We're expanding our family!

Hey everyone I have some very exciting news! But first I just wanted to let you know that I turned on comment verification for the time being. I got over 1,500 spam comments in less than two weeks and although they aren't showing up on the blog because Blogger is awesome at filtering, they were making my gmail inbox go crazy! Hopefully I'll find a way to stop them with a less annoying way than CAPTCHA but for now I'm going to see if it makes a difference. I've already gotten four spam comments today so we'll see!

Anyway...

Well we're done having babies...

And we're not getting another puppy until we get a bigger house...

We decided to add to our family in a different way. Here she is!

 I don't have a name for her yet, but I love her already! She's a 1978 Pontiac Trans Am, straight up Smokey and the Bandit style! ;)

It all started yesterday when I was uploading pictures I took at a car show this weekend to Instagram. I got talking with a friend about how much I wanted a muscle (ok, pony) car but we could never afford one- well, another one. If you didn't know, N is currently restoring a 1967 Chevy Camaro, and that guy has expensive taste.

My dream car is a 1970 Dodge Challenger (although I'd take just about any first generation- or third generation!- ones) but old Mopars are insanely expensive. Unless we win the lotto that is always going to be a pipe dream- especially with the way old cars are increasing in value/ price. However I've also always loved Trans Ams and right now they are much more in our price range.

So on a whim I decided to cruise Craigslist (one of N's favorite pastimes) for Trans Ams, and this beauty came up first. The car looked good and the price looked even better, so I took my phone out to (where else) the garage where N was working and showed him the listing. Apparently he had already seen it and had already considered going to look at it! When I told him I wanted it, nay needed it, he called the guy right away and we decided to go check it out.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect. We've bought probably more than a dozen cars on Craigslist (and sold just as many!) and cars aren't always as nice as they look in the ads. We actually had a Wagoneer blow up on us while we were driving it home. The previous owners refused to give us our money back, yes we were stupid to buy it but come on, and I hope karma has gotten them back. :) Anyway, I was cautious about it and tried not to get my hopes up.

But when we got there everything checked out nicely. The girl needs a fresh coat of paint and some work on the interior (new carpet has already been ordered!) but her body was clean and almost completely rust free which is huge with these old cars. She has her original motor which is valuable, and only a few mechanical issues that N needs to check out. She also came with almost all of her original documentation which is rare, valuable, and really cool! We have the original owners manual, all the brochures she came with, her window sticker, all the original financing information, and all kinds of service record. She came from a dealership in Aurora, Colorado and has lived here her whole life! No wonder she's not rusty!

I think N might be even more excited than I am. He's resigned himself to the fact that the Camaro probably isn't going to be running this summer because he wants all kinds of fancy parts for it that we can't afford right now. He's also doing body work on it so he can paint it (which is going to be quite the adventure) and that means it can't be exposed to the elements. He says we can "share" the Trans Am until the Camaro is ready, but that's what he thinks. I think I'll be nice enough to let him drive it sometimes. ;)

I'm not concerned with doing anything fancy to her. Eventually I'd like to get her a fresh coat of paint and some new interior pieces (her seats could use re-covering and the dash lid is ripped), but I want to keep her original as possible. N started talking about building a fancy new motor but there's no way her current one is going anywhere if it is in fact the original! Plus I'm not planning on racing her (N wants to autocross the Camaro), I just want a fun summer car for myself.

R has the nicest car of any of us! :)

My new girl brings our total car count back up to 5, but we're trying to get rid of our Wagoneer which would bring it back down to 4. I'm ok with adding to the count if it's one I can drive. I am hopeless with a stick shift so I'll never be able to drive the Camaro myself.

All in all I am SO excited! Tomorrow she's getting registered in MY name and weather permitting she's going to get a serious wash (I should probably wash my poor Commander too!) The guy we bought her from smoked in her so she doesn't smell too great, but once that new carpet comes in she's going to get an interior cleaning like never before and that will hopefully take care of any lingering stink.

I'm sure you'll be seeing plenty more pictures of her from here on out. ;)