Looking to Invest in My First Subaru

[tdodge41]

Hi all!

 

I have a friend who is really into vintage Subarus. He has slowly given me the bug and referred me to this forum. We both live in Muskegon, MI. His name is James, he drives I think what is known here as the Desert Fox. Anyway, I am now looking at learning a lot more about the vintage cars myself, and am looking to purchase something myself to teach myself to work on. Pretty much a 4x4 old gen Subaru ea81 or 82 from 80-94. Will probably post that in the wanted part too. Anyway, I am really excited to being this adventure. Any guidance given I would be thankful for.

 

 

[Dinky26]

Welcome to the forum!!

And to the wonderful world of SUBARUs

Should not be to hard to find one that falls into your criteria, keep your eyes peeled when you are out and check Craigslist often.

 

CL is like a drug to me  very hard to stay away from...of course it's only really bad when I have no more room for any extra cars  .

 

Good luck

[tdodge41]

Thanks a ton! I have been on craigslist multiple times a day looking for something floating around. The worst part is the people who dont take ads down! its like they are there teasing you! The worst. But thanks for the encouragement!

[86BRATMAN]

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/136316-1984-subaru-gl-for-sale/

 

I'm not real sure where this member lives, but its worth a shot.

[tdodge41]

Sequim, Washington is where they are, which is pretty much cross country for me, being that im in Michigan. But I have to fly out there for a wedding in August. If I dont have something by then I will look at getting a one way ticket and driving something home maybe.

[Mechanical_misfit]

Haha, good to see you joined up Tdodge! 

[MilesFox]

Sequim, Washington is where they are, which is pretty much cross country for me, being that im in Michigan. But I have to fly out there for a wedding in August. If I dont have something by then I will look at getting a one way ticket and driving something home maybe.

If you can, you should do that. Even the cheapest most knackered subaru out there will have better body condition than anything in the rust belt. If you are looking locally, you are going to be compounded by small sales figures from when the cars were new, and any bought back then would have rusted out 10-20 years ago.

 

Every now and again you will find a diamond in the rough. ANy jewels you may find were either immaculately kept grandma cars, or migrated from less rusty states. They do turn up, however. Most of them will be hiding in places that haven't crossed the digital divide such as craigslist and ebay. You might stand a chance at spotting one behind a barn or in a farmers field.

[Mechanical_misfit]

If you can, you should do that. Even the cheapest most knackered subaru out there will have better body condition than anything in the rust belt. If you are looking locally, you are going to be compounded by small sales figures from when the cars were new, and any bought back then would have rusted out 10-20 years ago.

 

Every now and again you will find a diamond in the rough. ANy jewels you may find were either immaculately kept grandma cars, or migrated from less rusty states. They do turn up, however. Most of them will be hiding in places that haven't crossed the digital divide such as craigslist and ebay. You might stand a chance at spotting one behind a barn or in a farmers field.

Very true, infact, we're chasing after a loyale 4wd sedan that I spotted in a field tomorrow. We also inquired on an ea82 wagon this evening.

[Subruise]

drive one back. all the bolts will still come off and youll be able to load it up with spare parts from the many JY soobs out here. 

[Dinky26]

Yeah, drives me insane when people don't pull their listings down for days on end. They'll get their karma some day though, I would like to watch though;-)

 

+1 on the one way ticket!

 

That is how I got my Brat home :) What an enjoyable drive it was too, even though I had to rush home.

 

Keep you eyes open in Montana too, I've seen some that appeared to be worth while there as well.

 

Oh yeah, don't forget to enjoy the ride:)

[tdodge41]

Thanks everyone! To update, Mechanical_misfit and I checked out that ea82 wagon today. I left the wagon a note and got a call from the man tonight. Doesn't want to sell it, but is a really good guy, thought it showed how much I want a subaru that I left him a note HOPING his wagon was for sale. Wants to chat more later. 

 

And yea, my big worry is I don't know a TON about vintage subarus yet, so if something happened on the road fixing it would be a challenge, let alone somewhere across the country. Although I did check craigslist seattle today (the wedding im in is on Whitby Island, if anyone knows where that is) and there are a TON of beauties out there. Amazing really. I will keep updating this thread as the journey continues. Tomorrow night we check out the loyale sedan sitting in the field. 

[Subruise]

Thanks everyone! To update, Mechanical_misfit and I checked out that ea82 wagon today. I left the wagon a note and got a call from the man tonight. Doesn't want to sell it, but is a really good guy, thought it showed how much I want a subaru that I left him a note HOPING his wagon was for sale. Wants to chat more later. 

 

And yea, my big worry is I don't know a TON about vintage subarus yet, so if something happened on the road fixing it would be a challenge, let alone somewhere across the country. Although I did check craigslist seattle today (the wedding im in is on Whitby Island, if anyone knows where that is) and there are a TON of beauties out there. Amazing really. I will keep updating this thread as the journey continues. Tomorrow night we check out the loyale sedan sitting in the field. 

if you can get on the internet you can fix anything on one of these. good luck on the loyale

[ystrdyisgone]

There are a couple a week on my local CL. I also have my eye on a few in some fields. If you want me to formally find you something out here, let me know, we can make arrangements.

[tdodge41]

Hey ystrdyisgone, where in MT are you?

[ystrdyisgone]

I live in the bozeman area. I also work in a subaru shop, so if you are thinking of holding off until august, I could easily have a perfectly running, trip-worthy one ready to go by then. Ultimately it really depends on what you are looking for, and how much you are willing to spend. The majority of soobs I see are the late 80s wagons, needing minor to mediocre repair. Every now and then an early 80s wagon pops up. Bottom line, if you want a mechanically sound vehicle to drive back home this fall, I would be happy to help you with that. But by doing so you miss out on the whole "learn as you go" process.. until something breaks again 50k miles later ha.

 

Food for thought is all that is. Let me know how the search goes.

Edited February 15, 2013 by ystrdyisgone

[turbosubarubrat]

here is a cool one under portlands craigslist. i just want the front bumper for my brat

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/3618017740.html

[TomRhere]

Welcome to the Board....

 

Lot's of good info on here, just spent a lazy day reading thru the posts, and you'll gain alot of info.

 

James has been down here to my place a couple times, and planning another trip soon.

You're welcome to join him if you want to. Well, if it's ok with him that is...

 

That link to the '81 Wagon, nice Wagon. To bad it's in the wrong Hillsdale...........

[MR_Loyale]

Thanks everyone! To update, Mechanical_misfit and I checked out that ea82 wagon today. I left the wagon a note and got a call from the man tonight. Doesn't want to sell it, but is a really good guy, thought it showed how much I want a subaru that I left him a note HOPING his wagon was for sale. Wants to chat more later. 

 

And yea, my big worry is I don't know a TON about vintage subarus yet, so if something happened on the road fixing it would be a challenge, let alone somewhere across the country. Although I did check craigslist seattle today (the wedding im in is on Whitby Island, if anyone knows where that is) and there are a TON of beauties out there. Amazing really. I will keep updating this thread as the journey continues. Tomorrow night we check out the loyale sedan sitting in the field. 

 

 

You are in perfect range to go soob hunting my friend. Look at the map. Whidbey Island is in Northern Puget Sound (find Seattle and move north). You can take a 30 min ferry ride from whidbey Island to Port Townsend and then less than 1 hour to Sequim.  BTW, Port Townsend was the site of last year's West Coast Subaru Show (WCSS). It'll prob cost you about 26 bucks by car to ride the ferry each way so save yer pennies. WSF has an online tool called vessel watch that gives live real time map position of the ferries.

 

Here's the link:

 

http://www.wsdot.com/ferries/vesselwatch/Default.aspx

 

[MR_Loyale]

if you can get on the internet you can fix anything on one of these. good luck on the loyale

 

Absolutely true. In 2008 I pulled my engine did timing belts, clutch, oil and water pumps even though I had never done any of it before. I followed all the good information out there (thank you Miles Fox I officially dub thee Guru-baru of the Subaru ) took it nice an SLOW. I was quite anal about taping and marking every connector on each end with a number of the order in which I took  it off. I recored this step on a sheet of paper. Assembly was simply following in reverse. She started up first crank! 

Edited February 18, 2013 by MR_Loyale

[88wacaroo]

 Cheers!! Welcome to the most DIE Hard fans of SUBIES  It"s not A HEEP{jeep} Lovers site THANK YOU ADMINS!!!If you look at what everybody owns on here-you get the gist....I drive my ea81 hatch more than my 98outback-It"s FUNNER !! But I would most definitely get 1 from the west coast!! I drove to oregon for a"81"4xwgn.,orig.paint,no rust,took a spare mtr. w/me changed it an drove the car back-33mpgs  No Issues  !! Sounds like you have plenty O help already!!! Hell if you were to break down I"m sure it would happen in Sub friendly place  Plus the Drive IS Awesome!!! Beautiful!!! Good Luck!!

[ystrdyisgone]

Spotted a couple ea81 wagons in a field today. One maroon, one either grey or light blue. Let me know if you would like me to look into them more.

[Legacy RallyGuy]

Absolutely true. In 2008 I pulled my engine did timing belts, clutch, oil and water pumps even though I had never done any of it before. I followed all the good information out there (thank you Miles Fox I officially dub thee Guru-baru of the Subaru ) took it nice an SLOW. I was quite anal about taping and marking every connector on each end with a number of the order in which I took  it off. I recored this step on a sheet of paper. Assembly was simply following in reverse. She started up first crank! 

Yup!  If you take your time and read the instructions with the measure twice, cut once method... You can build some amazing things...  Just ask questions if you don't know and keep your patience about ya and you can accomplish anything.  

 

Notes are priceless too, I took three years to rebuild my Legacy and thankfully I took great notes *form most of it* It saved me time and money!

 

 

 

Hi all!

 

I have a friend who is really into vintage Subarus. He has slowly given me the bug and referred me to this forum. We both live in Muskegon, MI. His name is James, he drives I think what is known here as the Desert Fox. Anyway, I am now looking at learning a lot more about the vintage cars myself, and am looking to purchase something myself to teach myself to work on. Pretty much a 4x4 old gen Subaru ea81 or 82 from 80-94. Will probably post that in the wanted part too. Anyway, I am really excited to being this adventure. Any guidance given I would be thankful for.

In the vintage Subaru world, it's always best to start off with a complete (as much as possible) car...  And and especially if it's your first car, get one as close to stock as possible... I was on my 6th Scooby, when I bought my STi that was full of upgrades-cobbled together parts and aftermarket parts.  I was chasing gremlins for nearly a year...  You may have seen it around an art forum or two if you know MilesFox.  It's the 04' STi with the license plate that says, "YIFFY"  Sadly, when I moved to Ireland, I couldn't ship.  Oh, And really handy, document the build. That way if you do pass it on to someone else, you gain a friend, not an enemy

 

And most of all, welcome aboard!

 

 

[tdodge41]

So just to update, I think my new plan is going to be to keep my eyes open a bit, but I am for sure going to try and buy one when I am out west for the wedding. Maybe on the first day so I have something to drive to the wedding and then can work on while there, and then drive it home, cross country. I saw there are some really good looking Brats out there as well as some other rides in good shape. Hoping to have close to 3,000 to spend on the car and get it home. Wont start till August, but I will be amassing knowledge till then. And I will make sure that my trip is WELL documented. And to all those in the Seattle/Portland area I will be seeing you in about 5 months. 

[tdodge41]

So this will be my last update here, because, well, in a strange turn of events, I now am the proud owner of a vintage Subaru! My first! I have Mechanical_Misfit and TomRhere to thank for hooking me up with a 1985 Subaru Brat. I am simply in love with this car, and cannot wait for tomorrow to give it a tune up. So I guess from here I will be starting a thread full of pictures of my ride and such. Thank you everyone, you were a huge help. Can't wait to get this thing going at full speed. 

[ystrdyisgone]

Nice! Congrats man.