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Junkyard Gem: 1978 Plymouth Volare Wagon

When it came time for Chrysler to retire the beloved but antiquated Dart and Valiant in the North American market, the Dodge Aspen and its Plymouth Volare twin were introduced for the 1976 model year. While the Aspen is better remembered today (partly because Aspens were in just about every cop TV show for a good decade and partly because Chrysler revived the Aspen name for a few years in the late 2000s), Plymouth's "small car with the accent on comfort" outsold the Aspen for every one of their five model years of production. Here's one of those Volares, a '78 station wagon with the Custom exterior and Premier interior packages, found in a Denver-area car graveyard recently. I thought this car looked very familiar, and it turns out that it spent many years parked in an alley driveway in my Denver neighborhood, next to a Dodge 600 sedan (which is still on the road; I saw it moving under its own power a few weeks ago). Back in the summer of 2020, I shot this photo for an episode of 24 Hours of Lemons Carspotting. Now I wish I'd talked a local Lemons team into offering a few bucks for this Volare, because it's better to race than to get crushed. Detroit went through an accent phase that started with the Volare and then continued with the Cadillac Allante and Oldsmobile Trofeo. The interior in this car still looks pretty good. This wagon has the exact same interior and exterior colors as the one in the Volare brochure that year. It's nicely equipped, with the optional 318-cubic-inch (5.2-liter) V8 and air conditioning (via the distinctive Chrysler V-twin compressor just in front of the carburetor). The base price on this car was $4,195 (about $19,890 in 2022 dollars), while the 318 cost $129 extra ($610 now). The A/C added $484 more ($2,295 today, and you can see how the price tag got bigger in a hurry with low-priced cars back in the 1970s). Believe it or not, a four-on-the-floor manual transmission was standard equipment in the '78 Volare with 318 engine, but I've never seen one so equipped; this car has the usual three-speed automatic. A cheap wagon like the Volare certainly wasn't going to come with a radio at the base MSRP (though a dealer might throw one in to sweeten the deal). This single-speaker, AM-only radio cost $74 extra ($351 in 2022 dollars).

Dealer chain accuses FCA of paying dealers to pad sales [UPDATE]

UPDATE: The story has been updated to include a full press release from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on the Napleton Automotive Group's allegations. A Chicago-based dealership group has filed an explosive lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles accusing the company of paying dealers to fake new-vehicle sales, Automotive News reports. Edward Napleton, president of the Napleton Automotive Group, filed the suit on Tuesday. It claims that FCA offered Napleton money to fudge end-of-month sales figures. According to the filing, dealers would report false transactions, only to "back out" at the start of a new month "before the factory warranty on the vehicles could be processed and start to run." According to Automotive News, FCA was aware of the false reports and rewarded dealership managers for hitting sales targets. The lawsuit cites one example at Napleton Arlington Heights Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram where an FCA business center manager offered Napleton $20,000 "to falsely report the sales of 40 new vehicles." The payment would be disguised "as a co-op advertising credit to the dealer's account." Such a move would prevent a sales audit, AN reports. Napleton rejected the deal, telling FCA it was illegal. He later learned a similar arrangement was made with a competing dealer to falsify the sale of 85 vehicles. They were given "tens of thousands of dollars as an illicit reward for their complicity in the scheme." FCA has vehemently denied the accusation in a statement obtained by Automotive News. "While the lawsuit has not yet been served on FCA US, the company believes that the claim is without merit and was filed by internal counsel to the dealer group as FCA US has concurrently been discussing with the dealer group the need to meet its obligations under some of its dealer agreements," the statement said. "The company is confident in the integrity of its business processes and dealer arrangements and intends to defend this action vigorously." There are additional allegations, as well, claiming FCA "strong-armed its dealers to achieve sales numbers" and accusing the company of maintaining a "pattern of conduct towards its dealers [that] has been one of coercion and threats of termination having nothing to do with the actual performance of its dealers." FCA is riding a wave of 69 consecutive months of year-over-year sales gains. More on this one as it becomes available. FCA Strongly Rejects Allegations by Two U.S.

EIB ups financing for Fiat Chrysler's electric vehicles to $949 million

MILAN — The European Investment Bank (EIB) has increased to almost 800 million euros ($949 million) its funding to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) to support production of electric and hybrid vehicles, they said in a joint statement. Investments to manufacture battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will be mainly directed at FCA plants located in southern Italy, supporting employment and compliance with the strictest environmental criteria. To improve capacity utilization at FCA's Italian plants, the group has announced a 5 billion euro investment plan for the country through 2021 which envisages the launch of new electric and hybrid models. EIB and FCA had sealed 300 million euros in financing before the summer to fund investments for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle production lines at plants in Melfi, in the southern Basilicata region, and battery electric vehicles at Fiat's historic Turin plant of Mirafiori over the 2019-2021 period. FCA has now finalized a 485 million euro deal with EIB to support both an innovative line of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles at the Pomigliano plant in the southern Campania region as well as R&D activities at FCA laboratories in Turin. The EIB credit line covers 75% of the total value of FCA's investment in the project for the 2020-2023 period. Earnings/Financials Green Plants/Manufacturing Chrysler Fiat