The car was basically trashed inside and out.  Nobody but me in their right mind would have wanted to have this thing.  I figured since there was no rust, rear quarter panels were mint, roof was mint, rear hatch in great shape, had aluminum wheels, ground FX were in tact, slightly dented doors were repairable, no glass broken, good running engine, car was pretty much complete, I figured what the hell.   If worst came to worst, I could part it out and get my money back.  All it took was $600 to buy the thing, 100 for registration, 65 for a fender, another 50 or so for brakes.  The rest of the fixing up was pretty much free as my favorite junk yard gives away all the pidly stuff that this car needed.


The interior was COMPLETELY covered with a thick layer of dust and dirt.  There is a fine difference between the dust you find on gravel roads and soil you find in the ground.   It was, indeed, the stuff you find in the ground.  This indicates that the car was probably a flood victim or something. 
The amount of dirt on the car inside and out was unbelievable.  The black interior trim wasn't even black anymore.  It was more of a white grey-ish color.  A lot of scrubbing and formula 2001 brought the color back. 
The engine oil was quite gunky.  You couldn't make out an engine under the hood because of the dirt.  I popped the door panels off, and I could see nothing but dust and soil.  Behind the taillights was a full 1 inch layer of dirt EVERYWHERE--no bullshit.  When I sprayed the dirt out, it left a pile of soil on the driveway....enough to piss my dad off enough to make me sweep it off.  Not even the cars in the bone yard are as dirty as this thing was.

The list of problems goes on.  All the dash vents were busted.  The interior door handle missing was on the drivers side, passenger side door didn't open from the outside, power windows barely moved, power mirror switch was busted, overhead console is missing the garage door opener button, turn signal cancel didn't work, guages and overhead console display was dirty as hell, only one wiper blade worked, passenger side power mirror shook in the wind, various trim around the car was broken, message center didn't work, the lock cylinder for the hatch didn't work, the fan blower didn't work on medium setting, varous dash bulbs were burned out, you couldn't see the PRND3L letters on the gear selector due to them being misaligned, the radio didn't turn off either.  Fog lights didn't work, 1 fog light was missing, horns didn't work, center brakelights didn't work, the wheels were SEVERELY unbalanced due to a 1" layer of dirt inside of them too.  The wheelwells were clogged with dirt, both front fenders were fucked, the hood is crinkled near the hinges indicating it slamming open in the wind one day.  The left rear quarter window was held in by nothing, the front cone was held on by basically nothing, the metal bumper was loose on both ends, headlight aiming was horrible, wiper blade cowl was missing, cruise control didn't work, the tires were bald and caused the car to pull to the left like a bitch, passenger side door lock switch didn't unlock the doors, the seal around the hatch window has to be replaced, the torque converter didn't lock up, the front left brake rotor was VERY thin, and the hood was held down by pins.   It  could take me all day to type the problems the car had all day long and I couldn't list them all.  BUT THE AIR CONDITIONING BLOWS ICE COLD.  That was pretty much the only special thing that worked on this car when I got it.

But finally, I am owner #6.  That's right, according to the carfax.com data, I'm owner #6.  5 1/2 actually if you count Andrew who owned it before me for about a month and did some R&R to it.  It now has over 140k miles, and runs strong overall.  It even starts right up in -20 weather.  But it burns oil like all 3.0 liters, but not TOO badly yet.  The A604 tranny has been acting up a bit in hot weather though.  I'm doing research to find out what could be wrong.  It hasn't gotten any worse lately.

But now I have the interior cleaned up really good, and overall it is once again a practical car.  Compared to what it was before, it is mint by all means.  Already, this car has recieved a 52mm throttle body, and full size matching spare, and several miscellaneous parts from the junk yard.  But there is still several things it needs.

One of these days, if time and funds are available, the front end is getting fixed and re-painted.  The engine is getting pulled, timing belt replaced, heads rebuilt, and i'm going to try and find my transmission problem.  I'm going to try and do everything myself, including a trans rebuild or replacement if necessary.