7/1/2021 --- I sold my Grandma's car today.
In 1988 my Grandfather bought my Grandmother her last new car, for her birthday. I think it was for her 85th. It was a blue Chevy Celebrity. She only drove it to church and the store and out to dinner. Once in a while one of her younger friends would take it on a little road trip "to give it a good run". I think she quit driving in 1994 or there about. She really wanted me to have this car. It is a good car and its paid for, it would be good for you. Yes, but Grandma, I really love my Honda. So I got the car in 1995, drove it over from Arizona with my Grandma. She died a few months later. So then I had 2 cars. My Honda lived in my little driveway. The Chevy lived on the street. Except for the 2 street sweeping days a month, where I crammed it into my driveway, so I could not forget. Then if it was a work day I would drive it to work.
It was a good car, but it felt big and awkward compared to my Honda. I always thought of it as Grandma's car, and at that time, I was not a Grandma. It was nice to have a back up car if my car was in the shop or having any issues. But otherwise, I only drove it a few times a month. Enough to keep it going. Maybe a little more sometimes, but not enough. My Honda I serviced regularly about every 7,500 miles. The Chevy, not so much. It would take SO long to get another 7,500 miles on it, and most of the maintenance money went to the car I drove the most, my Honda. Yeah, I did a little maintenance on it, but not enough. At least the oil got changed.
The tires needed replaced from age long before they wore out. I always bought my tires 2 at a time from Discount tires. A few years ago I started letting them put the air in my tires most of the time instead of doing it myself. Felt pretty lazy about it, but they do all 4 faster than I do 1. They often mention my tires are getting old, I should think about getting them replaced, it does not matter that the tread is fine, they are probably rotting from the inside. I would put it off, it hurts to replace something that looks fine. 2 years ago they pointed out how bad the 2 oldest looked and I replaced them, but decided to wait on the other 2. Maybe I will sell it and the new person will want something fancy.
I would occasionally forget street sweeping and get a ticket, or someone visiting would get one. It has been a while, but they were not cheap then and are probably a lot more now. Even now, if I know my car is not in the street there is a feeling of panic when I hear the sweeper coming.
It ran pretty good most of the time. One annoying thing it did was to randomly die when going slow. Mostly it would happen at a light, or stop sign or in a parking lot. Just turn it off and turn it back on. Annoying, but not dangerous. But a couple times it happened making a turn in traffic, and with power steering it was scary so I was often a little nervous about driving it. One time after it did that in traffic I took it right into a shop. They could not figure out what it was, they had it forever, replaced a lot of stuff. Since I had another car I was very patient for a long time. They would say they think it is this, but we are having trouble getting the part. Then no, we think it is this. This went on for many months!!! They ended up not fixing the issue, and not charging me for what they had done, and I had it towed elsewhere. They determined it was a wiring problem, and fixed that, then said it was also a fuel injector issue and fixed that. It was better for a while, then slowly the occasional random dying started happening again. Some time after that it started happening more again, plus it needed something else. Took it to another shop and they cleaned out and replaced a few fuel injectors. It was better for a while and then it would start happening again. But sometime after that I started using a fuel injector cleaner occasionally. It did not solve the problem but I think it slowed its progression.
The car was kinda a silver ice blue from 1988 until 2005. It was looking pretty dull and I wanted a change I picked Porsha Red. It was different, plus red was my Grandfather's favorite color. It came out a little oranger than I expected, I was hoping for closer to fire engine red. But it looked good. I started keeping it covered most of the time at home. But covers are not cheap and don't last long. Every tiny little mark on it I went out with the little touch up paint they gave me and went over it. But it did not dab on well, it went on goopy, kinda like fingernail polish. May have protected from rust, but didn't look great. Then I started buying the touch up sticks from auto stores. Again not great. Maybe I didn't sand it enough first, maybe it was not clean enough, it often seemed like as I moved the applicator, the paint moved with it and did not stay where I wanted it. Eventually I gave up and didn't do much, didn't want to make things worse. I was covering it less, mostly just after I washed it, for a while. Even after the covers started falling apart I would sometimes put them on. I thought maybe being 3/4 covered was better than not at all....at least keep some of the bird doo off it.
The car sits a little low. If you hit a dip or a bump at more than 2 mph you scrape. My neighborhood has a few dips and the world's biggest speed bumps. Then I started thinking I should get new front shocks, cause that just made it worse. I got one estimate, years ago and it seemed like a lot. More than I wanted to spend at the time.
Every once in a while I would think maybe I should sell it. I am not driving it enough. It needs some work. Let it go to someone who is going to drive it more and keep up with what it needs better. The thought of trying to sell it would fill me with dread. I would have to sell it myself, cause it is old, a business might give me a little for it, but would probably just junk it. I did not want that to happen. I have not sold a car to a person in over 30 years. Craigslist scared me. I know it is popular but you also hear bad stories about people using it. I don't carry a phone around. I don't text. I am not an early riser. People don't know how to leave a phone message, and wait for a response, plus I hate having to answer the phone all the time, and return calls if they do. Kept putting off selling it. Plus every time there was an issue with the Honda, I was so happy to have the Chevy. How would I get to work otherwise? Buses no long run in my neighborhood. No friends or family close by. I don't uber. It was only 5 miles, by freeway, but by side streets maybe further, with some big hills and to get there by 8:30........I could not do it! Time went on and I retired and really thought I should sell. I don't have to have a backup car now.
So 5 months after I retired I washed and vacuumed it, AmourAlled it and put signs in the windows. I had looked up the value on line. Most sites did not go back that far. One site that did had the high low and medium prices. I felt it was closest to medium, but since the mileage was super low, it should be worth a little more than medium, so I put $1450. on it. My house is not in a high traffic area, but some people in my neighborhood saw it, and I started driving it more, and people sometimes asked about it. A guy down the street seemed very interested, he came and test drove it. He mostly wanted it as a second car to haul around kids in. (there goes the almost perfect interior....darn).....but at least he said he could do most repairs himself. Big Plus. He wanted to think about it. A friend of his came and looked at it and pointed out a few things, some I had forgotten about. Like the loose tail light from when someone backed out of my neighbors and hit it. I had forgotten that. I didn't know how to fix it, and the light still worked. I just pushed it back in every time I walked behind it. (update-last week I attempted to glue it back in. Not positive if it worked or not....didn't want to touch it till was 100% dry, really hoping it worked).
So I don't hear back from that neighbor, give up on him. Two weeks after I put the signs up, we went on pandemic lock down for covid! Not the best time to sell. After a month I took the signs down and thought I would try again later. Months later that same neighbor came back with a young co-worker. We just did a short test drive. He seemed interested. I told him to think about it and let me know. Months went by. Then he came back said he still wanted it, but didn't have the money. I had gone down to $1200. for him. Said he was saving up. I told him I would hold it for him until January. The end of Jan. comes, still no word from him, I am thinking I better start trying to sell it again. But still dreading it. Also super annoyed that no matter how much I ask, everyone expects me to come down. Sometimes that is the very first thing they say...it is even worse when it is the first thing. Later on seems more like a negotiation. I don't like it, but kinda get it. Asking first thing just sounds super rude. $1200. for a car that runs and has very low mileage seems like nothing! If you don't have that, how will you do the work it needs and keep up with maintenance? Spend a little getting it in shape, then maintenance and NO car payments! He seemed like a nice kid, but....
It is not old enough to be a highly sought after classic car. But maybe it will be someday. My ideal buyer was someone that could do most of the work himself. Get it back into mint condition and keep it that way. Hopefully I would see it around town occasionally, looking good. Maybe someday at a car show, all painted and shiney and looking good. Not go to someone just looking for a cheap car.
Then a few months ago when I was looking at some of the chipped places and seeing they were starting to rust I thought I better do something. I hated the idea of doing anything that would make it look worse, but I thought I should at least try and do something to keep the rust from getting worse. I watched a lot of videos on what to get, what to do, how to, read reviews on products, etc. Went around to various auto supply stores gathering materials. First I sanded down all the rust spots I could find. (this week I found a couple inside the trunk I did not know about at the time, made a mental note to do something about them sometime soon). Washed and rinsed the spots and let dry. Then I put this rust treatment on them that goes on white and turns black. It said make sure you wipe any extra right away. I had a bucket and damp sponge I kept using. I thought I was doing an ok job. Then let dry well. The next day I went out and there are lots of black drip lines! Looked awful! Either a damp sponge was totally the wrong thing to clean them up with or there was a lot of moisture in the air that night. Rain had not been expected, but did it mist a little? I don't know. Then you were supposed to put primer over the spots. I also thought maybe I should put the primer over any little chip or scratch that were not yet rusting to help keep it from rusting. So I sanded them down a little also before the primer. I hate the look of primer, and none of the limited colors it comes it looked good with red. But the rust colored primer said it had extra rust fighting properties. So I got that one and put it on everyplace that I found without red paint. Ok, now I did something to help protect it. But it looks horrible! Instead of 0.5% rust, it now looks like 5% rust. I am horrible at spray painting, plus although it is mostly on the hood, there is some scattered in many places, I knew I would get it everywhere if I tried to spay paint those spots. But I hated looking at all the brown/black areas now. I just took some cheap craft paint I had that came the closest to matching and went over it with that. I knew it would not last, but it looked a little better than without it.
Also the 33 year old rubber around the windows was all cracked. I just found out a couple days ago that is something I could have done myself if I could have found the right parts for it. I had no idea until I ran across a video that it could be way easier than I thought. Wish I had seen that years ago. Spent 1/2 hr. looking for the right part on line, with no luck. But maybe if I keep looking I will find it. Also the weather stripping around the door is coming loose and has a few tears. I had tried to glue that back, but it didn't stay. I later learned on line that if I had taken it all out cleaned the rubber and cleaned the area underneath and bought a special glue, it might have been okey at least for a few years. But between the loose rubber and the bad rubber a little water would get in when you washed it or it rained, so I would tell people they needed to fix that soon. One day I noticed a tiny drip coming from the ceiling near the mirror. So I put silicone sealant all around the windshield. Hopefully it stopped it, but haven't had a lot of rain since.
So March I start getting ready to get it smogged and up for sale again. My routine is: first I put some of that cleaner, (Sea Foam is the one my mechanic says he likes), in the gas tank, and also in with the oil. Then I drive it for a week then change the oil. Then I get some good freeway driving in, try to help burn off built up crud, then do the smog test. During that week instead of cramming it in the driveway for the street sweeper I decided to go drive it around the neighborhood. I need to drive it more now anyway. I am a mile from home and pull into a park and it dies and won't restart. I have nothing with me, I was only going around the neighborhood for a few minutes. I thought it was the battery. I had a really good Sears battery in it, but it was 9 years old and had hesitated a few times. I would normally run down to Sears and have it checked. But the local Sears store closed, the next closest is 30 miles away. So I thought I would just do the AAA battery service, it is supposed to be pretty good. So I walk home, uphill in the rain to call AAA, grab my purse and go back. The AAA guy was nice, but he looks 12. He can't get it started enough to even test it and the alternator. I then realize it is an unusual battery, and the terminals are on the side. He said even if he does manage to get it started enough to test it, he does not have that battery! So I contact AAA again and get towed to a local shop. The battery they find is way more than the Sears one was with a way shorter warranty, but gotta have one, now! Ok. Then he says they smelled gas, and find it in the air filter canister. That means the fuel pressure regulator has blown. Unfortunately it is hard to get to so there is a lot of labor. Now we are up to $800 something and it won't be done till tomorrow. So they give me a ride home and back and I pick it up. I didn't want to give them more money, so I went to a cheap oil change place a few days later to get that done, then go do some freeway driving, just to run it. I head for Del Mar 20 miles away. The furthest I feel comfortable driving right now. Traffic is bad. Not getting the freeway speed I want, but it is something. Half way there the check engine light comes on for 2 secs. and goes off. That is not something it usually does. Nervous but trying not to panic. Maybe there is some some of recheck thing going on after the recent service. Hoping maybe the part they replaced contributed to its issues, and with a new one it will be better. So walk around a bit, little bit of shopping and head back. Make a few stops, traffic is better, getting in some decent running, no check engine light. Get home ok. Make 2 more 20 mile freeway trips in the next couple days, and go to the smog place.
It has been passing for 25 years or so, but it is old, and not driven enough, so I always get a little nervous. I have been going to the same test only station for a while now. For the old cars it costs more to smog, they do a lot more tests, and I sit and try not to worry. It fails 2 of the things they test! Sad and upset. He gives me a list of certified test and repair places in the area. There were not a lot of places on the list. I go talk to 2 of them after I leave. No, they can't even look at it then, and expect for them to have it a while. Then I go home and read reviews. Make an appt. for place in Carlsbad I had never been to before. I go in the morning thinking maybe I could at least wait there until they had a diagnosis. No. They didn't want that. How far did I live? About 7 miles. We will take you home. I think that was a Thursday. I wait all day Friday to hear something. I call Sat. and am told they don't know yet, but they should know something Monday. Monday they call and say it needs 2 sensors and a catalytic converter, and it might need more, they won't know until they get those parts in it, but so far it is at just over $1600! Should we proceed? Nooooooooo! What do I do now? I can't just leave it there. It probably says that in the paper I sign. I can't sell it without a smog. I can't sell it for that much. I don't want to junk it. Donate it? I don't know what to do!!! He is waiting for an answer. Its been there 4 days. Registration is due in a few weeks. I say do it. Then every day I wait to hear more. He calls Thursday afternoon, that it is done and it has passed and the price was the same as Monday! Good! But they are too busy to come get me, maybe tomorrow if you can't make other arrangements. The next morning I walk to the closest bus stop, maybe 3 miles. It takes me an hour. Then wait for the bus that goes about 1/2 mile from the shop, then walk that part and get it.
Ok, that is done. Now can I sell it before registration is due? No, I could not. I know I can't get back the almost $2600. I put into it recently. But I change the signs to $1600. I know, a little high, but I know whatever I ask they will ask me to come down, so I will start there. I decide to keep the signs up even after I pay registration , or I would be in this same place next year. I get a little interest. First week in June I put it on Craigslist. First day I get a call and an e.mail. The e.mail guy offers me $1200. I say, not now, lets see how things go with my brand new ad. But I am annoyed. Some guy from the neighboor hood comes by. He does not speak much English, so his daughter is translating. Apparently he used to do some work himself, but now has a mechanic do it. (Not what I was hoping for, plus I kept good record's...all English, that he won't be reading). Said he wants his mechanic to come see it. But he never does. I am as honest as I can be with everyone. I don't want to rip someone off, or have them hate that they bought it. But I really think with some tlc this would be a really great car again.
Then this guy K. from Craigslist e-mails me, and does not mention asking me to sell it for less. He is very polite. Says he is in San Diego. I say I am not sure it would make it that far. Says he is a machinist and knows his way around cars will have it running good in no time. He has cash and is very interested. He sounded good, we set up a day and time to meet in a few days. Friday I took it to the car wash, vacumed it, AmourAlled it for what I was hoping would be the last time. The meeting place was about 6.5 miles away. I was going to leave 30 min. early. Thought that was excessive. Left 20, but traffic was horrible and it took 24. Felt bad, but...not that late, oh well. I have had days to practice trying to remember what I want to tell him. I am nervous about the whole thing and babbling. I tell him the whole story about the paint (the picture I posted was before I "tried to help it"), so it looks worse. I go to show him the loose light when the trunk was open. I didn't know it, but apparently the trunk helps hold it on. So instead of coming out 1 inch, it comes way out! We are both shocked. He tells me these cars are not considered that desirable, on that site the average one was worth $1200. I told him I know, but thought with the super low milage it was worth a little more. I could go $1500, but I have put a lot more than that into it this year. He said he did not want to insult me by offering me $1000. but it is not worth $1500. to him. I am very sad. I really wanted him to have it. Am I totally blinded by my sentimental attachment to Grandma's car (and the car I have had for 26 years)? Is it less good than average? Does that super low milage (under 43,000) not up the value that much? I don't know anything, just sad and stressed about it all.
The next day I lowered the price in the ad and on the signs to $1500. Decided if it did not sell in the next week or so until my ad ran out, I would not renew the ad, and would take the signs down and take a break from trying to sell it. I would go replace the two old tires and see if I can at least find the rubber I need to fix the rubber around the windows. I seldom used the air conditioner, just put the windows down. But some years ago a belt broke. The mobile mechanic asked me if I used the air much. I said no. He said it would be easier and cheaper to just bypass the air conditioner with a new belt. Didn't know what that meant, but I know someone could not even attempt to make the air conditioner work without putting in a new belt for starters. Not a big deal for me, but I guess it is for others. Plus the rubber around the windows was so brittle it no longer held the windows firmly in place. They rattled so loud if they were half way down they sounded like they would break, so I only put them down a little. So if I got new rubber in that would be better, and with the new tires would not have to worry about them going out on their way home. I would still go for $1500, even though I would be out more money and not exactly clearing $1500.. I would have use of it a little longer, and it may be more desirable to people. So I had a plan if it didn't sell soon.
Then Thursday morning there is a knock on the door. Luckily I was up and dressed (not a early starter). It is two men. One looks like a scary homeless meth head, I think I have seen him around. The other is the basic older man. We hear you have a car for sale, my Pops here is interested. I think he says his brother blew up Pops last car. Oh shit! Meth head, plus brother that blew up Dads car, and Dad.....who is VERY old! Not sure just what blew it up means, but I know it is bad. Not what I was looking for. Dad (Mr. C.) has money in his pocket and starts doing that old person thing where they immediately start telling their life story. He just turned 85. He has lived on the street behind me since 1970. They had 5 kids, 2 of the boys still live there with him. He was married 43 years. Forgot how many years ago wife died, but she was 67 and they were on the way to Vegas when she had a heart attack, paramedics got her to the hospital and they worked on her 2 hours but could not save her. He worked for the gas and electric company for a lot of (xx?) years. He didn't use the word lump sum, but said they offered him a bunch of money when he retired then getting a reduced amount later? Sounds like lump sum, but that money has been gone 19 years and he is still living, and just getting social security now. Not sure if that was just talking or hoping I would take less. He offered me $1000. I said no, I had been offered $1200. and didn't want to take that. I told him I had put a lot into it this year and was hoping to get back a chunk. He said it was just what he was looking for. Something to get him to the store and to the place where he plays cards. That was how he had the money now, he had won some money playing. I was trying to discourage him. I kept telling him what all it needed. If he can't do the work himself, it will add up fast. Well, when my other son is not working, he can do a lot of it. (is that the one that blew up the last one?)
We just went around the block for the test drive. (dropped off meth head 1 on the way). Mr. C. was very nice, but....he had a real hard time trying to get the door unlocked, the windows open, the car in gear. He sounded like he was doing good for 85, but should he even still be driving? He only had 2 tickets in his whole life. I told him some of the issues the car had is because it isn't driven enough. I told him to go home and think about it. (hoping someone else would buy it quick....some mechanic maybe). No, it is what I want, and I have the money right here. He was very nice. But I am thinking, no, you are too old and I don't want your meth head kids or neighbors anywhere near my car! But I could not say that. I told him it did not pass the first smog, but passed April 1. That he would need to have a smog cert. that is within 90 days. If they go from the first to the first, July 1 should be 90 days and may be fine. If they really count every day, it would be the 91 and would need a new one. He should go right over there and try hoping it will go through that day, cause I knew it would not the next day. I did not want to sell it to him, but what could I say? Do people really say "I don't think you are right for my car, you can't have it"? He hands me 15 $100. bills and tells me to count them. I was glad to be getting some of what I spent on it back. But it is not just about the money. It is about valuing the car, and taking good care of it. That is probably just as important to me.
I ran in and got the paperwork. I had most of its records since 1995 all ready in a box and the owner's manual, etc. He said this was way more than he thought he would get, it was all good to have. He seemed delighted. Me....not so much. We signed the title, and I wished him good luck. That was 2 days ago. I have not seen it since. I started to walk away, when I thought I heard it die. I looked back and he was turning it around instead of just going straight back to his house. From where I live I don't usually see it when I drive the other car someplace. But it is not possible to walk around the block without going past his house, so I will see it soon. I would have felt good about it if K. had bought it. But I just don't feel real good about this. I keep telling myself to let it go. But.....maybe after a few walks by and seeing it look ok, and seeing him driving around town (without the meth heads), I will start to feel better. But not there yet. Not even ready to walk by yet. I certainly was not trying to rip anyone off. Hoping it does not seem like that to anyone he tells about it. Does he need the money more than me? I don't know. His house should be paid for. His expenses should be low. His "boys" should be paying the utilities and helping with food. But are they? Meth head 1 did not look like he could hold down a full time job. Not sure about the other one.
That night I went to the DMV website and did the transfer of liability to Mr. C. 42,828 miles. It could still have a lot of miles left in it. Today I went to Craigslist and just put "update: sold". I think the ad runs out in 3 days or so. Will call my insurance co. maybe Tuesday (holiday weekend).
Feels like the end of an era. An unsatisfying ending to a 26 year long movie. I get a little jolt everytime I look out front and don't see it. I called a friend and told her the story. She kept saying it is a wonderful car for him, he would never be able to learn all a new car's bells and whistles, so this is perfect for him, let it go. Trying.
