Bay Area Air Quality Management District is asking me if I'm interested in crushing the car for $1000 to "save the air".
1993 Ford Escort LX, unknown mileage (5 digit odo, currently at 8000 miles, likely only 108000 miles because it is a city driven only car).
Inherit it from my in laws 2 years ago. At the time I replaced the radiator, radiator cap, spark plugs (overworn), wires (crumbled and fell into the spark plug tube), a few hub caps, a lot of crumbling hoses, new O2 sensor, cleaned MAF sensor, air filter, upper coolant hose, fuel filter, etc for a total of around $200. It now runs with no CEL and pass smog very well.
However it still needs: air conditioing (R12, weak to be useless before the blower fan blew), blower fan / motor (not working at any speed, so likely not the resistor), windshield washer fluid reservoir (leaking), struts (bouncing around, ok for local driving but not at highway speed), driver side sun visor, a few light bulbs here and there, massive cleaning in the interior. There may be more to make it a "excellent" or even "good" condition cosmetically because it was parked outside the last 20 years, but it is reliable and starts every single time I need it to. Except that darn valve seats can drop any time and the ATF has never been changed.
At this moment it is a perfect city beater and it is probably something that most people wouldn't buy because of how beat up it is. It cost $250 to insure, $100 to register per year, and $50 to smog every other year. I have 3 other cars at home so I am not desperate to keep it as even a spare car (14 PriusV, 08 IS250, 97 Integra). I figure I could sell this Escort for around $1000, same as what BAAQMD pay me to crush, if it is fixed up. I could also just keep it at a strategically located places so I can use it as a warehouse or swap between big / small car or even take shuttle to work for free, or save it for another 13 years so I will drive it and my daughter take my 97 Integra by then.
What would you do if you were me?
1993 Ford Escort LX, unknown mileage (5 digit odo, currently at 8000 miles, likely only 108000 miles because it is a city driven only car).
Inherit it from my in laws 2 years ago. At the time I replaced the radiator, radiator cap, spark plugs (overworn), wires (crumbled and fell into the spark plug tube), a few hub caps, a lot of crumbling hoses, new O2 sensor, cleaned MAF sensor, air filter, upper coolant hose, fuel filter, etc for a total of around $200. It now runs with no CEL and pass smog very well.
However it still needs: air conditioing (R12, weak to be useless before the blower fan blew), blower fan / motor (not working at any speed, so likely not the resistor), windshield washer fluid reservoir (leaking), struts (bouncing around, ok for local driving but not at highway speed), driver side sun visor, a few light bulbs here and there, massive cleaning in the interior. There may be more to make it a "excellent" or even "good" condition cosmetically because it was parked outside the last 20 years, but it is reliable and starts every single time I need it to. Except that darn valve seats can drop any time and the ATF has never been changed.
At this moment it is a perfect city beater and it is probably something that most people wouldn't buy because of how beat up it is. It cost $250 to insure, $100 to register per year, and $50 to smog every other year. I have 3 other cars at home so I am not desperate to keep it as even a spare car (14 PriusV, 08 IS250, 97 Integra). I figure I could sell this Escort for around $1000, same as what BAAQMD pay me to crush, if it is fixed up. I could also just keep it at a strategically located places so I can use it as a warehouse or swap between big / small car or even take shuttle to work for free, or save it for another 13 years so I will drive it and my daughter take my 97 Integra by then.
What would you do if you were me?
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