Gas Prices lowest in 8 years ... at least for San Diego

We moved to San Diego just over 8 years ago. When we got here in November of 2000, gas prices in our neighborhood were right around 1.75-1.80 / gallon for regular unleaded. We live in the same area as we did 8 years ago, and yesterday the local gas station in our neighborhood regular unleaded was being sold for 1.75/gallon (for regular unleaded)!! This was after this station was selling regular at 3.90/gallon (for regular unleaded) just 8 months ago. What a crazy drop in prices, I love it.

Hot B-Body Wagon

This was linked off of a MoparStyle, it was an eBay auction. This B-Body wagon is pretty frickin slick, very similar to how I want the wagon to end up. The copper color is pretty close to what I want on the Aspen, not sure yet about just the roof as a two-tone or the color of the two tone. Still, this is one hot wagon.

Rear Speaker Liftgate Wiring

Someone on a message board asked me how I ran the wire for the rear liftgate speakers, so reposting for anyone else that wants to know.

The below photo is taken from the right side of the car, but the wiring is run down the left side of the liftgate, this is just to help explain.



I followed how the speakers were wired up in the T&C for this, with one exception. There is a small cavity just underneath and towards the edge of the rear trim panel (red arrow, there is one on each side). The wiring for both speakers enters into the cavity of the liftgate formed by the inner and outer shell. It runs along the edge of the window (inside the liftgate) just like the yellow line in the photo (except on the other side). The wiring exits out the top of the liftgate through a small hole in the upper window area.

On the T&C, there was a grommet and a hole on the upper roof area that my Aspen did not have. For the T&C, this was for the rear speaker wiring, the rear taillight wiring (for the lights on the liftgate) and for a power liftgate relase (if so equipped, mine wasn't). Instead of drilling the hole, I just ran the speaker wire up underneath the rear trim piece that holds up the headliner. You can see the wire in the red box in the photo.

I hope that this information is useful to anyone else.

All moved over

Well, we finally got everything moved over to the new house. The T&C was the last piece of the puzzle (from a car persepctive). Went over last weekend, called a tow truck, and had it flat-bedded over. Even with the cost of the flat bed, the engine and everything else that I can still get off of it made it worth it to haul it over.

Still have a little bit more settling in to do, and I should be able to start up again on working on the car. Once we're done with softball season (World Series coming up), I will finally get the engine yanked from the T&C and sent it on it's merry way to heaven.

1 Year Later....

In December of 2006, I received the call that changed my automotive landscape. My dad called and asked me if I wanted the "Family Heirloom", the Aspen. I jumped at the chance, and in January of 2007 I drove the Aspen from Albuquerque to San Diego to add it to my stable.

It's been just a little over a year that I've had the car, so I thought I'd take a little recap to see what's been done over the last year. Of course, I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted to on it, but I think that is par for the course for any car project.

New Rims & Tires



While I've always liked the look of the car with the 66 Charger 14" wheel covers (they've been on there forever), I've grown to like the look of big rims (not huge) on older cars, somewhere in the 17" - 18" range. I had a set of 17"x8" Mustang Bullitt rims from my Mustang convertible lying around, and I was able to get them to fit by using a 1" spacer.

V8 Donor Car

I casually looked around for a V8 donor car/truck. I lucked out in finding a nice V8 donor wagon, a 1978 Chrysler Town & Country. Not only does this car provide me with the V8, but it also provides me with alot of interior parts that are in better condition than the Aspen's.



As of today, there has been some disassembly of the car and the engine has been prepped for being pulled, but it's been very busy and we haven't had a chance to yank the engine yet.

Stereo Installed

I've been driving the car on errands around town and down to the junkyard (just not a daily driver), and one of the things that I've missed is having tunes. So, a new stereo was installed.

As part of the stereo install, the first parts from the T&C started to make their way into the Aspen. I installed the tailgate trim and tailgate speaker mounts, which the Aspen never had.

Clear Lense Headlights

I updated the look of the car with new Clear Lense headlights. A small visual change, but a huge lighting change. The headlights are now also operated by relays as well.

Interior Updates

I've also made some updates to the interior. I cleaned up the Instrument Cluster and detailed it. The lower dash panel was replaced since I had cracked it. The HVAC control was cracked, so that one was fixed with parts from the T&C.

Carb Rebuild

I rebuilt the carburetor over Thanksgiving weekend (my first time), which has cured some of the driveability problems that I've had.

Collection of Parts

I've also collected some parts over the past year, that I just haven't got around to installing yet.

• Full console and Floor-Shift automatic trans shifter
• New grille
• remote sport mirrors
• different bucket seats (out of a Daytona)

There might be some others, but I just can't think of them right now.

Goals for This Year

With this retrospective, I'd also like to throw out some goals for this upcoming year.

• Replace all interior parts with ones from the T&C, including picking the color to switch over the interior to.
• Install the console and floor shift
• Install the chrome sport mirrors
• Remove the V8 and remaining parts from the T&C
• Replace the broken Instrument Cluster circuit board
• Replace the auxiliary gauges with newer ones

That should get me through the year. Depending on how busy the summer gets, I might also attempt the engine swap. Here in CA, that's a long drawn out process to make sure that all the relevant smog equipment is installed. So, we'll see how that goes.