The departure of my '71 Chamonix left the M3 as the focus of my attention. I spent a year or so bringing the car back into fighting shape, as all of the rubber in the car was original, worn out and dry rotted. Every suspension bushing, engine mount, intake gasket, you name it. The car still has needs, but overall it's running very well and is driven often. It's pretty close to stock, with a chip, suspension, and wheels. There's a link to my progress thread on s14.net down in my signature if you want to see more.
Recently I moved house, and a bigger garage and driveway were key criteria. The upgrade from an extremely narrow 1-car garage to a 2-car garage and large driveway was just the excuse I needed to start considering another car. I found myself missing my old '02, and watching Craigslist daily for the right car to come along. I wanted a car that was decently close to stock, in good running order, preferably not pristine so that I could do some mild modifications and not feel guilty about it. I looked at a few normal 02s, as well as one Malaga tii that had decent cosmetics but was mechanically on death's doorstep.
On a Thursday three weeks ago, I found this Ceylon '73 tii on my local Craiglist. I wasn't able to see the car that weekend, but I watched along and told myself that I would call on Monday if the car was still available. To my horror, on Monday morning I found that the car had been posted to BringATrailer, exposing my local secret to an enormous audience. I called the seller, who had been inundated with calls from all over the country and had an agreement pending with a guy in Texas. By Thursday the car was still posted for sale, and I received a message from the seller - Texas guy flaked, want to see the car? That night I drove the car, which was true to the seller's claims - ugly, but mechanically sound - and on Friday I made an offer that was accepted. The thing that I found amazing was that, despite one week passing from initial posting to my test drive, with the car's national exposure on BaT, I was the first and only person to actually come out and see the car in person. I thought BaT was a magic sales elixir, but that was not the case this time.
I picked up the car on Saturday and, with a big smile on my face, started driving around town, picking up friends. I was having a blast until it stalled and would not restart - turns out the fuel gauge is dodgy. Whoops. Just add it to the to-do list...
With the car in my driveway, I started trying to learn more about the history of the car. More on that in the next entry.
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