I purchased this car in September of 2005 from one of those questionable used car lots around my area (Des Moines, IA). I've always been a fan of diesels and this wagon was in really good condition. It presently has 154k on the odometer and just this past weekend I took it on what was essentially it's maiden voyage.
It has been sitting since I bought it due to a collapsed strut spring seat on the front, but over thanksgiving I managed to rebuild the struts and install them, with a host of other maintenance items including a new injection pump timing belt, rear diff. fluid, thermostat, etc.
The original owner purchased the car in Florida and kept it for 20 years. When he parted with it in 2002 it had about 141k miles on it. It had one other owner in 2003, for what I take to be a very short time, and by 2004 it was obtained by the car lot that I aquired it from, supposedly non-running. They replaced the glow plugs, although I don't know if they knew anything about what they were doing. They certainly didn't replace the crispy power steering belt. Anyway, I saw it on a trip past their lot and pulled in to look wondering if it might be a diesel, and it was.
According to the original owner, who didn't mind talking with me about the car, the timing belt had never been replaced. He didn't believe that it had one. Certainly this became a top priority maintenance issue! What I found when I went in to change it was not nearly as bad as I thought, but it certainly wasn't new, and as such I can say with certainty that it was not replaced by owner #2.
Anyway, here's a recent picture of the car, taken at my parents house this past weekend. The alloy wheels were not, as Al already mentioned, available on the wagon, but here they are, and they make the car significantly better. Thanks Al for helping out on that one!
Steve A[/img]
Terry's is brown, too. Mine is burgundy but my paint is so bad -- it was bad when I bought it in '96, and it's certainly no better now.
