My Daihatsu Charmant was an '89 built which i believe was the last year you can find the series of its kind. I will leave out the reasons why i chose Daihatsu Charmant in other posting. In short, it was the best of very few options that i had which fitted my requirements (and my bank account ... Haha).
I think we need to nickname my car. You wouldn't want to call it "1989 Daihatsu Charmant" all the time, would you? Hehe, maybe "your car" or "my car" would be enough but where's the fun in it? I love dogs and have some of my own (hi Utun and Pude!) so let's call my car The Dog, shall we?
I have to start by telling you a bit about myself. I am a telco engineer working on GSM RF Optimization. My work requires me to relocate from city to city a lot. I am following where new base stations are being implemented or where any existing network need optimization. This is my major challenge in this project. I am currently separated by 8 hours of land transportation from my hometown, Jakarta.
Since working on my project in the city where i currently reside is out of the question (i can't even be sure where will i be located in next 3-4 months), my only option is to build my car in Jakarta.
Luckily i have my dad to the rescue. He can help me find the car that i want in Jakarta. I explained to him that i want to have a car of my own. The type of car that i can do whatever i wish with it. I was already given responsibility to take care of my mom's Toyota Soluna but it was such a nice stock car, i don't want to do anything to it other than keeping it running with the very good mileage it already has.
I then asked dad to help me look the classifieds for Daihatsu Charmants. Unsurprisingly, my dad was at first reluctant with my choice of car. He's the type of person who sells before he buys anything (no offense, dad! Heheh..). He always thinks of resale value and ease of reselling. Clearly, in Indonesia, Daihatsu Charmant was very far from those virtues. He offered me an E90 6th-generation Toyota Corolla, the limited GTi 4A-GE equipped version instead. It think it was an AE92 chassis type. It was commonly known as "Twincam GTi" in Indonesia. He knew i was admiring this car before, but sorry dad, no more front wheel drives please ...
Dad went to look for it in the newspapers for a week or so, and he can only find three to four Charmants during that time. You see, as it maybe the case in your country also, here Toyota brand is shadowing other Japanese brands. For example, i bet you can find at least two or three Corolla DXs (KE70 for those of you not familiar with the term) in the newpaper classifieds every day. Luckily, this also meant that reselling the Charmants would take some time. Selling DX is easy, the minute your ad showed up in the newspapers, allow 30-60 minutes before you have someone calling you asking for the car, if not already knocking on your door. As for Charmants, The Dog was already on the classifieds for a couple of times for at least a week. We were like MFEO! She was waiting for me to come to Jakarta on holidays, checked her out and take her home!
As i said before, i asked dad to look for any Charmant ads while i was still out of town. After a week or so, we have a long weekend holiday early March 09 and i was back in Jakarta. After unsuccessfully trying to convince me to other types of car, he gave me the list of Charmants in the newspaper classifieds. I had only three days of holiday and only one day to hunt for the Charmant (i had to do other things also when i was in Jakarta). So, i called the Charmant owners and managed to find two nearby. The hunt was done on March 9th '09.
The first one was a 1984 built and sold by a guy who owns a used car showroom. I was never fond of this way of buying used cars. You had to pay for the guy's profit while you can just go to the original owner for a cheaper price. The Charmant he offered was not very good. I know, what can you expect from an '80s car? But even this is not very good compared to other similarly aged cars. It had duct tapes holding the paint, for God's sake! Haha, and i was right about the profit thing, the opening price was a tad high, 15 million rupiahs (approximately USD1,250). Charmants are usually priced in the range of 10-17 millions normally but looking at the condition, it was too expensive. So, i went to look for the second Charmant, my last chance.
Intermezzo guys, regarding the rupiah to USD conversion. As i will be doing this a lot to help you get a feeling of the actual price (and i am lazy), from now on i will be using an approximate conversion rate of 1 USD = 10,000 IDR, Indonesian Rupiahs that is. At the time of this writing is made, the actual conversion rate was 1 USD to around 12,000 IDR,
I have to admit. Other than the two Charmants, i was also holding the address of one '76 Datsun 160J. I saw the ad and knew right away the Datsun this guy is selling. It was mentioned that it already has an SR20DET engine swap. I remembered i saw a 160J in a car magazine once having an SR20DET. I called the guy right away and from his description, yes it was the car i saw in the magazine. As i had expected, he refused to mention the opening price and insisted on having me look at the car first. I can understand him. I know the car was very well built and expect it to be priced with a "too expensive for you" label on it. Anyways, the Datsun was the last on my list for the day's hunt.
Now, for the last Charmant on my list. After around 45 minutes of driving, there she was waiting for me. The black paint was not so good, but at least her body panels were still straight. The engine was dry and oil leak free (not that it mattered as i am planning to swap it anyway). All the crucial accessories and lamps are intact. All meters and indicators are working. The only drawback she had was a 4 years late in tax payment, some USD300 worth of payment to allow her running legally on the streets.
She still has her 4A-C engine. Claimed to have just been rebuilt by the owner. One crank of the starter and she's alive, purring. AC's cool and working. Brake lamps were on ONLY when i step on the brakes (Haha..). Main beams are on. Turn signals are blinking on and off on a normal duration, quick indication that all the lamps were OK. Cable harnesses were not that good but i'll be pulling them out and replacing them anyways. My only concern was that of the body panel's straightness and that she's running straight. She fitted the bill perfectly.
I tested the car for a drive. She acceled nicely. Ran OK and straight. No wobbly steering and stuff. Gearshifting was great. Just a bit of flat spot when i hit the gas suddenly. No problem, she'll be running a 4A-GE anyways.
Now, how much was she worth? *drum rolls* .... Just USD700. That's excluding the USD300 of tax debt she came with. A car of that condition for a grand? I'll take one please! I don't know about you but i think this is a good price. It's on the lowest end of the range i mentioned before. How much do you think a Charmant is worth in your country? Do share with us..
So, with a quick visit to the ATM to make the payments, she was mine!
She was waiting for me to come home for a week, rejected some offerings for her before i came (yes, she had a few guys checking her out before i did), allowed me to gave her a test ride (i am sure she was doing the best she can so that i would fell in love with her ...) and finally she is mine!
There's some story shortly after i paid for her, but i'll share with you in other posting. Oh BTW, i didn't bother to look for the Datsun 160J as i had already found what i was looking for..
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