Various Information




Other vehicles fear the K-car
and its metal dashboard


Most of the K-car's major repairs occurred in the first year or two of owning it. The first repair was fixing a broken boot on one of the front wheels. The car had recently been driven into a ditch, evident by the clump of dirt under the front left (I think) wheel well. In the winter of 1995, the head gasket blew. The part was cheap, but the labor cost was unholy. The engine, the infamous Mitsubishi 2.6, was chain-driven, which frightened my dad. Other than the head gasket, it was a reliable engine. It was a loud little thing, but pickup was decent and it used almost no oil.
The engine idle was set ridiculously high. This provided for some fun times, especially in the winter. I would start it on a cold morning, put it into drive, get on the road, and accelerate to 35-40 mph without touching the gas pedal. When I'd stop at a light 5 or 10 minutes later, you could hear the idle go from warp speed to calm mode in 2 seconds flat. Subtlety was not the Aries' strongest suit.
One of my earliest memories of the K-car was taking a friend for a drive one day. I stopped at a light and wanted to see how bad-ass my car was. I threw it into neutral and revved the Mitsubishi powerhouse. The "engine" light came on, and it stalled. Pretty low on the bad-ass scale.
The muffler/exhaust system was probably the worst part about the K-car. The muffler had to be fixed/replaced several times and usually it had at least a small hole in it. Once on a relatively long trip, one of the pipes came apart and was painfully loud for the remainder of the journey. The transmission is second only to the dome light in terms of flawless performance. The digital chronometer (a.k.a. clock) also always delivered.
In my 4 years of driving the K-car, I got pulled over a few times. The first time, I believe one of the bulbs on my brake light was out. I wasn't wearing my seat belt, but I was given a warning. I wasn't so lucky the next time. Although I was wearing my seat belt, I was pulled over a couple years later for speeding - 51 in a 35 zone. The K-car hauled ass when called upon.
Last but not least, the most amazing story of all. I was with a friend at a mall about an hour from where my K-car was originally sold in 1981. We had just gotten there or were about to leave when a lady approached my window and told me that she recognized the car. Turns out that her mother was the original owner! This proves that it was no ordinary car... it was recognizable nearly 2 decades after the original owner bought it and drove it home.




Mitsubishi's technologically superior
MCA-Jet engine