How do you find a clunker??

[SandrA9810]

Kari is a she, but we're not together anymore. Things ended at the end of last year. I'm now out in California with a guy that I've known for while. Strange circumstances, strange story, and well, not for this topic.

He's a big guy at 6'7, so finding a car he fits into comfortably isn't easy. He also doesn't know how to drive because he never wanted to learn. His mother is a reckless careless driver, and I don't blame him for not wanting to learn from her. Her driving scares the bejeberers out of me. But he's agreed to finally learn from me, and having a car is important for him getting to and from school.

The car is also for finding work. There's a small bus system (only 4 routes), which runs from 6am-6pm. Which is not very good when stores stay open till 9pm or later. I thought taking the bus in Orlando was frustrating, 2-3hrs to get 15 miles down the road. But the transit system here is just awful. They also don't run early enough for him to get to his morning classes, and don't run late enough for him when he gets out of classes.

 

[SandrA9810]

What year is the beetle? Depending on the year, I'm thinking parts may be hard to come by. I'd think of some of the common things the beetle would need and then call around and see how available and how pricey they are.
Actually, I would do that with any car, especially from the mid 90's down.

Finding tires for it doesn't seem to be an easy task either because of how small they are. His uncle wants it fixed up and all. So I don't know if he'd put the money into it and then we pay him a few hundred to drive it. He said he wouldn't mind family driving it, he just doesn't want to sell it.

 

[tvguy]

Yes, I'm in California, just a couple hrs outside of Sacramento. I'm not afraid of fixing stuff. The two cars that I drove before were a '95 Mercury Villager and a '00 Ford Ranger. Money was sunk into those constantly. And I learned how to do a lot of the repair work myself, because paying 80$ an hr for the mechanic was out of the question for 15 minutes worth of work. But they were both Kari's cars and she wanted them both.

At first we were looking into buying his friend's Honda Accord '96 for like 1500$ or maybe less. At first it was just a couple of things, catalytic converter and a pressure check on the radiator because it could overheat a bit if it stayed still too long. That wasn't a big deal, and then in another conversation his friend said something about steering or the tie rods and that's when I said... no. Because that would've had to be done by a mechanic and I don't know any one out here or want to pay for it.
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Well greetings from Sacramento. Wow, interesting about the Mercury Villager, it was made by Nissan, it was a Nissan Quest with a Mercury name tag on it. The Ranger too, we have 20 Explorers (same chassis as a Ranger) at work, run them 250,000 miles without a problem. I wouldn't worry about tie rods, they're cheap. The catalytic converter would be what would worry me. They can run up to $2,500!! Don't know if you know this, but in California, the SELLER must have the car smog checked when selling it, if it needs a catalytic converter to pass smog, HE has to pay. California law says even in an "as is" sale, the seller is reponsible for all costs to make it pass smog, or he has to give you your money back.
Like I said, a huge chunk of cars (678,000 nationwide) worth $4,500 or less got traded in under Cash for Clunkers and crushed.

 

[SandrA9810]

I didn't know that about the current owner needing to make sure it passes the smog test. That's good to know. Florida got rid of the testing some time when i was a kid. So i don't know much about it, other than the amount of carbon monoxide (sp??) that the car emits has to be under a certain level. And FL got rid of it mostly because every one was messing with the oxygen sensors to take in more than needed, to make it pass. Along with other under the hood tricks.

I know all about the mercury. Even the AC was a nissan part. For the use and abuse that both cars endured, they're actually holding up well. The merc lost it's primary status after the truck purchase. So very few miles have been put on it in recent years. 230,000 something on the van and 170,000 something on the truck. And I can probably tell you every part has been replaced on one or the other over the years.

And from that experience, if I hear certain things, I know to just avoid it. Especially when I know it's going to be way over my abilities.

I was a bit concerned about the catalyic converter, but it could be purchased on the net for cheap and is easy to replace. And suggest you replace the O2 sensor at the same time. But when it came to the steering/axel or something (I forget what it was), I knew it would need to be fixed immediatly or cause major issues.

I just hope it's not impossible. But i guess i'll have to be patient with finding the right one.

My ideal car, if I had 20 grand to plop down, would be a honda element, dog edition. And i've heard good reviews on it being roomy for big guys.