1st Gen. Lunch Table - General Discussion

You already make it to NM?

 

There's more than one, I-10 west of Kerrville is 85mph. The big hills combined with that speed limit makes my truck get like 10mpg

 

Not yet. Passing through Amarillo right now and flipping @bmf4069 off

 

It might be a lot easier to turn him on than flip him off y'know.

 

We're currently stopped at the Toot'N Totum

 

Recap of today's progress on my buy-my-kid-a-car project:

It's leg room we need, both front and back seats.

I'll keep this in mind, at least until I can find one in the wild to check out.

Oh, myyyy! I made an appointment with the seller to check out this car this morning. Turned out to be classic Craigslist b.s. First of all, we went back and forth using the email built into Craigslist. And his messages were weird. But ok, everyone tries to game a bit... his theme was/should be that there's a million callers trying to buy the car and I should come right away; mine is to highlight descriptions in the ad that are most important to me, but not be overzealous. I lined up a buddy to go with me... Craigslist is filled with scammers now-- plus he spent the last 2 years helping his eldest buy two cars. Isn't afraid to fix VW's in the driveway, but would always rather, a Toyota.

So if you look on the ad link, it puts the seller in actual heart of downtown San Diego. I figured he may have posted at work because there're few residential properties in the area and those are high dollar condos inside renovated high rise build buildings-- doesn't fit with car. But the ad says one CA family owned (note: it did not say CA car... and it didn't say one owner-- I did make a mental note of these variations to what I'm looking for). So I asked seller last night what part of the county he lives in, tell him I could meet last night, as long as full daylight, or this morning. He picked this morning and asked if I want to meet 'at my home' and sends sent me the link to this posh high rise: if you click on it, you'll see the doorman outside. https://maps.apple.com/?address=700 W E St, San Diego, CA 92101, United States&ll=32.715121,-117.169580&q=700 W E St&t=m

I get parking nearby. Text that I'm here (haven't given my name; didnt mention I'd bring a friend), and seller texts back that he's 'on my way down'. Ten minutes later my buddy and I are joking and looking up the outside walls for Spider-Man because any elevator would have made it down by now.

No surprise, dude walks around the corner of the building. Big smile on his face, wearing an Audi sweatshirt, very lightweight patterned shorts, tall socks, grubby sneakers. For sure, he's not associated with this building. The graft has begun.

We did handshakes all around, and my buddy starts trying to build some rapport by mentioning dude's sweatshirt. No response. I mention Audi. No response. I try again, what other car do you have, that you're selling this one? He told us he's got a Tesla and a Chevy Cruz that's also for sale. Ans a long yarn about why the always-garaged in his fancy high rise car is currently parked down the street and it's just over here.

As we follow him down the street, I try chatting about his family (you know, because the vague ad wording alluded to one family owner and CA car) but he can't really come up with much. After a pause, he tells me it was his cousin's car. I mean, jeez, lie to me, right, but have a story in mind before we meet--!

He makes comments about not getting calls for the Chevy Cruze, but that his phone is ringing off the hook for this Avalon, blah, blah, blah. And he'd rather sell the Cruze, which is newer, because the Avalon is such a nice car. Again-- no problem, this is his role as a seller.

Anyway, I don't have the patience to describe it lie for lie but this guy was full of shit. The door ding isn't just that; the driver's side mirror housing is all cracked, the drivers side front fender and quarter panel are a scratched. Also the car hasn't been washed and has potato chips and other crap in the interior. And the leather seats are not in great shape (surprise), there's like a large circular burn on the back seat. He wanted us to fire up the engine, but I went to look under the hood first. I was already pretty far into "no". The engine mounts were shot, an oil leak under the manifold-- stuff that could get fixed, but not super minor or cosmetic only.

Then I go around to check tire tread, and notice the lug nuts are rusted. I look through the wheels and see the everything is thoroughly rusted. CA car, no f'ing way.

So I ask about his cousin. Dude gets all freaked out. So I ask if his cousin maybe spent some time out if CA? He sees me looking at the wheels and, after a pause, tells me his cousin's kid went to grad school... in Boston... yeah, that's it, Boston... for about 6 months... but otherwise the car has lived in CA.

There were so many b.s. lies it kinda was entertaining. Dude mentioned repeatedly (although we never asked) that his name is one the title, that it was recently smogged. When I asked if he could show me the smog check paperwork, he told me he could call the place. Also, the title is up in Escondido but when the car sells, he'll go pick it up. Finally he got super defensive. Made a show of gathering up whatever paperwork he held in a Manila folder (and clearly was a prop) and told me something like, we had bad energy and he wouldn't sell the car to me. It was a total shit show. Meanwhile, I acknowledged that I felt it too, our energy definitely wasn't compatible and also, I'd want paperwork and service records for any car I'd buy, so thank you, but never mind.

My buddy and I kept backing away, and then dude started spreading out registration documents he'd just removed from the car, and pulled out his wallet, then his ID, tried to insist I look so I would see everything matched up. My buddy and I backed out and hiked back to my truck.

So. That car was not the one.

The brief time I spent looking at Avalons online, and reading your guys' posts, and seeing this one in person makes me certain that an Avalon in this year range could be a top pic for my son's first ride. Thank you for the nudge, @NUDRAT . It'd check all our boxes, so now I just have to find the right one. Got months though, so no hurry. Plus, the search may be very entertaining.

 

That was an entertaining read.

 

Leg room? The 3rd gens got a shitload front and back. And the back seat even reclines

 

Hell, lately, out here, 80 is the slow lane, works it's way up the more left you shift over!

 

Wow…just wow. Bad energy, eh? lol

That sux @Sunnier. I’m guessing Craigslist isn’t the place to buy a car. It has changed a lot over the years. Used to be great back in the early 2000s but not now since everyone knows about it and every scammer seems to be on it. My niece told me she recently gave up on looking for an apartment through it since it’s primarily all scammers.

 

Watch that bridge when you roll from OK to TX.

Bottom of the hill, big overpass, lots of dark shadows...
PoPo likes to stay cool in the dark & OK speed limit at top of hill is faster than TX speed limit at bottom of hill.

 

Wow, sorry it worked out like that, but glad there is some lemon aide under that lemon tree.

 

Did an oil change on the ol' beast this morning. 191k miles. Going to be starting to do 5k intervals rather than 7,500-10k as I did before. Question for the table: Who here actually replaces the gasket and washer on the oil pan with each oil change? I've done probably 6 changes since purchasing the truck and not once have I swapped them out. The washer looks fine, and the gasket seems ok too. My pops claims I should be doing this each change. Why fix it if it ain't broke?

 

Get a fomoto valve and you never have to worry about a gasket again

 

But...but my OEM Toyota bolt, washer, and gasket?

 

I did my oil change yesterday and got zero oil on my hands…….

if the old gasket seals, don’t worry about it, I wouldn’t want to spend 2$ on a super important gasket either.

 

You don’t get oil on your hands changing the oil filter or do you not change it?

 

None yesterday, it was earth day, so the world peas goddess was on my side!

 

Ive replaced mine once in 18 years. Doesn’t leak at all. Have a pack of like 5 washer gaskets in my toolbox. Always forget to put a new one on. Seems more durable than it gets credit for.

 

I have never replaced any of my oil drain crush washers ever on anything

 

I replace them only because 3 out of 4 times, I get them for free at the dealership.

 

First off - thanks for the read, that was hilarious. Second - sorry for the shit experience. Not what anyone wants on a weekend. Third - good on you for backing away.

Yup, forgot to mention that. Total lounge car.

Yeah, I'd probably setup alerts with all the specs and year range you're hunting on TrueCar, CarGuru, Cars.com - you'll definitely find some shit-tastic bought-at-auction-washed-to-flip dealers this way, but at least you get a chance to see CarFax a lot of times, and plenty of pictures on many of the ads. AutoTrader has gotten sketch these days also, I'd skip. Last time I used it (to sell) I spent months trying to get rid of all the spam calls that ensued. Plenty of folks are scraping info (phone, email, etc.) from the site.

I have a bag full, and usually replace washer only, every 2nd-3rd oil change. It's not a crush washer, more like an aluminum shim.

 

I’d search fb marketplace, eBay motors and CL myself if serious about a specific find. I had a saved search for 3 years on eBay before I got my 2016 which started it all. But with MT you already weed out a bunch of the bs that comes with the search for a good cheap car.

 

As I continue churning out shittastic photoshops of various wheels on my truck, on to Alphabuilt "Grenade" in light grey. I like their Foxtrot more, but they apparently don't make it in light grey for Toyota, per their site. I like the way the light grey ties in with the door moulding, tires are chunkier than what I'd probably get.

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And Method 305 NV machines with faux beadlock pasted over hastily, which is where I was leaning a couple months back. But ffs, they really think their wheels are worth their weight in sterling silver...

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Anyone heard of or used Dirty Life wheels? I hate their branding, makes the center cap ugly af, but the price is right, color/style roughly what I was hunting.

They're supposedly made for offroad, but I kinda wonder what'd happen if I was really pounding on this with the tiny amount of surface area those 12 tines connect with.

https://www.dirtylifewheels.com/9309-satin-gold

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Quick glance online for these shows all of the options backordered

 

Yup, I found one place with them in stock, confirmed, 11 available. I hit TW and here to dig on any intel, but it seems like nobody is using them. In theory, crappy photoshop as the only thing to go by, they actually look OK, but again, I can't help but wonder how stout these would realistically be.

EDIT: Actually nevermind. Their site clearly says "STREET SERIES" for the wheels. Yeah. I'll pass. Knowing my luck I'd fold one.

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Raceline 946G Boost in gunmetal ... probably need to edit out the green, lending truck was in a grassy field.

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TRIGGER PULLED.

 

Can you legally drive them on road in GA or are they to be put on an extra set of wheels when you go off-roading?

Off-roading to me is driving along the high power line access road or driving down someone's dirt driveway.

I'd have to take my truck out to western MA to even consider it. Maybe there's some places in Northern NH as well. Dunno.