...it should've been a K10 Micra, as I wanted something cheap, easy and economic for a daily driver, after having a 97 Legacy GT-B that needed some fixing to pass its next inspection, and even more work to make it look good again.
I made the decision to sell the 97 GT-B 'as is' and get a new daily...and while I was looking at small, cute Micras, a 98 Legacy GT-B Limited Manual in Pure White popped up for sale. Still in Japanland, about to get imported, converted to be road legal and inspected here in Germany, ready to register with one year used car warranty.
It was the first Manual Limited that popped up for sale since I bought my first Limited and it even was completely stock, except for some ugly, el cheapo aftermarket wheels, a turbo timer and an ETC eToll system.
When it popped up I actually was on ICU in hospital as I've had a brain bleeding end of January that knocked me with the aftermath only bothering me for three months.
So with my brain knackered I made the only possible and reasonable decision.
I bought it.
In June then it finally arrived at the dealer's, got a fog light added and headlamps changed for the inspection, got legalized and a one day dealership registration, so I simply could register it in my county without doing much paperwork I would have to do otherwise.
When I picked it up, it looked pretty used, but nothing worrysome...some piston slap going on, but nothing that made me worried really.
...as it's meant to be my new daily, I want to keep it stock, just do some light, optical mods, get it back in a better shape, remove some of the OEM extras that I think are just too much but add other things that the car misses.
I have my summer Limited with which I can do all the fun aftermarket stuff, so no need to do it with this one.
Front bumper f.e. looked pretty bad...
...insides of the doors looked pretty dirty, plus the OEM stainless steel covers I didn't like...
...floor mats were OEM, but looked pretty ugly, and here you can see the ETC card reader and turbo timer, next to the A-pillar you also can see something that was meant to be an automatic switch for the headlights, buuut it doesn't work I think... at least it didn't do nothing no matter how much I fiddled with it...
...on the backdoor trim, it had a socket for the extra lamp in the trunk. You could take it off the roof trim and clip it into the mount to have extra light behind die car.
Kinda cool, but looked pretty ugly and I didn't really need it...plus the extra lamp was going out too anyway.
Here you see the extra lamp on the upper right roof, plus the ugly, but useful OEM trunk carpet cover.
The trunk cover was missing somehow, good that I had a spare one from a parts car.
Last, but not least, it had some marks on the left side. Nothing bad and no dents, pretty much looked like it was from a traffic cone or something rubbery
On the first day, I already was rather productive. Cleaned the car out (though the interior was already pretty clean when I got it), swapped the floor mats with my 97 Legacy GT-B's, had the A/C filled by a friend (they have to empty it nowadays for import and the dealer didn't have 'time' to fill it up again before I picked it up) and put the missing trunk cover back in, as I had a spare one in the garage.
The days after, I ordered a DIN pocket at my local Subaru dealer and picked it up, replaced the OEM Kenwood double DIN headunit (it was broken anyway, only showed an error) with a Sony MD-X8790 high end 90s Minidisc radio and replaced the shot front speakers (as on every Subaru, the foam had rotted away) with the Audio System Xion 165mm system from my old daily.
Together with a CD-Changer emulator that enables the cinch audio ins on the back, I now have a really good sound system with a DSP and Aux in for my phone, for only 40Euro.
I was getting the 97 GT-B ready to be auctioned off on eBay at the same time and as I did put the rear wiper back in, I noticed that I was missing the bolts.
So I simply removed the wiper from the new Limited and while I was at it, replaced the broken (fixable, but I wanted to get rid of the socket in the middle anyway) back door trim with the one from the 97 GT-B.
The hole for the wiper I closed with the glass plug I had in my 97 GT-B...that now makes it the third Legacy it gets used in.
The other day I was drilling out some sheets on a donor Legacy, to fix the accident damage on my Summer Limited.
I took the ozone device out and let it run for half an hour inside the daily, to kill all the bacteria that could cause smells.
After I gave the A/C a Sonax treatment to desinfect it, with "Tropical Sun" scent.
After, the OEM steel trim had to say byebye... I didn't like it, but if anybody wants them, they are in a good condition.
...and since nobody ever seemed to have cleaned inside the doors, that was next on my list.
It took longer than expected tbh, but after some work with different brushes and rim cleaner (as even brushes wouldn't get all the dirt off), it looked pretty decent again.
Same about inside the backdoor...looked like it had been parked under a tree for a while, plus it had some more resistant dirt, probably some wax or something.
...after putting in some elbow grease, the inside looks fine again now.
...and finally, the rear doors.
Looking all shiny and fresh now!