Joe Handley

I'd love to keep the XJ and there are plenty of issue parts that are still available and affordable, but it's the time to fix even moreso at the money that can be at a premium. If I suddenly hit the lotto big, I would find someplace to start tearing it apart to fix and restify it as I have time and find something to drive in the winter in it's place anyway. I'm trying to avoid any ?UVs since those won't fix the altitude issues, even being AWD, plus don''t handle as well as a car would, not sure if they'd handle as well as a well maintained XJ would to be honest. Not interested in Subarus either, especially since they have a bit of a reputation as an oilburner, even though they're gas fueled. The 3.6l and LX platforms are know quantities for me as well, my 3.6l powered 200 rolled 91k in the last hour and it has been dead reliable and if it's an '11-'17, it should be flex fuel as well, which is a plus as well.

My 200 has the same drivetrain as that van, and the 300 w/AWD would use that engine too, the 200 is a bit of a surprise when you get on it I'd be keeping my 200, but I would prefer something with AWD for snow use, which Chryser hasn't offered in a Minivan since the early-mid 00's, as well as a sedan profile and handling vs that of a minivan or SUV/CUV, but common enough to be fairly "dime a dozen" compared to my XJ, 200 (the 3.6l 200 and Avenger aren't that common as is the second gen 200 w/the 3.6l and AWD) or especially my Sister's Plum Crazy Challenger R/T Classic. I also want it to be a decent communal car for the family when I'm not using it, so that Dad can take it to the store, post office, get lunch for him and Mom, the hospital if Mom may end up spending time there again (really hoping not, had more than enough in 2015 and 2017!) Or even if my Sister and her husband may need something bigger than his Mazda 3 or her "baby capable" Challenger at a moments notice, since she just told us last week that she is expecting their first child (first grandchild both his and our parents too!) If anybody is wondering, the Challenger is almost paid off, not sure about the 3 since it is a retired rental, and they want to wait until those are paid off to look at something more family friendly yet be able to keep her car too. Neither one of them really wants a minivan, she has thought about a ?UV or even another V-6 Charger for the family cruiser though.

I've been debating about getting rid of my XJ past few days, we don't have time to work on it with Mom being ill and it needing more and more work, seems like we get one thing fixed and something new pops up that keeps it undriveable, not to mentioned the nearly nonexistent driver side rocker and not much better passenger side. I'm seriously thinking about it, but having a hard time convincing Dad of this. He's having issues getting into my 200 and something like that is harder for him to climb into if he wants to use it. Now that the 200 is paid for, I've thought about looking for a used, post 2011 300 with the 3.6l, 8 speed, and AWD as a replacement for the XJ that he can drive and is in better shape than his Town and Country as well.

When I started in sales with the lawn service I'm now a customer service rep (person on phone that helps w/scheduling, bills, putting out fires of various origins, ect), the sales manager always warned to hold off on selling services to take take care of landscape plants (trees included) since some may not take to getting placed into their new environments all that well, especially if the soil is questionable or worse, the landscapers are as well. I'm begining to think that if I were to add anything to my parent's house, I'd excavate a large area of what can loosely be called soil here and put a ton of black soil down in those areas as I planted them. One thing he also warned of in particular is making sure the root system are free to grow and spread and not contained in any sort of sack or container thar won't degrade quick enough and starve the plants of nutrients. Another that he warned of is "girddling" which something is left tied around the base of a large bush or a large enough tree when pulling it into the hole dug to plant it in, since those can constrict the growth of the tree trunk and also kill off a tree. He has found that some landscapers will do that since the plants would live just beyond any warranty period they might offer before dying off.....then if you've been treating them yourself or hiring a company like my employer, blame it on the care given after they planted it while charging more to replace them.......shampoo, rinse, repeat.

Snake is right Jonathan, you need to get to a doctor, even if it is UC quickly! I ended up with bronchitis and have had it so bad I've nearly been hospitalized (Jan 2018, it was BAD), I still have the inhalers from last couple times I had it (thought I had thrown one out) and keep one on my nightstand and one in the filing cabinet at work, just in case.

I haven't been in a Target in years, so I don't know how those are anymore. Last time I was in a Meijer was months before my Sister got married, let alone pregnant. Oddly enough, the doctor estimated that the Baby should be due right after their first anniversary!

Sorry about the Zombie thread here........... I had to go to Walmart today and wandered through the baby toys and regular toys and seeing how those departments suck in that store kinda hit me. Now that I'm going to be an uncle this fall, I've come to a realization of something.......it's going to suck finally getting to be an uncle and not having Toy's "R" Us around any more........:sad: I very well could have spent more there as an uncle than I ever did as one of their employees

We've got a quite a few around here and have had close calls in both my XJ and 200 on the road with them. My supervisor has them near her house not far from me too, she can hear them howling in the night and I've even seen one walking across a park alone near her mid day.

I'd love to see a Gladiator style conversion for these.

My Sister and her Husband pulled Dad and I into the living room with Mom last night, she's pregnant and expecting with her/their/his first around the time of their first wedding anniversary in October Don't be surprised if there might be baby pictures showing up from time to time in various places I go I can believe it, I do that with heavier, plastic 32oz drink cups from a local restaurant called Augustino's and separate it out by coin type. I've has $250+ and at times over $300 in them, usually with pennies and quarters filling up the quickest. That's from the last time I emptied them right after buying my new laptop, the above pic covered at least 1/2 of the $480+ dollars spent on that lap top!

Got an order from Kris Morgan! A full set of Mopar Recall wheels, a replacment for a damaged one (got crunched in shipping), and a couple of his Finned Hudson Heads

This, 110%!

Yeah, I'm 100% thinking the same as Espo, there's something off about that guy and I would keep a file on him if needed, might not hurt talking to somebody in the local PD if he's "local enough" (day's drive), just in case.

If it's wrapped, that would likely improve the resale value of the car since it's protecting the factory paint.

If it was vinyl and you have cash to do this, it does allow for you to change the looks if the car, sometimes for the better, but many times.....for the worse, without spending a huge amount of cash as it's maybe a few thousand for a wrap like that vs in the 10 digits for paint and protects the factory paint for when you want to sell it after getting bored with the car.

Saw one of these, if not this one on the way to get my 200 this morning, first Sprinter Hi-Rail I've ever seen!

I don't think I'd have been so lucky with my Lebaron or Shadow, not sure I'll ever be with my 200 either....................

I did some digging around after losing the brakes on my XJ in January, found that Napa makes a full stainless hardline kit for all non-Bendix ABS XJ's (not sure about the '91 and later ABS systems) for less than $200?!

Yup, my Sister's Challenger has a healthy sized ding in the passenger side door on it's character line too, may have to see if she wants to take it to him too.

Got my 200 back from the body shop today after they got done with the crash repairs from 6 weeks ago and had them do a little other work while they are on it. The accident related work was a new fender and straightened door, then had them straighten a door ding from late 2015 and pain and install the new gas door I picked up from the dealership when they were done with the mechanical work (impact shattered the steering rack gears, and I tore up the clockspring before I realized that, plus it got new TRE's. Here's the door and fender damage from the day of the wreck. The door ding caused by a careless customer at local grocery store, then the woman just drove off with my sister sitting in my car, never saying a word to her No pics that have the gas door in them, the hiunge was going bad and I had it replaced, then touchups in that part of the quarter and on the door ding. Here's how it looks now"thumbsup"

I just dug out the RC2/Model King reissue I bought in the late 00's and was going to build as a mild custom, guess I need to finish it now.... HPIGUY was not joking in his video when he said it was nearly as big as the Ecto-1, may have to dig up my A-Team Van kit as reference and shoot a few pics

Yup, since I was going to try and get a new pair of shoes that morning and never got the chance to go at all, I might be able to do that next!

These, via USPS from Oak Ridge Hobbies in Lemont, IL

Just got word from the body shop, they think my 200 should be done by Saturday!

That one got crunched in transit, think it happened in a mail processing machine or something. Not only does the wheel look somewhat curbed, but the baggie they were in 's face had it imprinted in the plastic and and was even embossed into the paper invoice in 3-4 spots These also took 2 weeks to get instead of 5 days since they went Charleston, SC for a weekend the disappeared for a few days before getting to the Chicago Distribution hub and on out here to the 'Burbs Kris is replacing it, even though the damage was done when the USPS had it, so I ordered a second set of Recalls and a couple Finned Hudson heads from him as well. I have a rather blasphemous idea that's going to require 2 more of those Snap-It Chargers from that stash I bought in '15 to build this idea.