I picked up another rotbox over the weekend. I found it on CL Thursday night and bought it on Saturday.
It's a 1991 Mercury Grand Marquis LS, Medium Woodrose Metallic, that I've named "The Scab". I don't usually name my cars, but "The Scab" seems fitting. It's roughly the color of a scab and since my Crystal Blue Metallic '91 MGM GS has been threatening to go on strike I decided to hire "The Scab".
There are a few very badly rotted spots, but for the price the car was everything I was looking for. The worst rot spots are the passenger side rocker panel that is pretty much gone, the A-pillars, and the driver side dogleg. The car had Tuff-Kote Dinol applied at some point, which from what I can tell is basically like Ziebart and has about the same result. From what I was able to see of the underside, it looks like undercoating did a better job than the stuff in the rocker panels. I'll get a better look at the underside this weekend when I go back to my parents' house to get the car.
The "good" side:
(dads Tortoise, my Yukon, and my uncles Mountaineer in the background)
The nasty side:
(brother and nephew in the background)
I have trim on my trunk, I haven't had a trunk with trim since 2009.
(mom's Exploder, dad's Screwbaru, dad's '45 Dodge, and my uncle's Cheby (same uncle with the Mountaineer) in the background. My blue '91 MGM and a red Ponticrack Sunfire are also hiding behind the Exploder)
I'll try to get more pics when I'm up there again this weekend.
The adventure:
Dad and I set out from his place to meet the PO after he got home from work Saturday. I thought to myself, "I should grab my brand new 2G out of my '89 MGM"... of course I didn't. I also thought to myself, "I should grab my tools"... but since we were taking dad's car he's always got tools in his trunk. Besides, the seller said it runs and drives and was ready to drive home.
When we got there, the PO and his dad were having problems starting the car. The battery wasn't charged enough to start the car so we grabbed my dad's battery from his car, that's when dad asked the seller to borrow tools to get his battery. He had been working on something else and didn't put his tools back in his car. The car started right up and sounded great. We swapped the battery back in while it was running and let the alternator do its thing. I was a bit worried about the alternator but the battery light eventually went out so after paper work was signed and some green pieces of paper were exchanged Dad and I set out on our 80ish mile journey mile back to his place. Going down the freeway the car ran, drove, and stopped great just like the seller said it would, but the battery light was on again. After a while it went out and I figured maybe it'll be good. 19 miles into the trek home the battery light came back on again but this time things were getting pretty dim so about 20 miles in I pulled into a parking lot and was really kicking myself for not grabbing my alternator and tools.
Of course all the auto-parts stores were closing in 2 minutes and we were more than 2 minutes away from the closest one. I hopped in dad's car with him and he was going to get some tools so we could try swap batteries and see how far we could get. Once we got to a store I got an idea to phone a friend for some help. I frantically called DerekTheGreat knowing that he had recently done a 3G upgrade and might have a 2G I could borrow. We were about 2 miles from his place (9 miles from my place, but my place wasn't our destination; no plates at my place=towed faster than I can say wtf). Derek saved the night for me. With his 2G and a jump start, dad and I were on our way again. The rest of the 60ish miles home went flawless.
Easter Sunday I fixed the driver door that wouldn't open from the outside and lubed the hood latch that didn't want to operate without help. I got my insurance, plate, and registration today and this weekend I'll be back up at my parent's place to work on all the minor issues I can, drive it home, and start DDing it Monday.
It's a 1991 Mercury Grand Marquis LS, Medium Woodrose Metallic, that I've named "The Scab". I don't usually name my cars, but "The Scab" seems fitting. It's roughly the color of a scab and since my Crystal Blue Metallic '91 MGM GS has been threatening to go on strike I decided to hire "The Scab".
There are a few very badly rotted spots, but for the price the car was everything I was looking for. The worst rot spots are the passenger side rocker panel that is pretty much gone, the A-pillars, and the driver side dogleg. The car had Tuff-Kote Dinol applied at some point, which from what I can tell is basically like Ziebart and has about the same result. From what I was able to see of the underside, it looks like undercoating did a better job than the stuff in the rocker panels. I'll get a better look at the underside this weekend when I go back to my parents' house to get the car.
The "good" side:
(dads Tortoise, my Yukon, and my uncles Mountaineer in the background)
The nasty side:
(brother and nephew in the background)
I have trim on my trunk, I haven't had a trunk with trim since 2009.
(mom's Exploder, dad's Screwbaru, dad's '45 Dodge, and my uncle's Cheby (same uncle with the Mountaineer) in the background. My blue '91 MGM and a red Ponticrack Sunfire are also hiding behind the Exploder)
I'll try to get more pics when I'm up there again this weekend.
The adventure:
Dad and I set out from his place to meet the PO after he got home from work Saturday. I thought to myself, "I should grab my brand new 2G out of my '89 MGM"... of course I didn't. I also thought to myself, "I should grab my tools"... but since we were taking dad's car he's always got tools in his trunk. Besides, the seller said it runs and drives and was ready to drive home.
When we got there, the PO and his dad were having problems starting the car. The battery wasn't charged enough to start the car so we grabbed my dad's battery from his car, that's when dad asked the seller to borrow tools to get his battery. He had been working on something else and didn't put his tools back in his car. The car started right up and sounded great. We swapped the battery back in while it was running and let the alternator do its thing. I was a bit worried about the alternator but the battery light eventually went out so after paper work was signed and some green pieces of paper were exchanged Dad and I set out on our 80ish mile journey mile back to his place. Going down the freeway the car ran, drove, and stopped great just like the seller said it would, but the battery light was on again. After a while it went out and I figured maybe it'll be good. 19 miles into the trek home the battery light came back on again but this time things were getting pretty dim so about 20 miles in I pulled into a parking lot and was really kicking myself for not grabbing my alternator and tools.
Of course all the auto-parts stores were closing in 2 minutes and we were more than 2 minutes away from the closest one. I hopped in dad's car with him and he was going to get some tools so we could try swap batteries and see how far we could get. Once we got to a store I got an idea to phone a friend for some help. I frantically called DerekTheGreat knowing that he had recently done a 3G upgrade and might have a 2G I could borrow. We were about 2 miles from his place (9 miles from my place, but my place wasn't our destination; no plates at my place=towed faster than I can say wtf). Derek saved the night for me. With his 2G and a jump start, dad and I were on our way again. The rest of the 60ish miles home went flawless.
Easter Sunday I fixed the driver door that wouldn't open from the outside and lubed the hood latch that didn't want to operate without help. I got my insurance, plate, and registration today and this weekend I'll be back up at my parent's place to work on all the minor issues I can, drive it home, and start DDing it Monday.
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