Happy 13th birthday to your car Doug.

__________________
Beaten up old 98 Gen 2 Liberty, 13.0, stock V3 STI running gear.
07 Transit motor home
69 VF & 70 VG Valiants needing full restoration
Yamaha Zooma 50cc rocket hopefully going with the Transit.

I bought my beloved MY99 WRX sedan brand new in 1998. It has 96,000km on the clock and looks like it just came off the showroom floor. (Couple of dents the size of a 5c coin in the RHS passenger door, but I know if I have them taken out, within days some dimwit will drive up the side of my car with a bullbar.)

We also have an MY99 Forester GT we bought new for my wife. 166,000 on the clock, but looks and drives like a new car. The car is only on its third set of tyres, which tells you how carefully my wife has babied it ;-) The GT is currently listed in the for sale section because I recently bought the wife an MY99 WRX hatch.

i was 20 years old when i first test drove a green wrx in june of 1997 and was happy to buy that demo there and then but the salesmen mentioned the new one was coming out with 16" wheels, SIXTEENS!!! the new interior, new dash and so on did nothing for me but the wheels!! I ordered the car on xmas eve 1997 after seeing the MY98 in the flesh. I asked for the following, black, leather sunroof which the salesman replied no to each. so i was left to wonder the car yard looking for the next best colour. a silver one was parked up and was getting ready for delivery and i said, well, why not. the only options available then was the dual airbags and i scoffed at the idea but was then shown the airbag on the liberty rx model and it was the MOMO wheel and it looked good, why not! it finally arrived at total subaru 21st april 1998. It had but a handful of kms on it when i picked it up, 6kms to be exact. this was back when you had to wait months for your car and it was painful as you would sit there and month after month magazine articles would come out saying just how good it was!

after 12 and a bit years and one hell of a journey i still can't believe the car is mine. i know its been somewhat negelected over the last few years as other cars and life got in the way, but we should be back on road shortly and i for one can't wait!

Ordered mine in Sept 04 and picked it up on 5 Nov 2004 from Total Subaru in Cannington and was one of the first MY05 specs. I was that excited I remember going down to the dealer the weekend I was told it arrived direct off of the transporter and saw it parked on the lot before it had been unwrapped so to speak. It was delivered with 7 kilometers on the clock, now has only 41K on the clock and has always been kept covered and in a garage. It is still almost like brand new except for the sand blasted and stone chipped shit paint on the front bumper and front of the bonnet. Subaru really need to sort their paint quality out. I hate to think how it would look if it was used as a daily driver. It has been modded. Engine,suspension and brakes, it goes and handles very nicely thank you.

I picked it up after alot of shit with the then sales manager, Alan Holmes.It spoiled the buying experience big time and he was a real prick. I believe he now works as a salesman at City Subaru. Below are parts of postings made on another WRX forum at the time on what a shit head he was.

"Went to pick up my 05 WRX today and part of the spec was to have an STI spoiler fitted.I have been waiting 10 F#*KING years to get one of these cars and was well hyped up about it. I was told that the spoiler was coming off of an STI that was sold a couple of months earlier, the buyer wanted a sleeper and didnt want the spoiler on the car, it was brand new and that it had been in storage untill now. Went to the dealer money in hand only to find that the spoiler and boot lid looked like it had already done a few stages in rally OZ. It was scratched and had what looked like road grime that hadn't been cleaned off properly around the Subaru chrome lettering and on a couple of points looked like it had been cleaned with a scouring pad.
The hand over was being done by the sales manager and when I pointed it out there was no apology or any concern shown. He just started saying that he told the salesman that he didn't want him to sell me the spoiler in the first place and that he told him he didn't want it put on the car etc. I obviously didn't pick up the car and they are going to "buff it up" tomorrow and I am going down to see if it is any better then. "

"It gets worse guys. I went to pick up the car again this afternoon and before going I phoned the salesmanager Alan Holmes, asked him if it was ready and if he had inspected the spoiler. He said yes and that it was looking good. I took my wife and daughter (7 years old) with me and the spoiler was still shit, admittedly it was better, but still bad.
I then got him to admit that it had come off of another car and was 2nd hand. That explained the shit condition and he then tried to say that I knew I was getting a second hand one and "What did I expect for the money, you already screwed us into the ground with the deal"
" I was paying F*#KING $42K and he says what do I expect for the money .Things started getting a bit heated and I told my wife and daughter to walk away cos I might say words I didn't want my daughter to hear. I demanded that he either put on a new spoiler or take the thing off and get it completly resprayed. He said no to both of these things and when I asked him what he was going to do he came right up to my face and literally nose to nose with me said " What are you going to do about it"
It was all I could do not to punch his f*#king head in right there. For starters it wouldn't have got me anywhere plus my daughter was watching, although from a distance. He is now going to check with the salesman that sold me the car his version of events and what was said about the spoiler. I have it on the invoice about the spoiler and it does not mention 2nd hand.
I left the dealer and went straight to Subaru Aust. head office here in Perth and spoke to the Western Region Business Manager Gary Johnston, very nice man, who was very helpfull and sympathetic to everything."

To cut the rest of the story short Gary Johnston handled it all very well and got a new spoiler and boot lid fitted to the car. He was there on the day I went and finally picked up the car to make sure all was well and I havent looked back since. I was told that that idiot Alan Holmes would not be working for Subaru anymore and that there had been numerous complaints about him. I was surprised to find out a few years later that he was working at City Subaru but good luck to him I guess. You wont find me buying a car from him again. I dont intend to sell the car unless I absolutely have too and it always puts a smile on my face when I get in and drive it. There is no better "bang for ya buck car" in my opinion.

Notmyself, but Jim Hall has had his vortex (burgandy one) and bug eye wrx from brand new, he reckons he will never sell the Vortex. Must be well over 20 years now.

__________________
Quickest Pig in Perth

Brought a tear to me eye.

Flew to melb from Syd to pick up a stock MY94 (first run) last year with 98,500 kms on it. Met the seller at the airport at midnight, did a quick check on the car in the dark and drove 1000km home.

I'm 35 now and plan to be driving this thing to lawn bowls in 40 years time.

I'm 42, and ditto. I work from home so my car gets through one tank of fuel every couple of months. At this rate it'll clock over 120k in 2021, and will probably still be going strong when I'm done and dusted.

I really should have said "hoped" instead of "planned". Mine's a weekender and will probably do 10-15k a year, which'll be half a million in 40 years.

See if we can dig this thread up in 2050 .. ..

'92 Liberty RS - Bought at North Subaru Oct 93 so unfortunatley not brand new... Had 63 XXXkm on the clock - owned it until it's untimely death December 2008 when we got a bit too friendly with a traffic light. Just under 300,000 chassis kms when she died.

4 engines, 3 turbos,3 ECU's, 4 different sets of suspension, 3 sets of wheels,2 clutches and 2 gearboxes, 3 rear diffs, 4 full resprays (these include the original) etc etc etc...should never have left the family but sold for crack pipe price at the auction. Now I enjoyed the old girl despite the age starting to show.

__________________
RS RA
The more people I meet the more I like my Dog!

12.463 1/4 mile, not bad for an old school Liberty [DECEASED]

MY08 Liberty Tuned by STi

I used to love that car Shane, so much so that it was an influence on me getting a Liberty.

__________________
I am only an asshole on the internet :)

[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]