I did a few repairs since getting the car back from Toronto, and this morning dropped it off at my mechanic for the mandatory mechanical/safety inspection.
And...
It's legal! More or less! *
I did front & rear brake pads. Front was down to about 25% remaining, but check out the rear...
Talk about stopping on a dime! How about less than half a dime?
I believe they were original, too. The dust caps to get the drums off were corroded in place and had no pry marks on them. (They do now!)
The other repair I did was to unblock the driver's side windshield washer nozzle. (I think the check valve was just jammed... I didn't even know those nozzles
had check valves.)
* My mechanic did catch one other problem that I sort of knew about, but it's worse than I thought: I knew the left headlight housing had a broken upper mounting tab -- casualty of the love tap that dented the fender and scuffed the bumper (see photo, post #1). But he discovered that ALL the mounting tabs are broken. The headlight housing is free floating, held in place by the bumper cover and the wiring harness.
But he issued the paperwork knowing full well I would fix this. Besides, the headlight still works, and it's generally pointed in the right direction.
Next up...
Let the ecomods begin!