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As some may recall, I bought my son a really clean '95 Mercury Tracer back in January. I gave $800 for it and put $250 worth of new tires on it. Then the timing belt broke and I spent $400 on a new timing belt, water pump and complete tune-up. It's licenced under my name........
So today I get a call from the Sheriff of a neighboring county, telling me my car has been sitting for 3 days on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. I called my son, but no answer (surprise, surprise!!). The wife & I drive 35 miles to find it burried to the rocker panels on a dirt road....with about 30lbs of mud covering the entire interior. I used a tow rope and my truck to pull it out of the ditch, thinking I'll just drive it home. When I put it in "D"..........nothing. All forward gears are gone and Reverse barely moves. I towed it to a friend's farm about 2 miles away and parked it until I can get a trailer. On the way home my son called me from work, but I'll keep the details of that conversation private! He claims he got stuck a couple nights ago and walked to a farm house. He sent a couple of his friends to get the car the next day because he had to work. Evidently they fried the tranny trying to get it out and were to stupid to realize it. He honestly didn't seem to have any idea, he just thought it was stuck. I believe him, but regardless, he's not getting it back.
So now what? Outside of a bad tranny and being completely covered in mud (inside & out), the car runs like a top. The A/C works good & it has brand new tires. I have ~$1500 in it thus far. A good used tranny is $300 from a local recycler. There's also a WTB on CL looking for a clean '92-'95 Tracer that needs motor or tranny work (the guy has a good drivetrain). Do I spend another $300 plus the time/labor to fix mine? I'd have ~$1800 total invested and could maybe get $1200-$1500 max out of it. Or, do I sell it as-is for whatever I can get, put the money in my pocket and be done with it? The last option would be part it out. They get $500 for a good low mileage 1.9L, I can put the grey cloth seats in my Festy, it has a rear trunk spoiler and the wheels are the 14" polished aluminum 7-spoke (like the EGT's had) with brand new 195/60HR14 performance tires.
So today I get a call from the Sheriff of a neighboring county, telling me my car has been sitting for 3 days on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. I called my son, but no answer (surprise, surprise!!). The wife & I drive 35 miles to find it burried to the rocker panels on a dirt road....with about 30lbs of mud covering the entire interior. I used a tow rope and my truck to pull it out of the ditch, thinking I'll just drive it home. When I put it in "D"..........nothing. All forward gears are gone and Reverse barely moves. I towed it to a friend's farm about 2 miles away and parked it until I can get a trailer. On the way home my son called me from work, but I'll keep the details of that conversation private! He claims he got stuck a couple nights ago and walked to a farm house. He sent a couple of his friends to get the car the next day because he had to work. Evidently they fried the tranny trying to get it out and were to stupid to realize it. He honestly didn't seem to have any idea, he just thought it was stuck. I believe him, but regardless, he's not getting it back.
So now what? Outside of a bad tranny and being completely covered in mud (inside & out), the car runs like a top. The A/C works good & it has brand new tires. I have ~$1500 in it thus far. A good used tranny is $300 from a local recycler. There's also a WTB on CL looking for a clean '92-'95 Tracer that needs motor or tranny work (the guy has a good drivetrain). Do I spend another $300 plus the time/labor to fix mine? I'd have ~$1800 total invested and could maybe get $1200-$1500 max out of it. Or, do I sell it as-is for whatever I can get, put the money in my pocket and be done with it? The last option would be part it out. They get $500 for a good low mileage 1.9L, I can put the grey cloth seats in my Festy, it has a rear trunk spoiler and the wheels are the 14" polished aluminum 7-spoke (like the EGT's had) with brand new 195/60HR14 performance tires.
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