Over two years later and an almost identical question.

Long ago I posted here while looking at my first car, my beloved 1970 Dart, I loved that car but unfortunetly the beige beast was sold last summer because of budget issues. I drive a '90 NY'er for the time but an old mopar once again calls to me, now with better funds.

The mopar in question is a 1980 Volare, claimed 57,000 miles original and by the picture, I'd believe it. Talking to the owner, it has little rust - surface on door from scraped paint. It apparently has a cracked exhaust manifold and is in need of a tune up, and them as trailer dwellers don't have the room for it. The price is a negotiable $400. I plan to view and drive it tomorrow

I yearn for the rumble of a slanted six, would this be a suitable daily driver? could it be made suitable for winter travel as well? I would love to make this MY kind of cool car, are parts available widely?

I'm sure theres more questions but I ramble too much already. Thanks very much for reading all that, opinions are appreciated.

Of course, now if you were talking about a Model T Ford then I'd have to say no. Hard to believe, as it may sound, but some people drive them everyday

There are 3 known being daily driven locally (in various stages of 'care')...

If you take care of it, and fix the things that are broke, it should last quite a while... 1980 is a year of some 'one year only' parts... but the 'hard parts' like the engine/etc... are still available...

-D.Idiot

That means that exhaust manifold should be pretty easy to come by, right? Also, do these share suspension components with earlier Volares/Aspens? they should be essentially the same, correct?

I'm one of those!

As for winter travel, I don't see why not. Granted, we don't get snow in winter here in Salem, but my Dart handled the mountains between California and Oregon in November just fine, even with coolant leaking from a crack in the block.

If you live somewhere where it snows a lot in winter, I'd imagine making sure your brakes and such are in stellar condition would be top priority. After that, take your usual precautions with winter driving.

I love having my Dart as my daily driver - in fact she's the only car I own. Not the greatest when you decide to do, say, an engine swap, but I digress.. in any case, I think any slant can be made to be an awesome daily driver - just take good care of the car.

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<i>D'Artagnan</i>
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/stephaniexchaos/dart/th_IMG_0326_zpsumhhfxi0.jpg">

Yep... any slant six manifold can fit on there. And the 76-80 Volare/Aspen for all that other stuff...

-D.Idiot

hi di- you made a comment which peaked my curiosity on the 80 volare. i have one which seems very rare, sl6 wagon with only 69k , ps and 3spd factory floorshift. isnt that an odd combination. you said 80 was a one year only on some parts. ive noticed dual catalytic converters, square headlights, air pump, diagnostic plug on inner fender, thinnest radiator ive ever seen, wiper switch/high beam/signals on stalk on steering column. could you elaborate on other one year anomalies you are aware of on this model. thanks tons bob fisher

I have a '78 Volare 2-door that I drive everyday, I've owned it since August 1993, I bought it for $250.
I also bought an '80 Plymouth Duster, which is basically a Volare. Very similar to my '78 except for the front fenders and hood. This '80 F-body also has a 225 slant from a '73 Dart Swinger.
Many parts are interchangeable between F-bodies and M-bodies (Diplomats, Garn Furies, 5th Avenues) and J-bodies (Miradas). The differential in my '78 is from an '82 Diplomat cop car.
Have fun!

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"Ja, Ich fahre ein altes auto."
'78 Volare 225
'67 Charger 318

i drive my volare everyday. its actually my first car. but i absolutly love it.

and it only has 63k original miles.