That is more of a screaming AHH of toturous pain than an ahh of relief.
To see the other details of my plight see this thread:
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/048861.html

So I drove a grand total of 28 hours to retrieve my baby:

Why did it take 28 hours to make a 16-hour trip? Because I had really bad luck, but that is another story.

To make the long story short, about a year and a half ago I took my '84 to michigan (from central IL) with a stalled 2.8 in it, hoping to have a caddy 4.9 V8 installed by a gentleman. What I brought home yesterday was my beautiful car without an engine, various strange body damage, no engine wiring, it has all been CUT out (sorry to yell). Did I mention that the dude lost my only ignition key? That made the hot garage a lot of fun to spend a couple of hours in after driving 10 hours, oh yeah. I couldn't bring the 4.9 home because I had no help with me and no way to lift it into the truck.

Luckily the guy had a wonderful/awesome/sympathetic landlord who literally saved my car from the cops, towing people & parts pickers. She even found me a guy in the area to put the cradle back in and attach my suspension & wheels for next to nothing (he left it sitting on cinder blocks), and kept it covered in her garage!! The whole car has been to hell and back, and I have decided to just go with a stock motor, and get it running dependably once again. Did I mention that the car was about 3 hours north of where I dropped it off.

I'm sooooo happy that my wheels & seats are still there, I had planned on losing them in my mind. The car is now in storage down here, and I'm hoping to find a motor & a full wiring harness. The gentleman's soon-to-be ex-wife agreed to pay for 1/2 of the cost of a motor install. So no need to press charges or ever talk to him again (he's in jail for those on the list looking for him).

I also have the best fiero-story ever now, so bow down. Oh they catch on fires do they? That doesn't seem like such a problem to me compared to the sheer problems related to human-nature.

[This message has been edited by MikeSchaefer (edited 08-11-2005).]

Also, thanks to The Prezz & Firefox for offering to help me. It turned out that I pulled it off myself, but it is really nice to know that the community was there for me if I needed them.

Sounds like you were lucky to get most of your car back judging from this guy's reputation. It's never good to see sombody like this damage the soul of the Fiero community. Good luck with your engine install. Nice seats by the way.

That's why you should do your own work and have someone more knowledgable help. Damn that sucks. Live and learn.

Mike,
glad to hear you got your car back. I hate to hear these kind of stories, at least this one has a somewhat happy ending.

------------------
SSFiero@Aol.com
Yellow Formula Signature

• 88 Yellow FORMULA-ZZ3 HSR, 345hp, 390lb-ft. Est to be done one of these days.
  
• V8 buildup thread
  
• My Shower Cam
  
• At mile 20 I thought I was dead At mile 22 I wished I was dead At mile 24 I knew I was dead At mile 26.2 I realized I had become too tough to kill

Where is your engine At? Where in Michigan? If it is close, maybe I can help.

Good to here that you were at least able to get your car back. I am sending you a PM.