I was driving around in a red, 2 door 1995 Civic, which was the right price when I bought it and just hadn't quite succummed to my constant go-cart style abuse. I got it for $8200 at the Honda dealer in Cartersville, GA (Boomershine Honda) when I realized that even though I was drawing minimal income from my post-college tech startup, I was going to need to spend some money on a car if I wanted to get around.
A few CV joints, a new clutch and transmission, and a couple of hit&runs in my apartment parking lot weren't enough to make me move on from this ride once it was paid for, but a pretty serious break-in was. Method of entry: the plastic door handle on the driver's side was pried out and the lock fished open through the inside of the door. Stolen: my homebrew GPS/NAV/MP3 system, touchscreen and all. The good news: it was completely destroyed on the way out and furthermore, I'm sure whoever took it out couldn't reassemble the thing since they left some pretty obscure parts behind (power controller, hard disk adaptor, etc.)
A couple days of driving a car where the driver's door doesn't open ought to be enough for anyone. I'd been idly checking out Ebay for XJs for a while, and now with the need urgent, I clicked Buy It Now on a green 2000 Sport with what sounded like some wierd options. Sunroof and cloth seats? Well, no matter, it's cheap and it's all the right hardware - specifically 4.0 and 4WD (which many weren't; I was surprised at how many 2WD 4's were in places like Florida).
I had a *serious* fight with Paypal trying to get them to accept my credit card, and then they immediately sent me a customer satisfaction survey. Sigh. Filling that out was fun. Paypal is the worst shit ever, bar none. I'd use a BofA card to buy a Hummer at WalMart before I'd voluntarily give PayPal a nickle.
Picking up the XJ was a struggle; it was 4AM Halloween morning when I got started, and I was 1 truckload away from being all moved in to my new apartment in DC. That's where I woke up, fired up my rental pickup (big ol' Dodge Ram, boy would I like one of those if the V8 didn't burn gas like crazy) and returned it to the Enterprise lot in Tyson's. That's where I picked up my Civic, which I had left there when I rented the truck to move. Now mind you, it's frosted the night before/this morning, and I'm dressed to travel, not for the season. Now I'm in my second frozen, outdoor-parked car, and the four-banger ain't lighting the fires hard enough to blow much in the way of hot air out of the defroster. So it's an icy windshield all the way to Dulles; when I get there and park in the Economy lot, I decide I want to bring my VA tags with me, 'cause who knows how with-it this Ebay seller is going to be, and I'd rather drive back on slightly-mistaken plates than no plates. Off they come, into my jacket. Goodbye Honda, maybe if I'm luck I'll never have to see your beat ass again.
When I get to security, the plates go into a bin and through X-ray. I get a look from the TSA drone, but no argument.
When I get to my plane, its a little RJ dealio. Almost all of the handful of passengers are up front; my seat is 4F, and when I hear the pilot talking to the stewardess about moving some passengers around, I volunteer to move back Immediately. Little known fact: if weight is improperly distributed on an airplane, it can be impossible to lift off (you just go shooting off the end of the runway into the woods, or the river, or the warehouses, or the Highway). Or impossible to recover from an inadvertent stall (you fall to the ground fluttering like an autumn leaf).
The last seat has some comfort (you never hear of a plane backing into a mountain) but it's quite close to the twin engines. 4AM isn't a great wakeup call, so by the time I get to Cleveland, I'm glad to deboard. I called my Ebay seller and he promised to send a car - 30 minutes later I joined another Buyer in the back of a Park Avenue, heading away from teh airport. He's talking about how much he does love these Park Avenues and how he "lives" part time in Montana and he'll register it out there for Tax Purposes. Me? I'm picking up a used Cherokee and driving it back to DC... we might see Wyoming and Montana one day; I've got a buddy out there in Laramie and eventually when my new rig has 3 or 4 inches and 32" Mickey Thompsons under it, the pull of the true wilderness is going to get the better of me one vacation and I'm going to have to test this thing up Rogers Canyon Road and across the rock fields north of town up to the antenna. Maybe take it up to Six Mile Gap, or see how high I can get into the Never Summer range before the snow freaks me out.
We took ownership of our cars at a tiny office in a huge warehouse near Shaker Heights. The brakes on my truck were a little squishy, and there was no jack or spare tire, and the driver's read light cluster was totalyl nonfunctional, and the headliner was falling down, but the price was still right as far as I was concerned. Paint was good, engine ran strong. I paid $67000 and drove it back to DC that day. Got home around 9, packed the last load of stuff into it and drove to my new apartment.
Over the next few weeks I registered it, did a brake overhaul, and replaced a radiator/waterpump/coolant system because the previous owner "fix"ed a coolant leak with a can of that mud/clay shit that grinds your waterpump to death. I also added some new interior trim pieces to replace the missing ones, so the headliner isn't an issue now. I put about 8000 miles on it pretty quickly going back and forth to the Northeast, and I've got a total of nine grand into it to bring it to daily driver condition.
Of course, as I type this, my XJ is over at the body shop still bone stock, waiting for a check from Liberty Mutual. You see, some gentlemen in my new neighborhood relieved me of my ride one night while I slept. I'm not kidding, this thing was parked outside my garage exactly *one* time in it's life in my family, and that night it was stolen. Lock popped out, ignition lock module popped out and started with a screwdriver. Left on the other side of the block with 2200$ damage. Sigh... could be worse.
That's my story - more to come once I find someplace around here that's willing and able to do my lift for me, because I am not going to fuck around with compressed springs with my limited toolset and knowledge. If you know of a place around here that's reputable... hit me up.
) A few years passed, and another friend said I needed a Cherokee so we could explore some mountain roads....so I started just casually looking, and I found a white 1990, 4 door aw4/4wd, 152k Laredo in June '04 for 2200.....it was a girls first car her parents bought her, and the dealership paperwork showed 2k worth of repairs, so I was essentially obtaining a "free Jeep." I bought the '90, lifted it to 3.5", installed a D44 rear axle, changed the ABS to standard brakes, and some other mods....this past Feb I found a 2wd 1992 MJ, so I bought that, as it was a 4.0/5 sp short box, optioned only with a/c, but in great condition....so perhaps I am an addict....
I have a few more things to fix on both Jeeps, but I have found them reliable and simple to repair, even if diagnosis is a bit involved....MAJOR fun!!!!
