Goodbye POS, Hello Max!

As some of you who have read my wife's blog know, we are on a quest to have a child. Unfortunately the quest has a rather high price tag associated with it so we have to do what we must to generate the necessary funds. One of those decisions was to sell our perfectly good Toyota, low mileage and no issues, and take a chance on slightly older, more used vehicle I obtained from a friend and colleague. I have made fun of the Corolla in previous posts but only because it was not very fun to drive due to it being small for a big guy like me, gutless for anyone who likes the accelerator pedal, and pretty much featureless except for the A/C and power locks. We added a decent radio, a car starter and a horn that did not sound like it was begging permission, but it still was a very utility-only vehicle to shuttle the wife from A to B.

I wanted a different vehicle for DW anyhow because with her slightly longer trek from our new residence in Ajax to her work and the way these freaks in Durham drive. I really wanted a little more rigid car body around her if we could swing it. If we could pull some coin from the transaction in the process, that would be a bonus. Truth be told, the car was apparently in two accidents with the previous owner (an older gentleman friend of the MIL's) and then, as you know, DW clipped a deer. So, we had the history, a broken front signal light, a bruised right fender (deer again), various scratches on the paint, a cigarette hole in the fabric (previous owner, as we do not smoke), some more than used fabric and carpeting (previous owner also had a dog), some evidence of corrosion in the trunk and a hole by the driver's handle from someone's previous attempt to steal the vehicle. Oh, yeah, one of the all-season tires has a not so slow leak.

Now, while most of that is easy to overlook when selling to complete strangers, we just were not comfortable selling it to friends (family would have been okay because they would get full disclosure and then told to bugger off). Transactions like these between friends are always tricky, dangerous things to do because it could be the gift that keeps on giving or the straw that broke the camel's back; it all depends how the object behaves once it leaves your hands. With that in mind, we enlisted the intervention of Erinwood Ford in Mississauga whose ad DW heard on the raido one day. They will take trades but if you wanted out of a lease or loan or just needed the money, they would purchase your vehicle outright. Sure, they are there to make money so you are going to get no more than what they would buy it for at auction, but cash is cash and no associated headaches with the sale comes your way. It's win-win.

Well, almost win-win; we lost a little in a way. Due to the fact that we were simply going down to get appraisals of what the Roo and the POS were worth, we never emptied the vehicle or took our installed items out. When the deal was done, we took most out but we did not have the original radio with us nor the right tools to do the job so I was to go back and do this. The dealership was told this, at least the guy we initially saw and he had no problem. Well I was busy at the top of the week and the major storm came so I could not return untilt he Saturday to pick up my cheque and to remove the wiring and flip-face Kenwood radio.

No car. Excuse me? Apparently the other guy already sold it to a couple of his customers who bought it because they loved the radio. I see. I was going to make a fuss because I really wanted that lovely horn I installed from Crappy Tire but they were working on a deal with the truck and I did not want to screw that up so I let it go. I handed the guy the original radio and told him to give it to the customers as they may want to replace it one day. I even gave him the code should they remove power from the head unit. It is so old that I am sure they would not find anyone in Toronto to be able to get the factory code reset. I've had a week to think about it and I think I need to address it because it goes to a matter of trust. I trusted that they were okay with me coming in to get my gear as they said so and I would have expected a call saying they needed me to come now as they had a buyer. Funny thing is, I have the full set of summer tires on rims because it is currently on the winter rims and tires we bought for it. Also, the radio will lock up with the code if power if ever removed form it and it will become unlockable if they enter the code incorrectly more than three times. Not to mention the CD changer that I have and they have the cable and head unit to it. Oh yeah, and the live 12V wire wriggling around in the trunk that will short the whole thing out. I'm still debating that. If nothing else, I have a set of tires on rims for a 1999 Toyota Corolla and a Kenwood 6-disc CD changer for sale.

As for the replacement, you will not hear me mutter "POS" where it is concerned. Sure, it has way more mileage (294K to the POS' 89K) and it had way more rust issues (hole in the driver's door, three holes in the rear passenger door, some fender stuff to the POS' none visible) and it had a seized brake caliper and evidence of some blowback at one time. It also had a rusted out license plate light holder and a sunroof that does not quite seal right due to a damaged mechanism. Sounds like a real winner, right? Well, it actually is.

I lucked out because my friend was getting rid of the vehicle since she was getting her fiancee's ride as he was getting a company vehicle with his recent promotion. Her mechanic was going to take it if I did not want it. Seeing as he had already indicated that the vehicle needed a thousand dollar brake job amongst other repairs, I knew there was a gem in hiding because mechanics do like to throw away money on vehicles; I should know as my father is a mechanic. I had already ridden in the vehicle so I knew how it basically drove and I knew the body needed some work. With an Asian import though, it is best to get working mechanicals and fix the body; cheaper of the two possibilities.

I contacted our family friend and mechanic, Eddoes, as he is a former Nissan employee and he loves the company and cars. He freed up the seized caliper, change the oil, checked the other vital components and performed the safety check. He said he could fashion a piece of metal to replace the rusted out one no longer holding the plate lights up. He also stated that contrary to our family's normal modus operandi when putting a vehicle on the road (change plugs, filters, water pump, timing belt, main belts, oil change, etc.) it was best to leave it at what he did so far and run it till something breaks. As he explained it, to look at why there is blow back is a lot of work which would result in almost the same work needed to replace the pump and, on this vehicle, the timing chain. So, I could take it that it is running good now and leave well enough alone or open her up and spend several more hundred for the sake of doing so. Yeah, you know which route I took. So, on the mechanical side of things and getting it ready for the road, $225.

Some youths in the shop do some basic body work so Eddoes asked them for me what it would cost to fix the four holes in the door and repainting it. To grind both doors down, patch the holes and paint it back to the original manufacturer's colour, $150. Now, understand that this was not going to be showroom quality work; I did not care about that. What I did care about was a certain police force looking at this car and its occasional driver, running the plates to see that it is newly transferred and then asking the question, "How does a vehicle with that much rust and that many holes pass safety to get on the road?" I have seen many of the guys projects in mid-sequence but none of their finished work. I have to say, I wished they had done the whole car because unless you knew where the repair was, or went really looking for it, you would be hard pressed to point out that work was done. Below I have posted before pictures. I will take some after pictures and add them in later.

Some specs to Max include: power sunroof (operational but needs attention), leather interior, heated seats, power windows, power locks, power steering, power trunk, power brakes, automatic climate control with A/C, BOSE dual DIN six-speaker stereo with CD and Cassette, 3.0L V6 engine, GLE package, intermittent wipers, cruise control, tilt steering, power adjustable driver's seat, pass-through trunk, and alloy rims. The stereo still needs a bass boost to bring it up to snuff (and the damn CD is too sensitive to bumps) but it is far louder than DW will listen to for extended periods of time; TC and I will be roughing it up every chance we get. There is a remote fob for the doors, trunk, panic and an interesting feature for the car of its time; you can roll down both front windows remotely. You cannot roll them up which is kind of stupid but, whatever. Also on the car appears to be a Viper car starter but it is currently disabled. I'll be taking it in to Tint King and seeing my man Steve to get that corrected along with the requesting rear shading. At some point I will comb the scrap yards for a rear deck lid that has the sport wing on it. This is not just to make the car nicer looking (which it will do) but also for the necessary downforce. I took it up past the Roo's speed-limited 160Km/h and it was ready to do more. I'd like a little help keeping it on the road before I find out just how much more this will do.

So, if you saw something whiz by you in the GTA, or actually heard a "thump thump" of a large bass speaker pass you, know that it was probably Max and I enroute to some destination or just out for his weekend run. After putt-putting back and forth with DW all week, he's going to need some weekend exercise. :)

Peace.