Why No Classifieds

[Ron B.]

Am I missing something or should I assume that there are no classifieds on this forum? I am looking for a manual transmission wagon preferably an SR5 in VERY GOOD or EXCELLENT condition.

I realize it will be a rare find but there is always hope. My daily driver is a 1988 Pontiac Fiero GT that I bought three years ago with only 2,500 miles on it. I have to assume that there has to be a low-mileage wagon out there, somewhere.

Cheers,

Ron B. in Lake George, NY

[ARCHINSTL]

Welcome to the Club!
There IS a "Classified" section, albeit under a different title.
Go to the "Technical" section and click on "Tercel 4WD Parts: New and Used." There is a separate topic at the top of the page for "Complete Cars." This is for runners only, and parts-only cars are included in the "Parts - New and Used" section. All of us add to these sections when a Wagon pops up, whether on local, eBay, or CraigsList listings.

There IS a particularly fine DLX on eBay right now, located in PA, with a link supplied. It is an automatic, but extremely impressive.
Many '80s Japanese cars did not fare too well in salt states, such as yours and mine.

One must wonder why someone only drove your Fiero 2500 miles in nearly 20 years - what is the skinny on it?
Tom M.

[Ron B.]

Tom, Thanks for the welcome and the info.

I saw the wagon on eBay but I cannot get the seller to reply to my questions. I was the high bidder for a few days and I might still bid again but I'd prefer a manual transmission.

I bought a new SR5 wagon in 1983 and I had it rustproofed by Ziebart. From previous experience with Japanese cars I knew that was VERY important. My first non-American car was a '72 Honda Z600 which I bought new. I didn't get it rustproofed and after three years it was starting to get blisters. Lesson learned.

The Fiero story....I am restoring a '65 Ford Econoline pickup. That's the truck with the engine mounted between the seats and those seats are mounted on the wheelwells. I wanted to upgrade the seating with something modern and the Fiero seats are a perfect fit. The seats are low and narrow and almost bolt right in. I started looking on ebay for seats and came upon the low mileage Fiero. The lease on one of my cars was about to end and I was going to need a replacement. Hmmmm.

I joined a Yahoo group and started asking questions about the cars. I did a lot of research and determined that the '88 was the best year to own because it had updated suspension and brakes. The seller was the Dodge dealer in Windber, PA (near Pittsburgh) and they took it in on a trade for a Durango of all things. The original owner bought it new with the intention of keeping it until it increased in value but his wife was tired of it taking up space in their garage.

I made the dealer an offer that he couldn't refuse and he stopped the auction. We sent a deposit and drove to see it with the understanding that we would finalize the sale upon inspection and test drive. It looked new. It smelled new. We drove it and bought it. The owner asked when we were going to have it shipped. He was surprised when I told him that we were driving it back to NY. He thought we were buying it as an investment but I told him that I wouldn't live long enough to see it increase in value!

It now has almost 21,000 miles on it and it has been trouble free. I put new vented brake rotors and high performance tires on it and improved the shifter with aftermarket items. Without a doubt, it is the best handling car that I have ever driven. You can see photos of the car at the link below.

Oh, by the way...I never bought Fiero seats for the truck. I had the original seats restored by a shop that specializes in customs.

Cheers!

Ron B. in Lake George, NY
Blog: http://tinyurl.com/65Restore
Photos: http://tinyurl.com/RBPhotos
Email: YahooRon(at)roadrunner.com
eBay Member: 64spyderman

[ARCHINSTL]

Ron -
Thanks for the story. "How I got (fill in the blank)" stories about cars are always great to hear.
I will visit your sites later today - just skimmed 'em; thanks for sharing.
A fellow bicycle store colleague (OK-former colleague) has a '65 or '66 Econoline van that I have coveted for years - unfortunately, I am waay down on the list of those who want it. For the last 20+ years it has lived in a heated garage area of the store and makes but weekly trips to the recycling center for cardboard disposal. I forget the mileage, but it is a LOT less than 100K.

And - glad to see another original T4WD owner! I got my '83 in December of '82; it was one of the first, if not the first in STL.
Also interesting note on the Z600; a customer had one, and it was pretty neat. My B.S. (Beloved Sister) had one of the first Accords in '76; it surely offered a lot of eye candy, but the poor thing rusted sorely immediately. I think she was reimbursed for it or Honda did an almost complete reskinning of it for her (so I remember, anyway...).

Interesting comment about the seller of the DLX - I sent him a note asking him to pass on info about the Club to the eventual purchaser, as I do to all eBay Tercel Wagon sellers, and also asking him to post the info on the ad's eBay site - I always figure my own eBay rating of nearly 1800 would count for some validity - but not in this fellow's case - he did not even demonstrate the courtesy of a reply...
Tom M.

[Ron B.]

I bought a new 1978 Accord LX in dark maroon with velour interior. The only other exterior color on the LX model was silver. The velour that covered the seats was like velcro in that every piece of lint stuck and even a vacuum cleaner couldn't get some of the pieces off. I resorted to two-inch wide masking tape rolled inside out around my hand to pick up the schmutz.

I got a recall notice about front fender rust problems and I took it in to be inspected. Since I had it rustproofed when new I didn't have any problems but there was a customer who had massive damage on the top of the fender near the windshield A-pillars.

The EF-Series, CVCC engine was a pain in the butt. It had hesitation problems that were caused by the 3-bbl carburetor and that situation was never corrected on my Accord. There was also a design defect in early CVCC engines. The head gaskets were known to fail and allow coolant to seep into the cylinders upon cool-down which caused glazing on the cylinder walls and smoke out the tailpipe when started cold. There was no problem with smoke when the engine heated up. The fix was a newly designed head gasket and honing of the cylinders. The CVCC engine was a form of stratified charge with two intake valves that eliminated the need for a catalytic converter. On paper it was a good idea.

I believe Honda recommended that the front wheel bearings should be replaced at 40k miles. I sold it two years later and bought an 81 Starlet. No more Honda problems for me!

Cheers!

Ron B. in Lake George, NY