I don’t know why I just bought this car; I truly, truly don’t. I just sold my dream Jeep XJ on Sunday as part of a plan to reduce my fleet of cars to something that A: Might let me move to Los Angeles (to do work stuff) and B: Might afford me some amount of social life that isn’t just wrenching at junkyards. And yet, even though I’ve had a strict “No Buying Cars” policy in place for months, this morning I took ownership of a 2000 Chevy Tracker 4×4 five-speed. And while the machine is deeply, deeply flawed, it was also the deal of the century, so maybe it wasn’t a bad call. Just hear me out.
Autopian user “Shop-Teacher,” whom I met six-ish years ago at the Indianapolis 500 and whom I’m quite fond of, has for years been telling me in the comments of my articles to get my shit together and stop hoarding vehicles (my parents and brothers have been beating a similar drum). So to him and my family, I’m just going to say: Sorry about this one. I really had no choice.
But hear me out. This body-on-frame Tracker is rust-free! It’s got a stickshift! It’s 4×4! It was only $700! Seven Hundred smackerie-daiquiris! Those in the “know” understand what I’m saying; this is a Suzuki Vitara re-badged as a Geo Tracker rebadged as a Chevy Tracker. The 2.0-liter “J20A” engine is known for being rather stout, and the off-road capabilities are said to be substantial. Suzuki sold these things all over the world; I’ve had Instagram friends from Brazil and Turkey message me recently, saying they’re familiar with these little SUVs. The Japan-designed, Canada-built, America-branded 4×4 is rugged, maybe a little underpowered, but just generally awesome.
Technically the asking price was $1,600, and my plan was to try to snag it for about $1,200 to $1,400 if the body was as rust-free as the listing indicated. “It’s a 2000 Chevrolet tracker It’s been enough family since we move from Kansas It runs overheats little bit It’s a good car for the price” read the entire Facebook Marketplace listing.
I arrived at the seller’s home and met a kind Albanian man playing with his daughter at his sizable home, with a bunch of vehicles (presumably owned by his family members) out front, including the man’s big Chevy Silverado 2500 work-truck. He showed me to the Tracker. “It won’t start without a jump. I’ll be right back,” he said, before disappearing into his house, and returning with some jumper cables.
He hooked two sets of jumper cables to one another to get some extra length, and attached them to the Tracker’s battery on one end, and to his Pontiac Vibe’s battery on the other. “Pop!” went a spark between the cable and the Vibe’s battery. The man headed to his car, and turned it on, then hopped into the Tracker. No crank, no relay clicking, nothing. I turned to the Vibe, and got nearer, only to see what I’d feared: The man had put the jumper cables on backwards, with black on red and red on black.
I corrected the issue, but it appeared the damage was done. No matter how long we waited, the little 4×4 wouldn’t crank. Nothing — I mean NOTHING — worked. No lights, no hazards, and definitely no starter motor. “Weird, it ran yesterday,” the man said. “Well, I think you may have fried something by reversing the jumper cable polarity. Normally when you hook a jumper cable to a car properly, you see a tiny spark, but I see nothing.” He suggested we wait for the battery to charge; he even pulled up his truck to us it.
“Man, this battery must be completely dead,” he guessed. “Well,” I responded. “We’re basically running this Tracker off your pickup’s battery. There should be some lighting or at least one or two signs of life. I think something’s fried. Maybe the engine computer, maybe some fuses.” I then started to look through some fuses underhood, but I wasn’t familiar with the Tracker, and gave up.
A few minutes later, the man gave up trying to start the thing, and I got ready to head back home. “I’ll let you know when I get it running,” he told me. “Sure,” I responded. “And if you want to sell it non-running, let me know.”
“How much?” he replied. “Oh, I dunno,” I answered, “Throw out a price.” He told me he’d been offered $500 already, so I threw out $700. He immediately went to get the title.
The following day, I had AAA tow the Tracker to my home, where it currently sits, dead. Completely dead. I haven’t done a full assessment of the vehicle’s health, but an initial assessment shows some mouse droppings (it smells like urine in the cabin) and some black and white growth on the carpet:
And of course, there’s this nasty ding in the rear quarter panel:
I can’t seem to get the rear door open, either, plus the tires look a bit old. Anyway, I still have a lot to do on this thing. You could argue that buying a completely-dead Geo (let’s call it what it is) is a terrible idea, but I look at it as a rust-free, five-speed, 4×4, manual transmission, relatively fuel-efficient Japanese SUV for only $700.
View this post on Instagram
It’s was a responsible choice, really. Well, assuming it’s got any life left in it.
And when can we expect the visit from the man from the city?
Seriously, the guy gives you a $500 price and you automatically give him $200 more for a truck that won’t run!
Don’t forget, he had to pay to tow it home too.
The tow was free (AAA).
And yeah, maybe I could have snagged it for $600, but I knew I could fix this for cheap, and I felt bad that he smoked his electrical system.
He was happy with $700, and that matters to me.
David, I can relate; my latest acquisition is a ’67 F250 – got to know the elderly gent a bit (stand and listen, they will tell you their life’s story) – and suspect, could have paid less. But I’m with you, prefer to have both parties feel like they got a fair deal.
I can’t really scold you because that is a solid deal for a rust free 4×4 in Michigan, even if it doesn’t run and had mice in it. I once found some mouse mummies under the floor mats of an old box truck I bought. I cleaned them out and put the truck to work the next day.
Except for the rust on the rocker panels. And the taillight housing. And underneath the license plate bracket…
Believe me, by SE Michigan standards that’s a little to no rust GM truck. The rocker panels on GM trucks are the first things to go.
We loooove our cheap rock salt around here. What it lacks in effectively melting ice it more than makes up for in destroying our vehicles and spreading pollution.
If they’re under floor mats, make sure they aren’t the little grippy things that have come off the bottom of the mat. I’ve been fooled before lol.
I did the same thing on my old Tracker – it just fried the main relay. Five bucks at AutoZone and it was running again.
You always start with the cheapest possible fix with electrical problems.
Something I learned the hard way that day. I unfortunately didn’t do that. I thought it was the battery that died (which, to be fair, was going out at the time and I was already planning on replacing.) But imagine my reaction when I realized it was five dollars to fix rather than the cost of a battery…
Look at it this way- You knew you would have a few years before having to suspect the battery again.
Yep, probably saved from being stranded with a dead battery at some point.
David Trusty: “the only way I’ll by a rust free car is if it’s rodent infested. Will also consider Jeep FCs that are both”
You mean, “the only way I’ll buy a rust free car is if it has rust”.
You’ll get no berating from yours truly. Good find! Hopefully you can get it going easily.
I once had a similar experience. I called about a 1988 Taurus in the paper (before finding cars on the internet was so easy) for cheap, and it was right across the little town I lived in.
I called, he said the body is excellent, but the transmission has failed and the engine is locked up. Oh damn. He convinced me to come look at it anyway.
I’m glad I did. I got there, and it’s a 1988 Ford Taurus L with the stroked Tempo HSC 4 cylinder linked to a 3 speed FLC automatic. In the dozen or so Tempos I’ve owned, one one of each has ever failed me. And one had to have the life wrung out of it to do so.
Back to the Taurus, it is very clean outside. Not a single ding. Being an L, it’s very base, manual windows and locks, 14″ steelies, not even an in-dash clock.
I pop the hood and the engine is immaculate. I look at the battery. It’s installed backwards. He said “I thought the battery died, but I believe the engine is seized, because I put in a new battery and it won’t even turn over.”
Without thinking, I swapped the battery and various systems sprang to life. The door chime started dinging, the interior lights came on.
I dropped the hood and said I’ll give you $50 for it. He said, let me go get the title.
I towed it home and after checking the fluids, and replacing the battery and starter solenoid, it cranked and ran perfectly. I also had to replace the headlight switch, it had blown.
The transmission cooler line had been rubbed by something and had leaked out all the transmission fluid. I replaced that (and the radiator, my buddy accidentally damaged it), and the car ran and drove just fine.
I drove it for a year or so and foolishly sold it for $1000 + a rusty Datsun FWD POS (replacement for the B210, before it was Sentra I guess) with a cracked block that I hauled directly to the scrap yard.
The 4 cylinder Taurus was rather slow, especially compared to my V-6 Tempo, but it was easily capable of 70-75 on I-5 as long as you pleased. I replaced the wheels with a set of basket weave alloys from a first gen Sable LS, it looked good and was a great upgrade over the new owner’s previous beater. I really liked the car and the body still looked showroom the last time I saw it.
You owned 12 or so Tempos? That raises questions.
Why, you got one to get rid of? Wink emoji.
Hey, Sir Jackie thought highly of them so he’s JohnTaurus is in good commpany…
https://youtu.be/u4Ws_Bp7WYA
BTW, using my post as an example, is there any chance of getting an Edit Post function?
I think they’re working on stuff like that.
I have no delusions about what the Tempo was or wasn’t, I know it was a cheap economy car, but I always found them quite charming, and they were pretty good to me. My 1991 GLS coupe 5 speed and ’92 LX V-6 were particularly fun to drive.
Hey we all like what we like, no explanation necessary. That commercial comes to mind whenever anyone mentions a Tempo.
On the down side, it doesn’t run and is a clear bio-hazard. On the plus side, gas for it will be really inexpensive.
David, is there a requirement that all employees at The Autopian have a vehicle that is full of mold?
I think it’s just a happy coincidence.
I’m so in a hurry for their shared house. Just imagine David, Jason and the family, and Mercedes, leaving in the same trailer park outside LA…
When you factor in the value of the free bonus wheel on the back, David actually got the SUV for just $650.
Also, as ChrisFix always reminds us, the true baseline for a cheap car is not $0 but the scrap value if you decide to wash your hands of it.
agreed.
I had an Isuzu Amigo like that. Bought a Vehicross gave the Amigo to my brother, 6 months later destroyed he hit a deer.
Hopefully it has a main fuse someplace that blew when the jumper cables were on backwards. If that and a new battery are the fix, then I guess I’d start cleaning.
A rust-free, five-speed, 4×4, manual transmission, relatively fuel-efficient Japanese Paperweight for only $700.
He’ll have it running in like $20 or less.
Fortunately for me my ’03 Odyssey had that main fuse when I stupidly/hurriedly reversed polarity during a jump start 12 odd years ago. I couldn’t find the exact fuse locally so I bought one of the same amperage with a different footprint and made it fit. I’ll have to check to see if I ever replaced it with the OEM fuse.
Kidding, it’s a dozen years and it runs fine. Although the 1,500 dollar replace all spark plugs and coil packs (plus oil filter routine stuff) hurt a bit. I figure I couldn’t buy an even close to better vehicle for that money so it seems worth it.
This isn’t close to the first time that Dave has shown us a “rust-free” car that’s covered in “surface” rust. Six months at his environmental disaster site will make sure it’s crumbling to the point where he can drive it Flintstones-style when he doesn’t get it running.
But we’ll all bask in the warm glow of his panicky overnight posts detailing the long welding job he went through to get it sellable.
Yeah I remember a rust free purchase that had an unusable frame and messed up front end both due to rust. I don’t think he really checked.
It just occurred to me that Dave may not know what rust looks like. That, or he’s color blind. Would explain an awful lot of Jalopian content over the years.
David lives in Michigan, where the definition of “rust-free” means something different than it does to the rest of the free world. The standard a car has to meet to be considered free of rust are far lower.
Also, David bought it, so technically speaking it’s already “sellable”. It’s all a matter of finding the right sucker.
Remember, this is SE Michigan – “rust-free” rarely is. It just (typically) means no gigantic rust *holes*.
I think his house might be kind of like “The Hellmouth” in Buffy, but for corrosion. The Rust Mouth!
If anyone is hating, it’s because they’re jealous that David is living his best life. Deep down, we all know that he’s doing something we want to be doing. If we could just be honest with ourselves and accept the truth.
Signed,
A Guy With A Wife Who Said “No More Cars”
Wait – the idiot owner hooked up the jumper cables backwards right in front of you and you still bought it?
Don’t get me wrong; I love me some Samurai/Sidekick/Jimny/Vitara/Tracker action, bit that’s a Tiananmen Square-sized red flag. If you’re lucky, there’s some sort of fusible link in the charging system that blew. But I fear mouse pee and mold are the least of your worries.
If the seller breaks their own car right in front of you, that’s just a perfect bargaining chip to get half price!
I have it on good authority that Sheryl is good with resolving mold issues…
The rat infestation looks mild compared to the FC. Compared to the FC, this thing is factory mint.
Unless you’re dealing with someone that’s doing it intentionally to hide knowledge of much bigger problems.
Then why not sell it for $700 listing the “much bigger problems” instead of taking a ridiculous chance at disabling it in front of the guy?
For example, just say “needs engine work, sold as-is, $700” if he was willing to take $700 all along knowing it needed engine work.
Could it have more problems? Without a doubt. Do I believe the guy went through all this just to take $700 for it anyway? Nahh.
I did negotiate an extra $100 off the price of my Hooligan when the rear tire bead popped off the rim. The seller wasn’t too bright. When I pointed the tire problem out he said, “Yeah, but you can get a new bead for that tire for like $20.”
Now, that’s a completely non-sensical statement, but rather than point that out I responded, “Yeah, but the labor to get the wheel off is like $100.”
He agreed that I was right, and begrudgingly accepted $100 less than my previously accepted fairly low offer. I pretty much stole that scooter.
When I got home, I didn’t even pull the scoot off my truck before fixing that tire. I hooked up my air compressor, and the tire popped right back onto the rim!
Happened to me when I bought my last snowblower. The guy yanked on the starter cord so hard that the pawl in the recoil system popped out of place. I bought it anyway for $20 because the body was in great shape so even if I had completely replace the engine it was worth it. In the end, all it needed was to have the recoil starter reassembled (nothing was even broken) and a new governor linkage. It probably needs a new auger bearing too, but it works fine so I haven’t gotten around to it yet.
probably assumed it just had a leaky spark tube
I saw “I just bought…” In the next article button and involuntarily clenched, haha.
I’d argue “relatively fuel efficient” is euphemistically stretching “completely dead” a bit far though. Good luck!
Well in its current condition it doesn’t use any fuel. So I’d say that is fuel efficient.
But David if it isn’t running it’s a chunk of metal. That’s all it is a $700 hunk of bits. If you get it running it’s a car and what you paid is $700 + time spent + cost of parts. Now you can ignore time cost if you enjoy what you’re doing, but since you are trying to reduce your time spent wrenching I’d say you aren’t enjoying it like you used to.
In the ’01 Tracker I had, that thing went through two alternators in the five years I owned it. Not sure if that’s a problem on the 4-cylinder engine (which I believe yours is) but that’s something to watch out for.
If you’re ever looking for upgrades on your tracker, be sure to look for the Suzuki XL-7 at any pick and pulls you go to. They are basically the same thing as a Tracker/Grand Vitara but with the extra row in the back, but they usually had nicer trim options. I swapped out my stock tracker seats for some nicer XL-7 all-leather seats that had armrests and seat warmers! I never got around to hooking up the seat warmers but I know there’s a way to do it.
Have fun with it! They don’t get much attention nor much love but I loved it when I had it.
You don’t understand! He HAD to buy it! He was backed into a corner, and HAD to tow that crap can away! I just love the logic – “Hear me out. I got it for a song.” He acts like it was some opportunity that just kinda fell in his lap, when in reality, he sought it out and was willing to pay double. On top of that, he buys a great old Ford with an equally great name – the freaking Marshal, and lets Torch have that while he buys another basket case for himself. That all said, I will remain an enabler for the entertainment value. Good stuff.
I’m going to let this one slide. Why?
Because a German-American bought a Japan-designed, Canada-built, American-branded vehicle from an Albanian after consulting people from Brazil and Turkey.
This isn’t a simple car purchase. This is a major step towards world peace.
I’m going into politics after whatever this is [points all around] gets old.
What is that I spy in The Matrix Reloaded?
…
https://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_226137-Chevrolet-Tracker-GMT190-1999.html
David Dracy 2024:
“Abolish code enforcement!”
“Backyard mudding is a human right!”
“We have nothing to fear but tetanus, twenchfoot and hantavirus.”
There, I just started you off. Please run, the entertainment value would be unmatched even in these crazy ass times.
Why not, at least David isn’t a mentally addled septuagenarian so America’s done worse…
“Cash to keep clunkers”
I think he would do better than any other name out there.
It will be a neat little thing once you get it cleaned up, but I wonder when you will actually be able to drive any of these cars you buy.
Buy first, think later. (Also, I drove my last purchase, the Valiant, all winter!).
I thought the Kangaroo Ute was the last purchase…
Okay, you got me.
I thought the last purchase was the f-150 ?
So now can we call you David Tracker?
You should borrow my future wife, I hear she does a killer car cleaning job.
I don’t want to be responsible for anyone’s death but my own.
Does Jason’s xB still need a cleaning?
“and some black and white growth on the carpet”
Boy are you in luck:
https://www.theautopian.com/i-accidentally-turned-my-car-into-a-moldy-superfund-site-heres-how-i-fixed-it/
I for one endorse your car collecting. Although i wish you would buy more along the lines of valiant than a geo you do have a point that a 4×4 manual rust free anything is worth $700 every day of the week and twice today
… dadgummit, David.
I kind of get it though. Its almost there. It just needs some love.
I pulled a carburetor from a ’73 Maverick in a junkyard down here the other day and other than some hooligan screwing up the dash it likely could have driven out of there with some air in the tires and a complete fluid change.
It almost survived another 40 years, but someone let it go, and I just feel that’s kind of sad. Its been in my head since.
I’d drive it (the Maverick, also the Tracker since it has the right drivetrain).
Last one I saved was a ’96 Accord LX coupe 5 speed. It was very, very used. Paid little of nothing for it, guy fended off scrap haulers like crazy because I said I planned to put it back on the road.
Knowing that, he could have told me that all of the valve cover bolts were barely hand tight, and it had no gasket in place. After tinkering with it, I got it fired up…only it was belching oil like the Exxon Valdez from under the valve cover. Luckily it only ran a few second like that, and that issue was fixed cheap and easy. I fixed a few other things, it really came together for a few hundred dollars investment. Most expensive were brand new OEM-style headlights, but even when I see it, even now…it was totally worth it.
The guy I eventually sold it to still drives it. It ended up being far more reliable than the 2005 Honda Element EX AWD 5spd I also had at the time.
David, I say this in the most gentle way I know how. Get a therapist. You co-founded a website so you would be rewarded for indulging in your most self-destructive behaviors.
That aside, cool find. I’m super jelly.
It feels like he’s actively trying to sabotage himself. As someone who has done that in his past it’s kind of scary. I guess the only bright side in his case is it’s not drugs and questionable nightlife activities, it’s broken cars covered in animal shit.
Look at the number of comments this story already has…that’s called winning!
Only a matter of time before we read something like “There was mouse crap on the seats and a head in a bag in the passenger footwell…”
This will be better than any jeep once you get it cleaned up
Years ago, I helped a co-worker who had one of these, and her idiot son-in-law hooked up the battery cables backwards, and they didn’t know what to do with it. I looked at it, and there was a relay/big fuse (I forget, it was 15 years ago) I found in the relay box under the hood which was blown. I removed it, told her to take it to the parts store and get another, and the next day I reinstalled the new one and it started right up. So hopefully this will be an easy fix for you David. ????
Then you can move on to the piss and mouse shit ????
I would find it hard to believe this wouldn’t be a simple matter of just swapping out a blown fuse or fusible link. This should be a really easy fix.
The best car I’ve ever owned was a 1995 Geo Tracker 5sp 4×4. Drove it for 14 years and still miss it terribly. In those 14 years nothing that wasn’t a wear item ever broke. No pile of snow ever stopped it. My kids LOVED riding in the back seat with the top down.
I finally just traded it in because the KBB value was lower than my insurance deductible. Wish I’d kept it anyway.