Nissa

About

The Nissan is a 1987 Nissan Maxima station wagon. It is the second car Woozle ever owned; I got it in 1996, to replace the stolen Dodge.

Although there seem to be a quite few sedans of this same model and vintage on the road, the station wagon is apparently quite rare -- as evidenced by how long it took me to get a replacement tail-light after vandals smashed one of them in with a pumpkin in 2006. Admittedly, the place I took it for inspection in 2007 and 2008 simply overlooked the problem, so I didn't start really looking until 2009 when I started taking it to Durham Auto Diagnostic -- much better mechanics, but also a smaller operation very worried about keeping their inspection license. Apparently in NC you can't just patch the lens with red tape, you have to actually replace the part.

The manufacturer initially quoted something like $300, but then admitted they were out of stock and the part was no longer being made. (I confirmed this from a separate source.) One online store claimed to have the part, but they didn't. That left me with this situation.

Eventually, an online friend in Norway found one on Ebay, for a ridiculously small amount of money (something like $40 including shipping). When it arrived, the part was marked "1986" -- so apparently the tail lights are the same part for 1986 and 1987.

As of this writing, the inspection now awaits repair of the defective steering rack installed by AAA last year, and then the catalytic converter has a problem. And the moon roof leaks, but I may just caulk that for now.

July 4 storm

There was a freak storm on July 4, 2008; it did this:

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  an overview of the situation

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  minor cosmetic damage

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  the main problem

I actually repaired the window myself, with a used part which cost something like $20 -- though it took me many months to get around to it. Taking doors apart can get ugly. Putting them back together is worse. And of course there were small chunks of safety glass everywhere.