The Unfuckening- "Or, I Drag My Broken Ass Out Into The Garage After 3 Months Of Sitting On My Ass."

This Blows...

"Recuperating", that is.  For the last three months I've been sitting on my ass waiting for my broken body to heal up from my recent accident.  I've watched TV, surfed the Internet, researched car projects and even built model kits.  Bored, does not even begin to describe my mental state.

  My surgeon gave me the green light to start hobbling around on both legs without any support for the broken ankle and I've been making pretty good progress.  Until I was told I needed another surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in my left shoulder and I was looking at possibly another 3 months of downtime.

"Fanfuckingtastic"

So, 5 days after my surgery, I decided to head out to the garage and at least look over the 98 Talon I picked up before the accident and see what I've set myself up for.  I mean I can't "work" on it, but what harm is there in looking it over.

Ran When Parked

With any used car purchase, there's a point where you look everything over, see what you've got to work with and devise a plan to address any issues that may arise.  Over the years, I've come to call this process "Unfuckening The Car".

How much of this process involves, wailing, tearing of hair, and the gnashing of teeth generally depends on whether an informed decision was made while purchasing the vehicle in question.

Since this was a 98 Talon AWD and the last year it was made, and knowing "I've always wanted one", I didn't have a lot of hope in that regard.

I Hate Being Right

Yeah, it's a basket case.

The rear of the lower rocker panels on both sides, show signs of rust, along with the underside of the car.

 For some reason the wiper cowl and wiper arms were removed and were chilling in the hatch area. 

 I found a pair of aftermarket gauges attached to the A-Pillar pod with wood screws that had wiring twisted together with electrical tape.  I suppose I should be glad they at least used electrical tape.

The stereo wiring has the aftermarket radio wiring harness butt spliced in place of the factory wiring plugs.

The interior is missing bits and pieces everywhere, and it looks like he enjoyed screwing random things into the various trim pieces.  Luckily, it has the Gray/Black ombo dash and interior in the car with power leather seats.  *SCORE!*

The carpet on the passenger side of the car has been removed and there is a huge oil slick inside the car on that side.

The Driver's Side door appears to be misaligned, and the door panel needs to be reinstalled.

There's a virtual rats nest of wiring and poor choices that will need to be sorted out before I even think of applying power or hooking a battery back up to the car.

Both taillights, the center section and some other lenses were tinted at some point and look like sweaty swamp ass. 

The top of the hatch near the roof is dented for some reason.

Fucking rust! Did I mention that?

I haven't even looked at the engine bay yet, becuase I don't have bolts for the hood and I can't hold the hood up with just one hand.  The hood prop is missing too.

 Someone, just shoot me now.

I Don't Care

Like I said, I've always wanted one of these and I have no problem taking my time trying to get this thing looking and driving good again.  To make things easier, I'm pretty sure I'll need to find a parts car so I can source the various interior, engine bay and body bits to restore the interior and shell.

Well, I'm always talkign about how much I love working on basket case cars. Time to prove it.

Alpha, Mike, Foxtrot....