I grew up in the middle of the Automotive Dark Ages. I was surrounded by the last, sad remnants of the old V8, rear drive cars and the vanguard of the new, more compact vehicles. At the time, I remember thinking that there was no reason to announce to the world that you had a “2.2” on big numbers on the door. I mean, what good was that? What I didn’t realize that the time was how truly sad the “real” cars had gotten.

That dawned on me as I grew up, and that’s part of the reason that I love to model cars from this time period. Remember them from my childhood, and now understand them, and what they meant as the collapse of a passion for motoring that would take a long time to recover. There are a lot of cars that fit into this category, but some of my favourites are those that tried hard, but failed.

These were the “Faded Glory” cars; little more that econoboxes or downsized shadows of their namesakes’ former greatness. Perhaps one of the best example of this is the Road Runner. By the time 1980 rolled around, it was little more than just a decal package on a Volare, and a not-very-inspiringly-restyled Volare at that.

That’s why I was so pumped to see Round 2 punch out the old MPC “Fuzz Duster” Volare! It really is an encapsulation of its era, and all that was wrong with it. Despite the lameness of the car, though, MPC did a pretty nice job on the kit, even if it’s a bit incorrect.

Check out my out of box review of this “muscle” machine here. Just remember that yes, it DID get this bad!

https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/mpc-125-1980-volare-road-runner-fuzz-duster-oob/

Our family had a Plymouth Volare wagon. Beige on some other shade of brown vinyl. I think the wagon version was the poster child for the death of automobile in 1976. Horrible car. Died a slow agonizing death. Transmission failed on a trip to the US. It got traded in on an olive green VW Rabbit (diesel).

Remember the Bertone X1/9? Almost bought one of those. I couldn't get in the thing, I'm 6'4"!

Hey, we had a Plymouth Volare wagon. My dad was a Chrysler man and we always had something of theirs. Before the Volare it was a great big station wagon with the fold down, rear facing seat in the back. Rear wheel drive with the hump down the center of the floor so it always sucked to be in the middle of the rear bench seat. The back end could fold down or open to the side depending on which way you unlatched it. I would actually love a model of that car.

My neighbor had a Duster. Bright orange body and black vinyl top, though most of that had peeled away. This review, the box art, and other comments just brought back a flood of memories. Thanks!

I love it when models bring back memories for people!

When I was young, there were a couple of these in the townhouse complex we lived in. None were Road Runners, but all were pretty rusty beaters. Our neighbours had a green four door for a while! I whish this one had been a 4-door, it would have been cool to model that!

Your dad's big wagon sounds awesome. I love old wagons. SUVs and Crossovers eat your hearts out! You want space, that'll do it!

We had a Duster for a while when I was in high school. Major P.O.S. Stepdad traded it for a Reliant K-car. He bought two more for parts to keep the first one running. By the time I joined the Army in 84 all three were junk and one of the last things I did before heading to basic was help tow the dang things to the scrappers. Killed my enthusiasm for Mopar's. The only Mopars I like are the original Chargers back when they were 2 door muscle cars, not 4 door sedans.