1979-1993 & 94 Conv [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
It really depends on who you get. Most garages that give out the windshield sticker for inspection (up here in Vermont we call such garages "sticker stations") would be very eager to tell you about all sorts of things they think they can get you to pay for. It's a bit of an art, not to inspect a car properly, but to inspect the customer and judge how many problems you can charge them for before they walk away to find someone who will just pass the car and give you the inspection sticker.
I have definitely met mechanics who would consider flaking rubber wiring boots grounds for failing a car, provided they would be paid to change them and could make some profit on the purchase of the parts! But you can always find something wrong. Especially on a classic 900 car.
Generally you can find an "easy sticker" somewhere if you ask the right people. Look for people who drive rusty Jeep Cherokees, yet somehow have current inspection stickers. Look for pop rivets, fiberglass, and bondo with primer over rust holes in Dodge wheel arches and chrome Tahoe bumpers. The drivers of these vehicles go to the easy sticker stations. Easy sticker stations are not usually well-advertised, except possibly by large piles of used tires out front and generally at least one weird car (ur-quattro, landy defender, MG) out back. Usually tobacco products or LED lawn ornaments are an appropriate goodwill gift to get people to divulge the location of an easy sticker station, although one time I used absinthe to great effect. These can work on the garage inspecting your car, too.
One thing to note is that it's generally the new owner's responsibility to get the car inspected. If you're selling it up in Maine, likely it doesn't have to be inspected until after it changes hands. And as I just explained, inspection standards are subjective as f***. My honest guess is that as long as you didn't draw attention to it, it woud be fine - both for you to sell the car and for the poor sod getting it inspected. Most mechanics (and buyers) aren't that meticulous, and have better things to do.
posted by 65.112.10...
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