History



Phase one ~ origins (1995-1996)

This was my first car. I decided to take good care of it because it had been cared for by its previous owners. This was literally a "little old lady" car. It was bought new by an elderly woman who drove the car for 10 years or so. Then one or two other individuals owned the car before I acquired it in 1995.
The car was 14 years old at the time and in excellent condition, for a K-car. I thought that customizing the K-car in any way would just make it look silly, so I did my best to preserve the body and original equipment and avoid tacky customizations (Yosemite Sam mudflaps, fuzzy dice, etc). The grille was perhaps the only part of the body that wasn't original. Apparently, one of the previous owners hit something or was in an accident, because the grille on the car didn't have the "DODGE" lettering on the top panel. The fact that the rear windows didn't roll down provided laughs for years to come. The tiny rear vents in the back opened, but that didn't provide optimal ventilation.
One of the first things to go was the factory radio, which didn't include a tape player (a necessity for road trippin'). Having a tape deck put in turned into a fiasco. Luckily I found someone competent in the area of installation and got a Sony player put in the K-car. I thought that the factory speakers sounded great. Eventually I had to pad the rear speakers a little to get rid of some rattle. From day one, I wanted to get a sunroof for the car but never got around to it. I was a little disappointed that the air conditioning didn't work, but the rear window vents saved me from sweating to death on those long trips.


Phase two ~ black grille (1996-1997)

After driving this car for a number of months I quickly became a K-car enthusiast. I wanted to find a grille with the Dodge lettering on it. After a bit of searching, I found one at a junkyard on an Aries that had past its prime. Five dollars, and the grille was mine. Removing and replacing the grille was a pretty simple task, so this turned out to be a fun project. Looking back, I don't know why I wanted a grille that was a different color than the rest of the car, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. K-car projects like this cured a lot of smalltown boredom.
Around this time, I purchased one of those '70s-type steering wheel covers, the holey kind with the string wrapped around it. Borderline tackiness, but it was all in good fun.


Phase three ~ red grille (1997-1998)

One day I came up with the brilliant idea to paint the grille red. This phase didn't last as long as the black phase. Red makes less sense to me than black. I did a respectable job painting it, but it seems out of place now. I guess I wanted the grille to match the interior. Around this time, I also put red pinstriping on the sides of the car... and I did a good job on it, for a novice. The K-car also had a new set of whitewall tires by this point.


Phase four ~ grey grille (1998-1999)

Back to basics. I finally realized that painting the grille to match the rest of the car would not only look the best but also look the most "original". I'm glad I came to my senses, because this turned out to be the final stage of the Aries as my primary mode of transportation. Between the red pinstriping, whitewall tires, and original grille with lettering, the K-car never looked better than this. The steering wheel cover was long gone at this point, and I even got rid of my beverage/tape caddy to preserve the natural aura of the K-car.
The paint was starting to fade a bit, especially on the flat surfaces, but it was still way above average for an 18 year-old car. All good things must come to an end, however, and I wanted to remember the Aries as a sharp, kick-ass car, rather than a rustbucket that refused to run. We parted ways in the summer of 1999, and I replaced the K-car with -- what else? -- a 1993 Dodge Spirit.