Hey guys first post. As I'm just starting to restore my car I figure I'll be on here a lot so I wanted to introduce myself. My name is mwa206 and my whole life practically I've wanted a 79 Malibu wagon. I've had several other g-body's before but this is the one I've always wanted. It started with Lowrider magazines back in the early 90's and never went away. Every time I needed a new car this was the first car I went looking for but they were always in really bad shape or out of my price range but finally my time has come, so here's the story how after over 20 years of wanting I finally got my dream car.....for nothing (well almost nothing).
So a post came up on FB about a free car, I saw it and nearly flipped my lid as it was my 79 Malibu. By the time I saw the post almost 20 people had responded already so i thought for sure it would be gone. Turns out, the OP was a friend of mine and said since we were friends she'd move me up the list if I could go look at it that day. I gladly went a checked it out as soon as I got off work. I was told that the car was in running condition the last time it had been started which was over a year ago. I hoped with very little effort i could get it running again. turns out I was right. I put 2 qts. of oil in, some gas in the carb, and a jump start and she fired right up. I was able to drive her home. Yay! I have a free Malibu, now the real challenge, getting the title.
I had no idea how to even go about getting a title for a car considered abandoned and I had no idea how much it would cost so for the time being I just sat on it figuring I'd get to it when I had more time. The important thing was that I had the car parked on the street in front of my house. It was in my possession and no one could take it from me. Until I went outside one day and it was gone.....just gone. Naturally I freaked out and since I live in a small community we use FB groups to communicate a lot, so I immediately went to the groups to see if I could get an explanation. Within minutes I was informed that a "concerned citizen" had called the car in as abandoned and the sheriff had had it towed since it was on the street, not on my private property, even though it was in front of my house and had been for at least 90 days. So now what was I to do. I had no title, no nothing that said I was the owner of the car and seeing as how it was impounded I was never going to be able to afford the impound fees even if I could prove the car was mine. Once again my dream car had eluded me. Until.....
.....A friend and neighbor of mine PM'd me and told me she swears she's seen my car up for auction from the local wrecking yard. I was furious, how do they get to auction the car that I had in my possession and was towed for no reason, I mean I had the keys for pete's sake. Either way my only recourse at this point was to attend the auction and see if I could afford to buy it back, worst case I could sell the key to the new owner and maybe make a few bucks for my aggravation. So the auction was at 11:00 am on a Wednesday, of course right in the middle of the work week. Fortunately it was right during my lunch hour so I could at least go check it out for a few minutes. I arrive at the wrecking yard expecting to see all the gearheads there ready to scoop my car up, and to my astonishment, I'm the only one there. It also happened to be the first time this wrecking yard had ever had an auction. So after some bumbling with some paperwork and a few other things I was ready to make an offer. $50 bucks I said, and as I was the only one in attendance, they accepted. I even made it back to work with time to eat my lunch.
So after everything that had transpired, and all of the frustration of having it and losing it, turns out it getting towed was the best thing to happen, because it only cost me $50 to get the title and none of the leg work. So after registration and tax and auction price I ended up paying $263 for my dream car. Hell after I got it home and went through it I found paperwork in the car for the new transmission that was put it 2 years earlier that was still under warranty.
Now I'm the happy owner of my dream car and am starting the process of restoring it. Hopefully you guys will get to see the progress and I'm sure I'll have lots of questions.
mwa206
View attachment 47893
So a post came up on FB about a free car, I saw it and nearly flipped my lid as it was my 79 Malibu. By the time I saw the post almost 20 people had responded already so i thought for sure it would be gone. Turns out, the OP was a friend of mine and said since we were friends she'd move me up the list if I could go look at it that day. I gladly went a checked it out as soon as I got off work. I was told that the car was in running condition the last time it had been started which was over a year ago. I hoped with very little effort i could get it running again. turns out I was right. I put 2 qts. of oil in, some gas in the carb, and a jump start and she fired right up. I was able to drive her home. Yay! I have a free Malibu, now the real challenge, getting the title.
I had no idea how to even go about getting a title for a car considered abandoned and I had no idea how much it would cost so for the time being I just sat on it figuring I'd get to it when I had more time. The important thing was that I had the car parked on the street in front of my house. It was in my possession and no one could take it from me. Until I went outside one day and it was gone.....just gone. Naturally I freaked out and since I live in a small community we use FB groups to communicate a lot, so I immediately went to the groups to see if I could get an explanation. Within minutes I was informed that a "concerned citizen" had called the car in as abandoned and the sheriff had had it towed since it was on the street, not on my private property, even though it was in front of my house and had been for at least 90 days. So now what was I to do. I had no title, no nothing that said I was the owner of the car and seeing as how it was impounded I was never going to be able to afford the impound fees even if I could prove the car was mine. Once again my dream car had eluded me. Until.....
.....A friend and neighbor of mine PM'd me and told me she swears she's seen my car up for auction from the local wrecking yard. I was furious, how do they get to auction the car that I had in my possession and was towed for no reason, I mean I had the keys for pete's sake. Either way my only recourse at this point was to attend the auction and see if I could afford to buy it back, worst case I could sell the key to the new owner and maybe make a few bucks for my aggravation. So the auction was at 11:00 am on a Wednesday, of course right in the middle of the work week. Fortunately it was right during my lunch hour so I could at least go check it out for a few minutes. I arrive at the wrecking yard expecting to see all the gearheads there ready to scoop my car up, and to my astonishment, I'm the only one there. It also happened to be the first time this wrecking yard had ever had an auction. So after some bumbling with some paperwork and a few other things I was ready to make an offer. $50 bucks I said, and as I was the only one in attendance, they accepted. I even made it back to work with time to eat my lunch.
So after everything that had transpired, and all of the frustration of having it and losing it, turns out it getting towed was the best thing to happen, because it only cost me $50 to get the title and none of the leg work. So after registration and tax and auction price I ended up paying $263 for my dream car. Hell after I got it home and went through it I found paperwork in the car for the new transmission that was put it 2 years earlier that was still under warranty.
Now I'm the happy owner of my dream car and am starting the process of restoring it. Hopefully you guys will get to see the progress and I'm sure I'll have lots of questions.
mwa206
View attachment 47893
