saablog

Why in the heck is there Volvo content in the Saablog? Well, because 1/3 of my personal auto club is Volvo. Add in my brother and the ratio soars to 1/2.

The end of the month is always a stressful time at Intertek. Reports are due, and all reports have to be reviewed. As part of a shift in my responsibilities, I am  now reviewing projects for 3 of the engineers in our regional office. I get 8 hours/week for that task, but inevitably the majority of the reviewing work ends up being done the last two or three days of the month.

That fact must have slipped my mind when I confirmed that I’d be at Barrier Volvo on Friday at noon for the Seattle-area “R-Bunch” R-owner’s club lunch. I don’t like the name “R-Bunch”, but I do enjoy getting together with the other 2004-2006 V70R and S60R owners to talk about our unique cars. And I’d say we’re not really any sort of official club, more just a bunch of enthusiastic R owners who like to get together to chew the fat and compare mods to the cars.

This month’s lunch was interesting because one of the guys (Thanks Russell!) was able to get three Volvo regional reps to come to the lunch, and also got Barrier to provide the conference room for us. Barrier’s accessories manager catered lunch for us as well. From Volvo, the regional Retail rep and Technical rep (whose territories cover WA and OR), and the regional Parts/Service rep (WA only) were there. They were really knowledgeable about the cars, Volvo’s programs, what falls under warranty and what doesn’t (due to mods on the cars), and upcoming Volvo products. I learned that the R series will be around through ‘07 model year, then it’s future is unknown. The discussion with them lasted from noon until 2:00, and included us asking questions, and them asking us questions about our ownership and dealer experiences. I found it very informative.

The regional retail rep drove up in a new red C70, the first one I’ve seen in the flesh. Before the lunch, my friend Sue Frank (who works in sales at Barrier Volvo) showed off the C70 to me and another couple. The folding and retraction of the roof on that car is amazing. It’s a great looking car.

At 2:00, my phone had rang from Intertek calling 3 times since the lunch had started. Our time with the Volvo reps was over, and Russel had arranged a conference call with Heico NA, the North American reps for Heico Sportiv, a German Volvo performance parts company. They were to discuss Heico’s softloader, a computer to upgrade the performance of the R by reprogramming the ECU. I don’t have any intention of upgrading my ECU (due to the warranty ramifications, and the fact that 300 HP is plenty for my daily use), so I excused myself so I could leave and get to work. I first stopped by Sue’s desk, and she said she was going to put Barrier plate frames on my car. She grabbed the plate frames and the power drill, and I headed out to the car, only to find I’d been parked in by another R owner who was still in the meeting. I grabbed my computer bag and took advantage of Barrier’s free WiFi to get online and download two more projects I needed to review. I worked in Barrier’s service lounge for almost an hour (I was still parked in) and then was caught up, so I chatted with Sue for a while. She was busy for end-of-month too, so I let her get back to work and chatted with another R guy and the regional reps who had left the meeting early and was parked in as well.

Finally the meeting upstairs ended, and all came down and we were causing a human traffic jam in the lobby. A guy named Kent was one of the owners, and when we were in the meeting I was sure that I knew him from somewhere. He came up to me and asked “So how’s Erik doing?”, and I responded “I knew you were familiar. Where do I know you from?” His response.. a whispered “I was your manager at Kennydale McDonald’s.” Yep, now it’s all coming back to me. He assured me that he doesn’t work at McDonald’s anymore, he’s at IBM now.  That’s one of those things that reminds you how small the world can be.

People finally started to leave, and the Sales Manager at Barrier finally started to calm down (our group took all of his customer parking, he was pretty worked up about it). It was a really enjoyable and informative event, I’m glad I took the time out of my very busy day and went. There were 14 Rs and owners there, and more people in my age demographic than before. I’m looking forward to our next GTG.

On Saturday I finally took the time to replace the coolant in the 900, and to replace radiator hoses and the thermostat. I decided to give up a beautiful practice day (with my new Azenis RT-615 tires) with BEAC to do that maintenance, though the practice had actually been moved from Saturday to Sunday, but I knew that I didn’t have enough free hours in the weekend to do both and I’ve been needing to do this since I bought the car.

The first order of business was to remove the air conditioning compressor. Or so I thought. Removing the compressor would allow me access to the lower radiator hose where it connects to the engine.  Since the A/C system has no refrigerant in it, I figured it’s a logical, weight-saving step to remove the components. 

What I found is that I need a very large torx bit at the end of a long-handled ratchet or wrench in order to free the compressor. I didn’t have the torx bit, so I was stuck.  I decided to skip that step and go straight to draining the coolant from the car. That is most easily done by removing the drain plug from the bottom right side of the radiator near the battery. Which wasn’t easy. There was no way to get a wrench or pliers down near the drain. And none of my sockets were large enough nor deep enough. It was a tough go with an adjustable pipe wrench to loosen the drain plug. Of course, the drain plug is directly over a frame member, so that the coolant will drain directly down onto the frame member and drip onto the garage floor in several locations, making it impossible to catch all of the drips. I sacrificed half-rolls of shop towels and paper towels to keep the mess from flowing right out the garage door. Only after getting the drain plug all the way out did I discover that I could have put some type of hose on a nipple on the end of the drain plug to direct the coolant into a container rather than letting it drip all over the place.

While that coolant was running out all over the place out of the bottom of the radiator, I worked on freeing the upper radiator hoses. There is one radiator hose from the top left of the radiator to a temperature sensor, and then another from the temperature sensor to the thermostat housing, and a third that is a short elbow that feeds from the head to the heater. I managed to get all of those off while spilling maybe only a quart of coolant all over the side of the engine. Just another opportunity to throw more paper towels on the garage floor.

Next it was time to remove the thermostat housing so I could replace the thermostat. Actually, back up. I had to first unclamp the Idle Control Valve from it’s clamp which is mounted to the thermostat housing, that took just one bolt and one connector, though it still hung out in it’s place due to the two thick vacuum hoses attached to it. After removing that, I found that the thermostat housing is attached to the head by two 12 mm head bolts. I got out my 12 mm socket, pulled on the handle, and the socket broke. The side kind of gave way. That sucked. So I looked through my other socket set, but its 12 mm was missing. I next resorted to the non-metric sized sockets. Knowing that 12 mm is just shy of ½ inch, I eventually found my 15/32 inch socket and it fit nicely on the 12 mm bolt head. I pulled on the wrench handle, and that socket broke too.

Now I was in a lousy position. I wanted to replace the thermostat at the same time as all the rest of this coolant related stuff. I decided that I needed to go and buy replacement sockets for the two I had broken, as well as a deep socket for the radiator plug. Off to Sears in the R I went, thankful that the car I work on is not my only source of transportation. At Sears, I found a 24 mm deep socket for the drain plug, and the replacement 12 mm socket. They don’t carry the 15/32 inch size socket. If I ever need one for some reason, I’ll just have to remember that it’s pretty much interchangeable with 12 mm. I really could stand to rant about stupid “imperial” sized sockets and wrenches, with all of their awkward n/8, n/16, and n/32 inch sizes. I can’t stand it. I’d rather that they were all sized over 32 if any of them are going to be. Reducing the fraction only makes it difficult for metric-heads like me to determine instantly which size is larger between, for example, 11/32 or some n/8. Grr.

Anyhow, once back home with the sockets I had to use my big torque-wrench socket driver to break the thermostat housing bolts free, but I did get them off and replaced the thermostat. I really wish I had paid closer attention to the thermostat when I took it out of the car, so I could know which way the “arrow” was pointing. I think I was able to figure it out, but oddly the book never discussed orientation of the thermostat. It remains to be seen if I’ve properly installed it.

After getting the new thermostat situated, “re-assembly is the reverse of removal”. I replaced the thermostat housing, the three upper hoses, and the radiator drain plug (much easier to do with the new 24 mm socket). Then I mopped up the coolant off of the floor and got it all into containers. The stated capacity of the cooling system is 10 liters, which is about 2.5 gallons for you imperials. I put the used coolant into used plastic milk gallon cartons, and filled one all the way and one half-way. That means there’s still about a gallon (4 liters) that never came out of the car. I opened the bleeder valve and started adding my new coolant and water at a 50/50 mix, and I used approximately the same amount I had mopped up, again confirming that somehow 4 liters remained in the car. I don’t get it. The instructions had stated to slowly pour coolant into the reservoir, so that it could make its way to the bleeder valve; when coolant starts coming out the bleeder then close it and stop filling. Well it came out of the bleeder like crazy before I could get it closed, so I spilled several milliliters down the side of the engine. Typical.

The next step is to start the car and watch for leaks. I did find one at the heater hose elbow. Tightened that up without problem. I thought I was done, with only a road test remaining. Since we had dinner plans with friends and it was late in the day, I decided to clean up. After doing so, I came back down to find that the 900 was peeing coolant onto the floor at a slow drip. We went to dinner and I investigated again on Sunday morning, which was a beautiful day for the re-scheduled autocross practice. The dripping had stopped, or significantly slowed. I’m hoping that it was just dripping off of the engine/frame from the massive amounts of spilled coolant in the draining and bleeding processes.  I never had the chance to troubleshoot on Sunday, because we needed to do shopping, then we assembled our cool new bathroom cabinet and went for a long-overdue visit with my Nana (driving right by practice on the way to her house in Everett), where Luisa played piano for the first time.

Wouldn’t you love to see photos of all of this? Well too bad, because I didn’t remember to take any. My colorfully descriptive prose will have to be enough. The Swedish Patient is still sitting in the garage in the same spot, with a little puddle of coolant under his front, sporting the brand new Azenis RT-615s, without even having had a road test since Saturday’s work.  Sitting just behind the car is the 2^nd set of wheels, which I haven’t even had the opportunity to properly inflate yet, let alone put on the car to see how they look. Time is evidently too scarce to have completed all of my goals yet for the 900. But spring is young. I’ll get to it.

Last night I went to Mercer Island to meet James. He’s the guy who has the wheels I decided to buy. They have tires already on them, some used Kumho Extsa or something like that. The wheels are too wide for autocross per ST1 regulations, but I can use them when I’m not autocrossing. James has a really nice looking black ‘93 900T with 16″ Aero wheels, little lowered, tinted windows, smoked rear lenses…  really cool. I think he was a little surprised I’m competing in a non-turbo car, but he agreed that for $800 it’s a bargain. He was asking $150 for the wheels, but he didn’t want me to pay him yet. He said to wait until I decide whether I like the wheels before I pay him. OK with me.

 Today Discount Tire called. The race tires came in, Falken Azenis RT-615 in 205/50-15. They promised less than an hour turnaround, so I used an hour about 1:45 to run up there. I was home at 2:30!  Looking at the tires makes me glad I’ve got Jame’s wheels/tires to drive on when not on the autocross course. I’d say they’re maximized for dry grip. The car actually looks a little silly with the tires on, but I guess I’m just used to looking at those big rubber doughnuts that it has been on since I bought it.

 There is a practice on Sunday (rescheduled from Satureday) but I’ve already committed myself to work on the car instead of practice this weekend. The long-put-off coolant flush/thermostat/hose replacement has to happen. I’ll have to wait for the next practice, which hopefully wont’ be too far off.

The Falken Azenis RT-615 tires are on order. They may or may not be here for Friday installation, which is what I’m hoping for so I can have the tires for Saturday’s practice.

 I’ve decided to go with the 6.5 inch wide 5-spoke Saab accessory wheels as my non-autocross set. Mainly because I can actually get my hands on those easily.

The stripes from Erik arrived over the weekend. It looks tough to install properly. Time will tell…

Yesterday I drove my 900 downtown
Seattle to a project. I’ll usually take the R to jobs, but parking downtown in the R is always dicey due to the Kingdome-sized turning radius, so the 900 was pressed into service.

Driving the 900 to work made me realize what a modern convenience automotive cupholders are. No joke. It’s a challenge to drink and drive a manual transmission car when the can of Diet Coke has to always be held (tragedy- we’re out of Diet Pepsi at our house). I did discover that a can will wedge into the opening of the instrument cluster, though it will obscure one of the gauges. It’s probably best to obscure the temp/gas display.

So I parked, I worked. On the way back I stopped at a Shucks auto supply to get some power steering fluid, as mine was at the “add” mark. I noticed that because at practice on Saturday the power steering seemed to be making a lot of noise after each run. I checked the fluid level, and the level was low and the fluid was bubbly/frothy. When I was parked outside of Shucks, the 900 was attacked by pooping birds. They liked to mark the hood and the trunk. No poop was on the roof or the windows. Bird poop-tacular. It was gross.

After filling the fluid, I drove home. I had a lot of work to do, so I didn’t want to wash the entire car. So I just washed the hood and the trunk. Then I got inspired. The paint looked so dull. So I got out my 3-step Meguiar’s polish/wax. I just did it on the small trunk lid below the rear window. Took about 15-20 minutes. It improved the shininess like crazy. While the paint certainly doesn’t look new, it looks much better. I’d like to do that to the whole car, but it will take time. Before I can do the roof I need to get the mossy green stuff out of the roof gutters, and I need to get the leftover adhesive off of the sunroof and its surround from the previous owner’s duct tape job. I want to do all of that before I put the stripes on that my brother got me for my birthday.

Unrelated to the paint treatment, I’ve been searching for a set of wheels to use with my autocross tires. I found a set of SPG rims on ebay that are the right size, the bid is $150, but shipping would be $100. A guy from Saab Club Seattle has some rims for sale with usable tires for $150, but they’re 6.5 inches wide, so I’d have to use them as the everyday wheels and mount the autocross tires on my existing wheels. Those wheels are from the original Saab airflow kit, but they’re 5-spokes that I don’t’ find particularly attractive. The same guy had the directional 3-spoke wheels that I really like, that are the right size, but he’s asked Scanwest to sell them for him…that was a while ago. So I’d have to call Scanwest and see if they can find the wheels, and see how much money they want for them. That sounds like a hassle. Stay tuned for the resolution to this thrilling tale of wheels.

Yesterday was practice day 2 with the 900. Practice day 1 was the day after I purchased the car, I was just learning to drive the car at that point, practice was just a good way to do that.

It was a chilly morning when I arrived at the Boeing lot in Everett. There was still ice on portions of the parking lot. After tech and setup, we had the drivers meeting and split into run groups. I actually called the coin flip and was able to choose for our group to drive second, so that the pavement would have a chance to dry out. But then Zane realized that the three guys who had never driven autocross before were in the first run group, and didn’t think that was a good idea. He decided that he and Noel would change to the first run group, and he asked me to do the same. So even though I had called the winning coin toss, I ended up running in the first group with wet pavement.

Since I’m still running on the commuter car tires that the car came with, I wasn’t expecting great results. What I got were pretty damn disappointing results. On my first run I missed 2 gates (the course was technically challenging). On my second I did a 180 coming through the slalom. That was disorienting. Only on my last run did I make a clean run, finishing in the 58s. On every run, the back end felt not planted, and the front tires spent a lot of time spinning, without traction.

So the first order of business is to get my race tires before the next practice. The other immediate order of business is to replace the thermostat (I’ve got the part as well as the radiator hoses), as the car is slow to warm up so I’m thining the t-stat is stuck open or at least is not closing as quickly as it should.

I’m hoping that the tires will give me some traction. As far as handling… I’ll have to see what the tires do. I’m sure I could use new shocks, but I’d really like to see how the car feels with the tires before also replacing the shocks. We’ll see. I need to prioritize… how much money do I really want to spend?

I’m thinking that my lack of driving skill is playing as much of a role in my performance as the age/condition of my car. That’s both good and bad. And I’ll let you figure out why.

So it turns out that the belts I was trying to use were too short, by about an inch. The bigger ones slipped right on. It took about 45 minutes to get the 2 alternator/waterpump belts and the power steering belt installed and tensioned. I had to guess on the tension. On a post-belts test drive, there were no squeals and the engine was generally quieter than before. The old belts were pretty aged.

 In the remaining 15 minutes of my lunch hour I removed the fog lights. They’re a classic look on the classic 900, but since one had a broken lens with rusty reflector, and the other was mounted crooked, they weren’t adding much to my 900’s appearance. Now they’re hanging out in the garage with the rest of the parts I’ve liberated from the car. I’m thinking the A/C compressor and its tangle of hoses may be the next parts added to that collection.

I’m looking forward to practice tomorrow!

So I’ve given myself 1.5 hours today to begin replacing the alternator/waterpump and the power steering belts. I’ve decided after 2 hours that I need to get my real work done, so the 900 sits dismantled in the garage. The R will be spending the night outside.

Pretty much everything in front of the steering wheel seems to have been designed in reverse of convention. The hood hinges open at the front, not the back. That’s a good thing though, because all of the drive belts are at the back of the engine, accessed by sticking one’s arm and wrench between the engine and the firewall. This causes much scratching of the arms and knuckles. I actually removed the A/C belt yesterday. Today I’ve removed the A/C belt idler pulley assembly (necessary to access the power steering belt), the power steering belt, and the parallel alternator/waterpump belts.

 I’d expect the banged up arms and knuckles whille working on the car. That’s fine. But all of the coolant hoses to the heater core, and all of the A/C hoses which are routed above the belts… are ridiculous. Since the A/C is inoperative, I’m about ready to pull the compressor and all of is associated tubing out of the car. That would give me a little room for working on the more important stuff.

As it sits, the first of the 2 alternator/waterpump belts is over each spindle. It’s in the innermost pulley of the alternator and the waterpump. But not on the right crankshaft pulley. I’ll return to it later and hopefully I can get that first alternator/waterpump belt in place correctly, followed shortly thereafter by the power steering belt. Of course, I’ll need to tension the alternator/waterpump belts, which may take a miracle close to the level of actually getting the belts on in the first place.

 I really want to get this done in time to go to autocross practice on Saturday…

When I was a kid I liked cars. I played in my parents’ cars, and I liked ther VW Vanagon and my Dad’s Toyota truck. I didn’t like his Ford truck as well. Some things never change, I guess.

My first realization of Saab was probably during middle school. I was riding with my mom and we were merging onto I-405 NB in Kennydale. I looked out the side window and saw what I now know was a 900 sedan. I think it was silver. What stood out to me was the curve of the window on the rear door. While most sedans in the 1980s (and many still now) had very straight, angular window and trim profiles, the 900 sedan had a smooth curve to the rear quarter window and the chrome trim that outlines it. I thought it looked smooth and comfortable at the same time.

My next Saab realization was later, in the summer time. I was with my mom at the Chevron station at the top of their hill. A man was there with his 900 Turbo convertible, probably late 80s. It was Eucalyptus Green with tan leather. I thought that car was very cool, but also very pretentious and yuppie. Definately a car I aspired to, but one that I thought was out of my reach or the reach of my family.

All through high school, I wanted an Acura. Specifically, a red 1987 Acura Integra LS, Red, 3-door, 5-speed. My aunt and uncle in Pennsylvania had one that I drove when visiting them (when I’d had my license about 3 months). It was cooler and better than my mom’s ‘89 Accord LX automatic sedan, and infinitely better in every way than the orange 1979 Toyota 5-speed Long-Bed pickup my parents bought for my brother and I to drive. The Acura was the object of my desire. I drew it on my class notes. I wrote A for Acura on my hand. I was obsessed.

My friend Lauren (who is still my friend and Ani’s) drove a Volvo 240 sedan in high school. I loved that car. It was great. She was a fan of Volvos and Saabs, and we evidently talked about the cars some. In the waning days of our high school career, following a senior mass or breakfast, Lauren and I went to Barrier Saab/Volvo to check out the 1992 Saab convertible. We arrived in her 240, and I was in a suit while she was in a nice dress. The salesperson was either high, really stupid, or respectful to a fault, because he showed us a red turbo convertible, put the top down, and we went for a drive. I drove first, and then Lauren drove. It was great. Absolutely the fastest car I had ever driven. And the nicest. The salesman asked us where we worked and how long we had been married. He was bizarre; the car was sublime. It was a turning point in my car obsession.

During my senior year in high school, I took a Spanish 1 class, for a change from the 3 years of French I had taken. Yes, I wanted an easy class. Not surprisingly, this Spanish class at my private high school was full of freshmen. One of the freshmen was a girl named Jenny, who became a friend of mine. Her father was the sales manager at a Chevrolet/Saab dealership in Kent, so we talked about cars when we should have been learning Spanish. As the year ended, Jenny told me that her dad’s dealership was looking for a lot attendant. That’s a person who washes cars and does other thankless chores around the dealership. I applied, was interviewed and got the job, ending my 3 year career at Kennydale McDonald’s.

It was summer of 1992. Cars identical to the one now in my driveway were for sale new on the lot. The 900 series wasn’t as popular as the 9000 series though, at least at our dealership. But this was Kent. The store didnt’ sell a lot of Saabs. They sold a lot of Chevrolets. Luminas, Berettas, Camaros, Suburbans, and Geo Prisms were hot sellers. A brand new Beretta broke down on me while I was driving it to gas it up for a customer who had purchsed it. A big black mark for GM. To make matters worse, my primary responsibility was for the used car lot. So while I was around the new Saabs, I was around a lot of used iron from the 1980s. I spent that summer experiencing a lot of cars, getting a farmer tan washing cars, and having wet feet for 2 continuous months. Before I left that job to go to Portland to start college, I got some 1992 Saab product brochures and posters. I’ve still got them.

During the ensuing summers home I had an internship with a motor drives manufacturer in Redmond. But I stopped by Hazelett Chevy/Saab to visit the people I had worked with. In the summer of 1993, my dad bought a 1986 Toyota 4×4 from them so that there would be 2 Toyotas for us 2 sons. They gave me the employee price (invoice plus $50 for used cars) because I had worked there.

In the summer of 1994, I bought my first car of my very own. I had $4000 to spend, and after shopping for that ‘87 Integra and finding out that the ones in my price range were junked out, I found the perfect car. A 1988 Mazda MX-6 DX. Blue, 5-spd, no frills, power nothing. With 126,667 miles on the clock, I thought it was a bargain at $4000 out the door. The salesperson said “just keep the oil changed and it will run for ever.” he was close. The only things I did other than change the oil were replace the door handle when the metal failed, and replace the alternator when it failed. I traded it in wiith some body damage and around 158,000 miles on it in October of 1996.

Also in the summer of 1994, my friend’s father let us take a new 1995 900 turbo convertible out for the day for a fun time. That was great, just amazing. The summer of 1995, my dad was shopping for a new car to replace his ‘89 T-bird which was aging quickly. He shopped BMW and some other European brands, but the folks at Hazelett let me bring cars home for my dad to test drive and bring back later. I first brought a Scarabe green 900 SE Turbo coupe with a tan interior (the colors weren’t right but the drive was stellar), then a black/black 900 S convertible (deemed not practical enough for my dad), then I brought a black 900SE home, with black leather interior and 6-disc CD changer. I knew it was the coolest, and my parents had to have it. My dad saw it and drove it, and agreed. My parents bought it the next day for $500 over invoice, and that very night I took it on a date, as the next day I left to start my senior year in college.

I lusted after that 900 SE Turbo when I was at school. On Fall Break some friends and I drove it on a day trip to Vancouver BC. That was fun. So fast. It smelled so good inside. It was so fast. I graduated the next fall and wanted to replace my no-frills ‘88 Mazda MX-6. I looked at Acura Integras, Honda Accords, BMW 3-series. On a weekend trip to Seattle to visit my parents, I found my new car in the paper at Carter Motors: my 1995 900 S 3-door. Black with black cloth, 6-disc changer. And that is a story for another day. Or perhaps many stories for many days. As that car remains the favorite one I have ever owned.

I bought the 900 on January 20 from a guy named Brandon. He gave me directions to his house, which ended with “it’s the one with the ‘67 Volvo parked in front and 2 Saabs in the driveway.” The house, in a neighborhood just south of Northgate, was easy for me to find. Brandon helped me get the 900 home by following me while I drove the R, then I drove him home.

I’ve seen Brandon 3 times since that day. The first time was less than a week after I bought the car from him. We met at the University License agency to get tabs for the car. Since he had only bought it 6 days before I bought it from him, the state’s computer didn’t show him or me as an owner of the car. He had to produce paperwork showing himself to be the owner, so that we could buy tabs. He showed the paperwork, I paid the money, and the car was registered to Brandon, but at my address. Kind of shady, I know, but that’s how we made it work.

The second time I saw Brandon was on February 16. The state had sent the 900’s title to my house, but in Brandon’s name. I attempted to license the car that way (he had signed a release of interest) but the lady at the licensing office in Mountlake Terrace said he needed to sign the title, and also because I bought it for less than book value I needed to fill out a form that he needed to sign so I could pay taxes on the amount I bought the car for instead of the book value. I drove over to his house and he signed the forms and he sent me on my way.

The third time I saw Brandon was this morning on Aurora Avenue. I was looking at a ‘92 or ‘93 900s convertible while waiting at the light at 130th on my way into town. I was drivng the 900 to work because I was going to a meeting downtown in the “4th & Blanchard Building”, which has a very tight underground parking garage. Previous experience told me the Volvo doesn’t do well down there, so the 900 was good to go. In any case, I was checking out this 900 convertible and noticed that the passenger in the front seat was checking out my 900. Then I realized that the passenger was Brandon. We were at a stoplight so he put down his window and said hello. He must have noticed the poor condition of the headliner in my car, because he said that he knew a guy who could replace the headliner for about $200. He also told me the car looked good… he said he’d been checking it out and then saw me driving it, and told his friend that he’d sold me the car. It was humorous to run into him out there, and nice to get a compliment on my 900’s appearance.