Car Karma

  I finally managed to sell something that's been hanging around my neck ever since I picked up "The Helmet" from my buddy.

  The original steering wheel in the MkIV Golf/Jetta TDI cars were for the most part, made of foam with a hard rubberized coating on the outside, and used on the lower end models.  Probably worked and looked alright when new, but not really designed with longevity in mind.  The one on "The Helmet" was in pretty bad shape, even with one of those Autozone slip on steering wheel covers installed to hide the carnage.

I was given a brand new OEM foam steering wheel that the PO had bought to replace the shoddy one, but it wouldn't fit due to the airbag that was installed in the car.  VW it seems had two different suppliers for airbags during the MkIV productuion run, and lo and behold this one didn't fit.  Whatever, free parts are free parts.  I resolved either to find a replacement wheel that fit the airbag I had on the car, or source a airbag for the new wheel.

  A few months later I found a used 3 spoke Leather wheel from a MkIV GTI, and installed it in place of my worn out stocker.  I put both steering wheels and the airbag up on the forums and Craigslist because, while I didn't have any use for the parts, I couldn't just throw them away.  Especially the airbag.  Not sure how they get disposed of but tossing it into my apartment dumpster probably wasn't the right way.

I heard NOTHING from either Craigslist or the VW parts forums, because evidently NO ONE wants the stock foam wheel, not even a brand new one.  Crap.  But I persevered.  I kept the ad up on Craigslist and I bumped my FS threads on the forums and Facebook.  I was gonna get these things sold, damnit!

Finally got a response after 3 months from someone off of Craigslist asking about the wheel.  We dickered a bit on price and he offered $30 for everything from my $50 asking price.  I sighed, said: "Bring cash, and it's all yours."  I just wanted the stuff gone.  I was tired of tripping over it in the garage and seeing it lying there, as if mocking me.

 "You'll never get rid of me...we're gonna be together, FOREVER!" 


The guy came over and handed me cash for my parts a few days later.  We talked for a bit, about his VW, my cars and our jobs.  It turns out he worked as a Engineer for BG Products here in Wichita, and he appreciated me knocking $20 off the parts.  (I didn't have the heart to tell him they were one weekend away from being tossed in the dumpster, airbag or no airbag.)  He said he had a bunch of products from BG that he had lying around, and he would drop it off in a few days for hooking him up.  Neat!

The next Saturday he showed up with a box of BG Product stuff, that I haven't gotten to go through yet.  Wasn't expecting him to follow through, but there he was taking time out of his schedule to back up his words. I truly did appreciate his gesture, even though I didn't have the heart to tell him, I'm an Amsoil man.    

Anyway, sometimes if you're cool to car people (Even if you didn't intend to.), good things can happen.

Wonder what I'll find in there.  I like surprises.

Later,
Alpha, Mike, Foxtrot.......

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