NeoConMan Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 Scooby Doo makes great stuff, I know lotsa people who own them - including a couple WRX's. But I always shake my head in wonder when I see how many are in Phoenix. Snow? Nope. Rain? Maybe 5 inches in a year. They don't have any ground clearance for rocks, so they stay on the same dirt roads you can drive a Prius on. Not an Arizona car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artie Owl Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 I agree, I didn't know this was for an Arizona car, just "southwest". Subies are a bit hard on fuel, so maybe a nice Audi TT convertible instead? Given you don't have to worry about black ice/ frost wedging forming heaving concrete, snow banks, snow drift, sleet, floods etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 Back in '92 I bought an '82 Subaru GLwagon ($350). I drove it a couple years until there were no rocker panels left. Loved it and mourned it's loss. It got relegated to back yard drunken thrashings. A woman at work has a couple Foresters, a '98 with about 300K and a 2006 or 2007. It's hit several deer and has been rebuilt every time. Swears by them. My boss has an 03 Forester and loves it. I looked at a '94 Grand Prix after work. The head gasket was replaced, the head planed and magnafluxed, some other work done on it too. It's inspected and ready to go and it's cheap. If I absolutely had to have a car today I would jump on it; I'm sure $500 would take it. It just isn't what I want and as long as I have the luxury of being able to shop, I'll keep looking. http://maine.craigslist.org/cto/1634229263.html I'm not hip on buying a car (as opposed to a 1/2 ton pickup or Explorer) but my head could be turned by an old Volvo. Uglyass 4 door sedan dorkmobile. Or if I found a '93 Tempo that came up from a rust free zone I would be all over it like a cheap suit. I know Tempos are considered rolling junk but I had an '84 (pure junk), a '90 (less junky) and then a '93 (one of the best cars I ever owned). It's like Ford finally got all the bugs out of them and then QUIT MAKING THEM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artie Owl Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 My grandmother had a Tempo, and a Topaz. Nothing wrong with them when you DON'T want to attract attention, and when you're talking about cars, that's not a bad thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 I didn't know this was for an Arizona car Yeah' date=' I see his avatar just says Southwest. He lives on the eastern fringe of the PHX metro area, I live a hundred miles the other way - west. My 20 year old had a Ford Tempo. He lost it. Seriously - like you would lose your car keys? He lost the entire fxcking car. :D :D :- Nobody knows any details, and he's not very receptive of any questions. Really bummed his Grandfather, he bought him the car to help him get on his feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 He lost the entire fxcking car. That's nothing. I lost an entire wife' date=' once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 Well, I would say "Me too!" 'cept that all I did is get divorced. Losing a wife sounds a bit more ominous.... Let me in on the sticky details, via PM if you must. Do mind any statutes of limitation - can't be too careful, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted March 9, 2010 Share Posted March 9, 2010 Yeah' date=' I see his avatar just says Southwest.He lives on the eastern fringe of the PHX metro area, I live a hundred miles the other way - west. My 20 year old had a Ford Tempo. He lost it. Seriously - like you would lose your car keys? He lost the entire fxcking car. Nobody knows any details, and he's not very receptive of any questions. Really bummed his Grandfather, he bought him the car to help him get on his feet. How do you lose a car? Assuming the 'loser' is telling the truth, but not the whole truth... Card Game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted March 9, 2010 Share Posted March 9, 2010 .... It's like Ford finally got all the bugs out of them and then QUIT MAKING THEM. That is a Detroit Modus operendi. Build a new car with a new centerline. Release it. Work out the bugs' date=' fix the bugs for 5 - 10 years, then when it's bullet proof, start a new center line. Yeah, and they wonder why the US auto industry is in such a mess. (except for Ford who had the foresight to hire a rocket scientist to tell them how to make cars). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted March 9, 2010 Author Share Posted March 9, 2010 Well, after scanning craigslist, ebay, the local lots, I've now put out some feelers for an engine for the Blazer. I hate going to the junkyards but a good friend of mine is a female with an alternative lifestyle and a small business in glaucoma medicine. One of her business associates has a junkyard. I know him too, but I suspect she can get me a discount. I should know by tomorrow if a 2.8 is available. I've also emailed some yards in the state, big yards who actually pull motors and trannies and palletize them, not just amass junk cars in the back field and wait for customers to ask for something... if I can get one dropped at my feet for $500-$600 I am willing to do that. Bottom line, I know what I have with the Blazer and if a grand will put it back into service, then I can live with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted March 26, 2010 Author Share Posted March 26, 2010 Blazer is alive and well as of today. Complete engine with 86K miles - $400. Shipping - $80. Installation w/all requisite tune up parts and fluids - $529. So it's just over a grand. Hopefully I can get a couple years out of it anyway. I went car shopping and almost needed Valium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Blazer is alive and well as of today. Complete engine with 86K miles - $400. Shipping - $80. Installation w/all requisite tune up parts and fluids - $529. So it's just over a grand. Hopefully I can get a couple years out of it anyway. I went car shopping and almost needed Valium. I knew you'd find a way. Need to stop the old ticker? Try getting a car worked on! My Saturn SL2 needed new brakes' date=' I thought, up front only. I'm getting to old to lay on my back on a gravel drive with 3" of frozen snow on it, so I decided to bite the bullet and let the kids do it up to the muffler/brake shop. Bad news, both axles worth of brakes were shot. He walked me out there and they were all bad. just over $600.00 Sweet jeebus, that's more than your engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted March 26, 2010 Author Share Posted March 26, 2010 My oldest daughter has a '95 Tracer (Escort). Got it last fall for $600 and she's run the wheels off it. The inspection runs out in June and it's not worth doing all that it will need.... rust, tires, brakes, etc. We knew that going into it; normally I wait for a bargain, like the wife's Explorer, $600 three years ago, but this was an 'omigod she needs transportation right now' thing. The studded snow tires were leaking like crazy and earlier this week when I was 175 miles away she called me. One tire went flat on the road and she called AAA, who filled the tire and told her to get to a garage ASAP. She hd them put the summer tires back on since it needed to be done soon anyway. While it was on the lift, the guy pointed out it had a broken rear spring. Well duhh! All Escorts and Tempos are required to have at least one broken spring in their lifetime. But he scared the crap out of her, telling her the spring would shift and tear the sidewall out of the tire and cause an accident, if she were his daughter he'd throw the keys into the woods, blah blah blah. I told her it was unlikely to be a problem and she's only going to be driving it another couple months and then it will be on the front lawn for a hundred bucks. But she'd petrified to drive it so being the Dad that I am, I marched into the parts store and plunked down $175 for a new complete strut assembly, which I will dutifully install tomorrow. No way I was going to tear down the assembly and just replace the spring, it's much easier to do the whole thing and be done. It goes against everything I stand for to throw money into a lame duck but I justified it this way: If she's afraid driving it, she might be distracted enough to make a mistake and go off the road anyway. And in the 'one in a million' chance the spring DID cause an accident and she got hurt, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. $175 and a couple hours in the driveway would be a pittance at that point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 When gas approached $4.00, I swear I began seeing more 1980's sub-compact cars on the road. Most looked like they'd been pulled out of the weeds and anything and everything was done to get them road worthy. There is a feller who I still see driving a Yugo he pulled out of the salvage yard. Probably doesn't have the OEM engine or tranny, but expensive gas makes people do different things. My FIL has a 1980somehting Ford Fiesta he acquired from my sister in law after she drove the wheel off'n it. She literally drove the wheel off'n it. Front end must have pulled and screamed like a raped ape, but she was of a mind that if it still moved all was good. Eventually the front wheel fell off and she was done. Anyways, after she replaced it with another piece of junk, he hauled the old Fiesta home, fixed the front-end up and has been driving it ever since. That little three banger engine gets 40+ mpg! He has lost count of how many times folks have stopped him in parking lots and in his front yard and asked to buy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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