So, my car, a 1971 Plymouth Satellite Sebring Plus, has been making some metal-on-metal noises of late… not sure why. My dad and I suspect it may be the shocks (as they’re original, and at 120K miles are, unsurprisingly, shot). I took it to the mechanic up the street, and they noticed that the front-end needs a lot of work. $600 to do the tire ends (inner and outer), another $400 for a new steering box, $300 for 4 Gabriel shocks ($50 a pop) and 1.25 hours to put ‘em in… and we’re looking at nearly $1500 to make the car ride much nicer.
So, I’ve said I’d start looking when I had to pay more than $3,000 at one time to fix the car. I don’t now, but ouch, $1500? Hmmm… at $500 every six months, I don’t mind, as I budget $1000 a year for random car repairs. Perhaps I should budget $2000 now? But we’re only in March, and already going through a lot of repairs.
Decisions decisions… I’ll probably take the car up to the mechanic I’ve been using in Woodinville for a 2nd estimate… see how it compares, although I suspect it’ll be about the same. And I’ll probably get it done over the year (vs now)… hmm… but I do feel weird putting in half the car’s value for some front-end work. Ah well…