Love it or hate it, the Volare Road Runner is well on its way to become a rare "classic." Image: eBay Motors

There’s an old saying that goes, “it’s better to burn out than fade away.” Obviously, Chrysler must not have received this memo in 1976, as the rock group Def Leppard hadn’t proclaimed it until the opening of their “Rock of Ages “ track in 1983. If you know anything about the history of the Plymouth Road Runner, then you know exactly what we’re talking about, all rock references aside.

Chrysler, like every other auto manufacturer in the world, had been under attack by the EPA and high oil prices for several years by the late 1970s. To coincide with this, insurance premiums for young adults had skyrocket years earlier, and by which point there were literally no [real] muscle cars left to offer the enthusiast market.

Not too shabby for a 34-year old interior. We dig the Pistol-Grip/Hurst shifter. Image: eBay Motors

What we were left with then was either bloated or downsized intermediates and compacts with very little power, poor styling, and awful build quality.

But at least they had plenty of scoops, spoilers, and bold striping, which is what we really only want from a performance car anyway, right? Of course not.

At the time, Detroit’s hands were tied when it came to building proper machinery, and what resulted is now known as the age of the “image car.”

A fine example of this is the ’77 Volare-based Road Runner you’re looking at here. After a one-year only stint as being an available package based on the ’75 Fury, Plymouth decided to move the nameplate to the new-for-’76 Volare sport coupe, which had replaced the Valiant/Duster.

While the move to a smaller and lighter platform sounded promising on paper, it turned out to be anything but. The first-year Volares were plagued with quality control issues… so many in fact that it became one of the highest-recalled cars in history.

Despite the recalls, Chrysler soldiered on with the production of the Volare Road Runner, and its cousin, the Dodge Aspen R/T. Performance (what there was of It), is best described as dismal as the big-block HEMIs and 440’s were long gone, and not even a low-compression 383 was available anymore.

Nope, enthusiasts had to make do with either a 318 (150hp) or a smogger 360 (170hp, equipped with a single exhaust) –both of which were only available with a 2-bbl carburetor for ‘76. The 318 came with either a 4-speed manual or 3-speed auto, while the 360 was restricted to the slushbox.

Whether this 318 example is equipped with either the 2-bbl or 4-bbl carb, the seller doesn't say. Image: eBay

A year later the 360 earned an additional 25hp, thanks to the addition of a dual exhaust system  and an electronically-controlled 4-bbl carburetor, the first of its kind. The 318 was also available with a 4-bbl of its own that year which meant it packed an additional 10hp itself. Yup, performance was on its way back if you consider running 16-second quarter-mile times with a trap speed of 88mph high performance. Too bad it wasn’t equipped with a flux-capacitor, otherwise it would have been able to travel back to 1971 and regain its 426 HEMI.

In a case of the oddballs, the same car is pictured next to an incorrect year ('68) General Lee. Image: eBay

But unfortunately for the image car F-bodies, it got worse before it got better, as the 225 slant-six managed to find its way onto the engine roster by ’79, replacing the 318 as the standard engine before the cars had their plug pulled after the final 1980 model year where only 1,000 units were produced.

All joking aside, Chrysler did make a valiant attempt (no pun intended) at bringing performance back into the mainstream even though it was truly a case of too little, too late.

So check out this car on eBay while you can, as its auction had abruptly ended as the seller apparently received his Buy-It-Now price of $8500 for this excellent example of late-‘70s muscle.

Although the car tends to be the butt of all jokes, it is a classic in its own right, and should serve well as a reminder of what the dark ages of automotive history were all about.