(This week’s COAL ride has been covered before at Curbside Classic but I’ve added it here to my COAL series in its proper order. So in case you missed this Aries the first time around or would like to revisit the story I have remixed and updated it.)
I needed a cheap but hopefully reasonable reliable ride for an event called The Great Beater Challenge. The basic premise is this: buy a vehicle and fix it up all for less than $700Cdn, then drive into the Rocky Mountains with a scavenger hunt along the way. What I found was this 1983 Dodge Aries K-car.
A member of a car forum that I participate in offered to sell me a car that he had bought but did not really know what to do with once he had it. It was located about 180kms away which meant a road trip and a second driver. My friend Rod, who is also participating in the challenge, is always up for a car buying trip was good enough to accompany me. I packed a few hand tools and we headed north after work.
The story I have on this particular car is that it was a one owner vehicle until a young person inherited it. They took it to a local mechanic in order to pass the safety inspection but were not interested in paying the bill. It sat outside the mechanic’s shop until the guy I bought it from had purchased it. He has a mechanic’s plate which meant he could drive it around a bit without having to register it in his own name. He also happens to be the owner or previous owner of many interesting a low mileage Eighties and Nineties cars in pristine condition. He had a very original 1989 SHO among others which we sadly did not have a chance to see due to time constraints.
I had a cursory look over the car and pronounced it good enough for my purposes. It was clean, had good tread on the tires and, most importantly, was cheap. These vintage travel stickers gave credence to the elderly, one owner story and I think give the car some extra character. Rod and I had a great chat with the seller who has similar vehicle interests to our own. Perhaps too good of a chat as it was dusk and rapidly getting darker as we set off.
As you can see it is a Special Edition which is the top trim level but more importantly worth a mighty fifty points in the vehicle judging section of the challenge.
The interior is refreshingly clean for such an inexpensive vehicle. Usually when I buy at the very shallow end of the budget market the car needs several hours of cleaning to be inhabitable. You can see the cloth seats, padded dash, simulated wood grain trim of the SE trim line. It is not a loaded car however with manual crank windows. The seats themselves seem to straddle the line between a traditional bench and buckets by deftly combining the negatives of both designs without the positives that either would have afforded.
The Dodge Aries for 1983 was powered by either a Chrysler 2.2L or Mitsubishi 2.6L four cylinder engine. Thankfully mine has the (relatively) more reliable 2.2L making 82-84hp and 111lb-ft of torque when new. The engine could be hooked to either a manual or automatic transmission. Most were equipped like mine with the automatic which is a TorqueFlite A413 three speed unit with either a column or floor shift. Like several other American manufacturers at the time fuel injection was not yet on the menu especially at the lower end of the market. The Aries is saddled with an electronically controlled feedback two barrel carburetor that is often afflicted with driveability issues especially when the engine is cold. Suspension wise the front uses struts, the rear has coil springs and a flex beam. Steering is a rack and pinion system that could be optionally powered. Braking is the usual for the era front discs and rear drums. My Aries has 13″ rims with an impressive amount of sidewall on the tires.
For the journey back the Dodge would be in the lead with my trusty Mazda 2 following behind.
I was a little surprised that no one mentioned K-cars in comment section of part one of the Challenge write up looking for suggestions. Perhaps that is because the K-car’s time in the sun as a beater of choice was a decade or two ago. The early cars in particular are getting very thin on the ground. I had previously owned a 1986 Chrysler LeBaron that was a fantastic inner city clunker but it could not hold its oil while on the highway so I was a little apprehensive for the drive home.
Only half an hour into the drive the battery light started flickering signaling an issue with the alternator. We had to turn off all the accessories in a bid to save every precious electron. The plan had been to trade drivers at the half way point but by then it was clear we would be limping it back home in the best possible scenario so Rod got stuck with the driving duties for almost the whole way. Soon after the flicking battery warning light became more rapid then solidly lit. It seemed likely that the alternator had given up the ghost.
As if to foreshadow a greater issue the seat-belt warning light came on despite the fact he was already belted in. It cannot be a good sign when the car tells you to buckle up! We resorted to even more drastic battery management solutions for the last leg of the journey. I suspect the added load of having the headlights on is what did the alternator in. If we had done the drive in the daylight we might have had no problems at all but I would certainly prefer to flush out any issue like this before the challenge.
Despite the mechanical setback the Aries managed to complete the drive home under its own power. Although the photo does not show it the headlights were incredibly dim at this point. I believe we had only mere moments before the battery would have been unable to keep the car running. I suspect if the car had been fuel injected there would have been no hope with the extra electrical burden it would have saddled the battery with.
While we had managed to limp home the Aries without the battery charging it really needed fixed. Comments by and here both indicated that the car’s computer brain was more likely at fault than the alternator. Further research confirmed this to be a rather common issue. Rather than replacing a hard to source ECU an external voltage regulator from a Dodge pickup truck can be used. Sounded like a good excuse to head to the local junkyard.
The junkyard had a selection of five suitable Dodge pickup trucks but three had already had their regulators harvested. Since they are quite affordable I figured I would grab both of the remaining units. As a nice bonus the operator gave me a two for one deal so I snagged both for $10 + tax.
After studying the diagrams and instructions I temporarily wired everything into place.
Success! I just had to go back to properly protect and route the wires.
The car was treated to fresh oil and a filter. As you can see the front cross-member has been well lubricated by the engine over the years. Rust prevention like the British used to do. The murky looking coolant was also swapped out which is a job I do not particular enjoy due to the high likely-hood of mess creation. On the plus side the brake pads looked brand new so nothing to sort there.
I had also purchased a new timing belt but when I took the cover off the existing one still looked decent. I really need to look before ordering parts.
The interior of the car was actually quite clean when I got it which is a minor miracle for a cheap vehicle but I did a slightly deeper clean. Usually in inexpensive vehicles there are some interesting items to find. After I acquired my old Lada Niva I did not even realize that the back seat was missing until I cleaned it. I also found a pair of used ladies underwear and a few random tools among the trash but no backseat. The Reliant Scimitar I owned briefly had a FuzzyBuster II early radar detector as well as some very rusty horse riding gear. The Aries however had no real secrets to spill. The trunk had some ragged seat covers while the interior held two old air fresheners, two screwdrivers, one pencil and a dime. I like the older look of the strawberry freshener so I hung that one the rear view mirror although any scent it once provided had long ago faded.
I got a bit of a surprise when I went to register the car as I had been under the assumption that it was a 1982 but it is in fact a 1983 model. There is not much of a specification or functional difference but there was a bit of an awkward moment at the registry (Alberta’s version of the DMV) when my bill of sale said 1982 and their computer said 1983. After some subtle cajoling the registration process proceeded.
I drove the car a handful of times to give it a bit of test before heading out on the Beater Challenge. Ideally I could have been driving it to work and back for a couple of weeks. With the first frost the Aries started a little reluctantly and took a couple minutes to warm up. I suspected the auto-choke was barely functional or non-functional. However given my mixed track record of repairing carburetors I did not attempt a fix.
As far as driving impressions go the Aries is softly sprung and does not want to be pushed hard around the corners but floats down the road in a reasonably pleasant way. It sort of oozes up to speed with a rather mushy throttle pedal. You give it a bit of gas, nothing happens. A bit more gas and still nothing. Then a touch more and it downshifts, roars and slowly builds momentum. My fuel injected 1986 Chrysler LeBaron was no sports car but felt like it had double the power. I am not a stranger to slow cars (having owned a Mercedes 220D and Nissan Micra among others) but I was (with good reason) a little worried that I would be crawling up the mountain passes with the engine screaming in second gear.
We had a successful Challenge with a few issues but ultimately making it home ok if rather slowly. The whole adventure can be read below.
The whole series:
The Great Beater Challenge: Day 1, Part 1 – Off To A Slow Start
The Great Beater Challenge: Day 1, Part 2 – Rain, Rain, and a Hotel with Character
The Great Beater Challenge: Day 2, Part 1 – The Big Climb
The Great Beater Challenge: Day 2, Part 2– Finale
I suspect the engine timing or something similar was very off on the Aries. The transmission was leaking at a good rate and a quick look underneath had me not wanting to undertake that repair on a vehicle I did not really need so it was put up for sale. A young man bought it off me very cheaply as his first car. I actually tried to talk him out of the purchase but he was insistent that he could fix it up. Luckily I sold it to him the car for what he could recover in scrap price in the worst case scenario. I never saw the car again around town so it is likely this Aries did not get another lease on life which is a shame.
“However given my mixed track record of repairing carburetors I did not attempt a fix.”
I’d say your spotty track record is more a reflection on the quality of rebuilt/replacement carburetors rather than a condemnation of your tuning skills…
Great report David. Even with fuel injection, and properly tuned, the 2.2 wasn’t the quickest engine in most applications. The Omni/Horizon being the exception. Slow even by 1990s standards. They were well suited to the K Car though, with its very easy to work on layout, affordable repairs and replacement parts, and rugged design. The need for the 2.2 to succeed was as important as the success of the K Cars.
Chrysler managed to keep this basic architecture in production for nearly 15 years, if you consider the Shadow/Sundance lasting to 1994. I recognize a few hardware items retained for those 15 years.
The K Cars looking their best with whitewalls and upgraded wheel covers. Appearing Valiant-like with blackwalls and basic steel wheels.
Hard to believe these were once everywhere in the US and Canada. And one of the first domestic cars I recall almost never seeing serious rust on as they aged. Largely made fun of today, they were a saviour for Chrysler at the time.
Some folks say the 2.2/2.5 was the spiritual successor to the Slant-6. Both engines, when neglected and abused, ran poorly, but they still ran.
Great post, David. Your lucky you made it home. This brings up a lot of memories since an ’83 Aries was my family’s only car for the first 11 years of my life (besides the Pinto wagon we inherited from my departed grandpa). Ours was a stripper white base model with a redrum interior, a 4-speed manual, and no power steering. It even had an aftermarket KRACO radio/cassette deck from KMart.
I remember family trips in the Aries taken all over Colorado and the west. I remember my Dad was rather fond of the car; he liked the “clean lines”. Sometimes he would pass lines of cars on 2-lane roads while my Mom fearfully screamed in his ear. Such feats were probably easier in our manual version than with the crippling 3-speed automatic. Passing on 2-lane roads in Colorado also used to be easier, before the passing zones were truncated.
The Aries finally met its end with over 220K on the odo when my sister stalled it during a driving lesson, and it was t-boned in an intersection. No one was hurt, and the Aries still drove, but at that point the car was 10 years old and quite obviously totaled.
I’m sure that just from sitting, something wore out/cracked/developed leaks which made the car slower than normal. Not having driven the car myself, I couldn’t be positive but we are very spoilt in 2019 with family sedans which have horsepower, 0-60 times, handling, grip, and driving feel which only 25 years ago was limited to supercars. 84 hp, a few ponies have probably escaped their corral since 1983, even in this lightweight a car would have been adequate even then but woeful compared with 2019. In 1983 the K cars were amazingly space efficient, light weight, durable, well put together, roomy, comfortable, reasonably priced . . . what they never were was thrilling or speedy. Considering a V8 then was wheezing 130ish horsepower, and the Citation’s HO 2.8 made 135, 84 wasn’t terrible then but wasn’t great, but here in 2019land, lousy.
Thank GOD for EFI. I remember carbureted cars and have nothing good to say about them. Even when carbs were common, very, very few people really knew how to get them to run perfectly. The best most people could do was get it to run at all. I could also be wrong on this but I don’t think the Aries/Reliant EVER were offered with electric windows. The only Ks I ever saw with electric windows were the 400/600 and Caravelle, LeBarons, etc. I THINK you had to step up to a fancier model to purchase electric windows. Electric windows really didn’t become common on family cars until the late 80s and were very much a very luxurious feature until then. Even a Lesabre had manual windows standard until the 92 redesign. This car is very luxurious for 1983 with A/c, radio, quartz clock, tinted glass, fancy cloth upholstery, automatic, power steering, power brakes, etc.
My first car was an 85 Reliant SE with the mitsu 2.6. I had it from 2000 to 2003. It was a great first car as it was reliable but still had issues i could fix that taught me basic mechanical skills. Biggest problem it had was it always ran rich and guzzled gas (20 mpg in good weather, teens otherwise). It was an amazing car in the snow, comfortable, and always started. Eventually the plastic timing chain guides are what did it in (i sold it for parts before rhey went completely) but it was what a college kid needs…tough safe reliable transportation. Its a rare sight to see a k car today but it brings back positive memories when I do.
Your pictures remind me of what a nice job Chrysler was doing on interiors in the early 80s. It is a shame you could not get it to run properly.
The base Aries and Reliant versions of the K car never had anything but manual windows. The upscale cars like the LeBaron had them.
I have several spare carburetors to keep my 83 K car running. I’m getting pretty good at taking them apart to clean out whatever crud is keeping them from working well. Still helps to be good at two pedal driving with a carb.
Yep, one foot on the accelerator to keep it from stalling when you brake. Brings back memories…
Chrysler with it’s various SE models… that weren’t all that special, and Ford with it’s LTD that sold in the hundreds of thousands…not all that limited.
Anyway, I still see 1 or 2 of these around every now and then, and always 4 door sedans in that light blue metallic color (the 80s version of Chrysler’s ubiquitous beige that no many 60s models were painted?). I actually saw a Dodge 600 a few days ago being used as a part time daily driver, hustling it’s owner home from work on a friday afternoon.
While the styling hasn’t aged all that well, the rest of the car acquits itself reasonably well. I would buy one and put some decent speed and suspension parts on it.
As one commentor said, a pretty good successor to the slant 6 Valiant/Dart.
For those wondering since I’ve seen it mentioned a few times here, you definitely could get power windows in an Aries/Reliant for a few years (I want to say 82-84), but it was a very rare option and I’ve never seen one in person or on the internet before. The brochure that this came from doesn’t even show a picture with one, which is odd since companies usually like to show off their fully optioned examples.
My only experience with an original K-car was a weekend driving my dad’s nearly-new 1981 Dodge Aries coupe (don’t recall which engine; it had a 3-speed manual transmission) all through Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey.
It drove – okay. I don’t remember anything especially bad or good about it.
My next K experience was with an ’87 Chrysler New Yorker. Again, it drove okay and gave good service. We ended up putting a rebuilt engine and trans in it, and kept it until it nickeled and dimed us to death.
My dad bought a 1984 K-car, which was utterly gutless. I remember the feeling of hitting the gas. It felt like something rubber-like was jammed underneath the pedal, and you had to push through it to get the car to move.
At the same time, a fleet car at work was a 1989 Reliant. It was fun to drive and quite peppy. Why was the feeling of power so different? Was this really only a few horsepower?
Most employees wanted to take the Reliant over the Aerostar and second-gen Lumina that were also available. The shop guy said that the Reliant was the most reliable car they had.
In my experience the difference is fuel injection between the two.
My Dad bought an ’86 Dodge 600 new…I remember something about that being the last year you could deduct sales tax on cars, which might have been why he bought it that year. It was typical family car, 4 door, light blue (mostly my Dad had green cars) and I remember the instrument labels on the dash not lining up.
He had it until my middle sister borrowed it in 1989 when her car was being serviced, we were on a picnic waiting for her to show up, but she was in the hospital, she had totalled it on the way to the picnic. He went on to buy the first of 3 Mercury Sables (in a row).