This Old Car

Well, if the saablog's author can lament the 900, I feel able to do the same about the 855 T5. His car was bought about 15 months ago for $800 for a fun project. Mine was purchased in 2002 for $14,565 for tong-term transportation. The 1997 Volvo is now past its 10th birthday, and starting to show it. Today I waxed the roof and hood and discovered that the paint is not in the best of shape. It has several rock chips on the hood which need to be filled (I need to go the dealer and get some, since the container I had exploded in the golve box last year.) The roof is another story. It is covered, or maybe pitted, all over with black spots. Maybe other cars of mine have had blemishes like this, but it shows more on the Volvo since the car is white. The waxing I did today did nothing to solve the black-spot problem. It just put a shine over the top of them. I expect that I need to get some sort of semi-abrasive rubbing compound to get a bit deeper into the finish, and then get another wax job. But I would probably need to get a buffer to do it, since it would take some serious rubbing to get the paint back to good. The biggest problem is that I don't have a good place to do the work where I could plug in the buffer. I'm not really supposed to do it at work. Another thing the Volvo needs is new spark plugs, and probably fuel injectors. I'll have to check the service recommendations and look at the last time these things were done. The car has definitely lost a step.

Of course all of these things are in addition to the sunroof leak (previous post). I have ordered a new weatherstrip seal to hopefully fix the leak problem. That is not a project I'm looking forward to.

I just saw a commercial for the new MB C-Class. I like the looks of that! But if any new cars are in the future it will likely be somthing more economical (but likely still something German.) I'm thinking that long-term maybe Katie and I will get a small two-seater for in the city (maybe Smartcar, maybe something sportier like a Miata, S2000 or Boxster) and then something bigger (wagon or hatchback) to put all of our toys onto or into. But that is still a year or two away. It doesn't make too much sense to me to get something else without a garage to put it in to keep it nice, anyway.

Some mileage notations:

February 2002: 59,147 (Seattle)

Mar 29, 2002: 63,130 (Princeton)

Oct 29, 2002: 71,309 (Princeton)

Oct 27, 2003: 83,283 (Princeton)

Mar. 26, 2004: 90,610(Chula Vista)

Sept 16, 2004: 103,371 (Princeton)

Mar. 27, 2005: 110, 925 (Renton)

Sept. 6, 2005: 118,043 (Renton)

Apr 3, 2006: 125, 568 (Madison)

Sept 10, 2006: 128,439 (Madison)

Mar 29, 2007: 131, 089 (Madison)

Sept. 3, 2007: 133,346 (Madison)

I definitely don't drive the Sprotswagon as much as I used to. Maybe that is why I feel more like spending money on bikes than on the Volvo. Also, since I don't use it as often, I feel like I neglect the car, and am unsure of what maintenance it needs regularly.