Final Voyage

"ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com" (ita97) 12/11/2017 at 23:01 • Filed to: None

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Some good friends of mine asked for my help in getting rid of their old Plymouth Voyager that had been sitting at the bottom of their driveway for long enough that I had been suggesting cutting a hole in the roof and planting a yucca inside of it. It was purchased new in 97 (or 98, I don’t remember), and he drove it until it suffered a not minor engine fire about a year and a half ago. The odometer shows well over 200k, but the speedometer and odometer had only been working intermittently for the last five or six years. It was survivor from the Midwest before they moved to Southern New Mexico.

After the fire it was a done for. Conveniently, it caught fire in their driveway, but took long enough to extinguish with a hose that under hood temps got hot enough to burn or melt every under hood component not made of metal. There had been talk of donating to NPR, or even calling the Cash for Cars salvage folks that advertise that they’ll take junk cars away. It turns out there are some limitations on that, and mentioning the vehicle is a non-running 90's Caravan that suffered an engine fire and is located in a rural area twenty minutes out of town means that no one will ever show up to haul it away. After a few months of it being in the way, they put in neutral and let it roll down to the ditch at the bottom of their driveway where it sat for the last year or so.

On Saturday I went over and worked on getting it out of the hole it was in. The picture at the top of the post doesn’t really show well the hole it was in and how steep their driveway is up to the road. There is actually a long list of vehicles that have gotten stuck in their driveway over the years (including a garbage truck, UPS trucks on a regular basis and a propane truck more than once). Getting up to level ground turned out the be harder than I anticipated. Even with the rear diff locked, it still took a few tries via tow strap to the back of my F-150 to get the minivan up the hill. Copious amounts of wheel spin were involved that shot more rock and gravel into the back of the van than I realized. It ended up breaking the back window on the final, and successful, attempt to get it up the hill. He’ll have to do a bit of driveway maintenance to fill in the ruts left... A 4WD truck would’ve been handy for this job, as I could’ve crawled up the hill in 4Lo.

This morning I started calling around to the various salvage yards in he borderland. It turns out there isn’t much demand for 90's Chrysler minivans that have suffered engine fires. Most of the salvage yards said they wouldn’t take it, as stripping it for crushing would cost them more than the scrap value. I ended up finding a salvage yard North of Las Cruces that offered 50 dollars for it. An hour later we pushed it off the trailer and gave them the title and key. We even finished up in time to make our standing Monday afternoon golf game.

Mercedes Streeter > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 12/11/2017 at 23:11

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Awh, it’s sad to see a car one bought new and has been in the family for 2 decades go. <3

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Mercedes Streeter 12/11/2017 at 23:13

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It was, but I think they fully got their money’s worth out of it. It was expected to die many years ago, but it somehow kept on running. They also have a 2000's Saturn Vue (the one with the 3.5L Honda V6) that they bought new and now has over 270k on it.

fintail > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 12/11/2017 at 23:15

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I see a lower line fintail in the background, possibly a W111 220b.

Sounds like the old van served its purpose and lived a full life.

shop-teacher > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 12/11/2017 at 23:16

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It’s amazing how hard it can be to give away a car sometimes.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > fintail 12/11/2017 at 23:17

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There were a bunch of interesting old cars in that wrecking yard from the 40's to present. The nice thing about the Southwest is that old cars don’t rust away.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > shop-teacher 12/11/2017 at 23:18

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Indeed. I had no interest in stripping it ourselves to take directly to a scrap metal dealer.

shop-teacher > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 12/11/2017 at 23:21

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Yeah, that’s a lot of work.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > shop-teacher 12/11/2017 at 23:22

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The place that took it initially said no. It wasn’t until I pointed out that is was on a trailer, had they keys and clean title and that I would bring it to them that they finally agreed to take it.

gmctavish needs more space > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 12/11/2017 at 23:41

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“One owner since new, no rust, just needs minor repairs due to small fire. $1500 obo”

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > gmctavish needs more space 12/11/2017 at 23:46

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No lowballers. We know what we’ve got. Transmission only intermittently slipped before catching on fire. Instrument cluster works after hitting a bump just right.

fintail > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 12/11/2017 at 23:52

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Looks like the fintail isn’t in a crusher line, which is good. Still, parts are only worth so much.

Here in the PNW rust is slow, but it can take hold. Where your interiors are sun baked, they end up getting wet and rotten here.

The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 12/12/2017 at 00:13

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but how many transmissions has it had?

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock 12/12/2017 at 00:15

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It was still on the original transmission. It had been reasonably well maintained for the first fifteen or so years of its life. 

pip bip - choose Corrour > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 12/12/2017 at 05:25

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LS swap!

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 12/12/2017 at 05:26

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Perfect example of a disposable car that isn’t actually as disposable as you’d imagine. One of bazillions...

shop-teacher > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 12/12/2017 at 06:48

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I’m surprised they gave you $50 then, but that’s cool.

Brickman > gmctavish needs more space 12/12/2017 at 06:48

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$1500? Mine runs and looks brand new and its only worth $800 :P

shop-teacher > Brickman 12/12/2017 at 07:08

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I can give you ‘bout tree-fiddy.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Brickman 12/12/2017 at 08:48

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I figure this one was worth less than $500 before it caught fire. On principle, I usually say any car that runs and drives is worth $500 (and $1000 if it runs, drives and blows cold air at you through the vents), but that probably would’ve depended on what noises it made and how much the transmission slipped when a buyer looked at it.