I found ANOTHER NICE old diesel!
 

Thursday I was searching the local classified that is posted every Thursday and I ran across this car in the "Antiques & Collectibles" section. Every so often someone posts an over 25 car there. I saw an "82 Datsun Maxima" posted. Ad stated "Original owner, diesel, all original manuals, garaged". I was intrigued so I called. All there was, was an answering machine message (elderly man voice) - I left a message. No answer until yesterday afternoon. I rushed down to see it. (an hour away since I live in the country)

What it was....

Original paint - Owner stated he NEVER waxed it. Just Turtle Wax wash and wax. I think once I wax it the light scratches will come out and the paint will shine more. Nary a ding in the car, straight as an arrow! When he said garage kept, he meant for the last 25 years!!

113,800 miles- Sounds nice, but here was the kicker. Not only did he have the MX manuals but he kept every last reciept and record on ANYTHING that has been done to it in the last 25 years. A little Memorandum book has it all written down. Oh, he even had the original bill of sale and window sticker. The car was $11,800 new.

Original interior - Nice shape. Some slight fading but material excellent. I can't help but think Armor All may have played a part with a bit of dash discoloration. The dash is immaculate though. Voice system works fine.

Under the hood, you can eat off the engine and it looks as though he kept it that way since Day 1 - he stated he had. I also got a LARGE box of parts. He stockpiled OEM Nissan hoses, filters etc. This car is not a smoker. I did notice a bit last night when I turned on the A/C and I was going up a hill at the same time. He regularly put IP cleaner in it and the pump belt was fairly recently changed.

About 2 months ago I got my Jetta diesel stating to my wife finding a low mileage, very original, original owner, all MX records pre-computer / pre-turbo diesel would be few and far between and that was why I needed to get my Jetta. Then this came up - she's NOT HAPPY! :roll: She'll get over it. I had went to look at this with the intention of doing a conversion on it as well (WVO), this is too much of a survivor to do that to so it will go in the garage as a back-up car to the others. With a little detailing, it would be show condition as it is as nice as maybe a 2-3 year old car.

Problem areas with it: :(
Cruise Control - not sure yet. No light on switch, does not engage either.
Brake lights - I swore I saw them work when he backed it out of the garage. According to records, he's driven the car 200 miles over the last 2 years. He said he took it out once a week, but didn't go far. I suspect the brake light switch is out. I'll check the fuses first though.
A/C needed charged/converted - I did it in Oreilly's parking lot last night and it worked great on the 50 mile trip home.

Now IYO, what was a good price for it? I'm not really going to disclose the price yet as I hate to be told I'm an idiot even though IMO I paid a VERY GOOD price for it.

The original owner watched me as I drove away last night, he said his wife was inside crying. Said he couldn't understand that as they had both agreed to sell it. I can understand, the car has a lot of memories. 25 years is a long time and as immaculate as it was kept - I would consider it was treated as a family member or as my wife says I treat my cars BETTER than a family member. I assured him it was going to the best buyer he could of found for it and she shouldn't be worried as it will be taken care of.

The Metro has to go. :( I'm not happy about letting it go as it was my uncle's car, but he wasn't too attached to it anyway.

Here are some pics, the car already got dirty going down my road! :(

Tough Question, Great Buy
 

I'd hate to guess on the price for such a clean car for its age -- it's practically a classic! ...and with the volumes of records too. Great find...

$11,800! That was big money back in them days...

I can't take a guess at the price -- it's worth more to the trained eye than to statistics. :)

RH77

I don't think you can get ripped on clean diesels like that these days. There's always someone who will pay a grand or so more than you did on ebay or something.

damn nice car. ive been looking for a jetta to try and run wvo threw it also

With all the documentaion you did great. Check fuses on cruise. What you paid is your business and if you like it you got a great deal. They don't come along often like this one. Good Find!

My father bought a Maxima diesel 5 spd brand new the first year they came out. He was always into the diesels...one of the first to buy the VW Rabbit diesel in 1978, then Dasher diesel in 1980, the Maxima diesel (which my brother sadly totaled on a joy ride at 15 years old w/o a license through a stone wall and into a tree - he was ok), then a Peugeot turbo diesel. I used to drive the Maxima a couple of times per week to high school when I was a senior in 1984. It was a dog on acceleration, but once it was up to cruising speed, it could cruise forever. I don't know what the FE was because I wasn't a hypermiler back then. But I do remember racing my friend nose to nose 0 - 80 mph in his parents' '79 VW gas engine.

Anyway, sweet car. I'll bet you can manage 40 mpg or better with it. Good luck with it.

Thanks for the nice words.

I figured out the brake light switch may be wired into the cruise. Ordered a new switch and albout to go check fuses. I don't know about squeezing 40mpg, it is RWD/6 cyl/auto. We'll see, I might be able to do it - that being said, it isn't a dog like a lot of Mercedes.....;)

All that grief I gave about degrading the Jetta survivor by converting it to a WVO system? Fuhgettaboudit. Do what you will to it.
Just leave this one alone!

This one I probably won't cut up. ;) The wife is saying I should get a Greasecar system for it now that they have a auto switchover computer. I don't have the heart though.

Problem on the brake lights is the switch, new one is on order.

I hit the hood with a clay bar and wax. The more I mess with the car I keep seeing dollar signs but I won't do that though I know I could make enough to make my WVO system in my Jetta "FREE". :p Anyway, the hood waxed up nice. The rest of the car should turn out nice, I think I'll pop it into a little show just for the heck of it. I hate bringing the same cars to a show over and over - plus 1982 was just a neat time for me I could almost throw some Star Wars figures in there and a Rubik's Cube and some Smurfs in there for good measure. See, I've got a theme going.....:D

lol i wasent even born in 84

I have the ones at work tell me that almost everyday. :p That's OK, because I always play "guess my age" and they always guess below 30 so I'm doing well. Sure glad I didn't wear makeup and hairspray in the 80's....:D

Jesus Christ, nice find! Is that going to be veggie too?

^ please leave it a time capsule . I haven't seen one that nice since ....1982 :)

No, it won't. This car is a time capsule. Wayyyyy too nice too turn into a veggie car. This afternoon I cleaned up the Jetta VERY nice, spent hours. I'm almost regretting doing it too the Jetta but I know I'll do an extremely professional job. Actually, the main problem I see is after the conversion I know I'll have people bothering me to do conversions for them. I'm not ready for that - the reason I do what I do now (my daily job) is because I got sick of people always hassling me to work on their cars for them. About 10 years ago I broke down and did shadetreeing due to some hard times - once I got out of the rut I quit. 3 more years and I think I'll start restoring cars.

UPDATE!!!

FIXED ALL THE PROBLEMS I MENTIONED!! The car is 100% now. Now all I have to do is a detailing to my level and perhaps stick it in a show just for the heck of it. I always catch flak when I show up with something other than the normal cars I bring - but I'm bored with them.

Nice condition on that car. Wish I had the engine out of it, I'm really itching to put a diesel in my little truck. Oh well, maybe one day after diesel cars become commonplace.

I've found the easiest way to turn people down that want me to work on their stuff is to agree to do the work. I then tell them my terms are 100 an hour, minimum 8 hours paid in advance, plus parts cost, no guarantee on the work, and no guarantee I'll finish :eek:. I then suggest they check with a local shop, but if they really want me to do the work I'll be happy to, no negotiation on my terms. People rethink how badly they want me to work on their stuff when I present my terms. It isn't that I think that highly of my work, it's that I don't want to be working on other people's stuff. Pricing myself out of the market is the only real way to keep people from asking over and over for free work. :D

Neat car. Does this one talk? A guy that did some exchange work on a past Citroen DS21 I had owned one of these that talked. He also found he could get different language modules for it somehow. Of course, this was almost 15 years ago.

EDIT, I see it talks, cool. "The key is in the ignition, the key is in the ignition, the key..."

You already guessed it, it talks. OR should I say SHE talks......though the wife calls it a PIMP car. But I just say, "NO IT'S NOT - NOW SHUT UP HOE!" :) (I'm kidding!!!)