Junkyard Hunting

Well, softball season is offically over now. I should have some time to dedicate to working on the car now. I decided that this past weekend was a good time to go and roam through the junkyards to see what's out there.

I hit pay dirt!!

I have been searching and searching for a set of the 11.75" brake caliper mounts, so that I can upgrade the front disc brakes to the larger 11.75" brakes. The caliper mounts can be found in B-body Cordobas, Chargers, etc, as well as the even larger R-body Chrysler New Yorker, Dodge St. Regis, etc. All the Cordobas that I have seen, all had the older pin-style calipers (not the slider type likeon the Aspen). I found one R-body, and the bolts were so rusted that I was unable to break them loose with the tools I had.

Sunday, I found 4 sets(!!!) of the caliper mounts. A 78 Dodge Magnum, a 78 Cordoba, an 80 New Yorker and an 80 St. Regis. I pulled the mounts from the New Yorker, cuz it was the first one I saw. They came off with very little effort. Score one for budget big brake upgrade.

The second score was the 1982 Imperial in the second yard. This car still had the complete rear sway bar. I've already purchased a sway bar and a set of custom made brackets to weld to the spring caps, but I still needed the frame mounts. I picked up the entire bar, frame mounts, and end links for next to nothing!

The parts are home now, and after my trip to North Carolina I'm going to start ordering parts. Coming up I'll be doing the following:

- Replacing suspension: front and rear shocks, rear springs, rear sway bar, possible cop-size front bar.

- Upgrading brakes: budget big-brake (11.75") upgrade in the front, replacement of shoes in the rear, new master cylinder.

- Upgrading steering: new steering box (firm feel unit), new tie rod ends, and new steerign wheel (tuff-wheel lookalike).

Stay tuned.

78 Aspen SuperCoupe Sedan Delivery

Sometimes you see the strangest things on eBay. I found a listing that was labeled 1978 Aspen SuperCoupe Sedan Delivery, and of course that caught my eye. The auction was for a 1978 Aspen wagon that has been converted to a 2 door Sedan Delivery, and then done up Aspen Super Coupe style. It looks like the rear doors have been welded shut and sheetmetal has been used to cover over the rear door windows and the rear wagon windows.

As far as the SuperCoupe pieces, it looks pretty close to having all the right parts. I'm not sure about the sweep of the dark maroon up the rear of the wagon, but that's keeping the paint job inline with the SuperCoupe.

1980 Aspen SportWagon

I was cruising around eBay today looking for parts and cool things, and I stumbled across this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dodge-Aspen-wagon-sport-1980-Dodge-Aspen-Sport-wagon-possible-1-of-54_W0QQitemZ300169768085QQihZ020

It's rough looking, but it is an ultra-rare 1980 Dodge Aspen Sport Wagon. The Sport Wagon's were only available in 1979 and 1980, for both the Volare and the Aspen. I believe that if you total up both years of production from both lines, there were less than 1,000 built.

It is essentially the R/T (Road Runner) type of add ons, done to a station wagon. Front spoiler and wheel flares, 15" wheels, sport suspension, etc. Some of them had bucket seats and the floor mounted shifter as well.

There used to be a bit more information out on the web for them, but it's since disappeared. I'm gonna have to do some digging to revive that information and put it up on my own website.

This would be a cool car to own. Maybe someday.