Is what we do with cars just a hobby, or can it also be something more? Something for others and not just primarily for ourselves. Can we create for others meaningful lifelong memories that go beyond just seeing or showing a cool car at a meetup or car show, or just helping someone with a repair? Can saving old cars from the crusher have not just an environmental impact, but also a human impact? This is the story of how one young man’s dreams were answered by my desire to keep an old truck from a certain early demise.
It was a lazy Wednesday afternoon about 2 months ago during the middle of The Satan’s Oven Summer of ’23 when my phone lit up with a number I didn’t recognize. I was doing my usual Wednesday afternoon tasks of reading The Autopian in glorious air conditioning and enjoying some spirited car conversation in our team Slack chat with The Legend That Is “The Bishop.” It was a local number, so I picked it up since I’m always selling a few cars and perhaps this was an interested party.
“Hey maayyne, this is your ex-guitarists dad’s friend and I gots me a car that I need to get rid of. They told me you mess around with old junkers and I have one for ya. 2003 GMC Envoy that I need out of my driveway. If you don’t want it, I’m junking it. Any fair offer accepted”
This is the story of how answering that phone call created a series of events that ended up providing somebody that I have never met with a memory and experience they’ll surely keep for the rest of their life.
Now, at the moment of this phone call, I was ensnared in the middle of the great Chevy Impala Battle of Summer ’23 along with a few side skirmishes involving a Ford Escape. I was reaching my mental, physical, financial and time limits on those two cars, and was neglecting the rest of my fleet, projects, and personal/family life. It was also affecting my Autopian writing! A few of you may have noticed that there were a few weeks back then where my name wasn’t on the site. (Well, I mean, I hope you noticed).
It wasn’t pretty; I was starting to feel some pressure (not just from DT) and starting to feel that I might have gotten myself a little bit in over my head.
Both stories on the Ford and Chevy are to come this fall, but this tale starts with that little nagging voice in the back of your head that tells you to take on another project during such a time. Or is it about that other voice that tells you not to? Which voice is louder? Which one do you heed? “How’s It Gonna Be”?
Take A Chance On A Dance With The General of Motors
I don’t know what it was, but something told me I needed to go check this car out; something just felt right. No reason or rhyme to it, it was just a good premonition. I told the gentleman that I’d be there in 4 hours, once the workday was over, and he agreed.
Once there, I was waiting for Ashton Kutcher to jump out from behind the shrubs bordering the house to tell me that I was being “Punk’d”.
“This can’t be the car this dude called me about. No way” – a bewildered me
The truck looked great. This machine did not in any way resemble a vehicle that was about to get sent to its demise. The paint still had its clear-coat, the tires were nearly new, the interior didn’t show a shred of stuffing coming out of the seats — no tears at all in the upholstery. Something nefarious must be afoot with the transmission, or with the rear end, or the engine, or even worse with the electrical system.
Nope.
All of those items checked out! The “Atlas” inline six sounded like a sewing machine, the cooling system held the coolant at operating temperature, the transmission shifted great, and nary a concerning noise was emitted from the rear end. This was wicked weird. It was as though I had stumbled upon The Gold GMC At The End Of The Rainbow.
Also, let me just say: Gold is an underappreciated paint choice that I haven’t truly began to appreciate until middle-age. I call it the Goldmember Effect.
A quick scan with a code-reader produced a EVAP leak P0442 code, which did not concern me whatsoever since it is the best-possible code to see. This is because nine times out of ten that code is generated due to a loose gas cap. Those be bettin’ odds.
Even if the EVAP leak that caused that code wasn’t due to a loose or faulty gas cap, dropping the tank to fix an evaporation leak on these trucks is pretty easy, so long as there’s not much gas in the tank. This is another Thing of Beauty about living in The Cape Fear here in North Carolina: no rust. All the fasteners are able to be removed as designed, most of the time. Northern mechs have to do everything Southern mechs do, but with rust. The job gets harder the further north you go. Those Canadian mechs north of (Canadian Autopian) Thomas Hundal’s place have my utmost respect.
The seller also told me that the AC had recently quit, which was his main reason for selling the truck. It was so, so hot this past summer that being stuck in daily stop-and-go traffic without AC was torturous.
This was far more of an issue than the EVAP leak, since I’m not AC certified, nor do I have an AC machine in the Gossin Motors Shitbox Rescue Wrenching Lair (under that volcano in Wilmington, NC). I have a couple of buddies with AC machines though, so it could be done, I figured. Hopefully the leak wasn’t in the dash (evaporator), since those repairs are quite difficult and usually not something that most folks want to get into. Check out how much fun it is to fix an AC evaporator on my 2004 Durango.
Time To Talk Turkey
After buying over a hundred cars, you start to get a good feel for the art of negotiation. The way a seller presents the vehicle, the words chosen, the rate and intensity of speech, nervous glances, things glossed over, things overly focused-upon and the usual healthy dose of optimism regarding repairs. In The Seller’s World, each problem has an easy solution, always!
This guy wasn’t doing any of the above “red flag” items, but instead seemed to just be a dude who wanted AC and was just over this sweat-inducing 205K mile truck in his driveway. He was so over it, it seemed as though he barely wanted to go through the motions of posting and dealing with prospective buyers and was ready to send it to be crushed if I didn’t want it.
He just didn’t want to spend one additional ounce of energy or time on it. Hey, we’ve all been there with certain cars in our past, so I get it. But regardless, this machine was not ready for the crusher, and there was no way in hell that I was going to let that happen. Not on my watch.
“So if I pass on this truck, you’re going to get about $350 from the local Pick n’ Pull, right?” says I. I knew this because I’ve been spending my Saturday mornings there for the past 13 years and have junked a couple cars myself over that timespan. He said that he already had contacted them and that my guess was correct.
At this point, knowing that he was fine with ending this car’s existence for $350, I knew right then that I was going to get this truck for a pittance. “I’ll do double that in cash if you want to get it gone right now,” says I, fully knowing that $700 for this truck was near highway robbery. It was a bold move that had the potential of being low-enough to offend, buy hey, fortune favors the brave.
[Sidebar: As the seller of many cars over the years, lowballing is something that I despise. In this case though I felt that doubling the scrap price was the right move out of respect for both the seller and the truck. Could I have probably scored it for $400? Yes, but it would’ve felt a bit more tarnished. I prefer to hold my head as high as can be at the end of the day.]
“$700 is fine, I’ll go get the title. You can sweat in it now.” I feel as though global warming played a role in this truck coming my way for such a cheap price. If this summer wasn’t so sweltering, perhaps the owner would’ve held onto it.
The money and title were exchanged and a few minutes later I was in my new truck, with the windows down, radio blasting the classic rock station the prior owner had set it to, doing 50mph down Shipyard Blvd, heading towards the Port of Wilmington.
[Fun fact: The Port of Wilmington is where David and Jason picked up the Changli, a few blocks away from The Gossin Motors Backyard Shitbox Rescue HQ.]
I Have To Tell The Team About This!
So the first thing I did once I got home was park it on the street, (since driveway parking is at a premium at my place), and shoot the below video to spread the good word about this great find to my Good Autopian Homies.
My good buddy Mark Tucker was just about as blown away as I was that I scored this truck for so cheap. Mercedes said that most of these trucks in her neck of the country had long since rusted away and been relegated to buy-here pay-here lots for their last stand before oblivion. Weekend “Voice Of The Youth” Rob Spiteri congratulated me on it, and my good buddy The Bishop sent to DM saying the same.
I included the above to really extol what a great group of supportive writers we have here at the site! It’s not just the Tales Of The Slack to go to the members, the camaraderie from this crew is always super positive and fun.
So what is up with this hoss anyway; was David right?
In case any of you missed it, David recently did a piece pretty much saying that the Chevy Trailblazer is the poor man’s Land Cruiser. I have to agree that this thing drove phenomenally well, and that the inline 6 was the star of the show — a real strong point.
The GMC version of these trucks sold for an MSRP of $33,495 twenty years ago, which is $55,890 today. Not at all cheap. For comparison’s sake, the Chevy Trailblazer sold for $28,800 in 2003 (a $5K jump in price between the Chevy and the “Professional Grade” GMC). The other platform mate was the Olds Bravada (yes, Oldsmobile was still kickin’ back then) had a MSRP of $35,145, to claim the title of the most expensive of the trio.
The strange thing I noticed about this was also something that I’ve long thought about this truck’s predecessors, the S10 and S10-based SUVs (Blazer, Envoy, Bravada): it’s really narrow! It’s the opposite of those Hummers, RamChargers and OJ Broncos where the passenger door seems like it’s in another zip code from the driver’s seat. These trucks are narrow to the point that you notice and say to yourself “huh, that’s weird.” Their slim waistline is 74.7” compared to 79.5” for the RamCharger and 79.1” for the OJ Bronco. Yes those larger trucks are from a different class, but still, you notice the narrow in the GM trio referenced in the prior paragraph.
Another thing that was a bit of a weak point was the cheap-ass painted plastic switches that GM uses for the climate control and radio. All of the paint was wearing off and the back-lighting was shining through which looked…not the best. In my experience it is actually quite on-brand for The General. In my eyes they have historically done so much right, so often, and yet always seem to just be completely oblivious to some random detail that kinda ruins the whole thing. Like this delaminated radio. Other manufacturer’s radios don’t delaminate. Why do yours, Mr. General? Why?
The in-dash 6-disc CD player was also jammed, so there’s that.
Let’s wrench?
The Autopian’s masthead is full of wrenching heroes. With David at the helm, Laurence crushing it in Australia, Jason, Mercedes, Thomas Hundal, Social Media Pete, Mark Tucker, Bill Caswell (Ski Klasse) can turn a mean wrench (click each hyperlink to see!). Heck even our “Goth Uncle” Adrian Clarke has been known to fight off maladies on his Ferrari and Mini with a wrench, some saucy language and black nail polish (said with the highest respect).
Just look at Matt’s recent pirouette to save his BMW at a key moment whilst driving. The man “smelled fall” (in September!) and knew to take action to save his car from self immolating.
The hardest thing for each of us (and I think the above parties will all agree) is finding the time. The internet never stops, and neither does this team.
With that said, I have tried not to make my brand here about wrenching, as my skills are okay (I’m no NASCAR Pit Crew Chief, but I can pull something like this off), but I’m far better at rescuing cars headed for certain doom. Rescuing isn’t always about turning a wrench, it’s far more about knowledge and experience. It’s about knowing the used sales market, parts prices and availability, repair difficulty, other cars that are platform mates, desirability as well as both digital and physical repair knowledge.
Does this repair require a lift? Do I have a lift? Does this require special tools or software? Will I need an alignment after this? Are the guys in the forums and FB Group assholes that will chide you and not answer your questions? Will the AC system need to be evacuated? What type of refrigerant is used for this application? How many of these cars are at the local yards? What will this sell for at the end of the day and what will this cost in the end?
All of the above can be far greater tools to have in your tool chest than a set of spanners, depending on the situation. Sometimes experience is the greatest wrench in the toolchest.
First things first: We know the Check Engine light is on for that EVAP leak and you can’t get past emissions inspection in New Hanover Country (also called New Hangover County per my alma mater UNCW) with a CEL lit up. Let’s check out that gas cap.
Source: Google. This photo is not from my GMC.
I’m glad that I did! What I found was the source of the CEL: mold/mildew from corn gas! Here in the hot and damp South, you’ll see nature doing its thing regarding the beyond fermented corn (ethanol) in the gas. Mold will grow in and around the fuel system, as ethanol is hygroscopic. A buddy of mine who runs a local machine shop says it’s a problem when it comes to dirty injectors and general fuel system contamination. All the way from the tank to the valves.
A quick clean of the rubber gas cap o-ring gasket and a code clear and we were in business. No wrench needed, just a little bit of experience.
Now on to that AC. First thing is to visually inspect what you can in hopes that a previous service used a refrigerant with dye. And the first place to start is at the Schrader valves (no relation to Stef) on the low side.
Source: Google
Eureka! This diagnostic could be done without an AC machine or certification, you just needed decent vision: a bad Schrader valve. The best possible outcome/situation for an AC leak. You can see the dye seeping out from around the valve (the above isn’t the actual shot – I forgot to photo-document it but the scenario was the same). One screwed-on new Schrader valve and a Freon fill and she was blowin’ ice cold again.
And that’s it! Other than that jammed CD changer, everything (and I mean everything) on this truck worked as designed. This vehicle was literally almost crushed due to a .30cent part and a little mold/mildew. The difference between the prior owner that was ready to send it to its doom and Yours Truly was just a little grit, effort and experience. One more time for the folks in the cheap seats (“Can I get some action from the back section?”): sometimes experience is the greatest wrench in the toolchest.
A Second Life On The Roads; A Second Chance
I posted the truck for sale and moved my attention back to that problematic Ford Escape and Chevy Impala I referenced earlier. Recently the used market has gone through a significant slowdown from the COVID days, so I figured the GMC was fine sitting where it was (in my driveway) until the right person came around expressing interest.
And boy did they.
I received a handful of “Is this available?” messages on Facebook Marketplace, and gave each my usual “Yup, thanks!” without much thought since it’s never wise to get all pumped up and hyped about a prospective buyer until the money is in your hand. One of the interested parties asked to see the truck that afternoon; I said that would be fine. I honestly didn’t even expect them to show up, since you can never count on any randos from the internet for coming through on a used car sale. If they show, great. If not, it’s fine/expected.
Well they did actually show and told me that they were looking at the Envoy as a surprise birthday present for a first-time driver who was turning 17. He had just recently gotten his license and a job at a local Burger King.
The presentation of the truck went really well, since this thing was clean with the only malady being that jammed CD changer. The buyers’ mom was impressed and noted that the price was ½ that of comparable vehicles (I value rescuing cars for the environmental impact more than trying to make a buck).
The money and title were exchanged and they were on their way home with the bronze GMC. I was happy to have saved another one from certain doom, but I was truly floored when the buyer’s mom reached back out to me on Facebook Messenger with the clip below.
Rescuing this Envoy didn’t take really any wrenching; it instead took the knowledge and experience gained from doing this since 1996. This tuck almost became another travesty of our throw-away consumerist culture. One man’s trash can certainly be another man’s treasure. Like I recently said in Gossin’s Gold: Graveyard Garbage & Grievance, there are perfectly running cars being driven to the junkyard to be crushed for a few hundred bucks, everyday.
It’s our duty as Autopians to save every one that we can and hopefully change a few lives for the better. Everyone remembers their first car and I’m sure the new owner of this truck will never forget it, nor will he forget the moment that it became his.
The joy that this Envoy was able to provide for that young man above was the kind of car experience that really matters; that really means something. Not just to you, but to the planet and to the next, up-and-coming Autopian who just got his license, a first job, and the truck of his dreams.
Driving home the other day, I saw my old Envoy, parked in front of a place where you can “have it your way,” slowly being paid off, week by week.
Just like we did when we were young and ready to take on the world.
All Photos by Stephen Walter Gossin unless otherwise noted.
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How I Bought A Broken Version Of My Dream Car For $300, Then Nursed It Back To Glory And Let It Free
There are a ton of great writers here, and I read every article with anticipation, but it’s amazing to see the reaction in the comments when a Gossin article comes out. Everybody is so excited, and happy about the story, and the whole thing is so damn wholesome I could cry.
Thanks for another lovely story. I look forward to the next one 🙂
You’re a good man, Mr G.
Fantastic story! Seeing a GMT360 saved from the scrap yard brings me joy.
I owned a GMT360 for ten years that I only recently handed off to a family member. They get a lot of grief as a “buy here, pay here” type vehicle, but it was a solid, reliable, and easy to repair vehicle. In those ten years, it only let me down once – a dead battery after the battery bulged in 110degF temps, so hardly the vehicle’s fault. The family member who drives it now loves it, which also brings me joy.
With all the negative stuff getting all the press headlines these days, it’s nice to read an article like this and feel refreshed instead of depressed. Thanks Mr. Gossin!
I love that the seller got more than he expected, and the (final) buyer paid less than expected, all because a mensch with a good eye and a kind heart connected a few dots. I’d have said “fair” if you’d sold it on at fair market value, but I’m saying bravo for doing the right thing right. Everyone wins, even me, getting a feel-good story. Go-go-gadget Gossin.
“I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, through long years to come, I see the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out. . . .
I see that child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my name, a man winning his way up in that path of life which once was mine. I see him winning it so well, that my name is made illustrious there by the light of his. . . .
It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known”.― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
Gossin’s Motors Rescue needs worldwide replication! Give That Visionary a Grant!
Look at you out here changing lives, Stevie G!
Hope dude and his whip keep the shiny side up for a long time. Cheers.
These kinds of articles make me far happier than articles about new EVs ever will. All vehicles are worth saving if they can be fixed, good on you for saving this one so someone can have a great first truck!
Every crapcan that goes another 50k miles saves a ton of carbon.
Exactly^. This is the main reason I’ve spent nearly my entire adulthood doing this. Cars are such incredibly complex machines that are far too often wasted before they reach their full usage. A monumental waste. Cheers, my dude.
That’s one great video. Nicely done!
It’s official when you hear it from The Barbecue Boss! Hey thanks for reading and for the comment, El Jefe!
I kept hearing this song reading this article.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-xau9j5tOI
You’re a hooptie angel with a Third Eye Blind and Beastie Boys soundtrack.
After a tough day, that made me smile.
Sorry to hear about the rough day, but cheers on having good taste in tunes, my dude.
Also, thanks for reading and for the fun comment!
That’s a pretty nice first ride, and you can feel proud that you rescued this vehicle from a very premature end for such trivial items, especially since it went to someone who will probably love it.
Perhaps they are trivial to The Autopian Eye, but to the layman, an AC fix could potentially be $1200 poured into a 20yr old, 205K mile vehicle.
There are a good many folks that just don’t want to compromise and not have AC, nor would they ever consider putting that kind of money into an older vehicle.
So I can kinda see where the seller was coming from; I always try to place myself in their shoes for greater understanding.
Agreed that the kid definitely seems to love it. Thanks for reading and for the comment, Jack!
But even if it turned out to be $1200, the value proposition I tend to use for something like this is: where will I get another vehicle to replace this for $1200? If I know the rest of the vehicle is solid – and granted, you need to have at least *some* car knowledge to believe that it is – then I’m probably spending the money. If, on the other hand, I feel there’s more just about to hit, then it becomes a different value proposition altogether. Of course, if you don’t have that knowledge/feel for your vehicle, then yeah, you’re not spending $1200 on this. Certainly might be worth spending $100 on diagnostics, though.
Solid points! Very much agreed, my dude.
I believe the seller fell into exactly what you said above: fixing the AC would’ve been doable if the Check Engine Light hadn’t also just illuminated. 2 strikes and the Envoy was “out!” in his book.
They should teach use of an OBDII reader in school. This is very similar to the story where the guy fixed an i3 in the seller’s driveway. If he’d just googled the code he probably could have fixed it himself in five minutes or less.
Outstanding as always, mate!
You really can feel the excitement from the young bloke with his first car, such a great outcome!
I remember when my first car got dropped off at the property, a ’75 Ford Escort Mark II. I think I washed it so much in the first few months that the paint was almost wiped off the bonnet!
Reminds me of a farm I visited last week for work, there was a Suzuki Stockman (Samurai-based Ute) by the farmhouse. Farmer told me her 11 year old son owns it and he drives it around the farm every day when he gets back from school.
It makes me happy there’s still kids out there that are excited to own and maintain their own cars
Oh man, I really wanted to know what CD was jamming up that player. Good stuff as always SWG. Save on!
Milli Vanilli’s Greatest Hits
Given the Envoy’s vintage, I’m going with Black Eyed Peas.
Rock for people who don’t like rock and rap for people who don’t like rap. – Robert California
I’m thinking The Eagles “Hell Freezes Over” live album. That CD was HUGE with the Boomers at the time and featured a masterfully recorded live version of Hotel California. I’m guessing it was inserted in the CD player and it never left. There is probably a Jimmy Buffet CD in there, as well.
Okay, that isn’t a bad guess at all!
Actually this is a pretty spot-on suggestion from having met the seller.
Went back watched the video and I have to say I doubt any new Lambo owner was ever as happy, appreciative, or elated as much as this kid.
“you gotta wait” was priceless. That’s one smart mom parking him in.
She was wicked rad in person as well.
“Does it work? Cool we’ll take it.” -her buying approach. No BS.
I could come to this site everyday. Read a few stories like this and feel my monthly donation money well spent. Extra points for BK as my first real job while in college was at the BK LOUNGE. I think I am still the only person to show up for a crew person job interview in a 3 piece suit.
Thanks for the kind words and for reading, Dave!
I hear the 3pc is actually coming back into fashion these days.
Well the vest does compact the fat like a corset. I could use one now but back in 1982 I had sun bleached hair to match Farrah a life guard swimmers body and a wicked sarcastic sense of humor to destroy the benefit of the hair and body.
So when did the child-bearing hips come in?
Not long after my love of pizza and beer started.
What’s Dave Jensen’s brew of choice? Utica Club/Saranac for this guy.
Wonderful work as always. Your negotiation strategy is spot on. As someone who’s negotiated other stuff, I can confirm getting your counterpart to establish a baseline for their happiness and then offering to double it immediately can be really hard to pass up.
What makes me happiest though is the positive life lesson you helped impart. No, not that useful things should be fixed, not junked (we already knew that), but that production and consumption are connected. That guy will always remember that first job and that first car, and for the rest of his life (hell, every time he fills up now to get to work), he’ll associate having good stuff with working.
Aristotle says in effect that we are what we habitually do, and getting in this kinda habit at a young age bodes well for his future. Gossin’s motors apparently promotes more than mechanical well-being!
Oh the first car I bought for $1500 when I landed in the US. Still have it since it means a lot to me. I probably spend already 5K in repairs and that’s why I’m not planning to sell it. Trip to the UP in the middle of winter? The envoy is unstoppable. Flooding? No issue. The engine is so smooth and I guess because it’s the GMC version it’s really nice inside (Bose audio, seat heaters, seats with memory, sunroof, even a dvd player for the back seat)
I have the same EVAP code and just ignore it. I don’t drive it much since it gets 16 mpg lol nice purchase and that car will live forever as long the kid service it, specially the transmission
How many miles is it up to? Thanks for the comment/sharing!
162K, mechanically is solid except of the power steering rack, is leaking more and more but its so expensive to fix (~$1200). I am scared of spending this much and then something else will come up of course lol
That was an excellent read. Not gonna lie: got a little lump in my throat watching that young man jump around in wordless excitement. Good on Mom’n’em for doing that present —and major props to our SWG for having the wherewithal to make it possible.
If I ever get to meet Stephen, I’d like to buy him a large beverage of his choice.
-we need to come up with an appropriate word for this kind of recycling!
I’d say that “upcycling” could apply here. The car itself certainly got an improved situation.
Excellent verbiage call. I dig it. Thanks for reading and for the comment, Rob!
“Mayor! I like the sound of that!” -Goldie Wilson, 1955
Excellent B2TF reference SWG
Flippancy & fun language aside, when I used to buy unwanted cars out of back yards, fix them up, and pass them on, I sort of thought of it as refurbishing. Find & fix proximate reason it was parked, get it running, then use it as backup DD. Which led to fixing all the little crap that had accumulated on its way down to being parked. When I trusted it enough to hand off to a non-car person, I’d sell it on and title the next one in line.
I enjoy the fact that this article is bracketed by a Recycling is Creating ad at the top and one advocating adoption of a shelter pet at the bottom. Fitting!
TOSSABL, if you ever make it to The Cape Fear, let’s go to that specific Burger King and get a couple large fountain drinks.
…then we can go to the bar across the street, (which is one of my local favs).
Thank you, very sincerely, for reading and for the ultra-kind words, my friend.
Man, that video of the new owner and how excited he was put a big smile on my face. Great story and an even greater ending.
Calling it now: Gossin’s Gold is my favorite regular installment on The Autopian. Well done.
That video did the exact same thing over here.
I have Vol. 3 of Gossin’s Gold: Graveyard Garbage & Grievance in the oven for a hopeful release mid-next week. As long as there are interesting cars coming into my local Pick n Pull (and as long as DT approves), I’ll be bringing them here.
Thanks a ton for the kind words and for reading, Dave!
Nice work man! Making the world a bit better one beater at a time.
I’m not so sure that semi-resuscitated Buick I hyperlinked above in “Relateds” has made the world a better place yet, but we’re definitely going to put forth the ol’ college effort this fall!
Thanks a ton for the comment and for reading, Sammy!
That is so cool to see how excited he was!
I remember when Dad brought my first car home. It was a 1960 El Camino, and he dragged it into our garage from behind a bowling alley. It wasn’t exactly turn key, but I was just as psyched!
Great job and great story, SWG!!
There are some serious Big Lebowski images coming to mind regarding that El Camino from how you described it above; it sounds like it was glorious.
Thanks a ton for reading and for the kind words!
Great tip about the Schrader valve, and a great story overall. Keep it up!
It really is crazy how a .30cent part can bring down the desirability of a vehicle so greatly.
In fact, I would venture to say that the mighty schrader valve may be in the pantheon of top villainous small parts that have played an outsize role in sending many cars to a early demise.
Thanks for reading and for the above, Buzz!
😮
It’s often said (around here, anyway) that a GM product will continue to run poorly long after other brands have died completely. This Envoy has a lot of life left in it, and with luck it will be a while before it reaches the “run poorly” part of its life. I’m glad the young man is able to make good use of it.
Oddly enough, this is a lot like where we old folks were back in the 1990s: buying our first car, a 20-year-old hooptie-adjacent ride, for a low price. I thought those days were gone for good. 🙂
That “1st hooptie” here was an ’84 Cougar from Utica, NY that has rust holes you could pass a ham sandwich through. I miss it everyday.
Hey thanks for reading and for the above, A. Barth!
My hooptification started with a ’72 Super Beetle. While it hadn’t occurred to me to use a ham sandwich as a unit of measurement, that’s about the size of the rust-induced gap it had in the lower front corner of the driver’s side door frame.
Thank you for writing and for the above, Stephen. 🙂
always stoked to see a new Gossin post here!
…and it’s always great to read kind comments like yours here, my friend!
Much appreciated and thanks for reading!
I love how SWG’s by line is in all caps. It’s like a declaration is being made to the world.
I just realized that once you posted this comment; totally unintentional and now fixed! Thanks for the heads up. It was a Chrome Auto-Fill mishap when creating my profile 18 months ago.
Hey thanks for reading, my man!