N* Powered Caddy in Stasis?

A quick glance, and you might not have noticed that there was an almost exactly-five-year lapse in the date above the rebirth of this threat. In one post, it was February 19, 2009; and in the next it was February 21, 2014.

Sorry to hear about all the bickering surrounding this car. I bet you won't have much trouble with it though. Did you read that GRM story about the Miata that sat outside for years that they turned into a Chump car? OK, so the gas tank was disgusting, but the car didn't seem terribly difficult to get going again.

confuZion3 wrote: A quick glance, and you might not have noticed that there was an almost exactly-five-year lapse in the date above the rebirth of this threat. In one post, it was February 19, 2009; and in the next it was February 21, 2014. Sorry to hear about all the bickering surrounding this car. I bet you won't have much trouble with it though. Did you read that GRM story about the Miata that sat outside for years that they turned into a Chump car? OK, so the gas tank was disgusting, but the car didn't seem terribly difficult to get going again.

Yeah, the timing is due to Christmas. The family gets together, talks over what is going on in their separate lives, someone says we ought to finally settle out the uncle's estate, things get moving again, and more people stick their noses in where they don't belong. Rinse, repeat. Last time it was a one of the great aunt's son-in-laws who got the wild idea that the estate was worth big money. The great aunt is in a home with Alzheimers, so the SIL acted on her behalf to sue and stop the previous auction. That dragged out til the lawyer died of old age. We are pretty sure the lawyer was in on things because the great aunt has a TON of valuable land, which would be quite nice to levy a lien against in lieu of legal bills that "she" was racking up thanks to the son-in-law.

At this point I think the brothers of the dead uncle have banded together to get this done once and for all. My father-in-law is spearheading the effort as his father wanted to get this settled but died before it could happen. The house is falling apart, so it isn't worth much now (it was valued at $60k originally). The land is in south Georgia and is only a few acres, so that isn't worth squat. The dead uncle wasn't a farmer so he only has normal lawn tools, which are worthless to everyone else around there who have HUGE tracts of land to maintain. The only thing left of value are the car and truck.

Well we finally went to see the car and truck:

The oil cap on the Caddy:

The oil cap on the truck looked the same. Both of them were INSANELY clean inside and out. The cooling system in the truck was even pressurized! All the fluids were ridiculously clean. It was like they had all their fluids changed right before being stored. We didn't try to crank them, but we did throw a battery in each one and tested all the systems (which all worked). We crawled all over both vehicles and there were zero signs of rodents (thanks to the copious amount of poison scattered about). Also zero signs of mold or mildew. That house has been shut down for 10 years. We were the first people to open the garage doors in almost that long.

The Caddy has a build date of February 2000, so I'm still wary of the head bolt issue. It only has 30k on it. The truck is a 2002 Mazda B3000 with only 13k on it!

The tires on both vehicles are shot and I told my father-in-law to not even try to air them up. I'm estimating it will cost about a grand each to put them back on the road. That includes replacing all the fluids, belts, tires, filters, batteries, draining the gas tanks, and a spray can of "new car smell" for full effect.

Only six family members are allowed to bid in the auction, so all there is left to do it figure out what my father-in-law should offer. I told him $685 on the Caddy and $1,278 on the truck. The Caddy is still a grenade with the pin pulled, but the truck should be rock solid.

After we inspected the cars we hit the family farm for a short visit:

Just a few, there are probably 20 more in the other sheds:

Toyman01 wrote: They argued about this for 10 years. Wow! That's impressive.

Never underestimate family members ability to piss each other off.

I think the Caddy is more solid than you're giving it credit for. Change the fluids and tires and drive.

Tyler H wrote: I think the Caddy is more solid than you're giving it credit for. Change the fluids and tires and drive.

I'm trying to be conservative. My father-in-law wants the Caddy to be mother-in-law's new daily driver. She drives a ton and it has to be rock solid.

Change the oil and throw some cheap tires on it. If you make it a few thousand miles without issues, you probably won't have anything to worry about. If trouble crops up, unload it.