I only buy the finest winter beaters.

[speedpimp]

Blue Plate Special.

[Yeti]

Blue hair special.

[Random]

"People with Small Children" time, too.

[Yeti]

Dug through every box, tray, and pocket in the car to see if the previous owners left anything.

Found $1.10 in change and some pretty good blues tapes:

[Yeti]

2 front tires today.

Turns out this car's handling isn't quite as dip and walllow-y as I thought. It just had broken swaybar links

$8 and that's sorted. I didn't even have to lift the car or remove the wheels. Much better handling and no more funny sounds from the front.

[thesameguy]

I am intrigued at the fact this car is an R134a system. I was under the impression GM didn't phase that in until '95 and '96. I have a friend who needs a cheap car but it needs to have AC as he health is somewhat fragile right now, so we kinda have to rule out anything with R12 that would be a pain ($$$) to service or retrofit. Adding a couple more years from the '90s could really help her bottom line.

[Yeti]

GM switched the B-bodies over when they switched to the LT1 engine, it seems. 94 is the first year for 134a in these cars.

[thesameguy]

That is pretty cool, and makes me want to press harder for something like this.

I keep having to have the conversation about fuel economy - she would rather have a $4000 Honda than a $2000 Buick and $2000 in gas, which is a great environmental statement but not a good financial decision. She doesn't have the cashflow to be defending mother nature right now.

[Yeti]

A little googling makes me think that GM made the switch to R134a corporate-wide for '94.

That opens up some options. A '95 LeSabre is hella plush, will have hella cold AC (when it's got refrigerant in it at least), and will get 30+ mpg at cruise on the highway.

Plus, work on the 3.8 is simple (BTDT 3-4 times now), parts are still dirty-dirt cheap and on the shelves of every Advanced O'NAPA Zone nation wide, and lots of low-miles grandma-driven examples are out there.

[thesameguy]

I worry a little about 20 year old 4T60s, but the 3800 is definitely a fine motor. If I could find a verifiable grandma 3800/4T60 though that would be great. She doesn't mind the scars of drive-by-braille so long as it's reasonably presentable. After a long time in recovery, she is getting back to teaching... can't have a real POS sitting in the teacher's parking lot.