Thread: Bittersweet departure: One more car gone :(

Welp.....my 2nd and only remaining AWD STE departed early today, and I have quite the queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach right now, which actually comes as a surprise. I thought I was past this. These cars have been sitting there, completely useless for so long, that I thought I was completely detached from them at this point. They had me at wits end, constantly worrying about the tires being inflated, and registration stickers being up to date, always stepping outside in the morning, or coming around the corner from work at night with my heart in my throat, hoping they hadn't been towed away for one reason, or another. I love ALL my cars, but.....they also put me through an immense amount of stress (or I should say, the rules and regulations of apartment managements have).

I had dreamed of the moment I would finally be free of these things. The moment where I don't have to worry about these cars anymore, PERIOD. Every year, $78 per car for registration stickers. Every week or two, having to inflate the tires with a weak ass inflater that took 7-10 minutes per completely flat tire. Talk about raising stress and blood pressure. Imagine the feeling of not having to ever deal with, or worry about that anymore. With 3 cars down, one to go, this should have been a monumental moment.

But....something strange happened. I didn't feel anything, or think anything of what was going on while we were getting the car on the flat bed, or I was putting all the spare parts together. It didn't even hit me while we were signing the bill of sale, or I was giving him the title. It certainly didn't occur to me while he was counting out the money (other than I was a bit upset about how cheap I had to let this car go for). But when I went back outside, and the buyer got in the truck and started pulling away, it kicked in. A sudden melancholy feeling of loss. I looked at her, still sitting up there proud and resilient, despite how I had neglected her and left her dilapidated......and I couldn't help but think she's still plenty savable.....and those after market wheels look so good on there right now......and despite all the rust and paint peeling, that blue is fantastic.......and man, remember how people would be in awe of the dashboard and options on this car? And how about those ridiculously comfy seats? I was just hit with a flood of memories about how much I loved these cars. The 6000 STE sparked my interest in cars, and the '89 AWD is what sparked my obsession with rare edition FWD GMs. And there it was. The last of my sparks, being hauled away like some piece of scrap metal.

Right now, the voice in my head keeps trying to remind me that I'm GLAD it's gone, and I don't have to deal with all the headaches anymore, but......right now, that's not the way I feel. This actually feels like a sad day, not "the moment I've been waiting for". :cry:

Some pics of the car during its better days








This was at one of our meets a year or so ago. You could see the rust had already started to set in...








And the reason I fell in love with these cars (STEs in general)...

that dash looks like something out of an airplane

very nice!! i dont understand you?? get new tires and what would be the problem?

wtf a awd pontiac thats SICK!!! why did u junk it wtf!

OK, slow down. I didn't junk it. I sold it to the same guy that came down from Racine, WI and bought the other AWD I used to have a couple years ago. He had inquired about how much I wanted for this one, too, which I wasn't ready to let go of at that time. I should have, as it was in MUCH better shape at that point, and would have fetched a hell of a lot more money. Oh well. Live and learn.

It had a lot of issues. The paint was peeling bad, lots of rust started developing (a-bodies suffered from the GM '80s/'90s rust cancer like no other), the power steering was leaking, the super expensive Teves II ABS system was leaking from the actual mastercylinder (cheapest I've found a rebuilt unit for is $500, and that's quite literally a bargain for one of these old hydraulic pressurized ABS systems), the turn signal stalk broke several times, and then finally the turn signal mechanism broke from within the steering column, etc. It was basically not drivable as it sat, and I didn't have the time or patience, not to mention the desire to spend the money on that car at this time, thus the constant battle to keep the tires inflated, keep the stickers current, clean it up so that it wasn't obvious that it just sat there for months on end, etc.

Iroc - They ARE awesome cars! MUCH better looking, AND handling/riding than even the previous 6000 STE, let alone the lower end model 6000s. It's amazing how big of a variety there was in options within the 6000 line-up, from completely base (not even power doors, or windows), to options that make today's luxury cars look boring and featureless. Hell, they even LOOKED different (swappable, but different looking front and rear between the STEs vs. ordinary 6000s) up until '89, when they all got the STE style front and rear.

To allow room for the AWD system, the floor plan was significantly revised for the AWD 6000s. The exhaust tunnel was widened to allow room for both the driveshaft and exhaust, and they had to flatten the trunk floor to make room for the rear diff and cradle, so the spare tire was placed inside the actual trunk with a carpet cover since there was no compartment for it. The gas tank was redesigned in a saddle formation so that it straddled the driveshaft, which also forced them to use 2 45ohm fuel pumps on either side, rather than one 90ohm traditional pump.

And yes, the STE dash ruled! There were a lot of digital gauge clusters during that era, as that seemed to be the thing to do, but the ones in the STEs were my hands down favorite by FAR. When you can leave people in awe 15 - 20 years later, you know you have something special. It was definitely a fun car, and I miss it already. Oh well, when the time is right, and I actually have a garage to work on and store it in, I can pick one up again.

yeah that STE dash is AWSOME and yeah i understand why you let her go with the whole RUST thing and the rare master cylinders out there which are a pain to locate =[ soz to hear your loss o such a sexi car that was WAY AHEAD of its time man.

OK. before you end up selling any of your mclarens. I WANT ONE!

Actually, I already sold the 4-door McLaren STE towards the end of last year. Guy came down all the way from Minnesota with a flat bed to get it. As for the remaining 2-door, get in line. There are quite a few people who have been salivating over that thing since I mentioned my intentions to sell it a few years ago. But again, I'm very reluctant to let it go now that the other cars are gone. I'll see what happens after the GTP gets fixed up, first.

thats a weird ass car! its kinda sick though!

I know of a lot of weird ass GMs from that era, thus the user name. I've always said I'd make a weird ass millionaire, because I'd have a warehouse full of these weird ass GMs as opposed to Ferarris and Lambos.