Forgotten NASCAR Tribute: 1978 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car
Fewer than 250 of these Petty tributes were sold, which explains why you’ve probably never seen one before.
Many dismiss the ’70s as the “Malaise Era,” and it’s an apt term for those fuel-starved, smog-choked days. How could anything measure up to the dearly departed muscle car era, anyhow?
That doesn’t mean, however, that there weren’t cool cars available in the mid to late ’70s. One look at this classic magazine ad was all it took for us to realize that the ’70s gave us more than just Steely Dan and Boogie Nights (both of which are admittedly pretty awesome).
This ad promotes the ’78 Plymouth Volare Street Kit Car, a dealer add-on for the 1978 Volare. Honoring Mopar racing legend Richard Petty, this kit included numerous NASCAR-inspired goodies. The front and rear spoilers and fender flares are immediately apparent, as well as dual side exhausts. Of course, you can’t miss the #43 lettering on the doors and roof, as well as the big engine callouts on the hood.
Looking the Part
Further inspection will reveal retention tabs for the windshield and straps for the rear window. Odd details to include, for sure, but it can’t be denied that they add to the NASCAR look. Interior upgrades were limited to a Tuff steering wheel.
Performance upgrades included sway bars and wide radial tires on unique 15×8″ steel wheels, which were unique to the Street Kit Car. While 175 smog-choked horsepower from the 360 cubic inch V8 isn’t impressive today, it certainly did the trick in the late 1970s. It’s worth noting that similar new-for-’78 “stripes and spoilers” packages from Ford, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile made between 140 and 180 horsepower from their similarly hamstrung V8s.
Just 247 Volare Street Kit Cars were built, with an even smaller population of Aspen Street Kit Cars tearing up suburbia. Part of the reason was Richard Petty’s mid-season change from the unsuccessful Dodge Magnum to the Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
After discovering the magazine ad, we were able to actually locate one for sale. Vaughn’s Classic Cars in Nashville, Illinois has one of these rare machines in pristine condition. It even comes complete with a factory 8 track player. It’s probably the nicest one on offer, with just 7,626 miles since new. At $35,000, it’s probably worth every penny due to its rarity. That said, we’d probably spend the money on a different rear wheel drive V8 Mopar.
Images: Vaughn’s Classic Cars
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