Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Today I went to look at a 1990 Audi 100 2.3 e with my dad. He's a taxi driver, and he likes to chat with his customers. The other day he drove an elderly couple that went as Gasterbeiter to Vienna some 50 years ago and returned only recently to Croatia. As he chatted with them, they told him they have an old Audi that they want to scrap. Of course, my dad being my dad, he couldn't resist himself talking the elderly couple out of the scrapyard idea, offering to put the car in online classifieds, and to take a look of the said car.

A few days ago, he showed me the pictures of the Audi and from the pics and some googling I found out it's a C3 Audi 100 with a pretty decent engine option (5-cylinder, fuel-injected 2,3 litre petrol engine). He also told me that he'd go to see the car one more time when he has more free time. Ever since, I was bugging him about going with him to see the car, and today we went to see it.

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Seeing the car in person, I can say it looks decent. No, it's not perfect, as you can't except from a 30-year-old car that was bought new and spent some 20-25 years of its life in the capital of Austria, but the body seems straight, the interior looks good (no cracks on the dash, no rips on the seat bolsters), and there doesn't seem to be any major rust. The car did about 230k kilometres, and the owner is an elderly man who seems like he took decent care of the car.

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Again, it's not perfect, I found some rust on two spots and a dent (as in the pictures above, the colour shift in the last picture is not a bad paint fix as far as I remember, it just turned out so in the picture), there is something that looks like a cigarette burn on the passenger seat (the owner and his wife don't smoke, so it must've been some passenger they had), and the car could do with polishing. But generally, as far as 30-year-old Audis go, this one seems to be in decent condition. Just look at the interior:

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It shows the general condition of the car quite well. It's not perfect, but it has been decently maintained.

Unfortunately, we didn't have too much time to look at the car this time either as my dad worked until 4 o'clock, then it took as some half an hour to get to the car, and one hour after that it was already dark, but if we didn't have a Citroën BX that just needs one part to be road-worthy, I'd nag my dad to buy the car as we really do have a need for a car larger than our Saxo. Heck, I even want it for myself, but I should really focus on my studies instead of buying a potential old money pit. Besides, I don't have a need for a car anyway, yet alone a 4,8 metre long 5-cylinder future classic (if this car ever reaches that status).

The catch why they're selling it? The hydraulic clutch cable is gone. Kaput. Probably the clutch flywheel as well. But hey, the price they mentioned is 200€, so I guess it can't be that bad.

Why am I posting this? Well, my dad wants to help those people sell this car and I bet at some point he's going to buy it off of them to put it in the classifieds and possibly keep it. Not that I'd have anything against such a scenario, but I know for sure that shall such thing occur, my mum's gonna kill my dad for buying yet another old car, as well as me for being involved in it. I had a friend who's really into VAG products, but then, I haven't seen him in a few years.

The real reason I'm posting this is because it's going into classifieds, but I don't know what'd be the price for such a car once the clutch's fixed. There is only one other complete Audi 100 of this generation for sale in Croatia ATM, and the guy wants 3,000€ for it, but it's a Quattro, in really good condition, with some dubious extras such a DVB-t and DVD multimedia system and tinted windows. He's also giving away another one if the buyer doesn't want to haggle the price down, but there seem to be no pictures of the other Audi. So, does anyone (perhaps some Euro FG-er) have a clue about how much should I put it in the classifieds for, once the clutch problem's rectified?

Fuck me, does @47 have space to keep a car for 6 months?! @nicjasno
 
Fix up the Audi, that's perfect for the 2020 roadtrip. Cushy suspension, good parts availability, 5 cylinder sound.
 
Hmm... Where's the 2020 FG roadtrip taking place?

I know I just said in the last post that I don't need it, and that we don't really have enough space for a fourth car (although our BX is at the mechanic's for a while now), but it'd be awesome if we could form a roadtrip team and split the costs for the roadtrip. Finances might not even be much of a problem on my side if we're splitting the costs, and if the roadtrip is taking place in late July/early August (as it seems to be the forum tradition), I'd be able to do it. The car is registered until the 5th of April, I guess the clutch and the visible surface rust (which should be the only problems the car has) can be rectified by then, and after that, I can get it registered on my or my dad's name (the latter option is a bit more complicated, but it'd be cheaper, and in that case, the car could probably be registered as an oldtimer if that'd help in any way).

Again, that's just a crazy idea of mine, and I don't want to be too pushy. Although I must say, the idea is enticing, if the roadtrip wouldn't be too demanding, in financial and any other sense.
 
That just makes it more feasible and enticing for me... Well, I guess I'll start looking for seasonal student jobs again. :p

I know I'm going very off-topic at this point, but a thread for this year's roadtrip would be highly appreciated as well, or some other way of getting more info on the planned itinerary and duration.
 
Fuck me, does @47 have space to keep a car for 6 months?! @nicjasno
I have lots of open space, shouldn't really be a problem... We can cover it up with a tarp or something. Maybe I could even find a roof for it.

And yes, maybe we should make a thread fot the trip. But a) it all goes through telegram anyway, and b) I'm not participating anyway so I can't be bothered :D
 
Sounds like that galaxie has a terrible alignment and awful tires.

Could be, it was £4.5k, ex-Arizona car, never restored, been a bit on fire. It's not exactly the best, looks cool as fuck though.

I've been wrangled into trying to make it slightly less shit when the weather is a bit nicer 'cause the current owner wants to essentially daily it. At the moment it idles at about 1200rpm, no heating, lights don't work (not reliably anyway), wipers are a random toggle switch on the dash, windscreen has a massive crack lengthways, one hubcap won't stay on, the rear floor is 90% carpet, etc.
 
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Ford is already at the dealer for a slow coolant leak so I have the TL out today. The difference in power delivery between the two is quite interesting. Up top I think the TL can hang with and possibly outpace the Ford. Down low or mid-range the Fusion is significantly faster. That makes the TL more exciting on long empty straights but the Fusion has a much more useable powerband for 95% of street driving.
 
Ford is already at the dealer for a slow coolant leak so I have the TL out today. The difference in power delivery between the two is quite interesting. Up top I think the TL can hang with and possibly outpace the Ford. Down low or mid-range the Fusion is significantly faster. That makes the TL more exciting on long empty straights but the Fusion has a much more useable powerband for 95% of street driving.
Fix or repair daily! Funnily enough I also noticed that my coolant was somewhat low in the Stang but haven’t found any leaks so far... For now added more and gonna keep an eye on it.
 
Fix or repair daily! Funnily enough I also noticed that my coolant was somewhat low in the Stang but haven’t found any leaks so far... For now added more and gonna keep an eye on it.
Mine has no visible leaks but the coolant level goes from the max line to the min line in about two weeks. I suspect it might just need a new radiator cap but we'll see.
 
Mine has no visible leaks but the coolant level goes from the max line to the min line in about two weeks. I suspect it might just need a new radiator cap but we'll see.
I hear Mustangs can have some leaks around the water pump, I haven't put the car up yet to check, its cold and rainy
 
It may or may not be. This could just be an air pocket that took a while to bubble up to the top of the coolant tank after I topped it off. Or it could turn out to be something quite bad that I don't even want to type out for fear of jinxing myself :LOL:
 
COUGH head gasket COUGH

Does that engine have that problem?
 
The roadtrip is in the Balkans again for 2020.

I guess all planning is done on Telegram now and we're not bothering with threads on FG? ? Not sure why I'm complaining because I likely can't go anyways, but this goes back to what I've been saying for a while now in other threads about the increasing divide between those on telegram and those on here.... oh well.

EDIT: Yup. Just loaded up Telegram and see the dates and planning.... and people complaining about how its impossible to find info in the non-stop flood of consciousness. Still probably out for this year.
 
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