Hello, New User With An Abused Prizm

#1
Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum, but not necessarily new to the corolla scene.

I used to have a 2000 Corolla LE, however we ended up letting the dealer take it back (they wanted over 9 grand for it). We needed it at the time, but ditched it as soon as we could.

I recently purchased a 1998 Chevrolet Prizm which, as I'm sure you'll all know, is the same as the 8th gen corolla. I managed to get a steal on it though, at a grand total of just $250. I'll tell you it's definitely a sub $1000 car for sure.

The rundown on the poor old Prizm:
-It's a base model with manual EVERYTHING, except transmission. It doesn't even have tilt wheel or cruise control.
-It does have a CD Player, that doesn't work :/
-The donut gasket leaks and makes the most terrible racket I think I've ever heard from a car.
-The ac doesn't work and, from the sound of the grinding pulley, is about to crap out completely. The ac venting is also messed up in ways I can't even being to explain.
-The engine is both leaking, and burning oil, stutters and hesitates yet surprisingly gives no indication that is about to stop working, even with over 230,000 miles on the clock.
-Something in the front end/steering has recently started making a wondrous noise.
-The entire car used to be red, but now has an identifiably Macco metallic blue on it
-And finally, the interior is unsurprisingly beat up, tore apart and absolutely disgusting.

All this aside, ive been putting over 1000 miles a week on it for the past two months and it's kept going strong. I plan on fixing it up a little and keeping it as a good winter beater. I'd like to keep my other cars (1999 Mitsubishi 3000GT, 1990 Cadillac Sedan Deville inherited from my dad) away from the winter weather and salt, and this seems like the perfect car to help me do it.
 
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