Intrepidation

Sometimes it's better to sit back and watch the others duke it out. This is great...I was wondering what to do while my 3D renders, and the entertainment in this thread is in full swing!

So this past Saturday was $50 Day at Holland's Used Auto, and my best hope of getting a good deal on replacement parts for our beaten up cars. Jessica and I got up bright and early at 5:30am, emptied out the T&C and put the things we thought we'd need in it and headed to Silvester's. We met at about 6:30 and followed Sixty in his RoadMonster to take care of some stuff, get breakfast and head to the junkyard. Our game plan was to hit the Prizms first, since they were near the entrance, then scope out the Cadillacs and proceed to the Intrepids. Even though it was only 8am there was already a good amount of people in the yard and they had a guy directing us to the parking spots. We unloaded our tools and things to carry the various crap with and the 3 of us set off. Our firsts top was at the GM small car section which held, among other things, 3 or 4 Prizms...unfortunately none of which were red. However, we did find something nearly as good. There was stacked on top of another car a blue/green Prizm LSi with split/folding rear seats that we've wanted for some time. They were intact and besides being a bit wet in good shape. So with Sixty8's help (he climbed into the car) we grabbed the entire backseat assembly and other goodies like a better designed set of "of $h! handles" than what's in our car. After we got the parts out we stashed them in a Grand Am's truck for safekeeping, since we had a key to it. We probably spent an hour doing this. Our next mission was to get parts for Sixty8's Caddy, but as we were walking I could see down the aisle the Intrepids, and couldn't help but check it out. Sure enough, to my amazement, there was on the ground a blue Intrepid SE. Unable to wait, I insisted we go look at it. We spent the next 2 hours getting the doors off of it, as well as some interior bits and a good headlight. I thank this poor Intrepid, for it will live on by helping out mine. We had planned to stash them in an Avenger but it just wasn't big enough to fit the doors, so Sixty8 and I went hunting for a hood we could use as a sled to keep the doors on. We ended up finding a (rather nice) green Neon to donate it's hood. We unbolted it and brought it back. While all this is going on it had started raining, and at a pretty good clip...so not only was it cool out but now us and our tools were getting soaked. Undeterred, we pressed on. the donor Intrepid has a crapload of cardboard boxed in it's trunk so we used them as padding too keep the doors from being scratched up. They were both in good shape save the scratches along the lower portion where the car must have been dragged against dirt and rock. Then we set up s tow hook using a hood prop and headed to the Caddy section to help Sixty8 get parts for his Banana Boat. The Caddy that would donate parts for him was a beautiful car at one point, it had a nice paintjob and interior that was in good shape. It ended up in the junkyard because of police impound and now was beyond repair under another car. We spend another hour or so getting interior bits out of it. After that we split up, Sixty8 looked around the GM section for other goodies and we went back to the Chrysler section to find parts I can hopefully sell on ebay. We ended up with two more headlights and a gauge cluster out of a Chrysler Concorde. At this point it was around 1pm so it was time to get ready to go. Now, teh whole trick about this event is that it's $50 for all you can carry. You can drag it or whatever to the entrance, but you have to carry everything 30 feet or so to the "finish line" to keep it. Knowing that all of our stuff weighed a crapload, we made a plan to pile it all on the hood and the 3 of us carry it out. Sixty8 took some of his stuff to the entrance and teh rest we put on the hood and the 2 of us dragged it to the finish line. Now, we were tired, soaked, and wanted to get home, so we dragged it a little less carefully than we should have, which sadly resulted in the rear door getting scratched up pretty good at the back. If on;y we had found what these one group of people had, which was a running car, a 1st gen Explorer that they used to take their parts around...would have made life much easier. At any rate, we finally made it, and the 3 of us, by some miracle carried the huge and heavy mountain of parts across the line. It was exhausting work but totally worth it and we had a lot of fun. I only wish it hadn't rained and we were more careful but oh well. It's easier to repaint than to pull out dents. So here's the goods: The scatches that were in the doors: ...and the ones we put in: Total cost was $150. Not bad eh? Thanks Sixty8 for helping us out so much!

I use Meguiars...it works great...however now that both cars look like $h! there's no point to wax them.

I agree with #2 but not #1. It looks like what it is: tacked on as an afterthought. We do get the G5 but coupe only. Also, the Cobalt's upper trim levels have 2-tone doors..just like the one you pictured.

My complaints about the Cobalt are the lousy city fuel economy, cheap interior and exlectri steering. However it's a nice car and a huge step up over the crapalier (what isn't?) I certainly mind owning one...I would just prefer blue/red/black. Silver's not very flattering. Still, I say

The Caliber may not be class leading at anything besides useful storage but I'd still pick it over the Vibe. This ugly thing suffers from Toyota's epidemic of bloat-itis. It's like the old Vibe stuffed with lard to the point where it's about to explode. The Caliber is at least taught and toned. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but at least it doesn't look fat.

It's like a soap opera but more entertaining.

Oxygen Sensor?

Jessica and I actually saw Big Brutus a couple summers ago...it is truly massive.

If you can drive it you can fix it.

Sad irony...the story was posted on autoblog like yesterday and now today it's back..in pieces. I hope they fix it. It looks good in white.

That's horrible...people are so f@#kING stupid.

Ouch in a lot of areas but look at the spike in Patriot and Charger sales.

I'm confused...how is the CX-7 up 14.8%?

Only 3 BEST-EVARS! this month.

Well the styling's not for me but it's better (and cheaper) than that Nissan $h!box that BV wanted to buy. I should make a Sig with the Shadow that says "Ninety Eight Killer"

LOL no one has touched this thread.

The profile is kinda of squished but the 3/4 angle is fantastic. The interior is interesting too.

Probably.

Naturally, but the fact that BOTH cars were damaged doesn't really make either one of us feel better. Of course it could be worse, the axles could be shoved into the wheel well.

Thanks Chris, yes despite the run of rather bad luck this past year or so has brought us, at the end of the day knowing we have each other is all that really matters. I consider myself to be teh luckiest guy in the world to have Jessica.

There seems to be a lot of "one-time charges" lately.

Congrats!

Anywhere that isn't Lawrence.

Loving the integrated dual exhausts...The vehicle as a whole looks pretty good...except for one thing: that big front overhang.