The Embarrassing Reality of the Plymouth Volare 'Street Kit Car'

The Plymouth Volaré Street Kit Car was a factory-selectable option that dressed up a regular 1978 Plymouth Volaré in the automotive equivalent of a Halloween costume of Richard Petty’s famous #43 NASCAR racing car. The car was a getup, an absurd, funhouse-mirror version of Richard Petty’s purposeful racing cars, and it’s hard to see how anyone could have seen it any other way. The car was the automotive equivalent of a poser, a tourist who buys all the new equipment to fit in at some specific context or subgroup, and as a result stands out like a sore and yet too-clean thumb.