Joined
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3,762 Posts
Decided to join the club! With the 850 on the verge of becoming a classic car, I really wanted to grab a nice one before they are all gone, or are in such bad shape that they need a full restoration. So I have been hunting for about 3 years to find a good candidate and in Mid-April I finally founds the one!
My needs were, T5 or R, and wagon, and preferably black interior. My intents are road trips, car camping and dogs, and the occasional home depot run. The 850 wagon is the perfect fit.
I have always enjoyed the 5-cylinder whiteblock motor and have owned and worked extensively on several cars with whiteblocks, I fully expect this car to run until a minimum of 300k miles.
Anyway, the car I found is a 1997 850 T-5 Wagon, mystic silver, black leather interior. 109k miles, second owner. The first owner was the grandfather of the second owner! The only problem: it was in Portland. Now, this is not really a problem because I love portland, and jump at the chance to visit, however I live in phoenix, so a 26 hour drive is no joke! So I got a Southwest airlines flight and filled two suitcases with camping gear and tools and brushed up on RobertDIYs videos in case anything went wrong on the car. I flew to Portland on May 6th, completed the sale, had lunch at Deschutes brewery(my favorite!) and hit the road.
Some pictures from the drive:
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Just after purchasing! The owner picked me up from PDX and we made the sale right there in the cell phone lot!
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Downtown Portland after picking up the car
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Of course I had to Swedify the car right away! I happened to have a Dave Barton Swedish Flag decal on me so I put it on the back of the car.
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On the way from Portland to the coast, I found the Evergreen Air and Space Museum, naturally I had to stop!
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Spruce Goose
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I camped all the way down the Oregon coast
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Early morning shot
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Cape Perpetua, great place!
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Klamath River RV Park, another one of my favorites!
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Cruising through Redwoods Natl' Park.
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Anyway, It was a great trip, and I am looking forward to being a long time wagon owner.
At the moment, the car is in my garage getting a full Stage 0 overhaul, PCV, Plugs, Wires, Distributor, Cam Seals, Filters, Oil, etc etc as well as a good deep cleaning of the engine bay. The PCV had been leaking for a long time, but luckily the cam seals were the only thing pushed out, no leaks at the rear main seal observed, hopefully I caught it in time.
My needs were, T5 or R, and wagon, and preferably black interior. My intents are road trips, car camping and dogs, and the occasional home depot run. The 850 wagon is the perfect fit.
I have always enjoyed the 5-cylinder whiteblock motor and have owned and worked extensively on several cars with whiteblocks, I fully expect this car to run until a minimum of 300k miles.
Anyway, the car I found is a 1997 850 T-5 Wagon, mystic silver, black leather interior. 109k miles, second owner. The first owner was the grandfather of the second owner! The only problem: it was in Portland. Now, this is not really a problem because I love portland, and jump at the chance to visit, however I live in phoenix, so a 26 hour drive is no joke! So I got a Southwest airlines flight and filled two suitcases with camping gear and tools and brushed up on RobertDIYs videos in case anything went wrong on the car. I flew to Portland on May 6th, completed the sale, had lunch at Deschutes brewery(my favorite!) and hit the road.
Some pictures from the drive:
Just after purchasing! The owner picked me up from PDX and we made the sale right there in the cell phone lot!
Downtown Portland after picking up the car
Of course I had to Swedify the car right away! I happened to have a Dave Barton Swedish Flag decal on me so I put it on the back of the car.
On the way from Portland to the coast, I found the Evergreen Air and Space Museum, naturally I had to stop!
Spruce Goose
I camped all the way down the Oregon coast
Early morning shot
Cape Perpetua, great place!
Klamath River RV Park, another one of my favorites!
Cruising through Redwoods Natl' Park.
Anyway, It was a great trip, and I am looking forward to being a long time wagon owner.
At the moment, the car is in my garage getting a full Stage 0 overhaul, PCV, Plugs, Wires, Distributor, Cam Seals, Filters, Oil, etc etc as well as a good deep cleaning of the engine bay. The PCV had been leaking for a long time, but luckily the cam seals were the only thing pushed out, no leaks at the rear main seal observed, hopefully I caught it in time.
