So, as you already know, I got myself another car. And once again, it is not a sensible one. But, let's start from the beginning.
As of January 2021, my activities were slowly drifting towards doing a full time moving out from Kraków. We have signed the selling contract for our house in Kraków, that was due to be emptied and handed over to the new owners on the 1st of March, and started the process of buying a new property. Not choosing it, but just buying, in Poland, if you aim for anything that has more than half of a hectare of farm terrain legally bound to it, you need to go through a lengthy and painful procedure of confirming you are not a real estate developer, or property reseller, or property hoarder, or foreign citizen etc. before you can actually buy it. But local law stupidity is not the topic for today. To be as concise as possible, I had to find a car that could allow me to move most of the stuff from our house to the underground garages we have rented. The Colon gave up firing the 8th cylinder (turned out to be nothing serious, but again, another time, another place), Gran Cherokee was waiting for a suspension overhaul, Land Rover is at the electrician's garage, 960 blew the engine off (another story for another day), Passat is at the tinsmith's, and that left me, user of ~10 cars, with no useful vehicle to do the trick. Sure, you can pack this stuff into A2 or 760, but their cargo space is just to small and large cardboard boxes just won't fit. I had to look for a moving-out-and-in car.
The list of necessities was short: cheap compact class station wagon, LPG or diesel, simple and small, so it will fit nicely in the underground space. Also, up-to-date insurance and MOT. This points towards older 850/V70/V40 Volvo's, small Japanese and eg. French cars etc. BUT NO, I found the single one stupid car in the vicinity - a 1995 Escort wagon, listed for 2000 PLN (around 525 dollars). Got in touch with the seller, got really upset as the shifter got stuck and they could not sell the car as it was not a rideable one, got happy after they managed to override the lock and put it into a garage so all the accumulated ice could melt and make the shifter working once again, arranged a meeting, did a test drive, talked the price down to 1800 PLN (470 USD), drove it from Bytom, Silesia to Kraków. And here it is, the first day I owned it:
The front bumper is cracked, and has funny cutouts. The car was owned by an American living in Germany (a soldier, I guess), who swapped in Mondeo headlights to comply with the traffic rules. As those are larger, they decided to cut the holes in the bumper - and these were later covered when the car got imported into Poland by a friend of the guy from whom I bought it.
The engine is a 1.9 CVH, rated as 88 hp. It has a hemispherical head, so this is actually my first HEMI car!
This is a tank for the lubricating agent used by the LPG installation. A rare and definitely expensive add-on, but also nice to have.
I got the original owner's book in a fancy plastic cover + some basic papers from the dealership - Wilmette Ford.
Original stickers are still there.
A spare set of headlights, spare radiator, a few small things were also a part of the deal.
Interior shots, mostly from the previous owner. I really like these electrical belts!
Dealer's stickers, one is for the assembly plant, the other - for the dealer's name.
Rear fog light. It's indicator light works well, but the light itself is dead. I have to check the bulb, and maybe replace the whole thing with a non-cracked one. The headlights are also on the list - they are so yellowish that I can barely drive the car at night...
The car had original wheel covers, two different pairs of steel rims, two sensible, 6-yr old all weather tires, and two totally crappy, 16-year old winter tires that were unsuitable for any kind of weather. I got a nice set of wheels I kept for the Passat, with slightly used, 5-year old retreaded winter tires (I might have driven some 10 000km on them, or even less?). They were mounted on Ronal light alloys, and they fit very well with the car. It looks now like a cheap car bought for a son who goes to a college, and he believes that putting this kind of wheels makes him look more attractive. No, that does not work good. Blasting Backstreet Boys from the speakers does not help much, too.
And guess what? I met a very nice, elegant old lady who drives a saloon Escort at the gas station a few days ago. She imported her '93 Escort herself as a new car, and does not want to sell it, as she really likes it!
As for my Escort... the initial idea was to drive it for half of a year and then get rid of it. But I really started liking this car: it is really a rare one in Poland, it has a huuuge cargo space, it is quite nimble, and consumes 11-14l of LPG per 100 km. Also, the partsd should be cheap, its Mazda 323, after all. Needs some underbelly work - it was covered with a protective "grease" years ago, but holes begin to emerge in the lower side panels. That should not cost much, and I think I am eager to do it next autumn. Also, a new bumper and headlights (or an extensive repair to those I already have), and I got a nice, cheap commuter to do the everyday stuff. Especially as the 960 engine has its block, not head gasket, broken...
As of January 2021, my activities were slowly drifting towards doing a full time moving out from Kraków. We have signed the selling contract for our house in Kraków, that was due to be emptied and handed over to the new owners on the 1st of March, and started the process of buying a new property. Not choosing it, but just buying, in Poland, if you aim for anything that has more than half of a hectare of farm terrain legally bound to it, you need to go through a lengthy and painful procedure of confirming you are not a real estate developer, or property reseller, or property hoarder, or foreign citizen etc. before you can actually buy it. But local law stupidity is not the topic for today. To be as concise as possible, I had to find a car that could allow me to move most of the stuff from our house to the underground garages we have rented. The Colon gave up firing the 8th cylinder (turned out to be nothing serious, but again, another time, another place), Gran Cherokee was waiting for a suspension overhaul, Land Rover is at the electrician's garage, 960 blew the engine off (another story for another day), Passat is at the tinsmith's, and that left me, user of ~10 cars, with no useful vehicle to do the trick. Sure, you can pack this stuff into A2 or 760, but their cargo space is just to small and large cardboard boxes just won't fit. I had to look for a moving-out-and-in car.
The list of necessities was short: cheap compact class station wagon, LPG or diesel, simple and small, so it will fit nicely in the underground space. Also, up-to-date insurance and MOT. This points towards older 850/V70/V40 Volvo's, small Japanese and eg. French cars etc. BUT NO, I found the single one stupid car in the vicinity - a 1995 Escort wagon, listed for 2000 PLN (around 525 dollars). Got in touch with the seller, got really upset as the shifter got stuck and they could not sell the car as it was not a rideable one, got happy after they managed to override the lock and put it into a garage so all the accumulated ice could melt and make the shifter working once again, arranged a meeting, did a test drive, talked the price down to 1800 PLN (470 USD), drove it from Bytom, Silesia to Kraków. And here it is, the first day I owned it:
The front bumper is cracked, and has funny cutouts. The car was owned by an American living in Germany (a soldier, I guess), who swapped in Mondeo headlights to comply with the traffic rules. As those are larger, they decided to cut the holes in the bumper - and these were later covered when the car got imported into Poland by a friend of the guy from whom I bought it.
The engine is a 1.9 CVH, rated as 88 hp. It has a hemispherical head, so this is actually my first HEMI car!
This is a tank for the lubricating agent used by the LPG installation. A rare and definitely expensive add-on, but also nice to have.
I got the original owner's book in a fancy plastic cover + some basic papers from the dealership - Wilmette Ford.
Original stickers are still there.
A spare set of headlights, spare radiator, a few small things were also a part of the deal.
Interior shots, mostly from the previous owner. I really like these electrical belts!
Dealer's stickers, one is for the assembly plant, the other - for the dealer's name.
Rear fog light. It's indicator light works well, but the light itself is dead. I have to check the bulb, and maybe replace the whole thing with a non-cracked one. The headlights are also on the list - they are so yellowish that I can barely drive the car at night...
The car had original wheel covers, two different pairs of steel rims, two sensible, 6-yr old all weather tires, and two totally crappy, 16-year old winter tires that were unsuitable for any kind of weather. I got a nice set of wheels I kept for the Passat, with slightly used, 5-year old retreaded winter tires (I might have driven some 10 000km on them, or even less?). They were mounted on Ronal light alloys, and they fit very well with the car. It looks now like a cheap car bought for a son who goes to a college, and he believes that putting this kind of wheels makes him look more attractive. No, that does not work good. Blasting Backstreet Boys from the speakers does not help much, too.
And guess what? I met a very nice, elegant old lady who drives a saloon Escort at the gas station a few days ago. She imported her '93 Escort herself as a new car, and does not want to sell it, as she really likes it!
As for my Escort... the initial idea was to drive it for half of a year and then get rid of it. But I really started liking this car: it is really a rare one in Poland, it has a huuuge cargo space, it is quite nimble, and consumes 11-14l of LPG per 100 km. Also, the partsd should be cheap, its Mazda 323, after all. Needs some underbelly work - it was covered with a protective "grease" years ago, but holes begin to emerge in the lower side panels. That should not cost much, and I think I am eager to do it next autumn. Also, a new bumper and headlights (or an extensive repair to those I already have), and I got a nice, cheap commuter to do the everyday stuff. Especially as the 960 engine has its block, not head gasket, broken...
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