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I got the FESTIVA!!!!! I think I bought the last Festiva for sale in the state of Arkansas! Though for anyone interested there was one for sale in Dallas for $800 with 150k miles. Private seller. I saw it on one of those car search things here on the net.
'93 Festiva L, 5-speed manual tranny (YES!!!! I've missed my stick!) with electronic fuel injection. It had all this other stuff listed that it supposedly had like air bags, air conditioning, etc. I was talking to my man about it and said "I don't think the L's had any of that stuff so either it doesn't have it or someone added it." Had to laugh when we got there because it was just a basic L. Which is cool by me.
Drove up to Fort Smith (about 4 hours from where I live) to look at it. It was listed on the website of the dealer for $1250 and when we called to ask about it he said if we cut him a check we could get it for $995. Well we get up there, take it for a drive and then proceeded to put on a lovely performance with my fiance' of "good cop/bad cop". I'm the bad cop because my man is too southern to pull it off believably. I pointed out all the flaws (to my fiance' but I know the sales guy was within hearing distance) and after picking the car apart to my fiance' I said "I just don't know if it's worth $995 with everything I'm going to have to have done". So we told the salesman we'd discuss it over lunch, just to let him sweat a bit. Fabulous mexican restaurant in Fort Smith btw called El Lorito. Best I've ever had. Then we go back and offer him $750. He asks his manager and she said $830. Sent back $800 and its sold. So we bought the little blue beast for $800 cash.
Runs good, engine sounds strong still. Clutch is a little soft but should last me for a while before I gotta mess with it. Have to replace a front wheel bearing but I should be able to do that this weekend (depending on if the kids give me time to play with my new toy). Its in need of a tune up and I'm hoping that takes care of the idle. It idles a little low atm. If it doesn't then I'm going to have to call in a marker to my bro-in-law because I don't know anything about fuel injection. Never had to work on a car with it so don't know anything about it. Some minor body dings and scratches but no major hits. I have a couple little bitty spots that look like the car got smacked with something small that have a bit of rust but nothing bigger than the eraser on a pencil. Though there is one part inside the driver's door that the paint is flecking off. It's not rusting at all there but I'm going to seal up all of the dings etc until I can get a real paint job. I intend to replace the seats eventually. These are tearing at the seams but they'll last me for a bit. And I've got to figure out how to replace the bloody seatbelts. It has automatic seatbelts (attack belts). You know, the kind that try to choke you or put out an eye every time you start the car. Oh, and I desperately need to swap out the tape deck for a real stereo and put some better speakers in it. One of the locks is pulling out of the door too so I have to crawl in there and fix that but I can do that when I fix the inside door panel. Looks like someone removed it for some reason and screwed it up when they put it back on. I think I can save it though.
Best part..... it had a chrome skull shift knob. Its cool and surprisingly comfortable on the hand. LOL
One thing that I've discovered since I got home though is that sometimes it doesn't want to start. I'll clutch, brake, turn key and nothing but dash lights. If I clutch again (usually no more than twice) it will then decide it is going to start per normal. So, you guys have been doing this longer than I have. What would cause that and how difficult is the fix going to be?
'93 Festiva L, 5-speed manual tranny (YES!!!! I've missed my stick!) with electronic fuel injection. It had all this other stuff listed that it supposedly had like air bags, air conditioning, etc. I was talking to my man about it and said "I don't think the L's had any of that stuff so either it doesn't have it or someone added it." Had to laugh when we got there because it was just a basic L. Which is cool by me.
Drove up to Fort Smith (about 4 hours from where I live) to look at it. It was listed on the website of the dealer for $1250 and when we called to ask about it he said if we cut him a check we could get it for $995. Well we get up there, take it for a drive and then proceeded to put on a lovely performance with my fiance' of "good cop/bad cop". I'm the bad cop because my man is too southern to pull it off believably. I pointed out all the flaws (to my fiance' but I know the sales guy was within hearing distance) and after picking the car apart to my fiance' I said "I just don't know if it's worth $995 with everything I'm going to have to have done". So we told the salesman we'd discuss it over lunch, just to let him sweat a bit. Fabulous mexican restaurant in Fort Smith btw called El Lorito. Best I've ever had. Then we go back and offer him $750. He asks his manager and she said $830. Sent back $800 and its sold. So we bought the little blue beast for $800 cash.
Runs good, engine sounds strong still. Clutch is a little soft but should last me for a while before I gotta mess with it. Have to replace a front wheel bearing but I should be able to do that this weekend (depending on if the kids give me time to play with my new toy). Its in need of a tune up and I'm hoping that takes care of the idle. It idles a little low atm. If it doesn't then I'm going to have to call in a marker to my bro-in-law because I don't know anything about fuel injection. Never had to work on a car with it so don't know anything about it. Some minor body dings and scratches but no major hits. I have a couple little bitty spots that look like the car got smacked with something small that have a bit of rust but nothing bigger than the eraser on a pencil. Though there is one part inside the driver's door that the paint is flecking off. It's not rusting at all there but I'm going to seal up all of the dings etc until I can get a real paint job. I intend to replace the seats eventually. These are tearing at the seams but they'll last me for a bit. And I've got to figure out how to replace the bloody seatbelts. It has automatic seatbelts (attack belts). You know, the kind that try to choke you or put out an eye every time you start the car. Oh, and I desperately need to swap out the tape deck for a real stereo and put some better speakers in it. One of the locks is pulling out of the door too so I have to crawl in there and fix that but I can do that when I fix the inside door panel. Looks like someone removed it for some reason and screwed it up when they put it back on. I think I can save it though.
Best part..... it had a chrome skull shift knob. Its cool and surprisingly comfortable on the hand. LOL
One thing that I've discovered since I got home though is that sometimes it doesn't want to start. I'll clutch, brake, turn key and nothing but dash lights. If I clutch again (usually no more than twice) it will then decide it is going to start per normal. So, you guys have been doing this longer than I have. What would cause that and how difficult is the fix going to be?
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