This is Ben as we got him. Matter of fact this is Ben still sitting on the car dealership's lot in central NJ *before* we got him.
This is the first Subaru GL series I ever saw. Didn't even know what they were until I saw Ben. I remember thinking when I saw the craigslist picture "Damn..that's an ugly car..." but needless to say it grew on me so much I went out and got my own (Margaret).
Ben is a FWD 3AT. He had 52,000 miles when we got him, and he spent most of his life at the hands of an Asian gentleman in the Bronx.
This is Ben today:
Ben was in pristine condition when we got him. I picked him out for the girlfriend as her first car for a couple of reasons.
*He had a long hood and a long trunk and was flat and angular. Her being a new driver, I wanted her to have good visibility out of the car and I wanted her to be able to actually see where the corners of the car were. Sitting in the driver's seat, you can see the end of each fender, and the end of the back of the car as well. I thought this would make it much easier for her to get used to judging where she was on the road with the car and how close she was to objects, etc.
*He is a Subaru. Subaru = reliability. At least to me at the time that meant *any* subaru. I only found out later on that the EA82 was not a particularly super reliable engine.
*Gas milage. This was another misconception by me. I counted on it getting 30 + MPG on the highway, which is what he was going to be operated on mainly. When driving the car home, and hopping on the highway I got up to speed and immediately thought why the f* is it not shifting?
Didn't know anything about it only being a 3 speed at the time, and thus a bit of a chugger on the highway. He routinely gets about 25 mpg highway, so not *too* bad.
*I knew he was going to be a beater. First time driver, he's the stepping stone to her next car and at the end of his tenure I know he's going to be bruised and scraped and dented and whatnot. I did not know however that we were going to fall in love with him (and his brethren/sistren) or that she was going to run into a utility pole a week after getting him. :-p
For some reason, I never thought to take a picture of the damage before he was all torn apart but the collision with the utility pole (some animal darted in front of her on her school campus and she swerved and into the pole she went. She was unharmed) broke the bumper, mangled the driver's side fender, bent the hood, shattered the headlight and marker light and turn signal, and cracked the windshield (hood pushed into it).
Had to go 350 miles west to Holidaysburg P.A. to source parts:
Got the headlight, bumper, turn signal and marker light from this guy. He was a 4 wheel drive Loyale. His hood was gone and his fenders were rusted out, so the hood and fender came from a white Subaru RX (that I knew nothing about at the time) that was to his right.
The RX was in nice shape. In retrospect, really wish I'd grabbed more parts off that thing, as I got all this stuff at the junkyard for 50 bucks. Or at least taken a picture of it before I pulled the hood and fender off.
So after using a come-along chained to a superduty F350 Ben got straightened out and now looked like this:
He remained that way until just a couple of months ago when he rear-ended a Honda Accord off center. That's the damage in the first picture.
He's had quite a life, but he's still putting along and remains very well maintained at 85,000 miles currently.
He's had religious 3k oil changes using only mobil 1 dino-oil and filters, new timing belts and tensioners, water pump and oil pump and right before the honda accident he was tuned up with NGK plugs and wires, distributor cap, fuel filter, rotor, fresh timing, and I'm sure more that I can't think of.
He is scheduled for front end maintainence that I think I will be starting tomorrow with KYB shocks and moog ball joints, tie rods and tie rod ends.
His frame is bent from the Honda accident, however, so until the money starts becoming available for Margaret the GL, he is going to stick around. His days are becoming numbered though, unfortunately.
When the GL starts getting fixed, I have a feeling that the engine is getting pulled out of Ben, as well as all the front end components that are going in shortly, and he will be junked. Not looking forward to that, we really love this guy. He's taken us to Canada and back.
Thanks for checking out Ben!
