Trying to locate my old car - need some advice

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Just for clarification. I don't expect it to look like it did when I sold it. Or even run. I just hope it's not totaled, rusted out or in the shape of a cube. Hoping to find and make it a project car.

Wife also has no idea I'm doing this. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission...right?
 
Originally Posted By: iahawk
You're in luck!! A website exists to do just that...

checkmyride.com

I've used it before and it works.


Nice, one free Auto Check if you register.

Just ran my free one on my 1994 Ranger. Turns out, roughly 15 years ago it was registered just 25 miles from where I was living in NC at the time. I ended up buying it 15 years later more than 500 miles away from there.
 
Originally Posted By: iahawk
You're in luck!! A website exists to do just that...

checkmyride.com

I've used it before and it works.


Just ran my old ride. Last activity is shown being 20 miles from my house. Gave a street but no address. Looks like I have a street to drive down.
 
Originally Posted By: mjk
Who cares, whether you believe it is around or not ?? Or worth locating ??

The question was: how would he go about locating said vehicle?


This site is becoming quite boorish.

Originally Posted By: 4wheeldog
Originally Posted By: donnyj08
If it still exists, you may not even want it back once you see it. Especially since it's been 15 years.


Yup. It was 9 years old when you got rid of it......It is 24 years old, if it hasn't been melted down into Toyotas. Very unlikely there is much worthwhile left.



I agree.



Another of my favs- What? That car is too old and has too many miles on it! It's not worth fixing... Seems if it's more than a couple years old and has more than 75k miles the solution is to spend 20+ thousand to replace it with something of greater value.
 
Originally Posted By: The_Eric

Another of my favs- What? That car is too old and has too many miles on it! It's not worth fixing... Seems if it's more than a couple years old and has more than 75k miles the solution is to spend 20+ thousand to replace it with something of greater value.

Or go spend a five figure number to buy a vehicle with maybe 25-30% better fuel economy... $25,000 buys a lot of gas...

A true car guy often spends more on a favorite ride than it's worth, most never give it a second thought, it's all for the enjoyment... But what the appliance drivers never consider is, a $5K car with $7500 invested still gives a better rate of return of your money than their new $30K econobox...
 
So said no car guy ever. But I'm sure driving a 91 Ford escort is EXACTLY like driving a 2015 Ford Focus. But, if you consider it just an appliance than I can see the reasoning.

I will admit, I had fond memories of an early 90's Escort GT, quite the fun little car. Let me just say, it was not the wisest car to purchase for a bunch of teenagers to run deliveries in. Too bad an axle seal went out and trashed the transmission. $5k transmission into a $4k car, not happening.
 
Originally Posted By: Mantooth
So I've decided to try and locate the first car I purchased when I turned 18. It's nothing fancy or exotic, just a '91 Escort GT that I loved dearly. I sold the car around 2000 with about 150,000 trouble free miles on it. Regretting that decision now.

I dug through some old paperwork and located the VIN. Problem is I don't know where to go from there. I've tried typing the VIN in Google but no luck. I can't remember the name of the guy I sold it to so unfortunately I can't trace through him.

Input from anyone who has been down this road would be appreciated.

Mantooth


I replied to you on civicforums.com

I had a BMW. Same thing.. Stupidly parted with it in my early 20s. VIN was WBAAB 5402G 96733 64.

Our cars could be anywhere.

frown.gif


**I had the first reply. http://www.civicforums.com/forums/184-1st-5th-generation-civic/365059-seeking-my-old-car.html

**EDIT: Ok, the Honda post is not you, but, I'll be [censored] if it isn't the same topic and dilemma.
 
The thing that a lot of people didn't realize is that the GT was a Mazda powertrain and more fun/reliable/durable than the non-GT counterparts.
 
Originally Posted By: InfmousCornholio
Originally Posted By: Mantooth
So I've decided to try and locate the first car I purchased when I turned 18. It's nothing fancy or exotic, just a '91 Escort GT that I loved dearly. I sold the car around 2000 with about 150,000 trouble free miles on it. Regretting that decision now.

I dug through some old paperwork and located the VIN. Problem is I don't know where to go from there. I've tried typing the VIN in Google but no luck. I can't remember the name of the guy I sold it to so unfortunately I can't trace through him.

Input from anyone who has been down this road would be appreciated.

Mantooth


I replied to you on civicforums.com

I had a BMW. Same thing.. Stupidly parted with it in my early 20s. VIN was WBAAB 5402G 96733 64.

Our cars could be anywhere.

frown.gif


**I had the first reply. http://www.civicforums.com/forums/184-1st-5th-generation-civic/365059-seeking-my-old-car.html

**EDIT: Ok, the Honda post is not you, but, I'll be [censored] if it isn't the same topic and dilemma.


Ha! Nope, not me but funny how it was the same topic and year of the car.
I'm going to resort to calling local salvage yards. After that, I'm at a loss on what to do.
 
Originally Posted By: CBR.worm
The thing that a lot of people didn't realize is that the GT was a Mazda powertrain and more fun/reliable/durable than the non-GT counterparts.


I test drive both versions new (both with automatic transmissions) and could not tell the difference between the two. I had other people in the car that agreed. Except for the valve drop issues with the 1.9L version, there is no difference with reliability. The parts for the 1.9L version are easier to obtain and sometimes cheaper.
 
Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
Originally Posted By: CBR.worm
The thing that a lot of people didn't realize is that the GT was a Mazda powertrain and more fun/reliable/durable than the non-GT counterparts.


I test drive both versions new (both with automatic transmissions) and could not tell the difference between the two. I had other people in the car that agreed. Except for the valve drop issues with the 1.9L version, there is no difference with reliability. The parts for the 1.9L version are easier to obtain and sometimes cheaper.

Hmmm, the Mazda motor had ~40% more hp? 89 vs 127. Our 1991 GT was an auto as well(Mom's car) and the automatic was the same Ford unit as the 1.9 got.
Our car had over 100k miles on too, so maybe the trans wasn't too happy anymore, but it be a little slow on the downshift, so if you matted the throttle at 30mph, the motor would get almost to the red line before the trans got into 1st and it would give the front tires a good 1 second peel... Below 3500-4000 rpm, I doubt there was much difference in power, just that the 1.9 signed off then and the 1.8 was just getting started.
I drove a manual one and it was far better, ford/mazda geared it perfectly for the motor and it was night and day compared to the auto... I like that you could rotate the car pretty easily and it was a scrappy car overall.
 
Mine was a manual. My wife's sister had an auto 1.9 and had the head replaced under warranty on a cross country drive. The car was never the same after that, but having driven her car frequently, there was no comparison between the two motors. One was happy at 7,000 rpm all day and one fell on its face at about 5k. What I saw from a 4 car sample (my brother had a '93 GT and his best friend had a '94 GT), the 1.8 was bulletproof, the 1.9 was not even close.

Additionally there were a lot of aftermarket parts for the 1.8. I had cams, valve springs and a header that didn't get installed because I sold the car to buy a better tow vehicle.
 
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