The story so far...
Finance company repo purchased from the "parts car" section of eBay for $1775 plus $45 docs fee late January 09, spent $260 to ship 254 miles to our house, took a week and a half to get here because of ice storms. Once here we determined it had a blown head gasket or something to cause the milkshake oil. As of now I'm sitting here waiting on the mechanic to tell me if the heads/block are any good. If they're fine, he's doing the work and we'll have it back by the end of this week.
We figured it was cheaper to buy this $1800 truck, spend $2100 on the engine, $2100 on the transmission, and $1000 on other stuff, rather than go to a tote-the-note lot and spend $10K or more over the next 2-3 years in payments and interest. Looks like the transmission is fine, the rest of the truck is in fine shape, and it only needs small bits. Here's a list of issues I noted when it arrived:
truck repo'd w/ sling, back bumper cover not on straight, I can fix this with a few new trim clips
wiper blades don't quite fit the arms and have redneck engineering defects
driver's seat recliner handle broke off, needs new handle
upper radiator hose split at the radiator
OnTime Payment Assurance System active and needs device removed
no spare tire, jack, jack tool, or wheel lug wrench
valve stem caps missing on 3 of 4 tires
scratches and minor damage thoughout but nothing obvious
THE GOOD STUFF
Truck is 97% complete, engine cranks freely
Transmission fluid beautiful, either recently changed or rebuilt
Truck has all options I wanted with exception of third row seat and machine faced wheels
Everything works (electronics, etc) that I can tell so far
Tires are matching, have great tread, can't have too many miles on them
We're saving thousands over buying it from a Buy Here Pay Here lot
Full coverage insurance on this is cheaper than for my wife's 1999 Taurus last year
It does need some little bits and that means JUNKYARD TRIP FOR ME
Methinks Chrysler Heaven up in Kennedale will do nicely. More to come, I'll take a bunch of pictures after we wash it. Pictures below were taken from the eBay auction. No damage in transit, it looks like this sitting at the mechanic shop in town right now, except the hood is open and Windell is all up in it.
OK, that's it for now. When Windell is done we'll wash it and take fresh pictures for page 2 and let you know how it drives. Then see if my wife really likes it or not!
