In keeping with my tradition of waiting nearly a decade to grab up an abused example of a car I really liked when it first came out.... Today I brought home another $1500 orphan from Illinois. Last time it was an 200k+ abused black 1998 C70. This time, it's a somewhat better condition Arctic White 850 Sedan - Normally Aspirated.

Once I get it sorted, it's to become my wife's daily driver. finally relieving my C70 and V940 from their respective 237k and 260k daily burdens.

There's a short list of issues to work out, but the first is the permanent CEL. I pulled codes from A2 and was flashed a 1-1-1. I pulled codes from A6 and was given a 1-4-3 (bad/faulty knock sensor) - if this is correct for a 1994.

If correct for this model, it would be consistent with the odd running condition. The car really cruises nicely on the roads and highways, but there's a weirdness to the engine... which gets weirder when I rev it up. The engine doesn't feel as responsive as it ought to.

The other piece of strangeness is the hood release. I'm used to a handle under the hood. However, this car has some plastic bit poking out of the grill. Is that normal?