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Some might consider what I paid to be too much, but the repair only cost me $1500. I had a total of 5k in the car when it was finished, and drove it 15 k miles on the original tires before I replaced them due to dry rot. The tires were made in March of 1993, replaced in December 2008.
I sold the car to a friend who later hurt his back and sold it back to me for $3500, so that is what I have in it now. He took a beating on selling it back to me but we have other business arrangements that made him $1900 on a $100 investment (it was legal), so he is Ok with the deal and we do some traveling together to shows, and he gets to ride for free indefinitely. We have known each other for almost 50 years, went to Sunday School together as kids.
Mods consist of 44 PSI tires, a 30% radiator block, and reversing the intake snorkel to draw warm air off the top radiator area. When temps got low this winter I added a preheat tube to draw hot air off the catalytic converter. All mods are easily reversible.
Sometimes we take trips to shows and need to carry more weight than the Insight can handle, so the VX is the ticket. The two of us together tip the scales at close to 440 pounds, 205 of which is me.
Best tank before the tire replacement was 300 miles on Interstates in May of 08 that used 4.625 gallons of gas for 68 MPG averaging 64 MPH.
After the tires were replaced the mileage dropped quite a bit, but some of it was winter temps. Coldest here so far this year was 23 degrees, so it is nothing compared to what some of you have to deal with. The factory grille block covers almost 3/4 of the lower grille.
The original auction bid was just over 3k for the car, with shipping adding another $500.
This is the last car I will probably ever rebuild as a salvage vehicle. In fact Virginia passed a law that prohibited bringing an out of state salvage vehicle here to be rebuilt, so I couldn't do it again.
I would imagine there are very few VXs left in the world in nicer condition, especially when you consider that I have replaced very few parts on the car. Even the fan belts (had t belt replaced just for insurance) are original.
This car doesn't even have any surface rust on the rear drums.
Maintenance parts replaced:
Wiper blades, plugs, air filter, t belt, and brake and clutch fluids.
That's everything that was replaced or serviced.
regards
Mech
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