phile
09-23-2003, 12:21 PM
After 17 years of driving, and 6 or so years of owning, my dad's last Suburban, it's time to let go.
Many of you have seen the beast at autocrosses and such over the years. It is a silver (well, it USED to be silver) 1986 Chev Suburban Scottsdale. Fold down the back seat and you can stack 4x8 panels dry and inside.
The body is rusty and the paint is faded. Chassis frame is solid. The driver seat is worn, the rest of the interior looks OK. It has just over a hundred thousand on the clock. AM/FM radio works. Trick headlight placement makes for better vision in snow and fog, more courtesy to car drivers.
307 V-8. Tires are good. Factory 5- bolt steel wheels with the big trim rings.
Class III hitch receiver. Controller for electric brakes, but the brakes would need new wiring. Currently wired with the standard flat-4 trailer-light hookup. Tows cars on trailers with no problems. Long wheelbase and lots of mass combine to make comfortable towing. It has the factory trailer-towing package, but has not been used a lot for towing. We towed a 24-foot Coachmen for about 200 miles once, and it liked it well enough. Other than that, just occasional race cars and autocross club trailers.
The last time I bothered to check the highway mileage, it got 16 MPG.
All the glass is still there. All the windows open and close properly except the driver-side wing window. Doors all work. Running boards are getting a little "springy". Heater works. Air conditioning has a slow leak somewhere, so you would either need to get that fixed, find an air-conditioning technician with a "casual relationship with the law" to recharge it, or open a window. It has a refreshing lack power mirrors, power windows and power door locks.
1000 bucks. Or you could buy a brand-new one for only 50 times the price. Lots of life still in this one, but it would be absurd to call it pretty.
(I got a deal I couldn't refuse on a 1993 Suburban Silverado 4WD. I have mixed feelings about the bucket seats. I'd rather be able to carry three people up front like the old one.
Anybody know the cheapest place to get running boards? Sue is really short, and her fibromyalgia makes it tough for her to climb into a truck without running boards.)
pethier@isd.net
Many of you have seen the beast at autocrosses and such over the years. It is a silver (well, it USED to be silver) 1986 Chev Suburban Scottsdale. Fold down the back seat and you can stack 4x8 panels dry and inside.
The body is rusty and the paint is faded. Chassis frame is solid. The driver seat is worn, the rest of the interior looks OK. It has just over a hundred thousand on the clock. AM/FM radio works. Trick headlight placement makes for better vision in snow and fog, more courtesy to car drivers.
307 V-8. Tires are good. Factory 5- bolt steel wheels with the big trim rings.
Class III hitch receiver. Controller for electric brakes, but the brakes would need new wiring. Currently wired with the standard flat-4 trailer-light hookup. Tows cars on trailers with no problems. Long wheelbase and lots of mass combine to make comfortable towing. It has the factory trailer-towing package, but has not been used a lot for towing. We towed a 24-foot Coachmen for about 200 miles once, and it liked it well enough. Other than that, just occasional race cars and autocross club trailers.
The last time I bothered to check the highway mileage, it got 16 MPG.
All the glass is still there. All the windows open and close properly except the driver-side wing window. Doors all work. Running boards are getting a little "springy". Heater works. Air conditioning has a slow leak somewhere, so you would either need to get that fixed, find an air-conditioning technician with a "casual relationship with the law" to recharge it, or open a window. It has a refreshing lack power mirrors, power windows and power door locks.
1000 bucks. Or you could buy a brand-new one for only 50 times the price. Lots of life still in this one, but it would be absurd to call it pretty.
(I got a deal I couldn't refuse on a 1993 Suburban Silverado 4WD. I have mixed feelings about the bucket seats. I'd rather be able to carry three people up front like the old one.
Anybody know the cheapest place to get running boards? Sue is really short, and her fibromyalgia makes it tough for her to climb into a truck without running boards.)
pethier@isd.net