Guess I have a truck now...

[SeanP]

So this happened:



It's a 1983 Dodge Rampage. 99 screaming ponies to the front wheels pulling 2300 pounds of pavement pounding thunder thanks to the Mopar 2.2L, Holley 5220 Carb, and a 4 speed.

Also 1 owner and 51000ish km. Last registered in 1994.

Super solid underneath, usual body blemishes. Bit of a dent on the tailgate. Came with a second set of near mint seats and two NOS rear bumper end caps to get me started on the clean up.

Won't stay running, but it has no gas... so...

When I get some time, I'm going to put some fuel in it, spray some carb cleaner in and see what she does. If that works, she'll get a fluid swap. If not, the carb is coming off for disassembly and the fuel pump is getting a good looking at.

Also cleaning... lots and lots of cleaning. And tires. Still has the original rubber. Still holding air.

Picked up for a song, but it needs a crap load of TLC.

Would rather a tudor. However, may be a good flip opportunity to bank roll something else more Panthery.

[Tiggie]

Interesting litttle critter there.

Power to weight ratio is a bit better than a box so that’s a plus. And it’s a stick which is always a plus for me.

Is it a two seater only or can you squeeze three in there?

[knucklehead0202]

Wow i forgot those things ever existed. Of course, so did the rest of the world. At this point it's probably just weird enough that you might make some money off it once it's cleaned up. Neat!

[kishy]

This is on the short list of Mopar stuff I would enjoy having. With EFI though.

If I were looking for a "small, economical" car, some sort of 80s Honda or an Omni or K-derivative would be the go-to.

[SeanP]

Interesting litttle critter there.

Power to weight ratio is a bit better than a box so that’s a plus. And it’s a stick which is always a plus for me.

Is it a two seater only or can you squeeze three in there?

It's a two seater... double buckets. There is a narrow utility shelf behind the seats though. Perfect for transporting skinny objects as long as or shorter than the car is wide.

Wow i forgot those things ever existed. Of course, so did the rest of the world. At this point it's probably just weird enough that you might make some money off it once it's cleaned up. Neat!

That's the hope! I saw some comps that show a good chance of clearing a tidy profit. Percentage wide anyway... no one's making or spending big money on one of these! It's all about context!

This is on the short list of Mopar stuff I would enjoy having. With EFI though.

If I were looking for a "small, economical" car, some sort of 80s Honda or an Omni or K-derivative would be the go-to.

Yeah, it wasn't on my radar though I was aware of them. My father-in-law basically bought for me lol, so that's how that came about. If I fall in love with it and don't do a the short-term flip, I'll probably end up doing a fuel injected turbo swap. 160-170 horsepower in a 2300lb car = a lot of smiles per gallon.

[gadget73]

I was thinking EFI turbo motor swap would be badass. It should be a fairly simple one since basically everything Chrysler from that generation shared chassis parts. Find a rotted out LeBaron or something and you're good to go.

[knucklehead0202]

I was thinking EFI turbo motor swap would be badass. It should be a fairly simple one since basically everything Chrysler from that generation shared chassis parts. Find a rotted out LeBaron or something and you're good to go.

Yeah but those were such garbage...I mean, we're into weird cars some people think are junk, but k-cars were ACTUAL junk.

[kishy]

Yeah but those were such garbage...I mean, we're into weird cars some people think are junk, but k-cars were ACTUAL junk.

By what metric?

By virtually any account that I am aware of (perhaps tainted by the fact I have a soft spot for at least some of the derivative vehicles), once everything was fuel injected, they were decent cars requiring only routine maintenance to make it to the end of their service lives 20 years later. Only once the Ultradrive transmission came into the picture did Chrysler FWD stuff become 'junk', AFAIK.

[SeanP]

Yeah but those were such garbage...I mean, we're into weird cars some people think are junk, but k-cars were ACTUAL junk.

Hahaha, yeah, you're right.

Luckily this is an L-Body, which were merely garbage and not junk.

I can totally take the more powerful turbo engine out of a crappy k-car and throw 'er into this... along with the engine/dash harness/computer etc. But it mounts up perfect... so I've read anyway.

Bottom line is though, this will be a fun thing to dink around on and keep my limited automotive skills honed for when I get something bigger with blue oval on it.

Or maybe keep it for my son when he starts driving in 14 years... slow enough he can't get into trouble, good on gas, manual driving skills, can only fit one other passenger, no bench seat shenanigans, weird car humility/character building... I might be onto something..

[gadget73]

The K was built as basic transport, and it did that job fine. THats really all you can say for them. The drivelines were fairly reliable and the turbo motors had some pep in an era when none of the basic econobox cars had any.

[SeanP]

The K was built as basic transport, and it did that job fine. THats really all you can say for them. The drivelines were fairly reliable and the turbo motors had some pep in an era when none of the basic econobox cars had any.

Yep! They were literally cars. As much as I dislike them, I still think to myself "Cool!" when I see a good one.

[Mainemantom]

The K cars were simple transportation with good gas mileage that the public wanted during the gas price increases in the 80s.
K cars saved Chrysler corp from bankruptcy without depending upon a Government bailout.
Those little Rampages are kinda neat for putting around town. I drove the Rampage and the Reliant K car as Government vehicles. Basic econobox for those times.

[knucklehead0202]

Hahaha, yeah, you're right.

Luckily this is an L-Body, which were merely garbage and not junk.

I can totally take the more powerful turbo engine out of a crappy k-car and throw 'er into this... along with the engine/dash harness/computer etc. But it mounts up perfect... so I've read anyway.

Bottom line is though, this will be a fun thing to dink around on and keep my limited automotive skills honed for when I get something bigger with blue oval on it.

Or maybe keep it for my son when he starts driving in 14 years... slow enough he can't get into trouble, good on gas, manual driving skills, can only fit one other passenger, no bench seat shenanigans, weird car humility/character building... I might be onto something..

Fair one i guess, although they're not something i would ever consider doing more than putting gas, oil, or some tires on. My grandfather had an aries that was a total pile, and a couple friends had later "turbo" lebarons, which were even worse pieces of shit. Maybe i'm an anomaly but i've had very minimal issues with most of my fords aside from them being stolen or wrecked. I will admit that i have major bias issues with things that are wrong-wheel-drive though. Only bs like that i'd consider compromising on would be a Contour SVT or a Golf R32. Just can't buy or drive stuff that i don't like. Did it once and just abused the ever-loving fuck out of that poor car because i hated it. Now i buy things i love to abuse, but with love.

[SeanP]

Fair one i guess, although they're not something i would ever consider doing more than putting gas, oil, or some tires on. My grandfather had an aries that was a total pile, and a couple friends had later "turbo" lebarons, which were even worse pieces of shit. Maybe i'm an anomaly but i've had very minimal issues with most of my fords aside from them being stolen or wrecked. I will admit that i have major bias issues with things that are wrong-wheel-drive though. Only bs like that i'd consider compromising on would be a Contour SVT or a Golf R32. Just can't buy or drive stuff that i don't like. Did it once and just abused the ever-loving fuck out of that poor car because i hated it. Now i buy things i love to abuse, but with love.

I guess I'm lucky... I haven't really had any major reliability problems with any of my daily drivers and those have been Chevys, Fords, Kias, Pontiacs, Chryslers... well my old rabbit had problems, but that's it's own little story. I do know though I would definitely develop a preference against something that ran like crap and let me down all the time!

I come at these cars from a much different place than you though. My buddy had a Dodge Shadow turbo convertible and that thing never had an issue... my grandfather has always had Chryslers as long as I've been alive (he was into GMs before that... he has a bias against Ford I think), and my grandmother's last three cars were Mopars (1 dodge and 2 Chryslers). So while I have heard the horror stories associated with these cars, I've never known them to be anything but good from my personal experience.

I fully agree that these cars are on the whole completely uninspiring... except maybe this rampage and some of the hot hatch Omni/Horizon stuff, at least they're quirky enough to be fun in my books.

Like I was saying though, this isn't ideal for me, just an opportunity for an interesting chapter in my car related life.

But yeah, it's definitely wrong-wheel-drive!! And most definitely no substitute for a box panther!!!

[jaywish]

Well I had a 84 Aries K "Custom" 2.4L? auto, no power anything. It had been totaled twice and had 60K miles on it before I bought it in 86. It was the best automotive buy I ever made. It cost me $500 or so to buy it & fix it including a Chrysler audio system I swapped in, plug and play. I sold it in 2000 for $500 after I bought and made road worthy the 89 wagon. The new owner put on heavy tints a booming sound system and used it as a NYC clubbing car.

Aside from a head gasket leak I never put a dime in it except for maintenance & wear items. When I sold it it ran like the day I bought it, well in this case the day I got it running. It was a trapezoidal shape when you looked at it straight on and the rear tracked a few inches to the right of the front but with good shocks and tires it was a fun car to drive on the twistys and it never got me stuck once. 2bbl carb never gave me a bit of trouble. I think that is the only carb I can say that about.