Thinking about selling my project 93 (Not for sale post)

Sure, the thought of selling has probably crossed several of ours minds. From time to time.

It's popped into my head a few times, but I always wrote it off. I'd say, "Maybe it's just a life long project" ect. While I DO want it, I haven't worked on it in any capacity for what I think is coming up to three years. I move a lot and have been trying to travel as much as possible lately which leaves me no place/capacity to work on it. I don't see that aspect of my life changing anytime soon.

Three years could turn into five years, ect. Meanwhile everything just sits. Most of it in storage I pay for monthly. Which leads me to my other issue with the project, it's costing me money just to sit around. Which many of my close friends enjoy pointing out to me. When we are talking over the course of several years it starts to add up. If I had safe, indoor and free storage for an indefinite period of time (wouldn't that be great?) I'd be much more content to let it slumber until I have the money/time/space to begin properly reassembling it-which will be years worth of time. Once I begin working on it again I would like to finish it there.

Also- I don't have to sell it, but I'm running through the what-if game.

Has anyone been in a similar situation, as I'm sure some of you have, what did you do? How have you felt after?

Project background for anyone who may not know:
1993 Shell stripped bare, needs beautifying to me, clean up for underbody and seam fixing then fresh paint interior and exterior.
2.2L Stroker basically finished; needs a valve cover gasket.
205 brakes, cf driveshaft, 5sfe sideintake, vis cf hood, rc/cs bumper ect. tons of other little stuff
Big stuff I'm missing: coilovers,turbo(or rebuild my td0620g), IC and ECU. Could use a new wiring harness or a overhaul.
Otherwise it has essentially everything else.

If you can afford to keep it. Keep it.

My project stayed dormant for almost 3 years before I had time and money to work on it. Now I've got a second kid on the way so more than likely I'll finish the body then money and time will run out and I'll have to wait to finish the engine. (I really hope I get it done before then but who knows)

I also work with a lot of car guys in their 40's and 50's. So many of the guys are talk to are now spending 30,000 buying back "that" car. The car they had in their early twenties they sold for what ever reason and they just need to get it back. That is what keeps me going on mine.

If its car you want over the long term keep it. If its a car you just like then maybe it is time to sell then when you have the time and money you buy the right car.

If you can afford to keep it, hold onto it. If you can't afford to keep it at some point, sell off the mods first.

It may be costing you money just to sit around, but in the long run it's probably saving you money when you think of what it would take in time and money to get an equivalent 93 in the future.

This thought runs through my mind on a weekly basis, although I dd the car and love it. I don't have time or money to fix everything that needs to be done. I don't see me ever letting go of it though, it holds a place near and dear to my heart. I would say keep it, if you could find a place to keep it, like a shed or something at a family members house or something, put it on jack stands and let it sit or see if someone you trust can finish it for you.

Thanks for the replies, still not sure what I want to do...

I'm considering building a storage container out of pallets to store the trac' and all it's guts. It would be easier to justify hanging onto it longer if it didn't cost me anything.

You can buy used shipping containers in a variety of sizes for fairly cheap, and then resell it when you're able to start on the car. That might be quicker/easier than using pallets, and is less prone to damage/aging/fire.

I've looked at storage containers but they usually run 2k for a non rusty one, which is equal to about two year's of storage. Also, getting that into place would be a small nitemare. I appreciate the ideas though.

Pallet sheds can be no joke though:

I would build a proper floor too. Since pallets are free the project is super cheap.

That looks a lot better than I thought, for some reason I just imagined a bunch of old pallets haphazardly tied together with string or something.

underscore":l3qth2df said:

That looks a lot better than I thought, for some reason I just imagined a bunch of old pallets haphazardly tied together with string or something.

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I have you know that my room is like that. 8)

in regards, dont sell it. Im on the same boat as you and gf told me that if I do sell it I will be talking about it for the rest of my life.

No sir you been around too long. You can not leave us!

Ok finally got time to make a real post... SOooo my thoughts

You have a very near complete car as it is. If sold currently you would be best parting the bits of it out and selling the shell which would yield you a far less total than what it should be worth.

You could always decrease your expectations. Example: do not remove undercoating. Leave stock suspension for now. Basically just do the stuff you have to so that it runs and you can enjoy it every so often. Not everything has to be done at once. I had to do this. Others may have better restorations. They may have more toys in their cars... BUT you will have an alltrac for which you can still enjoy. You already know you will regret selling/parting it if you did.

Side note. Im not far from you so if you do get around to putting it back together and need help here and there I can schedule some time.

Wait if you parted I would so buy some of those parts...... On second though part it!!! I kid I kid

~James

First off... CF driveshaft. DIBS!

Now as to the dilemma you are facing. We (most of us) start the obsession with cars at a very young age. We learn to make car sounds, we "drift" our toys, we build jumps without ever having learned how to build a jump. It's a fascination that kind of grows with us. I don't know how old most of the guys here are but I assume we range from 15-50 or more. Im 29. How many of you had a bike when you were young and would skid to a stop like the iron kids bread commercial. We took our bikes off curbs and dirt piles to get that rush. We get older and we get cars, usually a shitty one at first (mine was a 77 VW westfalia). For whatever reason the fascination sticks with us and we customize and modify whatever car we have and we eventually develop a "dream car". This car isn't always a specific make or model necessarily but often it's a type of car. I feel like most of us here want that whistling turbo, the pull of boost, and the grip of all wheel drive that we always built in video games. I personally have found that in my alltrac. I'm a toyota guy for life and the alltrac just fits all the things I want from a car.

I bought my car without having ever seen it in person. I trusted the buyer based on pictures and videos and had a friend pick it up and ship it to me. I spent my entire budget getting the car I considered to be my "dream car" and when I got it, it was a not nearly what I was expecting. The interior was beautiful but it had (has) shitty paint and leaked fluids from every possible place it could, even from some I didn't know possible. My son was born 2 months earlier and my whole world was upside down from lack of time, money, and space. I asked myself exactly what you are asking yourself now. Is the car worth the struggles I will face and the money it will cost just to be able to keep it based on a "dream car" ideal?

Cut away to my Pops for a minute. He had a car he loved. An old capri when he was about 17. He did everything he could to the car including the super rare wide body kit from the era. He autocrossed, street raced, and took the thing on road trips that helped shape who he is today. The car was long gone before I came around and he never had any photos of it. He told me all the stories of all the adventures he had in this little capri. So many times that I could tell them to you now and you would think they were my stories. One day my mom hands me this picture of my dad the day he left for college in his capri. Before any mods, before the black paint, before anything. I took this picture to him a few days later and when I handed it to him he got a tear in his eye and he said, "I wish I could've had that car forever." I'll never forget his face as he looked at the picture. We spent the evening reminiscing while he told me all of the same stories I had heard a thousand times before but this time he told them with more of a spark in his voice. I know he would give anything to have that car back today.

Back to my car. That night hangin with my dad made me realize something. If you really love your car, if it is that car that you know you want to drive when you are old, and you know it will make you feel the way it did the first time you drove it, then this is your "forever car." My alltrac is my forever car. Now it is a couple years later and I have spent all the money I could fixing up my car. I've spent hours and hours, and sold so so many prized possessions to get the car where it is today. It's nowhere near "done" and I would gladly do it all over again. It doesn't matter how much it costs me or how much time I have to dedicate, I will keep the car and continue working on it until one of us dies. Even if it sits for the next 20 years with a monthly storage bill, if I can afford, I will keep it.

Now to you and your car. You already know if it is your forever car. Deep down inside you already know if you want to sell it or not. Don't let other people's criticism or comments help you make your choice. I am constantly patronized for driving a (insert ungodly dollar amount here) 80s car with a heater that doesn't work and the most temperamental starter you've ever seen. But I don't care. It's my forever car. Don't be afraid of your choice, whether it's to sell it or to keep it.

(this is definitely the longest post I have ever written on a forum. I think I wake and baked a bit harder than I thought lol )

^^^^very well said!!!!! I had goosebumps reading.. Lols.. All n all.. Keep the car, u kno ur gonna regret it later! Ex: my brother sold his 1995 toyota supra se NA hardtop to buy his Lexus is300. He looks back every time and regrets it. The new owner now has transformed my brothers former car into a beauty now and I can see the regrets in him.

I say to just think about it for a seriously long time. If your hand is not being forced for example: you need money to keep a roof over your head or the like sell it for the greater good. If not take your time and come to a reasonable decision that works for you. My Alltrac has been under construction for what seems like forever and probably has been. In that time I have purchased thousands of dollars worth of parts a little at a time. I don't make a huge salary and it takes time to get the big ticket items, but once I do make the big purchases I feel like I accomplished something . Even though my wife gives me a hard time about the pile-o-parts that are now taking up the 3rd bedroom's closet :lol: :lol: . The thing is if I had to sell my car or parts I would without hesitation. Sure I would regret it, but it wouldn't be the 1st or last thing in life that I regret, at the end of the day it's just a car and there are more important things going on :shrug:

Thanks everyone for the great replies. I knew posting this here I would hear mostly 'keep it's' (duh!) but maybe that's what I needed to hear. I think I'm going to build a shed for it so it can slumber since that won't cost me much beyond time and a small dollar investment and then I can keep it as long as I need.

I definitely thought this was my forever car for many years, but sometimes things change. I think it may have for me, I'm not sure anymore. I could live with selling it I think, but while I may not feel like it's my "forever" car, I still love it a ton and could still see myself finishing it someday.

I like this discussion... It's not only about the AllTrac specifically, but it's true for all car enthusiasts. I love that story about your father and his Capri... I guess we don't share these stories more often than we should... A car is just some metal and plastic and rubber put together. But there is always a story or emotion attached to it that makes it bigger than the sum of its parts... If you don't understand, you won't. But if you do, this sort of stuff resonates deeply...

So back to your question: I got my '92 ST185 in 2003, so it's been almost 12 years now. I think it's the longest time I've held on to the same car. I'm almost 40 now. Lots of things have happened in life since 2003. I believe I thought of selling the car twice in that timeframe. But couldn't get myself to do it, because I knew deep down that I would regret it so much and would have such a hard time trying to find another one similar to it. So when my car collection went from a peak of 8 cars to 1, it was the only car that survived the sell-off... My BMW E46, after 10 years, I sold it. It was 50/50 whether to keep that and sell the Celica at that time. From time to time, I should have not sold it, or kept both-- I get that thought when my Celica gives me troubles and I can't drive it (the BMW was super reliable, 25k miles over 10 years I've had it). But when the Celica is working and I get to drive it, I am happy about my decision...

Other cars I have less emotional attachment to, for whatever reason, even though I love them and would have loved to have kept them: my '88 ST165 or my '07 Lotus Exige S or hell even my Previa AllTrac S/C... So that's when I know I made the right decision... As someone said, I guess this is my "forever car"-- either that or the AW11 MR2... Which is the previous car that I've had for 8 years and really missed when I sold it to get my Lotus... So earlier this year, I bought another '86 MR2. I justified it because they are cheap fun cars that doesn't really put a big dent into my finances while having a great time at the track/autocross... Plus doing autocross/track on my AllTrac was putting more wear/tear on the car that is so hard to fix and work on (lack of time and space), so it was good to have a dedicated car just for that. (Unfortunately, I got rear-ended in July on the way back from a track day weekend; so the MR2 is totaled; but I managed to find an exact same year/color car to replace it, which I bought last month...). So I guess maybe these 2 cars are my forever cars...

After we sold our house with the 3-car garage and huge driveway where I kept my cars, I didn't have any place to put them. That's when I sold everything but the Celica... So I know where you're coming from... Luckily, my sister bought a house shortly thereafter and was kind enough to let me park my car at her place... Otherwise, I probably couldn't make it work, since I live in Manhattan (New York City) where parking costs more than what the average American pays for rent ($700-1000/month in my neighborhood for parking). So I can't do any major work on it, which is why my "project" goals for it are not as far-reaching as the rest of you...

Which bring me to the other point... When you have goals that are very hard to attain, it can discourage you... So it's better to just lower it, or do them in baby steps, so you can complete it, drive/enjoy the car, then do the next step... Otherwise it just gets overwhelming and you give up and end up selling the car in pieces... We know this happens all the time in the enthusiast community... And it's mostly due to this type of goal expectations management... Keep it realistic... Everyone's situation is different. Just because ABC was able to build this awesome 800rwhp Celica doesn't mean you can or should-- maybe he has more money, more time, more space, more skills, more dedication, less things going on in his life (no kids, no wife, whatever...)... You know yourself the best. Set realistic goals for yourself...

And so whatever you do, don't sell it... If you know it's your forever car. Because in 10 years or 20 years, when you try to find another ST185 that you still talk about and long for--- there are that much fewer examples around and it will never be the exact same car that you used to have...

I was in the same boat for a while. Bought mine in 04 right after finishing high school. No house, no garage and it was in pretty rough shape. Over the last 10 years it spent most of its time in a storage garage for about $200 a month. It was silly but I would go "visit" her even when there wasn't any work I could do to it. Over the last year I got a house with a garage and moved her in. Stripped it and started working on it. The feeling was unbelievable. For ten years I dreamed of this car. Meticulously planning every part and mod and which steps to do first. Now over those ten years money was really tight (when isnt it) and I had the same thoughts. I would scour this site for motivation and reasons to keep it. In the end the number of these cars drops every day. And I have one. Actually almost two if you count all my parts and pieces. Here we are almost 11 years later and I haven't gotten to drive my dream car yet but I'm getting really close. It seems like an alright idea now selling the car but you have the same passion for them as I do. And after you're done traveling and with the things going on in your life now you will get the itch again. It never goes away completely. And then you will have to start all over again, if you can still find one. Me, I already have plans to be buried in mine. Saves the cost of a caske! Good luck with your decision. It's been a pleasure reading your posts.

Men need dreams. It is very important to all of us on this planet to have dreams. Dreams lead to goals for us to achieve.
One such goal for all of us on this forum is our cars. Our cars, our project will never end, there is always something to do and that is because we like it, we get enjoyment from it. If we don't sell it and move on to something else that will give you pleasure.

Towels. you sell this car and it is the end of your dream. Wrap the car up in plastic, store it away, it doesn't matter what state the car is in, your dream stays alive.

Another of my dreams is to win lotteries. If I did, would I go and buy that Ferrari? Hell no. I would get my Celica and strip it bare and start from scratch build that Celica I always dreamed of.

Cheers
Freddie

PS. A nightmare on the other hand is having to work on your damm car because you have to drive it to work tomorrow.

freddie":t821pj0x said:

PS. A nightmare on the other hand is having to work on your damm car because you have to drive it to work tomorrow.

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This made me chuckle! Very true! I purchased my dream car (well actually it was a 6th gen GTFour) and purchased it to daily drive. I'm dealing with the headache of maintaining two 20+ year old cars. I luckily have a very generous father who has let me borrow his trash hauling GMC pickup, AKA The Brown Bomber.