Owner since 2003. The odometer stopped in August of '07 at 149,273 miles. Since then (by my estimate according to my driving and tire wear) I've brought it up to about 220k. This has been my daily driver and never garaged, so while in decent (imho) condition, it does show the wear and tear of Chicago weather. Due to a change in parking availability I've not been driving the car regularly since April. The battery is on its way out, but the car will start and stay running with a jump. I'll be putting a new one in shortly. The rotors also have some rust deposits on them from sitting the past few months - I try to drive the car around a bit to stretch its legs when I can, but I can't guarantee that the deposits will even out, as the rotors could stand to be replaced anyhow. Car is currently located in Oak Park, IL. I'm more than happy to answer any questions that I can - the best way to reach me is via PM, and unfortunately I'm only available to show the car on weekends.
Car is currently on winter steelies with plenty of tire tread left, I also have a set of 4 bottlecaps with Sumitomo summer tires toward the end of their life.
The good:
-Straight body except for passenger door and passenger front fender. I backed into a short unmarked pole in a parking lot in '07. The door and fender are both creased and have some paint scratched off, but no surface rust on the damage. I was told by a body guy that the door can be popped back out but the fender is definitely not salvageable. I decided to live with the small damage rather than a non-color matched fender and door.
-Paint is 8/10. Original paint, but it was the single-stage Zinnoberrot so no clearcoat to fail anywhere. I've buffed the paint as necessary, but there are the normal scratches and chips and a long keymark on the driver's side. I've always kept the car washed and waxed, which I hope shows through in the condition of the paint.
-Pioneer CD/radio with an FM modulator and 3.5mm jack and Blaupunkt speakers in the rear. The power for the FM modulator is wired in, but the wires occasionally slip out of the switch I installed in the coin tray.
-9/10 interior condition grey houndstooth cloth. Driver's seat has a few popped stitches in the bottom and doesn't fold forward (loose cable in the pull on the side) but the rest is almost completely unworn. There are a few cigarette burns from the PO in the carpet between the driver's door and seat but they're hard to notice. After purchase all of the fabric and carpet was pulled out of the car and steam cleaned, so no smoke smell has remained. I've never smoked in the car nor allowed anyone to. Dash has the obligatory cracks.
-Leather steering wheel, although the leather has worn through right around the 9 o'clock position.
-Good condition mechanically. Timing belt/water pump was last done 3 years ago. Never overheated, consistently runs between the 1/4 and 1/2 mark on the coolant temp in any weather from -10F to 110F. Suspension is still tight and steers into turns wonderfully with no dead space in the wheel. Clutch has zero slip and runs through all the gears just fine.
-Good fuel economy - by GPS mileage estimates, I've been returning between 29 and 32 mpg on mainly highway driving
-Hella H4s
The bad (descending order of severity):
-Rust. Chicago winters have taken their toll. There's only a few patches of actual cancer, but most of the underside of the car without undercoating has a nice coat of surface rust. The seals on the license plate lights failed and there's rust around them. Driver's door has cancer at the very bottom, some patches of rust on the rockers.
-Very small oil and PS leaks. A few drops every few days.
-The filler neck for the fuel tank has some rust. If filled over 3/4 of a tank, it will slowly leak fuel. A few drops an hour, just enough to make a wet spot. I keep the tank filled less than that.
-Trim was shadowlined with blackout tape. Most of the tape is still in good condition except for the driver's rear window. The tape comes off with a razor blade easily.
-No A/C. Car was converted to R-134a with new seals, but wouldn't hold a charge for more than one season so I stopped recharging it in '08. I have no clue if it will hold a charge right now.
-Both window regulators/motors died earlier this year. Popouts and sunroof function fine, though.
-Blower motor sometimes makes a growling/squeaking noise but functions fine. I'm not sure if it's a dead bearing inside the blower or whether the entire blower would need to be replaced to eliminate the noise.
-Surface rust in the footwell caused the plastic holder for the bottom of the throttle pedal to fail. Still functions fine, but the bottom flaps around a little bit.
-Front driver running light is wonky. Occasionally doesn't come on, then you'll go over a bump and it's back on. Turn signals at all four corners function fine, though.
-Vinyl headliner is loose at the very front. Rest of the headliner is tacked on just fine.
-Rotors are toward the end of their life and could stand to be replaced. At least one is slightly warped or worn out of true, leading to a small shimmy in the wheel when braking from higher speeds. ABS sensor is also on the fritz, leading to the ABS coming on just as you come to a stop.
-Retaining tabs in both rear parking brake mounts failed, meaning there's no parking brake. The cables are still back there as I intended to put in new dust shields when the RWBs would eventually need to be done (there's no indication that they need to be right now, I was just planning ahead).
Car is currently on winter steelies with plenty of tire tread left, I also have a set of 4 bottlecaps with Sumitomo summer tires toward the end of their life.
The good:
-Straight body except for passenger door and passenger front fender. I backed into a short unmarked pole in a parking lot in '07. The door and fender are both creased and have some paint scratched off, but no surface rust on the damage. I was told by a body guy that the door can be popped back out but the fender is definitely not salvageable. I decided to live with the small damage rather than a non-color matched fender and door.
-Paint is 8/10. Original paint, but it was the single-stage Zinnoberrot so no clearcoat to fail anywhere. I've buffed the paint as necessary, but there are the normal scratches and chips and a long keymark on the driver's side. I've always kept the car washed and waxed, which I hope shows through in the condition of the paint.
-Pioneer CD/radio with an FM modulator and 3.5mm jack and Blaupunkt speakers in the rear. The power for the FM modulator is wired in, but the wires occasionally slip out of the switch I installed in the coin tray.
-9/10 interior condition grey houndstooth cloth. Driver's seat has a few popped stitches in the bottom and doesn't fold forward (loose cable in the pull on the side) but the rest is almost completely unworn. There are a few cigarette burns from the PO in the carpet between the driver's door and seat but they're hard to notice. After purchase all of the fabric and carpet was pulled out of the car and steam cleaned, so no smoke smell has remained. I've never smoked in the car nor allowed anyone to. Dash has the obligatory cracks.
-Leather steering wheel, although the leather has worn through right around the 9 o'clock position.
-Good condition mechanically. Timing belt/water pump was last done 3 years ago. Never overheated, consistently runs between the 1/4 and 1/2 mark on the coolant temp in any weather from -10F to 110F. Suspension is still tight and steers into turns wonderfully with no dead space in the wheel. Clutch has zero slip and runs through all the gears just fine.
-Good fuel economy - by GPS mileage estimates, I've been returning between 29 and 32 mpg on mainly highway driving
-Hella H4s
The bad (descending order of severity):
-Rust. Chicago winters have taken their toll. There's only a few patches of actual cancer, but most of the underside of the car without undercoating has a nice coat of surface rust. The seals on the license plate lights failed and there's rust around them. Driver's door has cancer at the very bottom, some patches of rust on the rockers.
-Very small oil and PS leaks. A few drops every few days.
-The filler neck for the fuel tank has some rust. If filled over 3/4 of a tank, it will slowly leak fuel. A few drops an hour, just enough to make a wet spot. I keep the tank filled less than that.
-Trim was shadowlined with blackout tape. Most of the tape is still in good condition except for the driver's rear window. The tape comes off with a razor blade easily.
-No A/C. Car was converted to R-134a with new seals, but wouldn't hold a charge for more than one season so I stopped recharging it in '08. I have no clue if it will hold a charge right now.
-Both window regulators/motors died earlier this year. Popouts and sunroof function fine, though.
-Blower motor sometimes makes a growling/squeaking noise but functions fine. I'm not sure if it's a dead bearing inside the blower or whether the entire blower would need to be replaced to eliminate the noise.
-Surface rust in the footwell caused the plastic holder for the bottom of the throttle pedal to fail. Still functions fine, but the bottom flaps around a little bit.
-Front driver running light is wonky. Occasionally doesn't come on, then you'll go over a bump and it's back on. Turn signals at all four corners function fine, though.
-Vinyl headliner is loose at the very front. Rest of the headliner is tacked on just fine.
-Rotors are toward the end of their life and could stand to be replaced. At least one is slightly warped or worn out of true, leading to a small shimmy in the wheel when braking from higher speeds. ABS sensor is also on the fritz, leading to the ABS coming on just as you come to a stop.
-Retaining tabs in both rear parking brake mounts failed, meaning there's no parking brake. The cables are still back there as I intended to put in new dust shields when the RWBs would eventually need to be done (there's no indication that they need to be right now, I was just planning ahead).
