the front bumper and front edge of the hood), later years (78-80) the differences were very trivial.....

Thanks Rob...now to find one to start with......I have been trying to build replicas of the vehicles the family owned over the years.

[Sledsel]

Andy...must be something very rare to not show up...there has to be a photo of one somewhere out there just have to figure out where..?  I know the Aspen R/T was a very rare car..wish we could have kept it...thinking it was a 360ci 4 speed car and looked close to the RR version of the kits.  I might have to see if they made a promo of the Aspen to make a R/T from..?   I do remember seeing a Pinto with the stripes on it once.  I did find the Aspen R/Ts photos on the net.

I did find one.... Wish i could locate a real one. New, they were sharp. Just a paint and interior package. Was available on Mustangs and Pintos in '80

Edited December 28, 2015 by Sledsel

[disabled modeler]

That is pretty neat Andy.

[Pat Minarick]

Like this ?

 

Edited December 31, 2015 by Pat Minarick

[Pat Minarick]

I will get a couple of these . I found some old picture of one my old Volares.

[THarrison351]

 

 

A friend threw a rod on a slant 6 Diplomat. Broke near the crank, big hole in the block. He drove it 15 miles home! i remember him showing it to me, saw the hole and the darn thing fired right up.

Volares and Aspens usually had no front fenders around here. I saw one with the springs thru the trunk.

The only bugs were that lean burn set-up. Ford And GM had their ignition module issue periodically. Otherwise, they were all pretty bulletproof if the bodies did not fall off.

Styling was not that bad, The Mavericks, Novas, and Volares were all pretty sharp with the right paint and wheels. Even the Pintos and Vegas could be made sharp. Vega GT, Pinto Rally, AMX (Spirit) all pretty good looking from the factory. Many I'd love to own today.

Anybody remember the special edition Mustang and Pintos from 79 or 80? Black with gold stripes. Cannot find a photo anywhere. 

My father worked at a large Chrysler Plymouth dealership in the Virginia tidewater area in the late '70s. He sold new tires at the dealership, but the new cars were unloaded next to the garages where he worked. I can remember visiting him and watching dealer mechanics pushing many new cars off the transporters and into the garages because they wouldn't start. There was a lot of prep prior to placing the cars on the lot including removing the door panels to insure nothing was left in the doors by the line workers. Quality seemed to be non-existent at that period of time in the Detroit auto industry. I know people will complain about almost anything, but it seems our cars today, are the most reliable.

Edited January 3, 2016 by THarrison351
edit

[disabled modeler]

Like this ?

 

YES...!  Ours was blue like Petty blue...love to build a replica of it someday.

[stavanzer]

Well, according to at least one set of Nurnberg pics, this kit is coming. Oddly enough in the Fuzz Duster boxing that started this thread.

I'll hafta get at least one. My Wife's first car was one of these Volare things.

[Casey]

Well, according to at least one set of Nurnberg pics, this kit is coming

Lemme guess, Spitfire Orange on the box art model? 

[Rob Hall]

Lemme guess, Spitfire Orange on the box art model? 

If it's true to the original, it would be black..

[Rob Hall]

Well, according to at least one set of Nurnberg pics, this kit is coming. Oddly enough in the Fuzz Duster boxing that started this thread.

 

Makes sense they would reissue it in a replica of the original box art..

[pack rat]

Lemme guess, Spitfire Orange on the box art model? 

 

If it's true to the original, it would be black..

You're both correct....almost. 

They're using the Fuzzduster box art, with a Graphic Red stock built-up on the corner of the box-top replacing the MPC "Golden Wheels" label.  Pics of the red car will replace the original MPC Fuzzduster pics on one of the side panels as well. 

However...box art has been known to change at the last minute.     

Edited February 2, 2016 by pack rat

[Mr mopar]

Here's one for you all the really rare Super coupe!

 

 

Edited December 29, 2017 by Mr mopar