I Don't Even Have The Car Yet.

Wish
Me 

Luck

Ooooo

In reply to chandler :

Paint is fried, but the Bordello Red interior is nice.




As long as it isn't hashed underneath, it should be a deal.

I held off on ths one in southern Illinois that was supposed to be rotted out underneath.

Mine was a "LeBaron" but it had the red crushed velour interior. So many one wheel peels occurred.

I think i saw that one in Central Illinois! A few weeks ago. 

Good luck!

In reply to Georges1991 :

The white Diplomat with the blue top and interior in the last photo was a car listed a few weeks ago that didn't run with a bad frame.


The one in the ad at the top of the page is tan with a red interior is supposed to be a runner, and was just listed yesterday.

Cooter said:

In reply to chandler :

Paint is fried, but the Bordello Red interior is nice.

I can already smell the Pall Mall cigarettes, Bushmill's, and that wonderful "egg salad floating in Gasohol" scent velour-interiored cars from that era had.

What are you thinking for powertrain, if you pick this one up?

I was about to post the one with the red interior. I just saw it on FB marketplace yesterday!

I know you bought the Mirada wheels but I have some Enkei 92 that I had on a diplomat that would be amazing!

I just dug out this regular day pic from 98 or so of my dads house for you

pretty sure we were swapping the engine out of the Mi pursuit car for my d150 stepside.

Well, I can no longer claim Diplomatic Immunity.

Meet the Notchback Volaré.  










Sold in the US only in 1980 and '81, the second generation Diplomat Coupe shared the same 108.7" wheelbase as the Aspen and Volaré coupes, while the 1st gen Dippys rode on the longer 112.7" WB as the sedans and wagons.   Just a bit shorter, just a bit lighter, just a bit cheaper.   But a lot less ugly, IMO.   



Of course, not this one.
 

It's had a pretty rough life.

A local car since new, it has been sitting for close to a decade.

This one is powered by a single barrel carbed 225 Slant Six as many of these were.   The Hi Perf 2bbl Super Six wasn't available in 1980, and '80 was also the last year of mechanical valvetrains in the Sixes.  Though this one still starts right up and runs like a little sewing machine, both it and the 904 trans will have to vacate the premises. The seller knew someone who was interested in the /6 and trans.   I have my own plans for filling this engine bay.





(the seller included a brand new battery, but I pulled that out to use in the Tan Panther.   No sense in leaving a fresh battery to go stale in a project car)


Now sitting at the Island of Misfit Toys Annex...




 

That thing better have a stock car vibe when you're done...

I LOVE THIS. 

Seriously though, you had me at "Bordello Red Interior". 

Can't wait to see where this goes!

Live your dream!

Awesome.

Not interested in making it look like it handles.  (The M body never had any impact on NASCAR, and the FMJ wasn't really very sought after for asphalt racing, that single picture that can be found on Google to the contrary.)


I am interested in actually making it quicker and handle better.  There are quite a few things I can do to make that happen. But putting on lipstick and earrings and painting it up like a circle track failure isn't in the cards.

Here is the first step to that goal.

Yup a 7" long, 4" diameter piece of aluminum.

Hoping to turn it into some of these-

I'm not sure what it is but there is a Cordoba/Mirada/Imperial in the junkyard at the Burr street exit in Gary. I happened to see it when I was there for work a month or so ago. It's in the front where they sell "projects" but I didn't have time to look. Only really saw the quarter window and recognized it as ChryCo.

A few more clues about the aluminum.

The large metal chunk in the photo above is the "K Frame" from an F/M/J bodied MoPar (Aspen/Volare, Mirada/Cordoba, Diplomat/LeBaron/Gran Fury/Fifth Avenue, Imperial)

The white, dry rotted thing in the lower right is one of the rubber isolators that mounted this monstrosity.   

As mentioned in the M body handling thread, one of the many Fatal Flaws of the Volare based suspension is that it is rubber mounted to the unibody fame rails.   Not only does this contribute to making the suspension vague and imprecise, it also allows for quite a bit of flex in the front rails, as the K member in the early longitudinal t-bar cars solid mounts to the rails and stiffens them up substantially.   




Mother MoPar at one point offered solid cast iron replacements the rubber mounts for fleet, police, and performance use.   They are exceedingly difficult to find now, and ridiculously expensive when you do.    There is one vendor that offers these in aluminum, but they are $250, which is easily $100 more than I would pay.  We're going to rectify that.   

Heck yeah! Are you going to make four sets and soft market them?

If you put a Viper power train in it, will you call this thing a Vipromat?

This seems like as good a step as any to make the car better at doing car things.  Will be watching where you take this. 

I love it when diligent research and personal ability come together to build a part that the market had left behind or made unobtainium to the end user.

chandler said:

Heck yeah! Are you going to make four sets and soft market them?

Let me see about making one set first, and how much it annoys me. 

RandolphCarter said:

If you put a Viper power train in it, will you call this thing a Vipromat?

A V10 would be about the last choice to swap in this.   Aside from maybe a 12 valve.

A Gen 3 Hemi weighs about the same as the Slant Six that is in it, and close enough Hp to the Gen 1 Viper that makes that swap obsolete. 

But I will likely use a mild 360 that I already have sitting around waiting for a suitable home.

pres589 (djronnebaum) said:

This seems like as good a step as any to make the car better at doing car things.  Will be watching where you take this. 

The Slant Six that is in it now actually runs pretty well, so I may swap in just the solid mounts and 8.8 with an upgraded rear suspension at first to see what sort of improvement I see as a driver before I tear it down to Project Car Hell status.

gumby (Forum Supporter) said:

I love it when diligent research and personal ability come together to build a part that the market had left behind or made unobtainium to the end user.

That's flattering and all, but let's see if I can do this without messing it up first.