What Sayeth The Garage?

[Perknose]

Originally Posted by Ferzerp

Not soon enough! Spill it!

Will do! It's quite the tale!

It'll be one of those tl;dr screeds, time is short right now, and I want to sit down and do it all justice.

[EagleKeeper]

Originally Posted by Perknose

Will do! It's quite the tale!

It'll be one of those tl;dr screeds, time is short right now, and I want to sit down and do it all justice.

Originally Posted by Perknose

Turned out to be straight up no BS, not steam cleaned, the real deal. The whole thing is quite the mini saga, which I will recount -- no doubt in excruciating detail -- soon enough. But the Perknose has landed!

I saw it this weekend and got the first hand tale from the horse's mouth.
He does have a good setup; assuming that it does not rain; he parked it at the mouth of a creek!

Do those things float like the old beetles? I do not think so.

[Perknose]

Originally Posted by EagleKeeper

I saw it this weekend and got the first hand tale from the horse's mouth.

I just want to say that EK is a startlingly fetching young woman . . . not at all what I expected.

No pics though, so don't ask, since it turns out she's Muslim/Amish, which means she both doesn't like her picture taken AND, anyway, she wears a full length burlap burka (from Omar of Omaha -- extremely tasteful.)

But those eyes . . . ZOMG! . . . those eyes!

Originally Posted by Ferzerp

Not soon enough! Spill it!

And like the Exxon Valdez, spill it I shall!

[Perknose]

Ok, when last we left yours truly, our shining white knight, he was picking his nose, digging deep into his left nostril with the kind of focused and determined attitude found only in extremely high achievers and/or the mentally deficient.

But that's not important now.

Following said excavation, our intrepid lad turned once again to the task of helping his somewhat ditzy female friend obtain a low cost conveyance, specifically a fully functioning, four wheeled automobile, all legal like and unlikely to break down for a least one full week, for $2,000 American or under.

Given the exigencies of our present economy, this task was monumental. Did such nearly impossible parameters deter our gallant geezer? NO, they did not, for he is not really reality-based anyway!

A series of crap wagons were journeyed to, inspected with the keen eyes of a hawk or at least a ferengi, and summarily rejected. The all too true mantra, "No good deed goes unpunished" began to repeat over and over and over in our hero's mind.

Things looked bleak indeed.

But then . . .

^^^ Part the One, to be continued.

[IronWing]

Originally Posted by Perknose

But then . . .

^^^ Part the One, to be continued.

And then? And then?

[Perknose]

Originally Posted by IronWing

And then? And then?

And then along came Perk.

By Friday last, the parade of perused crapwagons had not yet yielded a suitable chariot for m'lady. $2,000 can purchase an ungodly amount of skittles, 'tis true, but try finding a half-decent car on short notice for that amount in this economy . . .

And yet, our hero remained undaunted, or at least semi-daunted, or something like that. I'd widened the geographical scope of my search, and had a line on two possibilities for Saturday.

One was a '97 Civic with 200,000 miles plus but which had a new timing belt, head gasket, water pump, brakes & exhaust, and sporting a brand-new inspection. It was out in Reading, Pa, but the guy was willing to meet me halfway.

The other was the aforementioned (in this thread) 2001 Geo Prizm (NUMMI Corolla), with 102,000 miles, inspected until 8/13, and sporting that fetching pic of an ultra-clean engine bay. This one was up in Allentown.

The first time I called this guy, I asked him if/when he'd had a timing belt changed. He didn't know, and though maybe never. He seemed uninterested, and the phone convo more or less ended there.

I'd assumed the Geo/Toyo had a belt. During my 40,000/50,000 miles per year PI days, not wanting a car someone would want to kill me for in a bad neighborhood,I'd gone through a series of Corolla, Corona and Datsun 510 wagons that had all had chains. Those cars were simple but ran forever until their bodies rusted out from under you.

Then, to my mind, most cars had changed to belts because they were less noisy. I did know that many had turned back to chains. Maybe, just maybe this Toyo had a chain? It did!

So I called the guy back. He seemed mopey and half-uninterested, which is actually better than a sharpie trying to hawk his pos. He was hispanic, but said his name was Harris. Suuuuuure, Chico, suuuuure.

I asked for the VIN so I could do a carfax. It was then that he told me he was at work and wouldn't get off until 1:00am. He then said he wouldn't be up the next day until 10:00am, and that he'd get me the VIN then.

The stage was set . . .

[thedarkwolf]

I'm trying to sell my 03 pontiac vibe which is basically a toyota corolla wagon and I made sure I said it has a timing chain in the ad. I hate timing belts so I see that as a big plus.

[power_hour]

I would aim for a Civic. Those rollas are pure crap, reliable, but they have the finesse of a washing machine. And they pretty much ride like one too.

[Perknose]

Originally Posted by power_hour

I would aim for a Civic. Those rollas are pure crap, reliable, but they have the finesse of a washing machine. And they pretty much ride like one too.

True enough, if a bit overstated. But the parameters of this deal were different. The "end user" was a female who didn't give a flying F about enthusiast handling. She wanted, and needed, a reliable appliance.

And then there was the $2,000 limit. This was the big kicker, given the reality of the present used car market. Civics are in huge demand. A decent, non-trashed one is nearly non-existent at that price point.

. . . Which brings me to the third parameter: Time. It was of the essence, and I didn't have much. If I had a month or three to lurk and wait, my odds of finding something more suitable would have necessarily gone up.

I wanted to do my Civic duty, but dem wuz de facts on de ground, my friend.

[power_hour]

Originally Posted by Perknose

True enough, if a bit overstated. But the parameters of this deal were different. The "end user" was a female who didn't give a flying F about enthusiast handling. She wanted, and needed, a reliable appliance.

And then there was the $2,000 limit. This was the big kicker, given the reality of the present used car market. Civics are in huge demand. A decent, non-trashed one is nearly non-existent at that price point.

. . . Which brings me to the third parameter: Time. It was of the essence, and I didn't have much. If I had a month or three to lurk and wait, my odds of finding something more suitable would have necessarily gone up.

I wanted to do my Civic duty, but dem wuz de facts on de ground, my friend.

I tip my hat to you. Strong willed and determined. Sounds like you got this under control.