AlexH

It’s been a whirlwind weekend for cars.

• Tuesday night: Someone comes out to test drive the Firebird, he agrees to buy it, but doesn’t put down a deposit.
• Wednesday night: See the ad on Craigslist, email the guy. Arrange for a test drive at lunch the next day. Start researching Miata’s until 1:00am.
• Thursday lunch: Take the car for a test drive. It’s the first time I’ve driven a manual tranny on a real road in a long time. The 3rd to 4th shift was nerve wracking. The car is in great shape, a few parking lot dings here and there, but overall in very good condition.
• Friday lunch: Meet the Miata owner at BCAA to get the report. It looks good except for the brakes (which I knew about) and various engine and tranny seals (which I didn’t know about). I had the $500 deposit in my pocket but I said I’d have to research the prices to fix these issues. Later that afternoon he brough the price down $500 and I agreed to buy it.
• Saturday morning: Drop off the deposit.
• Saturday afternoon: Get a loan and a bank draft. They were more than pleased to help, especially after we mentioned a possible mortgage in the future.
• Saturday 3:00pm: Call the owner and say that we can pick it up! We thought it would take longer to get the loan approved.
• Saturday 4:00pm: The car is mine!
• Sunday morning: Deliver the Firebird to it’s new owner. I forget the AirCare papers.
• Sunday afternoon: Put in the new brake pads. One of the caliper bolts was seized but we cleaned it off and it works fine now. Then we took it for a spin up Burnaby mountain, with the top down. Wow!