William's Commuter Project

As you may have heard by now, William sold his beloved '79 Trans Am.  Which we explained in a previous blog.  But the absence of the muscle car limited my ability to access the outside world because I had no transportation at all.  William preferred this because it limited my ability to spend money and he always knew where I was......can you say control freak?
Our gas guzzling Durango is a great family vehicle and it also allows me to pick up lumber at Home Depot when I have got some project that I am working on.  However, to drive back and forth from the West end of Nampa to the East side of Boise it made no sense.  It is costing us about $80 a week to keep gas in that vehicle and with the gas prices soaring and no sign of relief we had to find a solution.  So William and I decided to get him a commuter car. 
Now my idea of a commuter car did not match his idea.  My idea included a small foreign car that gets like 750 miles per gallon.  It would be really great if we could find a car that runs on water or ever air.

Yah, okay so my ideal commuter car is not a real possibility but I decided he should settle for a little Toyota, Audi, VW, or something that got close to 30 mpg.  William looked at all the cars that I had tagged on Craigslist for him to look at and he told me no on almost every single one, because he said he didn't want to die in a little car.  Whatever that means.  So he talked me into a mid size sedan.  So if the situation arose that we needed to switch cars for a day we would still be able to fit into the car.  FINE!! I agreed.  After much of his research, because that's what this man does......RESEARCH!!!, we decided that a Pontiac Grand Prix would be fine for the family and get much better gas mileage than we are currently getting in our "substitute minivan" called an SUV. 
So then the search shifted to finding a decent used Grand Prix that wouldn't require too many repairs and too much dough.  While perusing the Craigslist ads, I came across a car that was not EXACTLY what we had in mind, but it was really close.  It also was only $700.  Mechanics Special they call it. 

You know "I don't know what's wrong with this car, it's going to cost me a million dollars to have a mechanic fix it.  If you are a mechanic, it's special!!!"

It looked good in the picture, but pictures are deceiving.  We had to see this thing in person!!!  Well let's just say WOW!!!  There was a cat living in the car!!!  You heard me a C. A. T.  Oh the hair was everywhere.  If you were allergic to cats and got near this car you would die.  If you weren't allergic to cats and got near this car, you would develop an allergy to cats.  It was bad!!! 

This guy pulled out the AC Vents and put little speakers in there instead.  WHAT?!?!?!?  In fact there was wire everywhere, and the door panels were ripped off so that this guy could tap into the factory wiring for his "STEREO SYSTEM".

 The good news was the seats, aside from being a cat bed for who knows how long, were in great condition.  No tears.  Three of the four windows could not be rolled up and down.  The cleanest part of the car!!  The trunk.  Needless to say this was going to be a job.


William checked out all the mechanical type things that the car would need done......which really didn't amount to as much as these people thought it would cost.  Of course they didn't know where the dipstick was, so that made for easy negotiations.  We told them that we would give the $500 and they agreed.  We towed the car home and the work began. 

First thing.  CLEAN THE CAR!

Second thing.  GET THIS CAR ON THE ROAD!
There was a leak in the transmission.  Well leak is a nice word, more like a "pour" in the transmission.  If you poured new fluid in it poured right out! That ended up being a $17 fix. 
We made a trip to Jalopy Jungle (a pick a part place) to find some cosmetic pieces for the car, including a new door panel and a dash to replace the previous owner's attempt at a mini surround sound system.  We also replace the window motors.  New headlights.  New battery and battery cables.  The car needs a tune up and an oil change and from that point on the car is road worthy. 
So really it didn't turn out being so bad and my husband being the resourceful and talented mechanic that he is is able to do all this work at a mere fraction of what it would have cost to have it repaired in a shop.  He will have his commuter car very soon.  The great news is that it didn't have to break the bank, I sold some furniture around the house and we saved a little from his check and was able to get the car.  The repairs are being done little by little as we can afford them. 

This is the floor after we pulled the seats and the mats out.  YUCK

Will found a shoe under one of the seats

I found a wasp building a hive

This is after we cleaned but before we got the door panels back on.  They are on now and the car would not be recognized by the previous owners.  I am sure of it. 

I am sad that his commuter car isn't as cool as his TransAm.  But it will get about 15 more miles per gallon than his TA.