Good news/bad news (long)

[nicksimc]

I was driving over Snoqualmie pass towards Seattle yesterday, great weather, 
nice wide mountain freeway, minimal traffic, 70mph speed limit (though it was 
being strictly enforced).   Then I hear a slight pop, (like driving over a 
thin seam on a bridge) and then the car slows and starts 'chugging.'  At this 
point I am 
wondering if I will need a fire extinguisher...  I then realise the front 
driver side tire had given out.  When I stopped and got out,  I could see a 
bunch of steel belt 
spaghetti and a hole the size of a golf ball.  I was completely amazed by the 
fact that  it never pulled to the side, and the rim is straight. This doesn't 
seem right to 
me since it is a drive wheel.  Anyway, I enjoyed the rest of the ride on a 
donut under 50...  Must get full-size spare. It was okay though, I hit rush 
hour traffic, so 
the snail like-pace enabled me to avoid the potholes in our terrible roads...  
Why do I live here again?  Oh yeah, just  got done doing it...

But the good news is that I am now the proud owner of an '84 4ksq in excellent 
shape.  The interior is dark brown in immaculate condition, it needs a tad bit 
of 
love on the exterior (Tornado Red) and of course has two non-functioning front 
window switches which are waiting to be cleaned as I type this.  I haven't 
decided the fate of the '82 4ks yet, but I _cannot_ keep two cars running, as 
I barely need one at all.  I might try and talk my dad into ditching his 
thrashed late 
-80s Camry.  The '82  has 125k so he could probably put a few miles on it 
before it gives up the ghost and I can still muck about under the hood... 
Yes.. 
Excellent...

I think I'm going to go look at the new car again...

Matt
'82 4ks
'84 4ksq
(two cars for the first time...  truly American at last)

PS The guy I bought it from has a Golf IV and an old Scirocco in nice shape 
tucked in the garage, and he asks me if I've ever driven an Audi before, and 
when I 
point out my car he says  'So you know about the inline 5 then...'  Nice.  
Apparently someone else had been looking at it, but they didn't seem to get  
that it wasn't 
'just a normal com