We got hitched back on the 12th in a tiny ceremony in our backyard. Today starts our honeymoon of randomly roadtripping around the northeast in the van.

Oppo rally will be part of that, as we have a title to defend!

I just finished a round trip drive to NH during a hurricane to look at and ultimately buy another full-sized v8 RWD station wagon.

(photos from the ad)

It was drizzling the whole time, except when I pulled into his driveway it started bucketing down, and continued until I left his place to drive home. That was probably the universe trying to give me a hint, but I continued regardless.

It is a 2005 Dodge magnum, with the 5.7L Hemi, and about 195K on the clock. There are dents on the passenger side, but only one rust bubble on the rear wheelwell. The interior is dirty but intact, and it runs well.

I paid all of $2200, plus another $100 for him to deliver it the 1.5 hours to RI for me. Obviously at that price it has issues. There is a small exhaust leak, likely from the flex section on one/both of the front pipes. The check engine light is on for an o2 sensor (probably due to the exhaust leak), and the brakes work, but don't inspire confidence, so probably needs a brake job. It also has a terrible cold air intake with the sensor held in with zip ties, so I will be looking for an OEM intake or less shitty aftermarket unit.

This is probably a terrible decision, but likely to be a fun terrible decision.

Swapped in a early 70s grille. It required a lot of modifying of the radiator support to mount the headlights & turn signals. All the hidden stuff is a bit janky, but works and the lights are aligned.

Heck of a difference from when I bought the van.

I am really happy about how it all came out.

Got a spare tire well out of a junker and welded it in the prius.

The welder was being massively inconsistant, so it is onlystitched every inch or so instead of fully welded. But there is about an inch of overlap between the car and the new piece so it is plenty strong enough.
Painted above and below with Masterseries rust-sealing paint, seam sealed, topcoated with 2 coats, then spraycan bedliner. The undeside will also get undercoat once stuff has had a chance to fully cure.

Definitely an improvement from where I started.

I realized after filming this that I forgot to put on the blue side hoses. By the time I got that done it was too dark to film another video.

This is all temporary, and was a ton of fun to build.

Ho all, this is Pixel from the old Kinja. I finally got around to posting here.
I also picked up a new project car in the mean time. It is a 1956 Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday. Its pretty rough, but it is mostly rust free and runs well. Plan is to fix the prior owner's janky "repairs", strip the half-assed bedliner paint job (fortunately the spraycan stuff and not the real deal), and do it up as a mild 50s Kustom.

(TL;DR I bought a van, and (hopefully) have a buyer for the Magnum)

Last night just as I was about to go to bed, I checked FB Marketplace and found this van had been posted 2 hours earlier:

It is a '95 Chevy G20 shorty with the side barn doors, the exact body/doors configuration I have been hunting. It has 91K miles, and had a bunch of recent tuneup work done and brand new tires. It has the same rust they all do, but came with $500 of new patch panels. All for $4000, which is only a few hundred above the other one I looked at.
(

I sent the seller a message that I wanted to come see it, and went to bed. In the morning we chatted back and forth. I wanted to drive the 1.5 hours immediately to look at it as I had friends coming over that afternoon. They said they weren't available in the morning but could do the afternoon. So I asked when in the afternoon so I could reschedule/cancel my friend plans. In the mean time, since we had our morning free, we ripped our 3 living room windows out to put in replacements (this is 9-11 of the 12 we're replacing).

As soon as we got the room to this state, they texted back that they had a bunch of people interested, and how soon could I get there. I knew I would have one chance as the first person who saw it would probably buy it. So I told him 2 hours, we stuck the replacement windows in the holes in the wall and loosely installed 2 screws so they couldn't fall out, hopped in Project Colony Park and raced out of there, leaving old windows strewn across the front lawn.

The van was exactly as described. It is a little rustier than the other van, but again, came with every piece of sheetmetal. The story was the father & son bought it off the 90-somethign year old original owner to use to travel to the kid's baseball games up and down the coast (he is 16, and is sounded like a bigger deal then high school baseball, but I don't know sports). They had it tuned up & a little other work done, and the new tires because it had been sitting for a couple years, then took it to a couple games before dropping it off at the body shop to have the rust welded up.

It sat at the body shop for 5 months without anything being done before they gave up and took it back. In the mean time, they decided it wasn't big enough for all their baseball and travel gear, flying was easier and not much more expensive than driving, and the kid turned 16 and wanted a different car. So now they just wanted to unload it so they could use the cash to buy him a car.

I took it for a test drive, the muffler has a hole, the power steering pump whines, and the A/C system needs new seals so it won't keep freon in (he showed me the leak dye at some of the connections). But it drives/steers/stops really nice, and was a pleasure to drive unlike the "It want to veer off into parked cars and has multiple brake warning lights on" of the other van. The dad respected that I knew the common issues with them, and where to check for hidden rot, and said he had hoped that someone like me would come look at it. We got back to their place and I pulled out a $3500 wad of bills and offered it to him. He took it with no dickering, I signed some paperwork, we swapped plates and I had a van.

The 120 mile drive home was uneventful, aside from my big gulp yeeting itself out of the terrible wooden cup holder and filling the passenger footwell on the first highway ramp. The muffler was loud but not droning, and the vent window latches are loose/worn so I was getting extra bonus wind noise. Even with that it wasn't stressful to drive, and I even got it up over 80mph, where it was still plenty stable.

We got home just as our friends (who'd adjusted their plans to account for my weirdness) arrived. We cleared the windows out of the yard, properly installed the replacements (I still need to caulk them in) and had the nice evening with friends we'd originally planned.

It was briefly interrupted when the guy who looked at the magnum yesterday called me to say he'd agree to the $2500, drop off a deposit on Monday and pay & pick it up on Friday. So we might be back down to 5 cars again soon.

Quite a Sunday, but awesome as I now have a van! I'll be releasing videos on it, but the short version of the plan is to fix the issues, backdate it to a 70s look, weld it up the conversion windows to turn it back into a panel van, and do a custom (shag carpet free) modular interior for people and/or cargo hauling and occasional camping.

The question "What is the average age of my fleet?" popped into my head this morning. So I went and did the math:

35.25 years old

And since the '09 Fit will be going up for sale as soon as I get around to giving it a good detailing, here the numbers once it is gone:

42.67 years old

I mean, the '56 Olds does drag down the average, but this is still kinda stupid. And this isn't because I can't afford new(er) cars. I've just been enjoying buying old cheap stuff lately.

My partner was at my sister's baby shower yesterday, and the subject of my cars came up somehow. My partner mentioned that she kinda wished I would keep the Fit because she doesn't mind me having 4 cars, but would like one to be reliable. Two of my sisters responded with something to the effect of "Yeah, but this is him we're talking about here."

At least I'm reliably me? I dunno, now that I'm working from home (and barely going anywhere else for that matter) I'm enjoying having weird fun stuff more than I'd probably enjoy any modern vehicle.

The van has been an excellent chariot for our adventures in Philadelphia. An exhaust hanger did tear out of the pipe, but I was able to affect a fix in an autozone parking lot in about 10 minutes.

Now to see if I can coordinate picking up a set of wheels on my way back through Jersey.

...is no reason to leave them unlabeled.

@Taylor-Martin Rent the first trailer for the whole weekend. Easiest option and best for aecuring it properly.
Don't get janky with uhauls, or you might screw yourself like a friend did.

The van has the factory 4x6 dash speakers and some walmart 4"rear speakers bring driven by a brand name but basic single-din head unit. I'm looking to upgrade to some better speakers. Don't need/want top of the line, but definitely need an upgrade.
70% of the time I listen to podcats/youtube videos/audiobooks while driving, the rest is random music. Don't need concert sound as my standards are low, but clarity at highway speeds so I don't need to crank it up to understand what is being said/sung over the wind noise would be great.

Also, I'm an completely car audio clueless beyond swapping out existing components. if I want to add more speakers, can I just splice off the existing ones, or is it more complicated?

@facw My led headlight options are:
-cheap ugly & ineffective thing that looks like a robot face
-expensive ugly and effective thing that looks like a robot face
-cheap ineffective thing that looks sorta like a sealed beam
-expensive effective thing that looks like a sealed beam

Only the last is a t all appealing to me, but they run $150-$200 per bulb, and I don't have that kind of money to throw at lighting at the moment.

@WhoIsTheLeader the amber fogs are mostly for show, the leds spots are because the factory sealed beams suck.

The van has been an excellent chariot for our adventures in Philadelphia. An exhaust hanger did tear out of the pipe, but I was able to affect a fix in an autozone parking lot in about 10 minutes.

Now to see if I can coordinate picking up a set of wheels on my way back through Jersey.

@facw I'm curious what yards these were. I'm in the Providence area and am always looking for more self-service yards.

@Qaaaaa That has been my experience too. Years of little to no problems from Rockauto, and multiple order fuckups in the last year or so. It is getting to the point where an order with no problems is the exception rather than the rule.

(paraphrased)
Me: The part you sent me was blatantly wrong.
RockAuto Customer Service: Does the part number on the box match the part number on the part?
Me: No.
RACS: Well manufacturers use different internal part numbers. We think it is correct, so we won't issue a refund unless you pay to ship it back.
Me:Not acceptable.
RACS: Can you providea picture next to the old part so we can investigate further?
Me:
RACS: ... We'll issue you a full refund.

Me: You sent me the wrong part in the right box again on another order.
RACS: Does the part number on the box match the part number on the part?
Me: No.
RACS: Well manufacturers use different internal part numbers. We think it is correct, so we won't issue a refund unless you pay to ship it back.
Me:Not acceptable.
RACS: Can you providea picture next to the old part so we can investigate further?
Me:
RACS: We still think that is the correct part.
Me: It is a different size and had an integrated ball joint instead of a bolt on!
RACS: I will have to escalate this to someone who once saw a car. We will get back to you with their decision.

Me: The hole in this donut exhaust gasket is too small to slide over the pipe.
RACS: Did you actually try to install this on the car you ordered if for?
Me: Yes. The factory manifold pipe is larger than this gasket hole.
RACS: You tried to install it?
Me: Yes, and that is how I gound out it didn't fit.
RACS: Since you tried to install it, we need a picture of the part to show it's condition.
Me: O...K...
RACS: That gasket appears to have the correct dimenstions, refund denied.
Me: There is no way you can tell the hole is 4mm too small from a photo.
RACS: Sorry, we'll need to escalate this to the janitor that sometimes comes through to empty the trash cans. We will get back tocyou with our decision.

Three wrong parts in two orders. Even if I get my money back I will still be out $50 for the price difference from buying replacement parts from local auto parts stores to finish the jobs.
And the order before these sat in their warehouse "shipped" for 14 days. When I emailed asking if they could just cancel it and refund it because the job was long since done, they told me they couldn't because it was already shipped. 24 hours later it was finally actually picked up by fedex. The return shipping on that order would have netted me a refund of $1.30.

Rockauto is rapidly approaching not worth the hassle for the savings. This sucks because I liked them and have spent thousands through them.

@aremmes Reread my post. The van is not the problem.