Hello fellow GTI-R enthusiasts! I've got a bit of a conundrum on my hands I wanted to get some opinions from others that may also have a slightly illogical passion for these cars.
We've got too many cars, at least according to the city and their silly bylaws. Here's the vehicle situation:
- Single driveway, single car garage
- Street parking for 3 vehicles
- 4 car wide parking lot on our property off alleyway behind the house, fenced around yard but cars are open to alleyway
- 7 vehicles between my GF and I
- Hers: 1978 Mustang King Cobra, 2005 WRX (fully modified), 1993 Suzuki Cappuccino
- Mine: 1990 White GTI-R, 1990 Purple GTI-R, 2005 G35 (modified), 2005 Nissan Frontier (ours)
White GTI-R "Ghost"
- Picked it up locally and saved it from being scrapped
- Was in a minor accident that wrote it off
- Fixed it up and passed inspections
- Restored to daily drivable condition (general maintenance, clutch fork!, bushing/damper replacement)
Purple GTI-R "Grimace"
- Bought this one first! Out of province...
- Wouldn't pass OOP inspection due to slight crumple in crumple zone
- Lots of nice parts on it, body is in good shape, interior is in good condition
- Drives just fine, has no real issues. I drove it back 650 kms!
The problem is the city does not allow storage of vehicles on your property unless they are fully plated and drivable. Even though I have an insurance policy that covers each of them individually for storage (collision, comprehensive, & liability). The bylaw is specifically written to prevent storage of vehicles.
Normally we have 3 vehicles plated (registered to drive) at a time, and storage insurance on the rest. Then switch registration on or off depending on what we want to drive. Nice weather and all weather vehicles. This doesn't look like it's going to work anymore, because someone reported the bylaw infraction to the city. No big deal, we can register all the vehicles and just deal with the cost even though we won't drive some of them in the winter.
Except, the purple GTI-R... Which can't be registered.
Here's my problem:
Do I strip it down and take all the parts that I want? Piling the parts into every nook and cranny of the garage and shed, scrapping the shell? If I do, another GTI-R is lost forever. They are a dying breed and I feel bad letting another go. How many are left now? 3000? Especially one that could be returned to fully driving, registered status! My plans for it are to do a full strip down and go full race mode or proper restoration. 5 year plan ;)
Do I park it out at a vehicle storage lot or someone's acreage? Have no access to it for parts or to check on it? This just delays the same problem and is only a temporary fix.
Do I finally move out of the stupid city with their silly anti-car lover rules? That's the plan! We're looking to buy another house outside a city and move within the next year. This is why I want to keep the GTI-R intact and drivable!
Long ramble I know, but I want to hear from fellow enthusiasts. Maybe you'll have similar experiences and some insight on my situation.
I am pretty sure you will have to sell or put in storage some of them somewhere else. In Québec we can't leave a car for more than 48 hours on the street at the same spot but they won't say anything if your own parking is full of cars.
Also here you will get a fine if you put a car on the street if the license plates are not valid but on your own property they won't care.
Other than selling a different car, store Grimace somewhere else for the time being. It sounds like money isn't really an issue right now so why not. Storage fees you should be able to find somewhere inside unheated for around $50-60 a month. Before I bought my house I had my pulsar stored, it was always around $300 for the season, about 6 months.
Whatever you do, don't scrap it if you think it can be restored. A slight crumple is a subjective call, and you may even be able to find someone who will pass it (for the right price, if you catch my drift). And if not, there are people out there willing to buy and restore them. If you could post some pics of the crumple and other pics of the car, you might even find a buyer on here. Heck, I'm not that far away, I might even consider it. Would love to see more pics of the car anyway if you can post 'em. Good luck in your conundrum. Let us know how it works out.
Thanks for the support guys!
I definitely don't want to scrap it. These cars are becoming harder to find and the damage really isn't severe enough to rule out a return to the road. I definitely catch your drift alphadrex ;) If I can get enough adjustment to get the alignment within the specs I'm sure there would be no reason for a technician to look that closely at the front frame rail. I'm sure I can smooth it out a bit and it won't be as noticable.
I'll get some pictures up, maybe someone has experience with straightening frames... I took it to our best frame shop here in Saskatoon and they just said, "Not worth your money." They figured $5k to pull it straight.
If the city continues to hound us, I'll have to store it at a long term compound somewhere. It's just not worth scrapping it!
Finally have a GTI-R! :D
Well here are a couple pictures of the damage. Not as bad as I remember it. Plus it already aligns without issue. Maybe I'll tidy up under there and give registering it another shot!
Finally have a GTI-R! :D