So my Fiesta had an unfortunate encounter with an agriculture water tank on the highway and is in the body shop waiting to see if it will be totaled. This put me in a spot of needing something with a back seat to haul kids on the rare occasion that needs to happen. The market being what it is, my choices for cheap, reliable cars was limited. I had been passively looking for a 1991-97 town car for a while and Facebook market place thought I should look again. Here she is. Her name is Ethyl. So far I have replaced a ball joint that was torn. It needs an idler pulley (I think) so I am going to do the accessory belt while I am in there. The condition is shockingly nice. Interior is great. The only things that need attention are the drivers heated seat isn't working (not a great loss for me) and the foam on the drivers seat could use rebuilding. Exterior has some minor dings but really nice for a 25 year old car. Drives nice, variable steering has marked adjustment so I think the steering has been rebuilt at some point. 150K miles and a price of $3,600. 
I decided to throw on the wheels I got from Stampie years ago. They will require spacers so I got some hub centric ones. 18 x 9 and x 10 are a tight fit. Might need to roll the fenders if anyone has one of those fender rollers I can borrow/rent.
Poor Fiesta, scared the crap out of the wife. She was driving.
One of these things. Thankfully it was empty.
Damage suggests it did not go up and over. That would have been code brown for sure. I'm glad there were no injuries.
Glad to hear nobody was hurt with the water-tank crash. I had been picturing something much larger.
Nice car. I have off and on wanted a Mercury Grand Marquis for a few years now. If a wagon had existed, the decision would have been made years ago.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
No, I believe it bounced off to the side when she hit it.
It certainly wasn't a fun day as my son was in the emergency room the night before.
I have owned three panther platform cars. Good choice. They're durable and parts are cheap.
Hey I remember those wheels! They actually look decent on that Lincoln. Glad everyone is good after that hit.
Love the Town Car! Glad to hear everyone was okay. That would've scared the E36 M3 out of me.
Those wheels really look great on there. Excited to see what they look like with tires, and maybe a few raps from the lowering stick?
In reply to Run_Away :
I will see what I think I can get away with on these wide wheels. I plan to only run like a 245 if I can get away with it not looking stretched to hell.
Edit: I can get a 275/40-18 for like $5 more than the 245 in the same model tire. Yeah, I will make the wider one work.
I really like those wheels you've got for it. Really changes the look of the car, sporty grandpa mobile.
OOoh. I didn't see it was a Cartier. Ain't you fancy?
psteav (Forum Supporter) said:
OOoh. I didn't see it was a Cartier. Ain't you fancy?
Funny thing, the only clock is digital.
I got in my other set of spacers and found out more info on how much tire a Panther can take. I am trying really hard not to order $600 in tires...
On the spacers, should I use some sort of thread locker (not red I assume) to make sure the spacers stay put or is a good torquing up to 100 ft lbs.
Are those wheels aftermarket or OEM from some other car? They look good in any case.
I love those wheels
Torque spacer lug nuts to 100ftlbs and forget about them
This is going to be fun!
$600 worth of tires doesn't sound too bad right now, unfortunately.
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
They are aftermarket that I got from Stampie several years ago. Brand is American Muscle I think. I didn't see this exact style on their store anymore.
So another thought I had was the rear air suspension is fully functional. Maybe I can hijack the main line into a small tank, then plumb to manual paddles and gauges linked above, install air bags. Seems pretty straightforward.
singleslammer said:
So another thought I had was the rear air suspension is fully functional. Maybe I can hijack the main line into a small tank, then plumb to manual paddles and gauges linked above, install air bags. Seems pretty straightforward.
Even better, just intercept the "control" which may be a little sensor connected to the rear sway bar. Normally the motion of the swaybar going one way when the suspension squats is what triggers the system to add more pressure to raise back up to normal. And when the rear gets high it works the other way.
Disconnect swaybay from control, then control manually, win!
In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :
I will dig around under the rear to see what I can figure out. I ha e found very little info on doing anything like this.
Still no word from the insurance company. Thanks Farmers.
I changed the accessories belt and idlers today. Took me an hour. This car is so easy to work in.
You had mentioned (not in the thread here but offline) that you might have a noise in the accessory drive. Did your new idler(s) fix the issue?
In reply to ClemCougarSparks :
I haven't driven it since but I do believe that it did.
