For a brief overview, it’s a 1997 with an estimated 260,000 miles. It runs and drives, but to say it’s a project is a slight understatement. It leaks every fluid imaginable, is missing the R bumper, has an exhaust leak, needs a windshield, and so much more. The above pictures make it look far shinier than it actually is lol.
Mechanically, the car immediately needs a PCV system, engine mounts, a transmission service, a wheel speed sensor, an un-bent Volan, tires, and brakes. Cosmetically, this might be one of the roughest cars I’ve ever seen, especially on the inside. Pictures don’t do it justice, and I sadly didn’t seem to take the best ones to showcase the extent of the mess.
Included finds: some oil, around $5 in change, several markers and lighters, new-ish looking wheel studs, hand squeezers, two blocks of wood, a few zip ties, speaker wire, and an O’Reilly gift card that could have some cash on it. Score?
This poor passenger seat should clean up nice. Only some cracking in the leather – no rips.
Crazy botch for a broken glovebox latch in the right of the picture. Two screws and a spring. Of course the dash pad is somehow nearly mint aside from that…
Some slight damage to the left rear quarter is included too.
Some nasty windshield border rust…
So, the story goes that the PO bought it out of Michigan 6-7 years ago where it was used to haul band and lawncare equipment – quite an eclectic group of occupations, both of which involved some large items that were presumably filthy. As a result, all the rear interior trim is busted, anything and everything inside is stained, and grass clippings are legitimately in every nook and cranny of the interior. Basically, it was a work vehicle that was used and abused.
There are some positives with the car though. Robert Spinner recently replaced the timing belt and accessories along with the rear deltalink bushings, and good suspension and a new fuel pump were installed a few years ago. That’s about all for recent maintenance. The wood dash trim is in shockingly good shape, a bunch of interior trim out of a a V70 (that almost matches the color of the broken trim) was included, and it came with a roll of well-preserved headliner material. Free cross bars too. These are slight pluses in a sea of negatives, I will admit!
So, what is the current state of the car? The intense smell of cigarettes and a few free days allowed me to completely gut the whole interior in an attempt to clean it as best as possible. Pretty sure the odds of fully deodorizing the car are very low, even after a thorough cleaning. I hope this picture can partially convey just how FILTHY everything is.
With the interior out, I scrubbed everything hidden behind and underneath it from top to bottom and side to side. I’ll post more before and afters later after I’ve made more progress. Robert stopped by a few days ago to work on some other projects, so we redid the headliner with the provided material and replaced the leaky heater core. I hope that’s the coolant leak taken care of.
More soon!