I think one of those old volvo wagons would make a decent beater rally car. Plenty of room to haul equipment to the rally without needing a seprate support car. The drivetrains should be pretty solid and that solid axle shouldn't get messed up over rough terrain. Not sure what engine would be best in their though. I am sure the stock one would be ok for a while but eventually a little more power would be good.
Not too much power though as a 2wd rally car can't take much.
THat'll do it! If you're messing with the B20 engine, you'll need IPD timing gears and camshaft, since both of those are troublesome in the B20 engine. One reason all the old B20s driving around are real slugs and ping even on high test gas is because the camshaft lobes are flat and the timing gears are sloppy. People say they run forever but actually they crawl forever.
i remember an old expression about volvo's. 'they run forever, but never very well'. a saab owner told me that one, so i was never sure if i should believe it.
2024 Ford F-150 STX, 2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
yeah, like Toomanyfumes said, Mopar is a contraction of "MOtor PARts". I don't know if they still do it after the Benz takeover, but if you bought Chrysler parts from the dealer, it would say "Mopar" on it.
size doesn't matter to me Yeah, yeah.... that is what they all say until they get home!
I'm not touching that one with a cute response unless I have a few beers in me! :P
I'm out in the boonies Hahahhahaha.... okay, well, a matter of perspective I suppose....
Yeah, I guess compared to Alaska, I shouldn't talk! Still, since I moved back to my childhood home and gotten re-accustomed to it, I don't think I could ever put up with a place that's less than 4 acres again! The house two doors down is currently on the market, 4.28 acres, and the house it probably a tear-down special at this time. In fact, the real estate listing says "Absolute As-Is Condition". What, just "As-Is" wasn't enough?
Anyway, I'd buy it if I could afford to, just to keep the lot from getting developed (well, other than putting another garage on it, perhaps) :shades:
It's kind of true actually, or WAS true in the 80s and early 90s...Volvos sort of staggered along and would not die...a Saab on the otherhand, usually destroyed itself in a short catastrophic burst (head gaskets or transmission failure were their favorite forms of suicide)...its death was sudden, whereas the Volvo's was a stubborn, prolonged illness.
I had to open a book to brush up on my Cadillac history. Looks like in 1967 they all had a 429, with 340 hp. Standard across the board, no optional engines.
Then in 1968 they went to a 472, with 375 hp. According to my book, it was an all-new engine, designed with upcoming gov't emissions standards in mind. In 1970 they came out with the 500, which was a stroked 472, and it was standard in the Eldorado, and not offered in the others. Then for 1975-76 the 472 was dropped and the 500 was made standard across the board, except for the Seville. All 190 hp of it. 215 if you sprung for fuel injection, which was probably around a $500 option back then.
Yeah, I guess compared to Alaska, I shouldn't talk! Still, since I moved back to my childhood home and gotten re-accustomed to it, I don't think I could ever put up with a place that's less than 4 acres again! The house two doors down is currently on the market, 4.28 acres, and the house it probably a tear-down special at this time. In fact, the real estate listing says "Absolute As-Is Condition". What, just "As-Is" wasn't enough?
Anyway, I'd buy it if I could afford to, just to keep the lot from getting developed (well, other than putting another garage on it, perhaps)
I know from where you are coming on that one. I made a terrible mistake on my current home by just purchasing the 1.25 ac. lot for the sake of starting the building sooner. I figured I could just buy the adjoining lots in a few years. The thought was good, but I forgot to account for other buyers and their lack of "appropriate development" ideology. Now I have a house located in an area I dispise and have to start all over looking for another (appropriately sized) chunk of land.
My wife's grandparents had a 5 acre lot with a house built in 188x outside of Meadville, PA. Had it been in the cards, I would have purchased that place when it was auctioned a couple years ago. At one time, it was a beautiful house. It was trimmed to the gills with black walnut on the interior - just gorgeous. I would have removed every stick of that walnut, torn the house down (it was terribly rotten/neglected) and built a modern near-replica in which to re-install the walnut. Even though the place was surrounded by other houses, it felt comfortably isolated with its 5 acres of dense Eastern forest.
Ah, all the woulda-coulda-shouldas in the world do not make up for just one "did."
-----
-27F here this morning. Even with 217,290 miles on the Subaru today, it fired right up! *whew*
2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
I know from where you are coming on that one. I made a terrible mistake on my current home by just purchasing the 1.25 ac. lot for the sake of starting the building sooner. I figured I could just buy the adjoining lots in a few years. The thought was good, but I forgot to account for other buyers and their lack of "appropriate development" ideology. Now I have a house located in an area I dispise and have to start all over looking for another (appropriately sized) chunk of land. -27F here this morning. Even with 217,290 miles on the Subaru today, it fired right up! *whew*
That's one nice thing about living 100 miles from Fairbanks, we have 5 acres and we're surrounded by state land, so no neighbors within a 1/2 mile. Only time we see our neighbor is at the local bar or when we are out looking for our wayward dogs.
It was -25 here this morning and the old Ford fired up, not real willing, but at least she started. Needs glow plugs, maybe do that this weekend. At least we own the old thing for cheap $$$.
Only time we see our neighbor is at the local bar or when we are out looking for our wayward dogs.
My dog went "wayward" on Friday night. She finally came home about 30 minutes later and was rewarded with a 3-day tethering complete with 1/2 rations and a leash-whipping each time she dared complain about her situation. Hopefully she will be broken by this evening and I can get a few more worry-free months out of her. There is nothing more annoying to me than having a dog upon whom I cannot rely.
What is your Ford? A truck, I imagine?
2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
I am getting annoyed as a parentally imposed (hey, you should replace your 14 year old hand-me-down car already) search for a replacement "real" vehicle has substantially reduced my time (and BUDGET!!) to look for a "project" vehicle. I would like to do something besides bench race all winter.
The Ford is more or less a bit of a project. Its a 1997 Ford F-250 x-cab longbed 4x4 Powerstroke diesel that we picked up a couple months ago for $2000 in Fairbanks. When we bought it the kid that owned it told us it had a bad transmission along with a blown front end. Its rather beat up, lots of dings and dents, but it runs great and only has 120k on it.
Other downside of it is it has a reconstruct title, but its not due to an accident, its from the truck being half beat to death and someone sanding the fuel tanks. Insurance company decided it wasn't worth fixing and the kid bought it back from them, flushed the tanks, changed the filters and it was fine.
We replaced the front end (thanks to my little brother) and after a fluid flush and filter change turns out the tranny wasn't bad after all. Had to replace some weird cone air filter with a new air box and stock filter, put some new tires on it, and will probably have to replace the glow plugs. Other than that its not too bad I don't think.
Hahhaha.... not a chance! I am not quite that irresponsible - she was sterilized many a year ago. :P
Old! Hahahah.... 1997. I expected more like 197x or 198x! Sheesh, I refer to my grandparents' 1997 F350 crew as their "new" truck! I would say that for the money and time put into it thus far, it should serve its purpose quite well. I'd give that "project" a thumb's up.
2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
Parental impositions can be quite rewarding given the proper frame of reference, but I do understand your frustration. What's wrong with 14 years old if it is reliable?!
2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
"Everything works except the clock." Huh. I guess this thing really is a time capsule. I am not convinced about the A/C though. If it just needed to be charged, why would he not have done it?! :confuse:
2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
It's definatey a handsome car but it's just a shame that we're looking at a 2 barrel bench seat car with no power options. It's at 5100 with reserve not met. How much does he expect for it. If it had buckets and console, 4 barrel and pw, that would be sweet.
It's at 5100 with reserve not met. How much does he expect for it. If it had buckets and console, 4 barrel and pw, that would be sweet.
Yeah, it's a shame it's such a stripper of a car. Here's the thing that gets me though. It's actually a LeMans Sport Coupe, which was a step up from a base LeMans. The base price was $3916, versus $3768 for the base model. However, for something that has "Sport" in its name, it looks like all that gets you is the set of dummy lights on the trunklid, the nicer vinyl that was used in the Grand LeMans (at least, I recognize those seats as being the same as mine) and badges on the front fenders that say "Sport Coupe". Anything that actually it LOOK sporty, like the Rally II wheels, bucket seats, console/floor shift, or even full gauges, were still extra cost options. As was anything that made it PERFORM sporty, like a bigger engine. Although to this car's credit, it would've come standard with a Chevy inline-6! And Olds 260 V-8 was optional (I still don't understand the concept of offering a V-8 that doesn't put out any more hp than the 6-cyl choice) and I know a Chevy 305-2bbl was offered (although my auto encyclopedia isn't listing it).
I'm watching the auction, because I'm really curious to see how high the bidding goes. Personally I think the seller should take that $5100 offer and run with it!
FWIW, I think the guy I bought my '76 Grand LeMans from had a "Buy it Now" price of $4500. My car is equipped better (same engine but more options...power windows, seat, tilt wheel) but has more miles (76,000 when I bought it) and has been repainted. And a tear in the driver's seat. I remember that bidding on eBay on it stalled out around $2500-2700, and we ended up agreeing on $3,000. This blue '76 is definitely in better shape. Unless the it just happens to photograph well and doesn't look as good in person, or is hiding problems.
Now here's something kinda curious that I see in my auto encyclopedia. It says that the '76 Grand LeMans, which I have, came standard with a 170 hp 400. I've seen plenty of them with 350's though, so I wonder if a 350 was a credit option? They also list a 185 hp 400 as an option. I guess that the 170/185 hp was 2/4 bbl? At the top of the pack was a 200 hp 455 V-8. These hp numbers sound laughably low, but I guess the bigger engines would still be torquey enough to be kinda fun in something like this...
I had a 1976 Trans-Am that had the 200hp 455 V-8. It had good torque, and was a fun car to drive. It had the 4-speed, which helped. One of my first cars was a 1976 Olds Cutlass Supreme with the 260 V-8. A total dog, it never ran right when it was cold, either.
2012 Mustang Premium, 2013 Lincoln MKX Elite, 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander.
Did the LeMans fastback come from the factory with those windows? I know the fastback Cutlass didn't, but there were companies around that would fill in the bulk of the window and leave the small window like the LeMans. Created one heck of a blind spot off the right rear. Fortunately, my '73 Cutlass S still had the original windows when I got it and not the "aftermarket opera window upgrade" that ruined so many in my part of Texas.
Did the LeMans fastback come from the factory with those windows?
Yeah, those opera windows were standard on the LeMans in '76. Now in 1973-75, the base LeMans had the large, triangular windows, with the opera windows or louvered windows being an option. I think the Sport Coupe, which was a step above the base LeMans, had the louvers standard in '73-75, while the Luxury LeMans ('73-74) and Grand LeMans ('75) had the opera windows standard. In '76, Pontiac did away with the big triangular windows completely, making the opera windows standard on all the LeMans coupes. Louvered windows were optional on the Sport Coupe, and perhaps the base coupe as well.
I prefer the large, triangular window myself. My Mom had a '75 LeMans coupe, and those windows gave it an open, airy feeling. Maybe the folks at Pontiac just thought that the large windows wouldn't look as good on the '76-77 LeMans? The '76-77 was a bit more angular in style than the '73-75, so maybe they figured the large windows would clash?
The Century and non-Supreme Cutlasses kept the big windows through 1977 though, and I believe the Chevelle/Malibu offered them as well, although many of them had the opera window option. With Buick/Olds, I if you wanted a factory opera window, I think you had to get a Regal or Cutlass Supreme, which had the more formal roof with the slightly vee'd rear window, which was shared with the Monte Carlo and Grand Prix.
I didn't know that there were companies doing aftermarket opera windows on these things. YUCK!! Although now that I think about it, one of my grandmother's friends used to have a '73 Chevelle coupe that had some kind of aftermarket, thickly padded landau roof. I want to say that it said "Elegante" on it? The car itself was pretty nice, but that aftermarket top was muy hideoso!
This '76 LeMans is rougher looking than that blue one I posted, but sounds like it would be more fun, with its built-up 350 and 2.93 rear. IIRC, something stupid like a 2.41 or 2.43 was standard on these cars!
This one has bucket seats and a floor shift, too, and the louvered quarter windows. The guy's also selling another '76, which he's included a few pics of, that looks like it just has the regular opera window with some kind of louvered insert. It's also kinda interesting, I guess, in that it has a 4-speed stick! Unfortunately it's mated to an Olds 260.
I also like this comment from the seller... "THE REASON THESE COOL RIDES ARE BEING SOLD IS SO WE CAN MOVE OUT TO THE COUNTRY AND CHASE ARROWHEADS. PONTIAC ADDICTS AND CODE ENFORCERS DONT MIX!!!!"
His nervous hands must have typed in an extra 0....yeah, that ad will get lots of response...mostly ridicule....I doubt you could sell a REBUILT engine and trans. for that money, much less one pulled from a vehicle that "died of cancer".
You are correct on the roof line of the Cutlass. The "fastback" was the S and 442, the "notchback" was the supreme and the rare Salon. The Salon had a touring suspension and cordouroy seats that looked like they were designed by Barcalounger. Very, very nice highway vehicles.
Its French. My Friend's '81 505 TD had fantastic ride quality. More importantly, it had this rubber lip spoiler on the trunk lid which gave a lot of grip every time we had to push it off the road.
lemko special "The car has passed the stringent Virginia State inspection!" LOL. Passing a VA inspection involves getting the car to the inspector without anything large falling off or catching fire.
when I bought my '79 New Yorker a few years back, I bought it from a little used car lot in West VA. The seller said he'd guarantee it to pass in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, or Virginia. But if I wanted to register it in Maryland, he said I was on my own!
So evidently they're all a joke compared to Maryland's inspection. FWIW though, I got through the inspection with only about $200 worth of stuff. It needed new rear brake shoes, drums turned, adjustments up front, the obligatory headlight adjustment, and some fiddling with the steering box. Somehow they missed the fact that the horn doesn't work, though. :P
In Colorado, we only have to worry about emission control, and then only in the metro Denver area. Having newer cars, we don't even have to have the annual test done until they are at least 5 years old.
Well in Maryland, you have to get a used car inspected before you can tag it. Unless it's over 25 calendar years old AND you put historic plates on it, or if it's a used car that a close relative, such as a parent, child, or sibling gives you. So theoretically I could drive my Intrepid, which I bought new, for 25 years, get historic tags for it, and it will never have been inspected.
Now Virginia and PA, and West VA too I imagine, have yearly inspections. But I think all they check for is for stuff like tire tread, lights out, broken glass, and other obvious stuff.
As for the emissions test, in some of the more heavily populated counties of Maryland, any car from 1977 onward has to go through the test once every two years. It used to just be cars 15 years and older were exempt. I remember taking my Malibu through the emissions test in 1988, and at the time 1973 and older cars were exempt. In 1989 they made it 1974 and older, but once they got up to 1976, they stopped bumping it up.
In this case though, if your car is newer than 1976 but still qualifies for historic tags (as of 1/1/07, 1982 model year cars can get them in Maryland), you can get exempt from the emissions test. The downside is that with historic tags, you're supposed to limit your driving, and not have it be your daily driver.
Where my Mom lives, down in Southern Maryland, there was talk about doing an emissions test. However, a study was done, and they concluded that once you factored in building the facilities, operating them, and even stuff like mailing out notices and such, that having an emissions test would actually CREATE more pollution than it eliminated!
The county she lives in only has about 86,000 people, and is about 340 square miles, while my county is more like 800,000 people squeezed into 485 square miles.
Comments
Not too much power though as a 2wd rally car can't take much.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
size doesn't matter to me
Yeah, yeah.... that is what they all say until they get home!
I'm not touching that one with a cute response unless I have a few beers in me! :P
I'm out in the boonies
Hahahhahaha.... okay, well, a matter of perspective I suppose....
Yeah, I guess compared to Alaska, I shouldn't talk!
Anyway, I'd buy it if I could afford to, just to keep the lot from getting developed (well, other than putting another garage on it, perhaps) :shades:
Nothing is ever easy but that 429 had a lot of room around it as I recall unlike the newer cars.
Piston rings shouldn't be bad after these few miles but they could be stuck. White smoke means a head gasket is probably bad.
I wouldn't throw in another engine. I would rebuild the one in it.
Then in 1968 they went to a 472, with 375 hp. According to my book, it was an all-new engine, designed with upcoming gov't emissions standards in mind. In 1970 they came out with the 500, which was a stroked 472, and it was standard in the Eldorado, and not offered in the others. Then for 1975-76 the 472 was dropped and the 500 was made standard across the board, except for the Seville. All 190 hp of it. 215 if you sprung for fuel injection, which was probably around a $500 option back then.
Anyway, I'd buy it if I could afford to, just to keep the lot from getting developed (well, other than putting another garage on it, perhaps)
I know from where you are coming on that one. I made a terrible mistake on my current home by just purchasing the 1.25 ac. lot for the sake of starting the building sooner. I figured I could just buy the adjoining lots in a few years. The thought was good, but I forgot to account for other buyers and their lack of "appropriate development" ideology. Now I have a house located in an area I dispise and have to start all over looking for another (appropriately sized) chunk of land.
My wife's grandparents had a 5 acre lot with a house built in 188x outside of Meadville, PA. Had it been in the cards, I would have purchased that place when it was auctioned a couple years ago. At one time, it was a beautiful house. It was trimmed to the gills with black walnut on the interior - just gorgeous. I would have removed every stick of that walnut, torn the house down (it was terribly rotten/neglected) and built a modern near-replica in which to re-install the walnut. Even though the place was surrounded by other houses, it felt comfortably isolated with its 5 acres of dense Eastern forest.
Ah, all the woulda-coulda-shouldas in the world do not make up for just one "did."
-----
-27F here this morning. Even with 217,290 miles on the Subaru today, it fired right up! *whew*
That's one nice thing about living 100 miles from Fairbanks, we have 5 acres and we're surrounded by state land, so no neighbors within a 1/2 mile. Only time we see our neighbor is at the local bar or when we are out looking for our wayward dogs.
It was -25 here this morning and the old Ford fired up, not real willing, but at least she started. Needs glow plugs, maybe do that this weekend. At least we own the old thing for cheap $$$.
My dog went "wayward" on Friday night. She finally came home about 30 minutes later and was rewarded with a 3-day tethering complete with 1/2 rations and a leash-whipping each time she dared complain about her situation. Hopefully she will be broken by this evening and I can get a few more worry-free months out of her. There is nothing more annoying to me than having a dog upon whom I cannot rely.
What is your Ford? A truck, I imagine?
I would like to do something besides bench race all winter.
The Ford is more or less a bit of a project. Its a 1997 Ford F-250 x-cab longbed 4x4 Powerstroke diesel that we picked up a couple months ago for $2000 in Fairbanks. When we bought it the kid that owned it told us it had a bad transmission along with a blown front end. Its rather beat up, lots of dings and dents, but it runs great and only has 120k on it.
Other downside of it is it has a reconstruct title, but its not due to an accident, its from the truck being half beat to death and someone sanding the fuel tanks. Insurance company decided it wasn't worth fixing and the kid bought it back from them, flushed the tanks, changed the filters and it was fine.
We replaced the front end (thanks to my little brother) and after a fluid flush and filter change turns out the tranny wasn't bad after all. Had to replace some weird cone air filter with a new air box and stock filter, put some new tires on it, and will probably have to replace the glow plugs. Other than that its not too bad I don't think.
Old! Hahahah.... 1997. I expected more like 197x or 198x! Sheesh, I refer to my grandparents' 1997 F350 crew as their "new" truck!
" Just needs to be driven"
" Just needs a tune up"
" I'm sure it's something minor"
" The paint just needs rubbing out"
Yeah, it's a shame it's such a stripper of a car. Here's the thing that gets me though. It's actually a LeMans Sport Coupe, which was a step up from a base LeMans. The base price was $3916, versus $3768 for the base model. However, for something that has "Sport" in its name, it looks like all that gets you is the set of dummy lights on the trunklid, the nicer vinyl that was used in the Grand LeMans (at least, I recognize those seats as being the same as mine) and badges on the front fenders that say "Sport Coupe". Anything that actually it LOOK sporty, like the Rally II wheels, bucket seats, console/floor shift, or even full gauges, were still extra cost options. As was anything that made it PERFORM sporty, like a bigger engine. Although to this car's credit, it would've come standard with a Chevy inline-6! And Olds 260 V-8 was optional (I still don't understand the concept of offering a V-8 that doesn't put out any more hp than the 6-cyl choice) and I know a Chevy 305-2bbl was offered (although my auto encyclopedia isn't listing it).
I'm watching the auction, because I'm really curious to see how high the bidding goes. Personally I think the seller should take that $5100 offer and run with it!
FWIW, I think the guy I bought my '76 Grand LeMans from had a "Buy it Now" price of $4500. My car is equipped better (same engine but more options...power windows, seat, tilt wheel) but has more miles (76,000 when I bought it) and has been repainted. And a tear in the driver's seat. I remember that bidding on eBay on it stalled out around $2500-2700, and we ended up agreeing on $3,000. This blue '76 is definitely in better shape. Unless the it just happens to photograph well and doesn't look as good in person, or is hiding problems.
Now here's something kinda curious that I see in my auto encyclopedia. It says that the '76 Grand LeMans, which I have, came standard with a 170 hp 400. I've seen plenty of them with 350's though, so I wonder if a 350 was a credit option? They also list a 185 hp 400 as an option. I guess that the 170/185 hp was 2/4 bbl? At the top of the pack was a 200 hp 455 V-8. These hp numbers sound laughably low, but I guess the bigger engines would still be torquey enough to be kinda fun in something like this...
Yeah, those opera windows were standard on the LeMans in '76. Now in 1973-75, the base LeMans had the large, triangular windows, with the opera windows or louvered windows being an option. I think the Sport Coupe, which was a step above the base LeMans, had the louvers standard in '73-75, while the Luxury LeMans ('73-74) and Grand LeMans ('75) had the opera windows standard. In '76, Pontiac did away with the big triangular windows completely, making the opera windows standard on all the LeMans coupes. Louvered windows were optional on the Sport Coupe, and perhaps the base coupe as well.
I prefer the large, triangular window myself. My Mom had a '75 LeMans coupe, and those windows gave it an open, airy feeling. Maybe the folks at Pontiac just thought that the large windows wouldn't look as good on the '76-77 LeMans? The '76-77 was a bit more angular in style than the '73-75, so maybe they figured the large windows would clash?
The Century and non-Supreme Cutlasses kept the big windows through 1977 though, and I believe the Chevelle/Malibu offered them as well, although many of them had the opera window option. With Buick/Olds, I if you wanted a factory opera window, I think you had to get a Regal or Cutlass Supreme, which had the more formal roof with the slightly vee'd rear window, which was shared with the Monte Carlo and Grand Prix.
I didn't know that there were companies doing aftermarket opera windows on these things. YUCK!! Although now that I think about it, one of my grandmother's friends used to have a '73 Chevelle coupe that had some kind of aftermarket, thickly padded landau roof. I want to say that it said "Elegante" on it? The car itself was pretty nice, but that aftermarket top was muy hideoso!
This one has bucket seats and a floor shift, too, and the louvered quarter windows. The guy's also selling another '76, which he's included a few pics of, that looks like it just has the regular opera window with some kind of louvered insert. It's also kinda interesting, I guess, in that it has a 4-speed stick! Unfortunately it's mated to an Olds 260.
I also like this comment from the seller... "THE REASON THESE COOL RIDES ARE BEING SOLD IS SO WE CAN MOVE OUT TO THE COUNTRY AND CHASE ARROWHEADS. PONTIAC ADDICTS AND CODE ENFORCERS DONT MIX!!!!"
Oh, Lord, what goes through these people's minds?
My Friend's '81 505 TD had fantastic ride quality. More importantly, it had this rubber lip spoiler on the trunk lid which gave a lot of grip every time we had to push it off the road.
What's the point?
I wonder if the 75% is by price or tare weight?
globetrotter
this was the better '72
cheaper than a new one
lemko special
"The car has passed the stringent Virginia State inspection!" LOL. Passing a VA inspection involves getting the car to the inspector without anything large falling off or catching fire.
"Camry II", eh?
Give the man 20 bucks and honk your horn, flash your lights.
So evidently they're all a joke compared to Maryland's inspection. FWIW though, I got through the inspection with only about $200 worth of stuff. It needed new rear brake shoes, drums turned, adjustments up front, the obligatory headlight adjustment, and some fiddling with the steering box. Somehow they missed the fact that the horn doesn't work, though. :P
In Colorado, we only have to worry about emission control, and then only in the metro Denver area. Having newer cars, we don't even have to have the annual test done until they are at least 5 years old.
Would love to know more about this....
Now Virginia and PA, and West VA too I imagine, have yearly inspections. But I think all they check for is for stuff like tire tread, lights out, broken glass, and other obvious stuff.
As for the emissions test, in some of the more heavily populated counties of Maryland, any car from 1977 onward has to go through the test once every two years. It used to just be cars 15 years and older were exempt. I remember taking my Malibu through the emissions test in 1988, and at the time 1973 and older cars were exempt. In 1989 they made it 1974 and older, but once they got up to 1976, they stopped bumping it up.
In this case though, if your car is newer than 1976 but still qualifies for historic tags (as of 1/1/07, 1982 model year cars can get them in Maryland), you can get exempt from the emissions test. The downside is that with historic tags, you're supposed to limit your driving, and not have it be your daily driver.
Where my Mom lives, down in Southern Maryland, there was talk about doing an emissions test. However, a study was done, and they concluded that once you factored in building the facilities, operating them, and even stuff like mailing out notices and such, that having an emissions test would actually CREATE more pollution than it eliminated!
The county she lives in only has about 86,000 people, and is about 340 square miles, while my county is more like 800,000 people squeezed into 485 square miles.