Wanted to thank everyone for all of your help with my eBay Volvo. I've really learned a lot. It's being inspected on Friday and then I'll be all set for driving!

There was quite a bit of mechanical work done on it in the beginning and I still need to get it in for an alignment. I had a couple of rust holes fixed on the underbody and there was one on the rocker panel that I actually fixed myself. I did a good job, too! Not sure how long that will last, but I know where to go to get it fixed when/if the time comes.

I had the carpets professionally cleaned and bought some nice Water Hog mats for the front, back and cargo area from LL Bean. The carpet cleaning got the cigar smell out and just really did a lot for the cleanliness of the car - it was well worth the $45. Stains are minimum but there is some fading which I expected. I also have some sheepskin seat covers that should be arriving any day now. I ended up being able to clean up the ebrake and console pretty well and reinforced the inside of the console with JB Weld. There were some cracks, but it should be pretty much safe now.

There was some surface rust here and there. I got most of it and there are a couple of spots that I noticed later on that I'll go back and play with at some point before the winter. Too drained to do it now. I wasn't that happy with the touch up paint that I was able to get, but it turned out okay. Today I washed, polished and waxed. It's been a lot of hard work, but it looks like a totally different car! And it's been really odd for me...I am all girl and working on a car was not something I ever expected to do! I wish I had some before pictures, but I don't. As you can imagine, the paint was super dull, windows were icky, trim was blah, inside was a mess, rust, chips, etc. It looked weathered and sad -- definitely an outside car.

So, with my own blood, sweat and tears, here are pics of my new and improved eBay Volvo! Enjoy! (Just copy and paste link below in another browser window, click View Pictures and it will send you into a little slideshow).

http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b33e631e25c2

Julie