Dodge Aspen 1980 "Air Morse One"

[JarmoN]

Hello

This is one of my current builds. Been using it as a daily driver as well, dialed in around 9000km (that's about 5600 miles) this season.
Got it already in late '12, but the the modifying started in the late spring of '16.

Aspen is from 1980, the only year of this body and the last year of Aspen.
225 slant six, rebuilt, drives nicely. I bought a Flowmaster 40 knock-off muffler, so it has quite a nice rumble going on under there. I've tried few different mufflers and searched in YouTube for the slant six exhaust sounds and the Flowmaster 40 was the one that made the "right" tone for me with this engine. But, as I wanted to get it cheaper, then I ordered a knock-off piece.

Rear axle has an DIY airride, all the parts are sourced locally. For example, the bags are from the Scania truck bogie axle (I'm not sure if it's the right word for it), air tank is an old fire extinguisher, 4-link is from under the Nissan Patrol and modified to fit the Aspen, shocks are from Cadillac Eldorado etc etc. Everything works nicely and I'm happy with it.

Wheels are 15x6 Supremes with 165/80 radial tires. 15" is a bit too big for my taste, but that's what I got at the moment and will keep 'em for a while. In the future, probably after the bodywork, I'll try some 14" wire wheels. I'm lusting after True Spokes or Star Wires, so I reckon that's the direction.

I pinstriped the car and also flaked and paneled the roof and C-pillars. As the body needs some work anyway, then in the future (next year or later) it will get a whole new paint. Flakes, panels, pinstripes and all the other tricks.
Interior needs redoing as well, right now it's the original tan interior with purple flaked Mooneyes's steering wheel attached and some serapes thrown on the seats.

Here's some pics (by Wheelsbywovka, http://www.wheelsbywovka.com), I hope you enjoy.

[loekaaz]

Rear axle has an DIY airride, all the parts are sourced locally. For example, the bags are from the Scania truck bogie axle (I'm not sure if it's the right word for it), air tank is an old fire extinguisher, 4-link is from under the Nissan Patrol and modified to fit the Aspen, shocks are from Cadillac Eldorado etc etc. Everything works nicely and I'm happy with it.

I like this kind of approach

[R2dmax]

Pics of the trunk set up? Sounds pretty cool!

[cblock406]

Pretty cool man, I like it!

[Asshole Bicycle]

How in the world did a 1980 Dodge Aspen make it to Estonia?

[Jorgen]

How in the world did a 1980 Dodge Aspen make it to Estonia?

There are probably a lot more older American cars in Europe than you think, one of the biggest car shows in Estonia is "American Beauty Car Show" and there is a huge following for US cars in Finland and Sweden as well.

But I've said it in our local forum, this car is so dope!

[JarmoN]

How in the world did a 1980 Dodge Aspen make it to Estonia?

There's a lot of Aspens in Finland and mine came from there as well.

[Funk]

How in the world did a 1980 Dodge Aspen make it to Estonia?

Same reason BMWs and other european crap ends up in the States bro

[Asshole Bicycle]

Mercedes and BMWs are well made, popular cars, so it makes sense they came here. The Dodge Aspen was never a popular car, though. And it wasn't a good car (no offense, OP). I understand Impalas and other popular stuff making it over there. It'd be like finding a Wartburg Knight or Trabant in America.

[FunfGang]

Wow, this is super cool! Well done.

[JarmoN]

October Rust

[JarmoN]

Air Morse One sat for a year and eight months and I got it back on the road about two weeks ago.
It started with it's own battery and even the brakes were loose etc. So I got it warm, got the technical inspection done and back on the road. The airride compressor has gotten weak though, so I need to figure that out in the future.

This is the way it was sitting for all this time:


First day at home and got the Supremes back on it




I was tired of the old look and decided to go with the phase 2. This meant removing all the old striping and adding some accessories that I had in mind for a long time.

So I started with removing the stripes. Used the nitro-solvent and steel-sponge to give it a bit roughed-out look. I already started to lay down some new panels and stripings on it.






Next task was to finally change the old dash. I had the better one purchased from ebay already a few years ago, but was just being lazy, so now it was time.
Before:


After:




Then I wanted to build the venetian blinds.
These were the only tool I got for this job:




Quality is not good, but it's OK to look from a distance

[JarmoN]

I bought this vintage "Archer" rabbit ears antenna from the Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show back in 2016, so now it was time to finally attach it to the car





Also wanted a car TV. Been watching some vintage Panasonics and Sonys in eBay for a while but then bumped on a vintage Soviet piece on the local Estonian webmarket site - the Šilelis, made in Lithuania
Looks exactly the part and as the Soviet occupation burdened us for 50 years then it's also a bit of history, so why not to use it instead of the "right" parts.


Didn't have the room in front because of the airride controls (will change this setup in the future, once the phase 3 or 4 hits), so I installed it in front of the backseat.
First it needed the stand, so good old diy-ethics came in handy once again:



Mounted



Righteous amount of angel hair will make everything cooler



Added some more hairy bits while at it






Must not forget about the dingleberries






I've had the Felix doorlocks for a while now, but haven't taken a pic of 'em before.
Bought 'em from the Yokohama Mooneyes store and found out later that these were produced only for the Asian markets.

[JarmoN]

Just a few more photos of the fresh look from a week ago, minus the already started panel-stripings

[JarmoN]

Some updates.

As I got it running quite late last year, in July, then I only got to drive 5534 kilometres with it while the 2018 season. I also had the "Wonky Bastard" Beetle
at the time, so this ate up about 5000 kilometres as well.

Few 2018 season shots with friends





Here's a snake measuring it's pray.
Exhaust dropped off just before one cruising event.



I have an imaginary magazine called Diskustom Magazine (Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diskustommagazine/, same name in Facebook) and
been organizing some meets together with friends from CSG Customs. Here's one pic from last October's Diskustom Meet




Btw - why imaginary? Well, I had the idea of making a magazine about customs built out of uncommon material right after we got back from the 2016
trip to Japan and I actually even have the first issue almost done in the computer, but life got in the way, so it's been on hold. Hopefully it will be out
of it's imaginary status later this year, but we'll see



Anyway, in the last November I wanted to visit my parents, but got the red light when cranking up and no oil pressure was to be found



Whole winter went by just like that, with doing nothing to Aspen and in late April, when I had to go to Finland's striping event, we finally got into it.
Found a plastic bit inside the oil pump, sized about 1cm




Luckily I have the spare engine, so took the oil pump from there and got it running. Went to Finland and Latvia and dailydriving and roadtrips in Estonia
has geared up to the 8700 kilometres. And counting.