Car available for FREE

[ancapagency]

1993 Saturn SL-2, 4DR, Automatic, Heat/AC good, good tires, Stereo/CD Player, battery about 1 year old

Here's what I know is wrong:

Transmission leak
Odometer inoperative
plastic front end cracked up
due for oil change
brakes probably ought to be looked at (they work, just haven't had them checked)
Windshield has long crack in driver's side (doesn't occlude vision, but suspect it won't pass inspection)
headliner in bad shape

This car runs very well, and I've had it for two years--drove it up from Alabama with all my stuff in it when I moved to the Free State last Summer.  Hasn't given me any trouble since I bought it, until the past week or so when the transmission started leaking--and it got bad on Monday.  Don't know if anyone will be interested in such a vehicle, but with some work, it ought to go quite well for a good long time yet. 


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[error]

Some of those issues aren't all that important if you don't intend to put slave plates on the car.

[ancapagency]

I agree--I've been running it with tags that expired in August 2006.

[Amos Keag]

me an offer!  All media of exchange will be considered--including barter.

Okay, I'll take it if you paint my house.

[Lloyd Danforth]

You must have gotten your fence painted  in another deal

[ancapagency]

me an offer!  All media of exchange will be considered--including barter.

Okay, I'll take it if you paint my house.

Hmmm... Sounds too good to be true.  I better think about that offer, before I accept it.

[PinoX7]

I want a 69 Plymouth duster, i dont really care what condition its in, rebuilding it would be fun

[ancapagency]

Car is still available.  If no one makes me an offer soon, I'm gonna put it on Craigslist. 

Just lettin' y'all know.

[error]

If you didn't have the transmission leak, I'd make an offer. But fixing that will probably be almost more than the car is worth.

[ancapagency]

I'm not sure exactly what the nature of the leak is--as far as how involved the repairs might be or what not.  That's why I'm willing to let the car go cheap.

I haven't bothered to check bluebook values or anything, but that's only dealer price, not actual value.  Like I said, the car has been very reliable apart from this recent leak.  It handles well, and, being largely non-metallic, has no rust. 

I generally prefer to buy cheap used vehicles, and spend the money on repairs, rather than spending a lot of money on the purchase, and still having to spend money on repairs not long after the purchase. 

[Lloyd Danforth]

I try to buy them about 10 years old and get 10 years out of them.  In 1999 I sold my $1000.00  '81 F250 that I had had for  almost 10 years, for $300.00. Along with using the thing for work My wife and I traveled around the country in it.
I bought my '91 van at the same time.  I bought my '91 Jetta Diesel last year.
I've had to update my metric tools.

[ancapagency]

I bought an '88 Chrysler 5th Avenue for $500 in 1998.  I drove it up until 2004, when I sold it to a buddy because I bought a Blazer to make my move to Alabama in.  He paid me $20.   The car still ran, but there were some repairs made with used parts, because you can't get new parts for them anymore (I had to replace a wheel hub).

I bought the 93 Saturn in AL for $3600 in 2005.  I've put a new battery in it, and new tires on it, since I got it.  The windshield already had the crack in it when I got it.  Not a problem in AL, with no vehicle inspections, and as it doesn't occlude vision.

If I wanted to keep driving a car, I would have had the repairs done.  I've been intending to buy a truck since I got here, becuase I do more cargo hauling than people hauling.  Didn't want to spend money on repairs when I wasn't intending to keep the car anyway.

[PinoX7]

fixing a tranny leak is easy, 90% of the time all you have to do is get a gasket, or silicon, drain the dextron, drop the pan, scrape everything off the pan, and tranny from the old gasket, put the new shit on (dry) and bolt it back up there. Some cars you have a crossbar in the way, you have to take it off but most of the time you can get around it.
You can also change the filter and get a chance to change the fluids while your at it.

[error]

Heh, I don't have a place to work nor tools to do such a thing. But if it's that easy, I might be willing to pay someone to do it.

[KBCraig]

Taking it to a trans shop for a fluid and filter change will result in a new gasket, probably stopping the leak. Assuming that the leak is from the gasket, that is. If you have a cracked case, all bets are off. You haven't high-centered any boulders lately, have you?

Depending on the model, a standard transmission service runs from $50~300. Oh, and be prepared to be "advised" that the transmission is about to blow at any second, but since they have it up on the lift, they can install a rebuilt tranny by day after tomorrow, for $1500~3000, or whatever your credit card limit will allow.

Transmission shops are notorious for talking people into repairs that aren't needed. There is no such thing as looking at a transmission and being able to declare "it's about to break!" It either works, or it doesn't. If you put it in gear and it moves and shifts as expected, you're ok. If it slips and revs high and jerks when shifting (or doesn't move at all), it's broken.

Kevin