I called a wrecking yard Tuesday, and arranged to have the car picked up Wednesday morning. At the time I called them, I was told that it would be a "courtesy pickup", meaning they'd come get the car and not charge me for hauling it away.
Considering that I had removed the engine, transmission, steering column, instrument cluster, AC controls, parts of the dashboard, rear struts and springs, rear brake adjusters, alloy wheels, AND miscellanious bits and pieces, I was not expecting much from them, if anything. Just getting it hauled out of the driveway free of charge was good enough. I mean, I paid $75 to get the car back after it was totaled. $75 for all those parts? The damn rear strut assemblies alone would cost more than that from a boneyard, and I wouldn't know what I was getting. These have less than 20,000 miles on them and I installed them myself, so I know what shape they're in.
Well, I did pay some $50 for some junk wheels from a friend of mine, so I could keep the alloy wheels. But even so that's $125 for all those parts I listed above.
When the guy showed up and did the paperwork, there were three $10 bills stapled to it. I did not say anything about what I had been told over the phone.
...so, it cost me, what, $95 for a known-good engine? To say nothing of the other parts? You just don't get deals like that every day.
I know that "auto recyclers" make money from the cars they haul. Usable parts are unscrewed and sold, and the rest is sent to the shredder. As I recall, the State of Illinois also pays a certain amount of money for the title of a car that is junked. So even after they gave me $30 for the car, I still have no doubt at all that they'll make plenty off that car.
After all is said and done, the car sat in my driveway for about 54 weeks. I'm very glad that my neighbors never complained about it.... Well, it was under a car cover.
I think I'll use the $30 to buy myself the second season of Joan of Arcadia.
* * *
In order to make room for the tow truck I had to move the Fiero, and after moving it I let it run for a little bit to circulate the fluids and all. It reminded me how much fun that car is to drive, strangely enough, and so I'm thinking I might get it street-legal again and drive it a bit. It's not snowing much this year--we've had a total of maybe three inches since it first snowed in October--and it looks like it'll be a fairly warm winter.
* * *
I'm hoping that the weather does stay in the 40s for the rest of the winter. It probably won't--recall please from Memorial Day weekend of 2006, this picture?
The sky was literally clear for a hundred miles in any direction, but right over my head a thunderstorm was dumping rain. I had a lot of work I wanted to do on the Fiero and I couldn't do it thanks to that stupid storm.
That was, of course, after the power had been knocked out the previous day by another storm, one which had downed some power lines.
So while I am hoping that the weather stays in the 40s for the rest of the winter, I know exactly what it will actually do: Once they cut hours after the holidays are over, it will get cold and it will stay cold. We may or may not actually get snow, but it will be bitterly cold for the rest of the winter.
I ain't paranoid for nothing.