Author Topic: The Dark Side (Read 12854 times)

El Matador · « **on:** March 14, 2012, 02:34:31 PM »

Don't let that subject line scare you, I didn't buy a Toyota.

After five years of faithful service, my beloved '86 wagon is about to move on to a new home. But don't worry, El Matador hasn't gone loco. There was a method to the the madness, and this departure paves the way for a new acquisition.

So what's this "dark side" nonsense about?

I'm not usually one to name my cars, but... meet "Vader".

shaggimo · « **Reply #1 on:** March 14, 2012, 03:00:46 PM »

Classy

but yet carries a sinister look, I like it.

GRONK · « **Reply #2 on:** March 14, 2012, 03:10:07 PM »

Very nice.

Prafeston · « **Reply #3 on:** March 14, 2012, 04:11:38 PM »

Wow....that looks amazing!!!

It looks brand stinking new. Where did you find that thing!

Whuntmore · « **Reply #4 on:** March 14, 2012, 04:32:00 PM »

I'm kinda jealous of Dean finding this, but considering how much he 'scours' the internet/used car sales/auto wreckers/kijiji/Pick n Pull lots/ and networking, I'm not totally surprised he'd find this.

Basically, if it's for sale, Dean has seen it.

And now that he has a brand new quart of POR-15, he can stay ahead of the rust, and keep this one fresh.

I can't wait to see this one in person. I think we're doing a road trip to pick it up.

BTW, you forgot to tell us what year it is, options, mileage, etc.

El Matador · « **Reply #5 on:** March 14, 2012, 05:21:39 PM »

It's a 1981 Sport with full time 4WD. It only has 115,000 km (71,000 miles) on it, which is less than a third of what my other one had. I'll be the third owner, and the current owner has had it for 12 years. Coincidentally, his uncle was the manager of the AMC dealership in Prince George that sold this car new.

For options, it has all of the Sport items (alloy wheels, sport mirrors, three spoke steering wheel, gauges with tach, floor gauge console), tilt steering, cruise control, power windows, power door locks. The only major item it lacks is air conditioning. Since I live in Alberta and not Arizona, a black car without AC is just fine. I actually prefer it that way - a little more room under the hood and less parasitic drag on the engine.

It had some sort of paint protection (Diamond Kote or something like that) applied when it was new, and it went all funky over the years and ruined the paint. It was professionally repainted four years ago.

There is an aftermarket sound system in it, and is described as a clean installation and pretty high end. Time will tell whether I keep that in there.

The seller is including a box of spare parts with it, and in that box is a load leveling compressor. So, someday I'll be able to add that option too.

Whuntmore · « **Reply #6 on:** March 14, 2012, 05:40:52 PM »

You might wanna order some headlight adjusters now, and if-and-when you get Vader, we can put them in asap. From the pictures, looks like it'll need them.

Prafeston · « **Reply #7 on:** March 14, 2012, 05:42:47 PM »

May I ask what you paid? The repaint looks very good!

El Matador · « **Reply #8 on:** March 14, 2012, 05:50:57 PM »

Quote from: Prafeston on March 14, 2012, 05:42:47 PM

May I ask what you paid? The repaint looks very good!

Picked it up for $2600, plus my costs of going there and back (8 hours each way).

Whuntmore · « **Reply #9 on:** March 14, 2012, 05:58:40 PM »

if the underside is in good shape, then it's a good deal. I got my fingers crossed for ya. When are we leaving?

Prafeston · « **Reply #10 on:** March 14, 2012, 06:50:54 PM »

That's a pretty great deal...as long as the underside is good like Whuntmore says. Great score man. I look forward to more pics once you pick it up!

El Matador · « **Reply #11 on:** March 14, 2012, 06:57:06 PM »

I specifically asked about rust, and I was told there was none except a small surface spot near the bottom of one rear door. This car has lived its whole life in the BC interior, and has seen snow but not road salt.

I don't think I'll be driving this one through winter like I did the previous one. I'll use my wife's Cube as my winter beater.

hypereagle · « **Reply #12 on:** March 14, 2012, 07:20:46 PM »

Congrats. Sweet looking unit.

Whuntmore · « **Reply #13 on:** March 14, 2012, 07:26:42 PM »

Well, it's not like you don't have several eagles to choose from, you got two in the garage (ok, one in the garage, one parked in front of the garage) and then you have like two more on Justin's lot, AND THEN you have another one, just south of Edmonton. (did I miss any?)

So it's not like you would have to drive it during the winter.

MudPuppy · « **Reply #14 on:** March 14, 2012, 07:30:04 PM »

Man, that Wagon is HOT!!!

Nice find Dean.

vangremlin · « **Reply #15 on:** March 14, 2012, 08:43:56 PM »

A stealth Eagle!

Between the sweet rides you and Mud Puppy picked up, I feel that Eagle itch again!

maddog · « **Reply #16 on:** March 14, 2012, 09:08:51 PM »

dude i am so jealous.

Pat · « **Reply #17 on:** March 14, 2012, 09:26:36 PM »

Looks nice. A LOT better than my black one. Congrats. on the find.

Bird-o-Prey · « **Reply #18 on:** March 15, 2012, 12:54:39 AM »

So, since I managed a trip aaallllllllll the way to Calgary, and since the beastie has BC plates on it...are ya thinking of a trip down to the coast?? As I recall, I think you and Whuntmore owe me a lunch and a couple of beers

And maybe a ride in your new ride?

Sweet looking car Dean!!

Egg on YA!!

Whuntmore · « **Reply #19 on:** March 15, 2012, 03:14:14 AM »

Nothing in the works yet, but we will do that. We'll try to make something happen when we can.

My sister lives on one of the southern gulf islands, so I would love to make a trip out there with my eagle. I'll keep ya posted.

Whuntmore · « **Reply #20 on:** March 23, 2012, 08:39:15 PM »

Just to tell you about our trip:

Dean (El Matador) Keith and I got ready and loaded up Wednesday morning at about 6 am.

We got to Golden, and there was an accident (transport roll-over) a few miles west. The highway was closed, so we stopped for Breakfast in Golden. By the time we finished, the road had opened.

We drove to Kamloops (7-8 hours?) and we got to the new eagle. There's a couple of small rot holes on the ends of the rockers (usual places, and one small hole behind the rear fender.

We loaded it up onto the trailer, and headed to Kelowna. We checked into our hotel.

Next day we headed to the Kelowna Pick n Pull. the 4 wagons are still there (the 4 door sedan is gone) the Spirit is still there, and now there's a '76 Pacer.

We actually discovered two of the wagons have rear sway bars. One of them was in really good shape, and I managed to get it off with all the brackets and bushings intact. the other one was pretty rotten.

Dean and Keith got lots of parts... so we packed up and came home. I think we got back to calgary about 4 am on Friday.

I'll post some videos and pictures soon.

maddog · « **Reply #21 on:** March 23, 2012, 08:54:44 PM »

Quote from: Whuntmore on March 23, 2012, 08:39:15 PM

We actually discovered two of the wagons have rear sway bars. Dean says these are sooo rare that he's never seen one. (he jokes that they are a myth, or urban legend)

i have one of them that i still need to install on survivor and i find it hard to believe that he of all people hasn't seen one.

JayRamb · « **Reply #22 on:** March 23, 2012, 09:09:34 PM »

What an Eagle! WOW! Congrats!

j2sax · « **Reply #23 on:** March 24, 2012, 12:26:23 AM »

You know, I believe it was Motor Trend who did an article back in the 80's about an all Black Wagon, Black INterior and Limo Black windows. Had a Turbo on a 258 and other mods and was supposedly pretty hot. Or maybe that was the MT project car and I am thinking about a different black on black Wagon... regardless, the Turbo garnered the comment, "If Darth Vader drove a Station Wagon, this would be it!"

In lieu of that wagon, I agree, yours qualifies! (nowadays you could get a Turbo OR a Supercharger for your 258!)

Sunny · « **Reply #24 on:** March 24, 2012, 01:16:23 AM »

Did you find it off kijiji? I remember seeing it on there.
Looks good

Whuntmore · « **Reply #25 on:** March 26, 2012, 10:06:34 AM »

I took some video during this trip, and I put some of it into a video on my You Tube channel. It's only like 5 minutes and 32 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9auOM7Wj7_M

68AMXGOPAC · « **Reply #26 on:** March 26, 2012, 10:22:27 AM »

I think the singing opera guy froze the video -lol - it froze up at like 2:23 , just as I saw the car with the hood up, and couldn't get it to play any further.
Man, that is some beautifull and rugged country.

Whuntmore · « **Reply #27 on:** March 26, 2012, 10:48:22 AM »

Quote from: 68AMXGOPAC on March 26, 2012, 10:22:27 AM

I think the singing opera guy froze the video -lol - it froze up at like 2:23 , just as I saw the car with the hood up, and couldn't get it to play any further.
Man, that is some beautifull and rugged country.

I hate when that happens... It still runs perfectly for me. Maybe re-load it, and then hit pause so it can fully load before you view it? Sometimes, if I'm watching a video on YT, and the viewing catches up with the loading, it pauses, but then won't re-run (or un-pause). I find moving the little circle back a bit (that indicates where you are in the video) will get it playing again.

I uploaded it as 720p, so you could watch it in the bigger viewer and it looks great, Or you can even run it full screen and it's not that pixel-lated.

Prafeston · « **Reply #28 on:** March 26, 2012, 01:19:58 PM »

Man that thing looks sharp. The tint looks like limo tint in the back. Seems darker than my 20% rear windows. I'm guessing they went with a 5% on the back. Looks soo good!

68AMXGOPAC · « **Reply #29 on:** March 26, 2012, 03:10:52 PM »

Thanks, it worked fine that time . Funny that it says "Ford Pinto" on that Spirit , or maybe it's just plain sad that they didn't know the difference.

El Matador · « **Reply #30 on:** April 04, 2012, 07:44:23 PM »

Quote from: Sunny on March 24, 2012, 01:16:23 AM

Did you find it off kijiji? I remember seeing it on there.

Yes, this is/was the one on Kijiji. The pictures used in the ad were obviously taken shortly after the car was painted, because it didn't quite look that good when I went to pick it up.

The matte black on the grille, headlight doors, and taillight housings is flaking off to reveal chrome, and the gloss black on the body itself has developed numerous flaws. Peeling, cracking, etc. with one rust spot at the bottom of the right rear door. There's a spot on the roof where it looks like the paint went on too thick and pooled in one of the contours, and never dried properly. It subsequently lifted off to reveal a sizable area of original paint.

The doors all open and close nicely with little to no sag, but not one of them is aligned correctly. They're in too far in some places and out too far in others, and don't flow smoothly with the surrounding panels. The gaps are very inconsistent too. The driver's door was replaced, and the sticker and metal tag are long gone. The hood is also horribly misaligned, and the rear hatch has crept down as they so often do.

The window tint is scratched in a few places, and will eventually have to be removed or redone. The dash has a huge crack in it, and could probably never be repaired to my satisfaction. I'll have to replace it, most likely with a black one I have on hand. Parts of the interior were taken apart for the paint job and a stereo installation, and there are incorrect screws used everywhere. This drives me nuts.

For the time being I'll just drive it as is and make a few small cosmetic repairs here and there, but overall I view this as a project car. The long term plan is to strip it down to the shell, and redo it right. Several body panels will probably be replaced in the process. I'm also going to go back to an original stereo, and remove the alarm. The entire wiring harness will be replaced with an uncut factory unit.

I suspect the car will get lots of looks and positive comments as is, but overall I'm not satisfied with it in its current state.

Prafeston · « **Reply #31 on:** April 04, 2012, 08:13:16 PM »

That's quite a list you already have going. I would have to say the pics make it look pretty darn nice. Enjoy it for awhile before you start the restore over again!

amc78concord · « **Reply #32 on:** April 04, 2012, 10:11:55 PM »

Dang that's an awesome Eagle... My first time seeing this.

ME LIKES!!!

AB-SX4 · « **Reply #33 on:** April 07, 2012, 01:16:58 PM »

Good paint jobs are hard to come by. It's a pain to do it yourself. Have done it a few times (not on Eagles yet) and man is it ever a lot of work to do it properly. Hundreds of hours of taking apart, sanding, welding ...
I hope you'll enjoy your new Eagle anyway though.

All the best!

hemlokk · « **Reply #34 on:** May 07, 2012, 11:54:07 AM »

Speechless....Nice find, Dean! Man, $2600, such a steal for a rare gem like that. Can't wait to see 'er for myself.

thebanshee89 · « **Reply #35 on:** May 10, 2012, 04:38:00 PM »

bummer dude. that kinda sucks,

after i read your list of things wrong and things to do i feel like i would have left it there and not got it for that price. but you sound like a sound gentleman who knows how to fix everything so good luck!

Whuntmore · « **Reply #36 on:** June 03, 2012, 02:42:36 AM »

The car has a bit of rot in the rockers, but it's repairable.

85AmCfreak · « **Reply #37 on:** July 06, 2012, 06:35:41 PM »

More pictures please

Author Topic: The Dark Side (Read 12854 times)

Prafeston

Prafeston

Prafeston

68AMXGOPAC

Prafeston

68AMXGOPAC

Prafeston

AB-SX4