Thinking of buying an 89 Country Squire

[Master Shake]

Hello, everyone. I'm new around here. For a few months now I've been looking into getting a box wagon as my new daily driver. My current car is a 2000 Focus ZX3 5sp. While it's fun and nimble little thing, it's a kind of small and isn't the best cruiser.

Recently I found an 89 Country Squire half hour away from me and today I went to see it. It's in okay shape and is probably the least decrepit one I've seen around my area.

It started and ran for a bit before cutting off. But that was still fairly impressive. Didn't get to test any of the electrical components, will have to do it next time when I test drive it. My question to you guys is what should I look out for? I checked the underbody, and it has sheet metal rot in places but the frame looks solid. Some sort of 'sweat' between the engine and trans, nothing major, looks fairly old. The interior is good and bad. The headliner looks mint, probably been replaced, but all the seats are cracked along with the dash. The driver's seat is the worst, but the dash just has one line going up above the cluster. The roof rack area looks to be rust free.

What else should I look at next time I go to see it?

Also, is there a place where you can buy seat upholstery for these cars? I've replaced the upholstery on seats before and I figured it's a better option than getting a junkyard set.

And speaking of seats, the 3rd row seats are folded down and I can't seem to be able to open them. The button has a key hole on it but none of the keys seem to unlock it.

[pantera77]

Make sure the TV grommet is still intact. If the TV cable is hanging off the throttle body walk away.

Check the frame out real good, especially on the pass side bulkhead, right below the A pillar, they love to rot out there.

Doesn't look too bad in that pic, looks like it needs a good cleaning more than anything. Obviously it will probably need a decent going through regardless.

[Master Shake]

Thanks for the tips, I will look into it

Speaking of the TV cable. I've been wondering, what does the TV cable actually do? I know it has something to do with wide open throttle and the transmission shifting, but I still don't fully understand the relationship.

[DerekTheGreat]

I'd walk away from that and never look back, the road ahead with that thing (especially as a DD) would be filled with misery. That rot you see will only get worse and will happen at an alarming rate. Wait for something cleaner if not 100% clean. Fuck rust.

TV cable stands for throttle valve. It supplies the life blood to the transmission, without it the trans will grenade in short order. With it disconnected the governor inside the trans will think the car is idling all the time, shift early, won't downshift when you floor it and wont supply lube to the bits that need it when they need it. Theres more to it than that but I am just a laymen.

[Master Shake]

Rust doesn't bother me that much. I've driven rusty cars before. As long as it itsn't in the frame and isn't structural, I'm okay with it. I might be able to fix it, but if not I know a few body shop people.

Plus this is North East. I'm just outside NYC, so rust is unavoidable. Especially in these old cars.

I will have to check that TV cable reallly well then.

[DerekTheGreat]

Not trying to insult you but you don't really understand corrosion then. If the body panels have already started to go then the floor pans aren't far behind, nor are the seams & the frame. Probably a plethora of dry rotted hoses & rubber components like grommets that go along with that. The age old saying is "What you can't see is 3x worse than what you can see." Cars that are slightly crusty at the edges seem to explode with rust within three years. My neighbors minivan is testament to that. I moved in this house 5 years ago and in the past three or four her car has exploaded with the cancer. I'm sure she's had to redo brake lines, if not fuel lines too. I pity mechanics who have to work on rusty shit too. Guys on this site have posted clean[er] cars in your area, so they do exist and even so, your best bet is taking a road trip down to Florida or somewhere out west to get one for the same price but with less rust than what you're considering. In the corrosion biz most pretreatment/paint systems for exterior finishes are rated to five years, some out to ten. Once the rust is visible the coatings have "expired" so to speak. Testing these systems is what I've been doing for the past 8 years or so. Even when you take unscribed test coupons and subject them to salt spray they will eventually begin to blister & rust- this why the shit that's starting to rust just explodes with it. Nobody else in the industry speaks of it like that but it's what I've witnessed. The better the entire system is, the more resistant it is to the explosion that follows but nothing made from ferrous metal will repel corrosion forever.. Frames & undersides have less protection than the surface panels as they were deemed less important... Our stuff sees salt too, we just oil the piss out of the undersides, doors and rockers. So far so good. Just sharing personal experience & grief to hopefully save you from same frustration.

Like pantera said, if it's just hanging there walk away.

[Tiggie]

Welcome!

Need to know how much they are wanting for the car. A non runner is a risk. As others have said, check the TV cable. It's on the throttle body. Will be a small white or black plastic bushing holding the end of the cable to the throttle body lever. May be brass if it's been replaced. Check the trans fluid - red is good, brown not so much but not a deal breaker. Mine looked like dirty motor oil from the TV bushing having failed and the car being driven. I changed the fluid and replaced the bushing. Still going at 230k miles no problem but that's not exactly common after a TV problem.

Check other fluids. Oil level and color. Antifreeze should be Green. Gas tank should smell like gas not oil based paint. How long has the car say?

Need to know your plans for the car. Is it going to be a daily driver, a keeper restoration project, a combination, or something else?

I've been driving a rusty POS wagon for seven years. Love it. No worries about rust because it's already rusty and will never be a keeper. Gives me less trouble than anything else I've ever driven. Just replace the fuel and brake lines if needed. Tar, sheetmetal, and rivet the floor if needed. Patch the body up if you have the capability - these is nothing better to learn on than a non keeper rusty car.

If it's not rusty, I wouldn't want to make it into a daily driver if you are going to drive it in winter. The rusty free wagons are getting tough to find from Virginia on up the east coast.

Need more pics to decide if your definition of rusty is the same as mine. Places my wagon body is rusty: lower rear quarter panels, the inner rocker panels are completely gone ( like not there), the outer is starting to go as well under the aluminum molding. My drivers floor is also gone. That's partly due to a leak from somewhere that got under the carpet, combined with salt from the drivers feet. Pull the spare and check in that area. Here is a small drain hole that should be here. Be sure sit hasn't grown! Floors rust from the inside out. Pull the carpet up in the passenger area if you want to check. The owner shouldn't mind since it can be put back easy. Also, open that rear seat area. Pull the carpet and underpayment and check around.

Put your key in the rear seat latch. Push down HARD. It will likely pop open. My wagons are picky about the key as long as it goes in the slot.

Interior restoration can get expensive if you have to redo the seats. SMS fabrics (http://www.smsautofabrics.com) sells material from leftover factory stuff - but it isn't cheap and then there is LABOR to make the seat cover. The description you give of the interior sounds average but not good.

[pantera77]

Everyone knows rust sucks, going down south/out west for clean cars is obviously ideal, and it's what I've done many times. With that said sometimes you have to take what you can get. The last three vehicles I've bought have been from around here and their all rusty, but not too crusty. I just keep oiling the crap out of them and doing my best to keep it at bay. Of course every time I work on them I bitch and moan about how much I hate them.

From that one picture it doesn't look bad at all, but again, it's one picture. Cheap, semi-decent wagons are getting very hard to find.

[Master Shake]

No hard feelings, Derek.

Thing is, I have experience with rust. I know how crazy it can grow and what it can do. Above is my first car 93 Sentra E. The rocker panel rusted so bad that it grew into the rear wheel well, ate a hole through it and eventually water was being splashed onto the back of the rear seats by the wheel. The exhaust fell off at the CAT while driving. Luckily it didn't end up pole-vaulting out from under the car. Later on the brake line blew. Wasn't anything spectacular. I was sitting at a red light and noticed my break pedal going lower and lower. After I got home I found the left rear line leaking fluid. After a bunch of cursing, sweating, crying, laughing, and going through 3 different brake flaring tools (note I did NOT use a compression fitting), I was finally able to create a perfect double flare for the lines to seal properly. Drove it for a few months after that and sold it to a buddy who needed a beater.



This is my current bundle of joy. My 91 Mustang LX, with rotted frame rails, among other things. Surprisingly this whole mess held up really well through all the hard cornering and crappy local roads. I was impressed by just how little structural integrity this thing needed to stay straight and not crack in half. Currently trying to clear some time and get enough motivation to dive in and weld up new frame rails into it.

Now if the wagon had this under it when I looked at it I would have walked away immediately. But like I said, the frame appears to be solid. Still, I will look it over again next time I go see it.

In the mean time, here are some more pictures I took that day.



I feel like at the end of the day, even if this turns out to be a complete lemon, I could part it out and get most of my money back on it. It has a really clean front end, and again the headliner was mint as hell.

[pantera77]

Damn, that rustang is living up to it's name. And I thought my old Mark VII was bad, that things ready to break in half.

At least the wagon is loaded, tripminder, premium sound, ATC, air deflector. On the other hand that interior is roached. What's the guy asking for it?

[Master Shake]

To be fair, the door panels are there, and the guy is putting them back. He was replacing either the lock actuators or the rods, can't remember. The only real gripe I have are the seats. All the seats are cracking to hell. Not sure about the 3rd row, since I couldn't open it.

Here's the thing about the price. I'm not sure. It's all my awkwardness' fault. I found this car through facebook. In a crown victoria group, I asked if anybody was selling a wagon. A guy responded and said that his friend was selling one for 1,000. I got in touch with the guy and arranged a meeting. Funny, first thing he asked me was what I was going to do with it. I told him I wanted a big daily driver. He was relieved to hear that I wasn't going to enter it into demo derby or scrap it. BUT throughout the whole conversation I never bothered to bring up the price. I'm hoping his friend was correct and he is expecting to get a grand out of it. Sadly, the more I look at it, the more it's starting to look like a $500 dollar car. And with scrap values being what they are these days (somebody in NYC was quoted $150 for a CS), I don't think it's too far fetched.

[Tiggie]

Woah $1000 is too much. Hopefully he threw that price out there to ward off the demo guys.

I just paid $600 for a non running wagon. It's 99.5% rust free though, and it looked like it would run. It does now after a new gas tank and pump.

That car looks like a good daily if that's what you want. Like I said, I love my rusty wagon daily driver.

Throw a brown towel on the seat and get it on the road if the seller is reasonable on the price. The more rust you show him the lower your price goes. You need to play the "it will get a good home" card. Or he gets pissed and tells you to leave, but no loss. $1000 is too much.

[pantera77]

$500 is what I was thinking.

[Master Shake]

I'm glad you guys agree.

[DerekTheGreat]

My buddy always said anything that runs & drives is worth $500, you don't know anything about how that car goes down the road. Rear end could be shot, u-joints are probably stiff and crap, shocks no good and steering sloppy plus the rust so calipers are probably locked up or ready to.. $400 or less lol. It's neat that it is fully loaded with the trip minder but that rust sucks. With your experience you should be running! You know you're going to have to replace all the rubber lines, wheel cylinders, lines, fuel filter, clean out the tank ect ect. I have a hard time buying stuff that doesn't run to some extent. As far as the rust goes, yeah you can "repair" it but your repairs will not last as long as the OEM stuff did, no way no how. Once you fix rot it's best to retire said vehicle from salt/moisture exposure for good if possible. I've never believed in repairing/refinishing rusted DD's that will continue to see salt. On the other hand if you're prepared for all that and don't mind then go for it. I'm lazy, would rather eat pizza and watch Netflix than deal with frozen, rusted bolts and dead cars