It's over. Shopping for a car has made me consider hating cars alltogether.
I posted yesterday about a craigslist transaction out of frustration. I'd met with a seller to test drive a vehicle. He said that he hadn't anticipated it selling so quickly, so he didn't have all the accessories and things together. We agreed upon a price, I put $100 down on it, shook, and agreed to exchange the remainder in cash for the vehicle and title the following day.
The following morning, he calls and says his sister wants to buy it. He says he's returning my deposit and keeping it in the family. This was exceptionally infuriating as we'd already agreed to a price, a time, location, and I'd put a small amount of cash on it. On top of that, this isn't exactly a common car and they're very difficult to find in decent shape.
Around 6pm, the seller calls and says his sister is flaking out. Truthfully, I was so mad at this point that I'd considered telling him to get bent. I calmed down a bit, we agreed to pick up the previous agreement where we left off, pending that we complete the transaction this evening- no questions.
Enter: The new DD. It's a 1996 Volvo 850 wagon, 5cyl, 5spd. 132k miles, and a fat stack of nearly every service performed, all at a local dealer.
Seller included the Thule rack and cargo box as well as a set of studded tires mounted to OEM steelies with hubcaps.
Also includes the original sticker at an even $33k, which seems like a bunch of money for 1996.
The stack of papers also included the original 1996 brochures, accessory brochures, and manuals.
Arguably, this is my favorite photo:
Yes, this vehicle does have the rear jumpseat. I cannot wait to fill it with blonde-haired children, absent from motion sickness.
Current plans are to do some baselining and maintenance, including new shocks and tires, replacing some of the light bulbs, fixing the seat heaters and the driver side mirror heater, and trying to track down some interior rattles. Expect to see more posts about this guy soon.
1) Collect old winter steelies wrapped in tires from 2005. Ponder how the tires haven't failed yet.
2) Bust yo ass getting this old rubber off the wheel.
3) Repeat three times for all (4) wheels. Make sure to wait until it's really hot outside.
4) Realize that the wheel juuuuuust barely fits in the blast cabinet.
5) Start blasting
6) Realize that this it taking a long, long time.
7) Spend about 50 minutes to blast one wheel. Get super bummed about the slow progress and powdercoat a small swatch in an attempt to boost morale.
8 ) realize your shit doesn't fit in the oven. Get frustrated and let this project sit for 3-4 weeks.
9) Contact your local powdercoater to blast, prime, and coat all (4) wheels.
