cek wrote:
Let's start with what we know of the history of Maytag...
She was built in July of 1986. VIN WBADK8307H9707185.
(Note, for Vlad I had found a site that gave me all of the options in addition to the build date. But I can't find it now. Tried searchy with no joy.)
She's a 528e automatic. White with tan (I think) interior.
According to the PO she was purchased in Dallas by a lady. The PO, an American Airlines 777ER pilot, purchased the car in 1994 with 87K on it and shipped it to Los Angeles.
It was in LA until August of last year when he drove it to Seattle where it has basically sat since.
My wife and I (more on her involvement later) picked her up today with 202,305 miles on her. I paid $2k after doing an exhaustive inspection and an extended test drive around Edmunds, WA.
The timing belt was replaced at 199,000 miles. The PO had said it had been done last year, but the tag the mechanic left inside the fuse box says 2009. This means I need to replace the timing belt asap. Fun.
The car is amazingly straight. The body is actually in better condition than Vlad, with fewer little dings. There is some evidence that the front passenger door has been repainted. The paint will polish up very nice.
There is no rust anywhere that I could find. There's some moisture in the trunk just under where the factory radio amplifier is mounted, and a bit of mold where a jacket has been sitting.
The interior is in fantastic shape. There are two tiny cracks in the dash, where all E28 dashes start cracking. The vinyl on the seats is in tip-top shape. The carpet is pretty dirty and the floor mats are shot.
The suspension feels great. The shocks are not worn and the rear-subframe bushings do not feel worn. The dog-bones are shot and need to be replaced.
The rear tires are shot; they are rotting. The fronts are basically new. The chrome bottle caps are pretty tired, but they'll clean up nicely.
It's got an idle issue (hunts high).
Everything electric except the headrests work. AC blows very cold. The heater fan makes some noise and will need to be taken out and cleaned up.
It has some ancient aftermarket alarm on it. There's only one key and no keyfob for the alarm, so it will need to be ripped out.
Julie (my wife) insisted on driving her home. It's about 30 miles from Edmunds to Bellevue. I followed her in Vlad taking pictures...
Here she is at home next to Vlad...
More to come...
)
