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[austin_tycho]

More car information...


These are features that distinguish it from other cars, mainly things someone who is used to driving one of those pansy-ass newer cars might want to know. Since I may not have mentioned it elsewhere, we're talking about my 1979 Pontiac Catalina, 4 door sedan, 301 v-8 engine, automatic

• no interval wipers. There are 2 speeds, that's it!
  
• no safety features to speak of, other than seat belts. It doesn't have a nice nerf steering wheel- if you crash hard enough, it'll go right through your rib cage. No air bags, lap belts only in the rear seats
  
• no center brake light
  
• it does have power brakes and steering, but you have to roll down the windows and lock the doors yourself
  
• no rearview mirror on the passenger door
  
• no rear window defroster
  
• the antenna is a hair-thin thing embedded in the windshield, which I always thought was pretty cool
  
• the 'bright' headlights are separate lights, so there are a total of 4 headlights
  
• no cute little chimes to tell you if you left your headlights on or doors ajar
  
• bench seats
  
• an enormous trunk; I can fold up a full-sized futon mattress and stuff it in the trunk and still fit stuff around the sides and close it
  
• comes with a jack; no spare though
  
• mileage is about 10-15 mpg in the city, closer to 20 on the highway. Tank holds about 18.5 gallons and is happy with regular unleaded
  
• the doors are big heavy chunks of steel, and you have to really get your shoulder into it to pull it shut. If not (and especially for the rear doors) it'll half-catch and rattle incessantly until you open it again and give it a good slam
  
• the back windows only roll halfway down
  
• parts are cheap, but some of them are getting harder to find
  
• Consumer Reports said that the two things that really give you trouble with this car is the paint and the a/c. It was already starting to rust when I first got it in 1988, and I have replaced the a/c 3 times. What happens with that is the dryer goes out, which takes the compressor out with it. It costs about $500 to repair.
  
• the rest of it has been pretty good, but about what you'd expect of an American car with 250,000 miles on it. In addition to the a/c and engine, I've replaced the transmission, a lot of the electrical system, brakes, timing belts, and all the other usual stuff. When the engine needed a valve job, I was told I may as well just get a new one (as in, another one- it was a rebuilt core, IIRC), which I did. At that point, it was like I had a brand-new car, it just looked like hell. It still looks like hell, and because of that no one messes with it. Why bother?