Good News to Conclude the Summer of Dreams

"Mercedes Streeter" (smart) 08/25/2020 at 16:33 • Filed to: volkswagen

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I dubbed this summer the Summer of Dreams because against all odds, 2020 has been by far the best year of my life. I’ve been able to make a bunch of dreams come true while consistently crossing things off my bucket list. I’m still not really sure how this all happened.

I’m Legally Me!

My name change forms and such have all been submitted. Come November 2nd my name will legally be Mercedes! Gender marker change is immediately after. Should have done this sooner, but there’s no better time to finish something you haven’t done than now! Sadly, name changes are significantly more expensive where I live currently than where I used to live. Thought conservative counties were supposed to be cheaper. lol

Balls Deep in VAG

On my end of our shared vehicle fleet, I’ve sold more vehicles I didn’t particularly care about. As expected, I made some coin on the Harley Sportster. I’m now down to the Buell Lightning, Suzuki Burgman 650, and Genuine Stella. I still have the Honda Spree in my living room but that’s still just decoration. Remember when I had like 12 motorcycles? Weird times.

My girlfriend learned how to drive manual in the Ranger and determined she’s in no rush to drive manual and is content with her automatic. As it served its purpose it was sold. The same friend that bought my 4.0 Ranger bought this one, so they once again have a daily Ranger until whenever this one dies.

The Xterra is burning enough oil that you can smell it in the exhaust. A new PCV valve and some seafoam later and it runs a little better, but the exhaust stinks of oil. Beginning to look like valve seals or piston rings. Good thing I didn’t get it as a daily. Some Nissan folks have told me this is par for the course and just use thicker oil. ¯\_()_/¯

I also ran into a deal that was too hard to pass up. Two functioning TDI wagons for the price of one? Why not!

First up is this 2012 Jetta TDI Sportwagen. This high mileage hero is sitting at 353,000 miles. It was neutered by VW two years and 60,000 miles ago. It runs and drives great. According to the paperwork I am legit the second owner. The PO took good care of the car, the driver seat doesn’t even have a crease in it and the interior overall has the fit and finish of a car with a fifth of the miles. How did he manage it is beyond me.

Second, we have another B5.5 Passat TDI Wagon. Like my last one it has an underboost issue. I’ve already located the issue to be vacuum related and am already fixing it. It’s in even better condition than my old Passat with a better interior, cooler wheels, and a stereo that actually sounds good.

And lastly, I came into a very very weird project. For Gambler price I got a Passat W8 4Motion with a manual with the intent on making it a Gambler car.

I bought it from the second owner, who bought it from the first owner after the first owner smacked a pole with the front passenger door. Aside from the mismatched doors it has a broken sunroof and a misfire on cylinder 6. But with only 100k on the odometer it’s otherwise very tight! We drove it home from Michigan and the car never once skipped a beat. It sounds so so so good and the manual is so so fun. It even comes with complete service history. The cylinder that’s misfiring appears to have an old coil.

My whole Gambler plans for it sort of derailed when I discovered how rare these things are. There are under 5,000 W8s in the US for all years, of that number, under 450 total are manual. Oops. So I guess this one will be a resto project.

The W8 means my total vehicle count is 1 more than my limit, so I’ll most likely flip the Xterra after a couple off-road events. I wasn’t even supposed to have the little green thing to begin with. lol

The American

On my girlfriend’s end of the stable, her search for her own dream cars is going quite well. Next month she wants to pull the trigger on a supercharged Monte Carlo SS. It looks like she slipped out of the Maxima debacle making a slim “profit”, if you can call a tax deduction a profit. Her little Camry continues to be a reliable cockroach. Biggest problem thus far was the left brake caliper coming off, getting caught in the wheel, then somehow managing to damage the CV axle. At least...that’s the crazy story her mechanic came up with. But every time she comes back from that mechanic the car drives even better so maybe he’s not as crazy as I think.

If she gets the several figure position she wants we’ll most likely be moving someplace that has ample storage on the property (like a pole barn or former dealership) for my crap and what will inevitably be her collection of American cars. She really really wants a Challenger Hellcat, and I can totally see her getting one before this year’s even out.

Yes, this does mean I own more VAG cars than I do smarts. Does this mean hell has frozen over?

kanadanmajava1 > Mercedes Streeter 08/25/2020 at 16:52

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That W8 Passat is a nice find.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > kanadanmajava1 08/25/2020 at 16:59

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I legit was behind a W8 P assat wagon like 2 years ago on the freeway. I will never forget it. Flippin unicorn.

HoustonRunner > Mercedes Streeter 08/25/2020 at 17:03

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I have lukewarm memories of  my own B5 Passat (sedan V6, manual), but a W8 manual is just plain cool.

Also, over 44k miles PER YEAR on the 2012, that is a lot of cruising....was it an Uber or something like that?

As always, enjoy reading your updates!

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Mercedes Streeter 08/25/2020 at 17:08

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W8, OMG. Don’t gambler with it, make it the autobahn cruiser it is supposed to be. If anything Gambler one of the old smart cars, again. 

liam > Mercedes Streeter 08/25/2020 at 17:08

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Congrats on getting your name sorted out :-)

Mercedes Streeter > HoustonRunner 08/25/2020 at 17:14

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This particular W8 has custom pipes, too! Just need to replace one of the flex pipes. :D

The guy explained he used the TDI to criss cross the country many times for his job. All highway miles would seemingly explain why it’s in such good nick. His new road warrior is a Toyota . The other TDI wagon has about 290k on its odometer, so just slightly more than the TDI I sold earlier in the year and less than the much newer Jetta.

Thanks! :)

HoustonRunner > Mercedes Streeter 08/25/2020 at 17:23

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Custom pipes!  How is the sound?

Mercedes Streeter > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 08/25/2020 at 17:44

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No worries, I’m not taking this off-road at all. I knew these things were rare, but it didn’t hit me until I got it home just how weird/cool/super rare they are.

The oil burning Xterra is slotted to be the Gambler until further notice. :) Decided to give the ol’ 2012 smart a rest from Gamblers because eventually my luck will run out, I’ll kill it, then be sad I killed my first. lol

Mercedes Streeter > HoustonRunner 08/25/2020 at 17:46

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Right now it sounds like a really mean Subaru boxer engine since it’s missing on one cylinder and has a leak through one of the flex pipes.

But the guy showed me a video from before the misfire, sounded an awful lot like this one:

VW Max > Mercedes Streeter 08/25/2020 at 17:51

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Oh wow, congrats on all the new cars! We need to hear the exhaust on the W8 when you get it sorted out.

Also, it’s really hard to believe that the JSW has 8 times the miles that mine does and still looks so good.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Mercedes Streeter 08/25/2020 at 17:57

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Wow, that has been an eventful few weeks for you. A name change, three new cars, and selling a few to boot.

I also am the owner of two social security cards, thought the story behind my second middle name is a bit complicated/delicate. Though it did get me thinking. I never thought about how hard it would be to change one’s name since I was like 1 year old or something.

Also, does legally changing gender mean you can unenroll from the selective service? Not that a draft is likely to take place soon but if a war were to break out I’m sure it would end up in the first women being drafted through a strange combination of laws.

Also, that AWD manual W8 Passat is a real unicorn. Way rarer than a diesel manual minivan (lookin at you Tracy). That’s way too rare to turn into a Gambler. I hope the right person throws money at it at some point. Want to ring up Jay Leno?

And those two TDI S portwagens are amazing! The 350k mile one is real impressive too. I’d like to see more of that.

Actually, why on earth aren’t you Youtubeing your misadventures in cars? I’d watch the heck out of you and you’re not another generic white California dude. No offense, car loving Californians. 

Mercedes Streeter > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 08/25/2020 at 18:21

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The past few months have been nonstop crazy. Combined with the Audi TT and the remaining smarts it looks like I’m running a German auto house. lol

In my particular county, you file the name change paperwork, pay the court clerk fees (and there are a lot of them), publish your name in a newspaper for 3 weeks, then after approximately 8 weeks you see the judge and walk away with a legal name change.

Good question about the gender change, I suppose that’ll be an interesting question for my lawyer/girlfriend. lol

While it was originally for a Gambler, I’ve ultimately decided to restore it . Once I realized how much of a unicorn it is I was like “it’s too good to abuse” . Funny enough, I really wanted a Phaeton but they’re darn near impossible to find in the price range I usually get projects for. I think this is going to be way better than a Phaeton, though. :D And it won’t take much to get it back to that shape, either. A new door (the silver door clearly came from a base model Passat), a new sunroof, and a new trunk lid and it’ll be a million times better.

Funny enough, the black TDI wagon is sitting at 290k miles, itself. I’m amused that the newer one has far more miles and far fewer problems.

I’d LOVE to get into the YouTube thing, but I absolutely hate the whole editing part of making videos. But nowadays it seems simple editing goes a long way so I might just get back into it through the Out Motorsports YouTube channel.

Verdog ~ manual Bro, Bro - HellHawk Equipped > Mercedes Streeter 08/25/2020 at 19:33

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Ughhh, you cannot say Balls Deep anymore. That is a term reserved for Dudes.

shop-teacher > Mercedes Streeter 08/25/2020 at 22:14

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Man that is a lot of cars!

Try 15-40 diesel oil on the Xterra.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Mercedes Streeter 08/25/2020 at 22:21

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I can’t say I remember what it took to change my name but it couldn’t have been easy.

I’m also still curious about whether legal gender changes would or should allow for selective service exemptions. And what happens if you don’t register but you were born female and legally changed your gender after 18? Does only conscripting men mean the US government is sexist and, if so, would anyone mind as long as they aren’t draft eligible? A lot of interesting questions there.

I’m glad you’ve decided to give the unicorn W8 manual Passat the attention it deserves. That Xterra and maybe a bike or two could pay for some new body panels and a re spray methinks. How’s the rust?

Those TDIs will run forever if you’ll let them. I’m not surprised about the older one but that newer one must have a crap ton of highway miles. I remember a dirt cheap newish GTI with nearly 200k that appeared almost perfect coming up for sale near me. Same story with a manual Mazda3 that no one wanted. I honestly trust super high milers because cars that travel super high miles a year tend to either be trashed beyond hope or so perfect you don’t want to touch them. And people tend to trust miles over maintenance.

Youtube is hard to get into but learning a good editing software and getting some music you like that you can reuse for videos makes it so much easier. Over the summer I learned Shotcut, but that was chosen because it was one of the more capable free ones around with lots of tutorials. I just shot some test footage, learned it was crap, and challenged myself to make it watchable anyways.