I bought this car off a guy who estimated the value of the car to be about $1000 with 148,000 miles on it. It was a 5 speed, and the 5th gear didnt work (it kept popping out of gear all on its own), which meant the syncros needed replaced which was a $600 repair, so he sold the car to me for $400. It needed a $200 tune up as well, so I guess you could say I paid $600 for it. All the same, this was another diehard little car.

I drove this thing until 176,000 miles, without 5th gear. I'd drive it clear across Pennsylvania and back, just winding the crap out of the motor in 4th gear. Thinking that at any minute, it was going to blow. For a little while, I had kept a 2x4 in my car with little notches cut out which I would wedge between the armrest and the shifter, which would keep it in held in 5th gear on long trips. This worked ok, until one day, driving along, the car made a loud, awful grinding sound and the shifter voilently thrusted the 2x4 out of its position, and fires it in to the back seat. So, I put it in 4th. A few minutes later, my freind Hank asks "Are you going to put the board back in?" I about smacked him just for asking. From that point on, it was 4th gear all the time.

I had done some rather loopy things to this car. I had wired up the doors James-Bond-Style, so that when you pushed a button on the transmitter, the doors would actually pop open. This was done with soleniods that I got out of a street rodder magazine, and a couple of gas struts that are normally used to hold a hatchback open. If you've ever wanted to do this to a car, dont. Trust me. It took about 3 months for me to get it all right, even then it didnt work all the time. You get locked out a lot. You look stupid often when you cant get in to your own car. However, it does look really cool when it works. You walk up to the car, and the door opens to greet you. You tell drunk people at a party thats its 'voice-activated', as you say "driver door open", and push the button in your pocket. Leave, and watch a bunch of drunks having an in depth conversation with your car trying to get in to it.

Other necessities that I added to this car were a TV, Nintendo, VCR, and CD changer. The majority of all of the goodies were temporary. I had bought a VCR for my room at school (and used a 12V converter to run it), and borrowed my brothers Nintendo. Then I bought a $50 TV at radio shack, which *perfectly* mounted in the double DIN radio opening. The changer ran a straight signal to an amp, and the controller dangled loosly in the car. It was all good, but I didnt have a sub, and I didnt have a VCR in my room. "Hey, wanna watch a movie? OK, we'll have to sit in my car". Thats a little riduculous. The TV broke, and I didnt have the ambition to get another one, so I pulled it all out, and threw a JL 12" sub in there. It called for a 3.5 cu ft box. Geez, that took up my whole hatch. It really did. I ran it off a Rockford amp (which I still have), but mounted it in such a way that it would overheat in about 1 hour. That was ok, as most of my driving was around school, at a max of 10 minutes. However, a 6 hour drive home, without tunes was unacceptable. I had dryer hose that I attached to the passenger door, and ran back to the amp. It looked really dumb, but it worked. Put it on every time I had to go home.

This vehicle took a lot of punishment, too. Come to think of it, I've been hard on a lot of my cars. I finally got a job out of college, and had to take the Pulsar to move from PA to DC. I loaded it up with a few clothes, a single mattress crammed in the back, and my home stereo. Half way there it starts to rain, and I have to re-arrange things so that the mattress isnt sticking out so far. I pull the release on the front seat, forgetting the matress is pushed in like a spring, and it thrusts the seatback forward, sending my speaker in to my windshield. Huge spider crack, although it just barley missed breaking though.

I drove the car to my new job, with a broken windsheild for about 6 months until the inspection was up, and it was on its last leg. I sold it to some guy who did body piercing for $400 and a tounge piercing. I got $100 as a down payment, got my tounge pierced, and never saw the rest of the money once he skipped town. Years later I ran in to him, and he's still vowed to give me the moeny, but I still havent seen a dime.