More pictures after the jump and check out the eBay auction here.

The next day I got a phone call, and when I saw it was from the seller, my heart sank just a little bit. I knew he had sold the car before I could get up there to pick it up. But instead, he actually called me to tell me that the timing belt had snapped, but he would install a new one for no extra charge. The guy had told me earlier that he didn’t have the know-how to change out the rear shocks, so I asked him if he wanted to just knock some money off the price tag and I would do it myself. We agreed on a $300 sale price for the car, and I’d be up on Thursday to pick it up.

Come Thursday, a friend of mine gave me a ride up there and I got to meet my new car for the first time. There had been no pictures of the front of the car, so I was a bit confused by the ’79-’82 nose on it, but the title confirmed that it was in fact an ’86. I put a timing belt on while listening to the owner telling me the wrong way to do it, making me glad I hadn’t taken him up on his offer to change it himself before the sale. I got it fired up, and it seemed to run…ok.  I started looking around for vacuum leaks and found a hard plastic line that had broken off. I gave the line a little tug to pull it off of the carb and noticed the whole carb moved. Well, I wanted to get this car away from the previous owner as I was tired of listening to his BS, so I blocked off that vacuum line and headed out.

As I drove of the car seemed very sluggish, much worse than I had expected it to be, so I pulled over a block from the guy’s house and adjusted the timing belt and got it to drive decently. I found a back parking lot in which to remove the carb and tightened down the base plate bolts, then got it back together and set out again. I pulled over once more to adjust the timing belt and got it right this time. Took off down the highway with no other problems. The car drove very nice, no pulling or drifting or anything bad. I have been daily driving it now since then and have racked up almost 500 miles with no new issues.

Anyway, how about you? Does any of this sound familiar–and have you ever had to baby your new junk car all the way home?

My ultimate basketcase is my ’84 diesel Escort. Sure, it’s been fun learning how to work on diesels, and I haven’t stopped working on this car since the day I bought it. It’s got a Mazda motor–the parts for it are incredibly rare and obsolete, and anything I do to it costs me about five times more than the equivalent repair on my Ford-powered Escort, which generally runs like a top. The diesel has demanded major overhauls, presented me with massive parts failures, and generated huge bills. It’s left me stranded and once even caused me to wreck. In short, the diesel Escort is the bane of my existence, and it’s a car that needs to be gotten rid of. But I can’t–and I regret it more with each successive drama.

How about you? Ever had a car you wished would just be destroyed by an act of God? Do you still have it?

On Sunday we drove up with the trailer and discovered that the van was in stuck gear–whatever the shifter was previously mounted to was rusted out to the point that that the shifter was laying on the floor. Well, we dragged the van up onto the trailer anyways, taking turns on the come-along and a little pull to the side from the previous owner’ big Ford pickup from time to time to keep the van from sliding off the ramps. It took about an hour to get the van all loaded up and chained down. The Beetle then got loaded up onto the seller’s own trailer, to be towed into town on Tuesday.  So, I came out of the deal with a ’69 VW Baja Bug that is supposed to run with a knock, and Jason got a ’66 VW van with a locked-up engine.  but knock and he got a 1966 VW van with a locked up engine. All in all, not a bad haul for 200 bucks–though we haven’t yet figured how we’re going to get the van back off the trailer.

Well, this Nomad isn’t going to be winning awards at car shows any time soon, and this shot sure isn’t going to win any photography awards, but what can I say—nothing melts my heart like a basketcase rescue. So I figured that the owner of this rest-in-pieces Nomad, entry # 1467 in our Amoco Ultimate Your Car Is Worth It contest, deserved a special shout-out. Here’s what he says about it:

My two lifelong dreams have been to own a 1957 Nomad and to do a complete frame off restoration. Yes, it’s a basket case now; but a future dream come true deserves only the best.

There are still more chances to win, so if you haven’t already thrown your hat into the ring, make sure to enter the Amoco Ultimate Your Car Is Worth It Photo Contest!

As rust goes, this is just about the worst possible scenario: vinyl-top car sits out in the rain under trees. Top retains water, and rots out the metal beneath. Once the roof’s perforated, the water runs in and rusts out the rest. I’m just glad that someone has decided to save it—Marc has spent months tackling the rust, and has blasted the whole body just about clean. He’s primed it over in rust neutralizer and is hoping that’ll keep the cancer at bay. I’m almost inclined to think that the car would’ve been a better candidate for the dip tank, but then Marc might have gotten nothing back but a flimsy piece of Swiss cheese. Best of luck, man! Check out the Challenger’s ride page to see the whole transformation.

Baca got his 1980 Malibu wagon "practically for free," and after tearing down the roasted V6, realized he had nothing but potential on his hands. He’s built a substantially modded 355—check out all the engine parts he’s got in it—and is currently test-fitting the twin turbo setup he’s building. The turbos will come back off to be ground down and polished to a shine, and I haven’t even gotten into the gorgeous suspension yet. Check out the ride page for this interesting project—Baca’s got a ton of great build pics and detail shots.