Repairs/Money Trap?! Well my other post "What was your first car?" is doing good so I think I'll start another one. What cars have you wrecked, which have you repaired, and which were money traps? Mine was the '64 Buick Wildcat with the 401 Nailhead. My frist car! I rolled it racing a '68 Dodge Charger with a 383 on the highway. Thank god I wasn't hurt but the poor car was. I dumped a sh*t load of money into it but alas it would never be the same. I eventually sold it to a guy in the next city over who wanted that exact car! I sold it for $900 ou: and ended up wasting most of the money on my girlfriend's birthday present. ou: YET... :Brow: So now I'm buying/bought a '68 Skylark to restore. I'm mainly a MOPAR man (born and raised) yet I keep ending up with Buicks. Is it a sign? :laugh: Hope fully this task will be good enough for now. All I want is to fix this car up at the moment for a daily driver and then really fix it up when I have the chance. My other project is that I want to buy a '68 Skylark close to here, dump a 430 or a 455 into it, and try to beat my cousin's 1953 Cameo stepside pickup with his SUPER 350 in it! Well thats all I got on my crashes, fixes, and future money traps! I hope it's worth it! :TU:
oops My first car was a 76 merc monacrch I paid 200 for. Drove it illegaly (no license tag or inspection) had to run from the policedruing my lunch break on the way tho burger king lost them in an alley got lunch and went back ot work. Any way it broke I junked it then found out through the vin numbers after it was crushed that I had purchased a stolen car. OH to be young and stupid! (a lot older now and more careful John
What cars have you wrecked, which have you repaired, and which were money traps Never wrecked anything myself... Wrecked: Someone backed into the Skylark with a van (never used her brakes) as I drove down a residential street - we had it repaired. Just some front sheetmetal. A drunk man backed into and totaled my '86 Nissan Sentra in a parking lot. Repaired: Many mechanical repairs to the Skylark over the years (water pumps, brakes, etc.) '74 Camaro Typle LT. Back in highschool it sat in the driveway more than it ran. '87 Toyota Corolla FX 16. Bought from a freind. Ran very well, never needed repairs... until the mounting bracket at the rear shock rusted, and the injectors died. Sent it to the junkyard b/c it was too expensive to fix. Focused on getting the Skylark out of its 6-year hibernation. Money pit: '87 Toyota Tercel. Very straight and clean body. Got it for my brother, had replaced nearly everything, and only got a year of driving from it before the final carb problem I couldn't figure out. Ultimately sent it to a junkyard.
Ah,wrecks...3 times for the convertible, last time in '95. She's a tough old bird. Once it was my fault, once a van blew a stop sign and once a tree jumped into the road. I always hung onto the car because it was repairable and if I got rid of it I'd cry. And you don't want to see that. Never really wrecked another car, the Skylark was my second car and I only had the first one for 10 months, although I did ruin that car without really hitting anything. But then again, what was I supposed to do with an '82 Escort GT? Restore it? But a money trap? No, I would have spent that money on another car anyway, and "trap" indicates you want to escape. I'd simply take the money and pump it into another project, but with this one I know everything that's right...and wrong with the car.
honda hmm.. familly being orginal owner i did most of the work myself on my honda. in its later yearrs had the 5 speed kinda redone with parts with less miles and a new clutch. 3 months later I shattered the clutch by somehow downshifting past the gate at 55 mph into 1st gear. put a new one it drove it for a while more.. were talking about 2 yrs had new rear struts put in new front calipers, new tires... went on road trip and t-boned a guy who started to go when i was blinded by the sun and didnt see the red in front of me. luckly for me that he had no drivers licence it wasnt his car (his buddies) he spoke little english and no insurance. i got away only with a car 4 inches shorter. oh yea and the radiator moved 3 inches back on the pass side and 1 inch on drivers side and didnt split. had to put hood pins in to hold hood down forgot one day to re install them after an oil change made it about 40 miles (at about 70-85) then WAM hood flew up messed up windshield dented roof in 3 inches or so and turned the hood inside out. the buick.. repairs, main oil seal, heater core (bizzo on an AC car) AC top hoses. rear brake line split after exaust fell on it and rode on it for about 800 miles. (that i knew about) drove it about 100 more miles with no rear brakes. had them fixed on a sunday for 20 bucks (just had a guy put a splice in) was back on the road within an hr. nate
Lets see what I've racked up on this LeSabre in the past 6 years... First things first: CD player w/amp & subs:grin: (stupid kid) Master cylinder Power booster Shoes, Pads, Rotors Batteries 2 Alternators Water pump Radiator Air Shocks Front Seat reupholstered Olds Sport wheel w/ Buick center cap:grin: Tires AC Recharge 4bbl intake conversion Edelbrock 600cfm 1406 carb Transmission rebuild Numerous flat tires Speedometer swap...was reading 15mph low Clock...still doesnt work Countless tune-ups and knuckle scraping Voltage Regulator sucked the power out of 2 batteries...not anymore. Dual exhaust system Paint & body work = hell while using as a daily driver Total investment: more than the car is or ever will be worth. Times 5. Total Hours in the garage & driveway: An hour a day for 6 years. (about) Total Enjoyment: Priceless
Re: honda doh i forgot a big thing then after hitting the guy.. i drove to st louis had the car die on the expressway in downtown st louis coasted it to a parking garage and had a cop take me to a napa to get a coil. (the other part was 150 bucks that i have had out before to fix an oil seal). but i took it to a honda dealer to figure it out since i was stranded. they said the fuel pump went out so im like fine.. then a few hrs later he called my cell and asked how to bypass the alarm. im like why? he says he wasnt getting a spark. I said i know I told you that when i brought it in. he's like oh. have to rent a car to go to a hotel thats affordable. the next moring he calls and said the igniter went out (what i told him i thought went out..) the bill 650 bucks on an already wrecked car. sigh.. lousy service from honda on one of there own cars. If i woulda known I could have adapted a Pertronix iginiton module to proly work with the car. GRR....
must be unlucky St. Louis:grin: I live about 25 miles outside of the city, so my luck isn't quite as bad. When I pass by the Dome, I can feel my car wanting to die...I just floor it to get out of the twilight zone faster.:Brow:
st louis U yea i was right near st. louis University. whatever off ramp (it was an uphill ramp) let me coast thru a light and right into a parking garage just outside of one of the main entrance gates (there is some fast food mexican place there too) oh btw.. while waiting 4 hrs for the tow truck. my road trip buddie found out his grandfather died. fun stuff let me tell you Nate
jeez...ou: You were on HWY 40 getting off at Grand Blvd. Interesting mix of folks in that part of town. BTW, the taco hut you referred to went down the tubes I think. I can;t remember the name of the place...maybe Del Taco?o No:
bam yea thats it Del Taco. needless to say i was hawling in the left most lane just before that exit and did the dive into the exit with absolutely no power. yea when i rode with the cop i've never even thought of doing some of the illegal things he was doing to get me to that napa. most though was a right on red then a U turn then a right on red. think we did this 3 times. i was thinkin must be nice to be slightly above the law. and the nite before we got lost in East St Louis. bad part of town though my car already fit in with the ducttape holding the headlight and hood down. (thank god for GPS and a laptop with good maping software)
Everyone gets lost on the east side...always a wrong turn on the MLK bridge and voila! you're in the hood next to the strip joints. St. Louis city cops don't give a crap about what anyone else on the road does, so they are free to do as they please. I run red lights and u turn all the time down there. They're too busy trying to keep the pan handlers away from the clubs and hotels. Did you get a chance to ride the metrolink? Pretty good addition to the St. Louis area. They wanted to bring it out my way, but the idiots thought it would bring more crime out here.:af: :af: I'd like a simple way to get to the Dome on game days...I guess the idiots don't watch sports.
