My VX Story: (It is a long read so get ready to read, I hope you like it)
Chapter 1:
In this universe and not that long ago, I fell in love with the VX it was 1999 but could not afford to get a new car of any kind so I decided to wait to get a VX when I could pay cash. I looked again around 2006 and the price was still higher than I wanted to pay. I had all but forgotten about ever owning one until I started to look for a replacement vehicle for my beloved Trooper, it was getting old so I started to look around to see if I could find something as good as the Trooper. I looked at Toyota’s, Nissan’s Ford’s and Chevy’s. I looked at Trucks and SUVs and could not find anything as good and as inexpensive as my good ole’ Trooper, I was disheartened and very disappointed that a 96 Trooper was still better than most of the newer stuff I looked at, so I went home and thought what do I do? I thought about getting an old 4X4 of some kind and fixing it up but I have done that and was not in the mood to wait a year or more again for another SUV I am going to use as a driver and weekend 4X4. Then I had an epiphany! So I said to myself, hey self you should get the VX! You have always wanted! I then I agreed with myself and said YES! I have waited long enough and have saved enough money to get a good one. I then became focused (aka obsessed) with getting the VX I always wanted.
This is when my VX quest began. I looked locally and found one with 56K, so I went to look at it and settled on a price of $8,500 with the owner and a time to do the purchase at the bank, then an hour before the meeting time they called to tell me they changed their mind and did not want to sell the VX. My hopes and dreams were dashed and I was back on the hunt. (More focused then before)
Chapter 2:
I then decided to join the forum and began to look high and low; I got offers from members to sell me their VXs and had a lot of help from many of the members to find the elusive less than 60K VX of my dreams. I had to have a one owner low mile VX as I have had many cars I got and then fixed up so this time I was determined to treat myself to a nice and new to me VX, with less than 60k on so I could start with a clean (almost) slate.
I looked locally for a month or more with no luck, I looked on the forum but most of the VXs had more miles on them than I wanted to start with, so I started to look farther away from home, then VX member that knew I was looking (Jheyson) came across a VX I had somehow missed on CL and sent me a email about it. I was looking at one in NY at the time and I was almost ready to commit to buy it for $10,500 and take my chances on it even though it was so far from home and in a place I was totally unfamiliar with. The VX he found was in OC CA and was a one owner VX with 48K on it, I could not believe it was true and stunned he only wanted $8,150 for it. I know what you’re thinking, the same thing I thought, this cannot be real who has a 48K VX for $8,150? There has to be something seriously wrong with it right? Well I said can’t hurt to call so I did and after talking to the guy I felt I just had to take a chance, so I asked him if he would hold it for me if I committed to buy it and he said yes. (No deposit just good old fashioned on my word and his) so I took a leap of faith and bought plane tickets for me and my husband and we went to CA to get my (hopefully dream VX) it was almost impossible to contain my enthusiasm at this point, but somehow I managed it.
Chapter 3:
We arrived at the John Wayne airport on 4/27/12, got a rental car and when to the hotel, the next morning we met the seller and saw the Vx in person for the first time. Both windows did not work and it had a few interior problems but it was as I thought it would be, in average condition and needed a little work but it was worth the price. Everything else was in working order, it did not have the Isuzu engine tick and the A/C worked great, so the window problem was not a big deal. We then went to the bank and did the transaction, and the VX was mine. It was not meticulously maintained but still good. I then went to then local mom and pop auto shop to get the oil changed and found the serpentine belt was old and cracked so I had it replaced and we were ready to drive home. We left CA on Sunday and made a road trip vacation out of the drive. We took the old route 66 for part of the trip and that was cool. The first stop was the Hoover Dam, then we went to the Petrified Forest, Mesa Verde then stayed the night in Durango before taking the long way home through Silverton and Oury CO, seeing some of the most spectacular views I have ever seen even though I have lived in CO all my life. We arrived back in Denver on Wednesday 5/2/12 with no problems and had a great trip. Here are a few pictures of the trip, if you want to see more go to the photobucket page here.
http://s920.photobucket.com/albums/a...dChristine/VX/
End of long story, I hope you liked it.
Chris
The Ebony VX is mine now! I am so happy, thanks to all that help in my quest.
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/a...X/DSCN0163.jpg
Hoover Dam
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/a...ne/VX/66VX.jpg
Route 66
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/a...X/DSCN0577.jpg
Silverton to Oury
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/a...X/DSCN0757.jpg
Before and after Back to Black on the cladding
If your cladding looks like mine did you should try the Mothers "Back to Black" it works great!
