A newbie who can't settle on a car...
Discussion
Haha well cars are overpriced here compared to the UK! Jap imports though are only a little more expensive than in the UK - probably due to them being imports and based on the Japanese YEN.
So time for car number 4. I loved driving the white R32 but the rust issue was getting to me and added to the fact that I was keen for a manual. This meant hunting around for a turbo manual R32 or R33 skyline... And I could find none within budget worth having
I then noticed a car auction place one day driving past with a big sign saying "AUCTION TONIGHT 6:30PM" so I thought hey, why not go in for a peep? Dad was keen. As you can probably tell, this became a bit of an activity for dad and I to do (he's semi-retired).
Upon entrance, we were greeted by a man cooking hot dogs, they were delicious! Anyway back to the cars on the lot.
This place was more for cheaper cars with 5k being the upper end of what sold. Perfect I thought.
Walking past many corollas, pulsars, falcons and the likes, I stumbled across this beauty...
(excuse the calculator-like quality pic)
In-case you don't know what it is, it is a 1995 Nissan Skyline R33 GTR V-Spec. I looked at and thought wow if only.. but realistically there was no chance of me getting it as at the time they were worth 20-30k depending on spec and condition.
I still examined it though.
It had a flat battery which prevented idiots starting it and reving it which was probably a good thing. The dash used to have something mounted as there were 8 holes in a square in the middle. There were a few scratches on the fascia and driver's door switch. It came with a logbook! (Extremely rare) This showed a timing belt change at 127k kms, great! Except the dash showed 77k kms... The front bumper needed a respray due to age and chips. The grill wanted a touch up too. Other than that though, the car was pretty tidy in and out and importantly, standard apart from twin air filters.
It sat there looking sorry and out of place amongst the other "bunkies" available for sale.
Anyway there was nothing much else that interested me in the auction but we waited to see what the GTR fetched.
It started at 22 no bids... 21 no bids.. eventually 18 and still no bids!
Finally just before they passed it, a dealer offered 15 and the auctioneer said no and on it went. I went home slightly depressed but knowing I just had to save more!
6 days passed, nothing.. I wanted something to drive!
I wanted that GTR to drive......
I pleaded with dad to lend me some dosh but the answer was a definite no, same from mum although I didn't really press harder as they were going through a "rough patch" and needed their funds.
I didn't know at the time, but my dad had been telling his dad about my car antics and was told of the GTR at the auction. He was more than happy to help out by lending funds. I should stress that he is back in Rotherham and at the time, I last visited him about 2 years ago. This being the case, added to the fact that he was 87, I was pretty hesitant about the whole thing... I spoke to grandad direct and he stressed that he was in a good financial position and could lend me the money no worries on the condition that I stopped supporting Man Utd. I told him it wasn't going to happen but he lent me the money anyway. After thanking him endlessly, £4000 was then sent to my dad (at the time worth about 6.5k AUD). However this could all be in vain as the budget was still extremely low for the GTR and it mightn't sell for the figure we had in mind.
The next day, dad and I headed back to the auction place. They employ 4 staff who can answer questions and submit offers pre or post auction for cars and we sort've knew one bloke (Rick) as dad had bought a car through him previously (98 VW Polo).
The auction started at 6:30pm, we got there for 6pm and immediately grabbed Rick (literally) and asked him if could work some magic for us pre-auction. He winced...
The wait for Rick to come back from his little cubicle they call an office, was unbearable.
Finally he returned. I asked, how'd it go?
He simply nodded.
The offer was 15k pre-auction and would expire if put through. Story was the seller was an ex-importer who went broke and was in Japan, absolutely needing to sell today.
I stood next to it, refusing to believe reality. I just bought a GTR without hearing it idle, drive etc!
This was a dream car of mine and to have it at 16 and 6 months was just unbelievable! Dad was ok with me buying it because a) it was standard and b) I had to have him in the passenger seat at all times until I was 17 and passed my manual drivers test, fill out a logbook of 25hours of driving time with him in the passenger seat and finally to do advanced driver training courses.
Two days later, armed with 15k in notes, we boarded the TRAIN to go get it. (Me being unable to drive a car on my own.. doh! + Mum was at work)
The train ride was AGONY! I was twitching and pulse racing the entire trip because of carrying such a vast amount of cash, as well as the thoughts racing through my head of owning a GTR!
Finally we jumped off and began the 5km walk to the auction house.
Upon arrival, my neck was quite sore as I was consistently twisting it to check that there were no followers...
There it was, sitting proud, already looking happier!
After payment was settled, Rick got out the in-house movable battery and started it.
Purring into life immediately, this was a dream come true. On the drive home, dad refused to hit the loud pedal. Still, that needn't have mattered as I would eventually get my turn!
First pics home!
The front right was immediately pumped up after the pics were taken and didn't lose air after.
I will say now that I owned this car for the longest period of time out of all my cars. Approximately 11 months! (Didn't quite get to a year haha)
The first time dad let me take it out was truly memorable. I had around 300BHP at my disposal! More-so, this was the car I learnt manual on! I stalled a couple of times but got the hang of it in an hour or so.
I also got to floor it from 2nd to 3rd at the end of my practice session. Inevitably, I fluffed it and missed 3rd..
The initial push backward into the seat was the biggest adrenalin rush of my life! We swapped seats and then went home, with a massive grin still plastered all over my face.
Finally, I was confident enough to take a stab at a manual driving test. However, we left planning too late and a fortunately, a phone call prevented me from taking my driving test in a GTR. I ended up passing first go in a Hyundai i30, having never driven one prior to an hour before the test!
Months went by, I was nearly 17. Nearly at the age I could drive it on my own without dad in my ear 24/7.
I booked in with the local skyline club, an advanced driver session involving instructors and an air strip with cones for a month after I turned 17. This ended up being a total blast and I learnt so many new things!
Being bored a couple days before I turned 17, I gave the car a good wash, got my number plates on it and bought a dash mat to hide those awful holes.
(Dads Mulsanne in the background, nice car but did 25L/100km.. insanity and was forever broken)
Finally 17! I went in the same day and attained my provisional license! Wohoo!
I think I did several hundred kms that day
I also attended my first cruise within the month. In hindsight that wasn't the greatest idea as it was also pouring with rain. Still, I got through it without incident and learnt that my tyres are absolutely shocking in the wet. (Branded "Triangles")
Quite a few months later, I was coming home with dad and we had an argument about something that I forget. This led to me going in way too quick into our narrow garage. This was the result.
I was devastated to say the least. Also for some reason, the first pic looks like there is rust in the arches but there wasn't any, the car was rust free.
I had about a grand saved up in the bank at this point, so off to the paint shop it went.
$700 later:
I met a great mate who still to this day, is one of my best friends, on that first skyline cruise. I met up with him one day and we went for a drive through some very challenging hills then stopped to take some pictures. By now, I was getting to know my car quite well and how it handled etc.
Another official skylines cruise came up, this time it was to go way out into the country, fine by me. This cruise is still my favourite to date. The roads used and lack of other humans is simply brilliant . A few pictures:
The last picture is my favourite, I have this blown up and framed on my bedroom wall
More time passed, my mate sold his car (the black R34 in the pics earlier) only to buy a rare limited edition spec of my car! Even more infuriating, was that his car probably had another 10hp on mine.. (both fairly standard)
I'd also saved up some money and purchased an exhaust for mine after everybody pressured me into doing so >_> . (No regrets though!)
and a picture of where godzilla lives..
Finally though, the time came to sell. I'd done about 11k kms in 10 months, 5 of which had my dad in the passenger seat (learners still). Reason for sale was I'd come to the realisation that debt over cars wasn't a good thing, even though it was through a family member. I owed quite a sum at this stage and wanted out, even if it meant selling up my prized possession. This was so difficult to do. When I eventually put the ad up, took pictures and sat down, I won't lie, it was extremely depressing and I was near tears. Dad also supported this decision. I forgot to say, I did get one speeding ticket but a mere 70 in a 60 zone - a nuisance at most.
Pictures readied for sale:
^The sight I wake up to... (We moved house)
After about a month and a bit, it was sold for $23,500, of which 14 was mine and the rest paid back to grandad / dad.
I sold it to the best possible person. A young guy, singlet, chain, cap backwards and slurred speech. His boss was buying it for him as a present for looking after his house and family personally.. I had hope.
...until a week later when I got a phone call saying the car was dead. He'd blown the engine doing god-knows-what.
After the GTR, there was nothing really left for me in the skyline world. I ventured back euro! Stay tuned.. This post took me roughly 3 hours :O !
So time for car number 4. I loved driving the white R32 but the rust issue was getting to me and added to the fact that I was keen for a manual. This meant hunting around for a turbo manual R32 or R33 skyline... And I could find none within budget worth having
I then noticed a car auction place one day driving past with a big sign saying "AUCTION TONIGHT 6:30PM" so I thought hey, why not go in for a peep? Dad was keen. As you can probably tell, this became a bit of an activity for dad and I to do (he's semi-retired).
Upon entrance, we were greeted by a man cooking hot dogs, they were delicious! Anyway back to the cars on the lot.
This place was more for cheaper cars with 5k being the upper end of what sold. Perfect I thought.
Walking past many corollas, pulsars, falcons and the likes, I stumbled across this beauty...
(excuse the calculator-like quality pic)
In-case you don't know what it is, it is a 1995 Nissan Skyline R33 GTR V-Spec. I looked at and thought wow if only.. but realistically there was no chance of me getting it as at the time they were worth 20-30k depending on spec and condition.
I still examined it though.
It had a flat battery which prevented idiots starting it and reving it which was probably a good thing. The dash used to have something mounted as there were 8 holes in a square in the middle. There were a few scratches on the fascia and driver's door switch. It came with a logbook! (Extremely rare) This showed a timing belt change at 127k kms, great! Except the dash showed 77k kms... The front bumper needed a respray due to age and chips. The grill wanted a touch up too. Other than that though, the car was pretty tidy in and out and importantly, standard apart from twin air filters.
It sat there looking sorry and out of place amongst the other "bunkies" available for sale.
Anyway there was nothing much else that interested me in the auction but we waited to see what the GTR fetched.
It started at 22 no bids... 21 no bids.. eventually 18 and still no bids!
Finally just before they passed it, a dealer offered 15 and the auctioneer said no and on it went. I went home slightly depressed but knowing I just had to save more!
6 days passed, nothing.. I wanted something to drive!
I wanted that GTR to drive......
I pleaded with dad to lend me some dosh but the answer was a definite no, same from mum although I didn't really press harder as they were going through a "rough patch" and needed their funds.
I didn't know at the time, but my dad had been telling his dad about my car antics and was told of the GTR at the auction. He was more than happy to help out by lending funds. I should stress that he is back in Rotherham and at the time, I last visited him about 2 years ago. This being the case, added to the fact that he was 87, I was pretty hesitant about the whole thing... I spoke to grandad direct and he stressed that he was in a good financial position and could lend me the money no worries on the condition that I stopped supporting Man Utd. I told him it wasn't going to happen but he lent me the money anyway. After thanking him endlessly, £4000 was then sent to my dad (at the time worth about 6.5k AUD). However this could all be in vain as the budget was still extremely low for the GTR and it mightn't sell for the figure we had in mind.
The next day, dad and I headed back to the auction place. They employ 4 staff who can answer questions and submit offers pre or post auction for cars and we sort've knew one bloke (Rick) as dad had bought a car through him previously (98 VW Polo).
The auction started at 6:30pm, we got there for 6pm and immediately grabbed Rick (literally) and asked him if could work some magic for us pre-auction. He winced...
The wait for Rick to come back from his little cubicle they call an office, was unbearable.
Finally he returned. I asked, how'd it go?
He simply nodded.
The offer was 15k pre-auction and would expire if put through. Story was the seller was an ex-importer who went broke and was in Japan, absolutely needing to sell today.
I stood next to it, refusing to believe reality. I just bought a GTR without hearing it idle, drive etc!
This was a dream car of mine and to have it at 16 and 6 months was just unbelievable! Dad was ok with me buying it because a) it was standard and b) I had to have him in the passenger seat at all times until I was 17 and passed my manual drivers test, fill out a logbook of 25hours of driving time with him in the passenger seat and finally to do advanced driver training courses.
Two days later, armed with 15k in notes, we boarded the TRAIN to go get it. (Me being unable to drive a car on my own.. doh! + Mum was at work)
The train ride was AGONY! I was twitching and pulse racing the entire trip because of carrying such a vast amount of cash, as well as the thoughts racing through my head of owning a GTR!
Finally we jumped off and began the 5km walk to the auction house.
Upon arrival, my neck was quite sore as I was consistently twisting it to check that there were no followers...
There it was, sitting proud, already looking happier!
After payment was settled, Rick got out the in-house movable battery and started it.
Purring into life immediately, this was a dream come true. On the drive home, dad refused to hit the loud pedal. Still, that needn't have mattered as I would eventually get my turn!
First pics home!
The front right was immediately pumped up after the pics were taken and didn't lose air after.
I will say now that I owned this car for the longest period of time out of all my cars. Approximately 11 months! (Didn't quite get to a year haha)
The first time dad let me take it out was truly memorable. I had around 300BHP at my disposal! More-so, this was the car I learnt manual on! I stalled a couple of times but got the hang of it in an hour or so.
I also got to floor it from 2nd to 3rd at the end of my practice session. Inevitably, I fluffed it and missed 3rd..
The initial push backward into the seat was the biggest adrenalin rush of my life! We swapped seats and then went home, with a massive grin still plastered all over my face.
Finally, I was confident enough to take a stab at a manual driving test. However, we left planning too late and a fortunately, a phone call prevented me from taking my driving test in a GTR. I ended up passing first go in a Hyundai i30, having never driven one prior to an hour before the test!
Months went by, I was nearly 17. Nearly at the age I could drive it on my own without dad in my ear 24/7.
I booked in with the local skyline club, an advanced driver session involving instructors and an air strip with cones for a month after I turned 17. This ended up being a total blast and I learnt so many new things!
Being bored a couple days before I turned 17, I gave the car a good wash, got my number plates on it and bought a dash mat to hide those awful holes.
(Dads Mulsanne in the background, nice car but did 25L/100km.. insanity and was forever broken)
Finally 17! I went in the same day and attained my provisional license! Wohoo!
I think I did several hundred kms that day
I also attended my first cruise within the month. In hindsight that wasn't the greatest idea as it was also pouring with rain. Still, I got through it without incident and learnt that my tyres are absolutely shocking in the wet. (Branded "Triangles")
Quite a few months later, I was coming home with dad and we had an argument about something that I forget. This led to me going in way too quick into our narrow garage. This was the result.
I was devastated to say the least. Also for some reason, the first pic looks like there is rust in the arches but there wasn't any, the car was rust free.
I had about a grand saved up in the bank at this point, so off to the paint shop it went.
$700 later:
I met a great mate who still to this day, is one of my best friends, on that first skyline cruise. I met up with him one day and we went for a drive through some very challenging hills then stopped to take some pictures. By now, I was getting to know my car quite well and how it handled etc.
Another official skylines cruise came up, this time it was to go way out into the country, fine by me. This cruise is still my favourite to date. The roads used and lack of other humans is simply brilliant
. A few pictures:The last picture is my favourite, I have this blown up and framed on my bedroom wall
More time passed, my mate sold his car (the black R34 in the pics earlier) only to buy a rare limited edition spec of my car! Even more infuriating, was that his car probably had another 10hp on mine.. (both fairly standard)
I'd also saved up some money and purchased an exhaust for mine after everybody pressured me into doing so >_> . (No regrets though!)
and a picture of where godzilla lives..
Finally though, the time came to sell. I'd done about 11k kms in 10 months, 5 of which had my dad in the passenger seat (learners still). Reason for sale was I'd come to the realisation that debt over cars wasn't a good thing, even though it was through a family member. I owed quite a sum at this stage and wanted out, even if it meant selling up my prized possession. This was so difficult to do. When I eventually put the ad up, took pictures and sat down, I won't lie, it was extremely depressing and I was near tears. Dad also supported this decision. I forgot to say, I did get one speeding ticket but a mere 70 in a 60 zone - a nuisance at most.
Pictures readied for sale:
^The sight I wake up to... (We moved house)
After about a month and a bit, it was sold for $23,500, of which 14 was mine and the rest paid back to grandad / dad.
I sold it to the best possible person. A young guy, singlet, chain, cap backwards and slurred speech. His boss was buying it for him as a present for looking after his house and family personally.. I had hope.
...until a week later when I got a phone call saying the car was dead. He'd blown the engine doing god-knows-what.
After the GTR, there was nothing really left for me in the skyline world. I ventured back euro! Stay tuned.. This post took me roughly 3 hours :O !
Edited by Ten Four on Wednesday 28th September 14:48
The power sure was addictive
Ok, car number 5.
At this point in time, currently, there were 2 BMWs in the family. 4 Total including the 2 we'd sold previously. All 5 series, 3 E39s. I liked them, super comfy yet not too much of a boat. Pricing though varied greatly. I've browsed what they cost in the PH classifieds and its just ridiculous compared to here.
I do a fair few kms so I set out looking for the ultimate cruiser. There was just something about BMWs that I loved.
Also, it simply had to have a V8 so that left me with 535i or 540i. (M5 are about 50k AUD). The budget was set at 12k (this price range meant something that needed some work).
I began browsing the classifieds.. Nothing really of interest. I set a notification alert for any new ones that popped up.
Sure enough, a week after I began looking, this black 540i popped up with 120kms. Price was 15.8k, bargain. (These should have been nearer 20).
It was listed on Saturday night so I was there looking on Sunday morning . It was a beauty! Black on black with the essentials already done! Just get in and drive.
Annoyingly, I had to wait there as someone else was already test driving it!
The seller told us the bloke was interested and had to make a few calls.
Damn, this was too quick!
It had the following extras:
Genuine E39 M5 wheels
K&N Pod Filter
Carbon Grill
Carbon boot lip
Update headlights and tail lights
Full Alpine sound system
Remus Exhaust
ACS Pedals
The only downsides to the 540 was the wheels were fairly curbed (apparently the wife's fault). It was a regretful sale as he had bought an X5 to accommodate the family.
Basically, when I saw it, I was simply in awe. Dad had to drive it cause I just stood there motionless. (Weird coming from a GTR right?)
After a quick drive, we discussed price..
At $15,300 she was mine (with big help from dad, explained at the end).
I actually still had the GTR at present as it had a hefty deposit on it and was just about to be collected.
Apologies for the picture quality.
Both black cars represented a totally different driving experience - the BMW much more sedate and civilised. (Read not slow! The BMW would have had 280+ BHP but was MUCH heavier.)
I then took the car to my favourite photo spot for a couple of quick snaps
.
Next step was to get the wheels repaired. I had a contact who did work for the BMW main dealer and so I sent these to him. They came back absolutely mint! Cost was around $600 if I remember correctly.
There were mixed tyres on the rear (255/35/18) and this I did not like...
..so I booked in with my buddies from the skyline forum and took it to the advanced driver training place where you get to drive your car hard! That was great fun especially sideways but it did feel extremely heavy compared to the GTR. That said, it was 40 degrees, I was in full length clothes (regulations) and driving a black BMW with black leather.
I gave up before the car did!
Then ordered some new Hankook sport tyres (275/35/18) to fit those huge rear wheels! Unfortunately, these never made it on the car as I sold it before they went on (gave them with the car).
I sold it quick (had the car 3 weeks..) due to the deposit on the GTR falling through even though it was a hefty grand. There were buyers crawling all over it and even from the eastern states due to the rare colour combo, extras and low kms. I got $18500 for it only to have the next caller saying he'd have gladly paid 20! Doh! Made a nice couple grand off it. I loved the 540 but it had to go as it wasn't possible to have both cars! I've a mate who has spotted it around in the last year or so, still in the same condition but being driven by a middle aged woman, possibly the buyer's wife. (Please don't curb those wheels!!!)
Ok, car number 5.
At this point in time, currently, there were 2 BMWs in the family. 4 Total including the 2 we'd sold previously. All 5 series, 3 E39s. I liked them, super comfy yet not too much of a boat. Pricing though varied greatly. I've browsed what they cost in the PH classifieds and its just ridiculous compared to here.
I do a fair few kms so I set out looking for the ultimate cruiser. There was just something about BMWs that I loved.
Also, it simply had to have a V8 so that left me with 535i or 540i. (M5 are about 50k AUD). The budget was set at 12k (this price range meant something that needed some work).
I began browsing the classifieds.. Nothing really of interest. I set a notification alert for any new ones that popped up.
Sure enough, a week after I began looking, this black 540i popped up with 120kms. Price was 15.8k, bargain. (These should have been nearer 20).
It was listed on Saturday night so I was there looking on Sunday morning
. It was a beauty! Black on black with the essentials already done! Just get in and drive.Annoyingly, I had to wait there as someone else was already test driving it!
The seller told us the bloke was interested and had to make a few calls.
Damn, this was too quick!
It had the following extras:
Genuine E39 M5 wheels
K&N Pod Filter
Carbon Grill
Carbon boot lip
Update headlights and tail lights
Full Alpine sound system
Remus Exhaust
ACS Pedals
The only downsides to the 540 was the wheels were fairly curbed (apparently the wife's fault). It was a regretful sale as he had bought an X5 to accommodate the family.
Basically, when I saw it, I was simply in awe. Dad had to drive it cause I just stood there motionless. (Weird coming from a GTR right?)
After a quick drive, we discussed price..
At $15,300 she was mine (with big help from dad, explained at the end).
I actually still had the GTR at present as it had a hefty deposit on it and was just about to be collected.
Apologies for the picture quality.
Both black cars represented a totally different driving experience - the BMW much more sedate and civilised. (Read not slow! The BMW would have had 280+ BHP but was MUCH heavier.)
I then took the car to my favourite photo spot for a couple of quick snaps
.Next step was to get the wheels repaired. I had a contact who did work for the BMW main dealer and so I sent these to him. They came back absolutely mint! Cost was around $600 if I remember correctly.
There were mixed tyres on the rear (255/35/18) and this I did not like...
..so I booked in with my buddies from the skyline forum and took it to the advanced driver training place where you get to drive your car hard! That was great fun especially sideways but it did feel extremely heavy compared to the GTR. That said, it was 40 degrees, I was in full length clothes (regulations) and driving a black BMW with black leather.
I gave up before the car did!
Then ordered some new Hankook sport tyres (275/35/18) to fit those huge rear wheels! Unfortunately, these never made it on the car as I sold it before they went on (gave them with the car).
I sold it quick (had the car 3 weeks..) due to the deposit on the GTR falling through even though it was a hefty grand. There were buyers crawling all over it and even from the eastern states due to the rare colour combo, extras and low kms. I got $18500 for it only to have the next caller saying he'd have gladly paid 20! Doh! Made a nice couple grand off it. I loved the 540 but it had to go as it wasn't possible to have both cars! I've a mate who has spotted it around in the last year or so, still in the same condition but being driven by a middle aged woman, possibly the buyer's wife. (Please don't curb those wheels!!!)
Edited by Ten Four on Thursday 29th September 16:42
Cheers guys!
Ok, car number 6.
Now that I was starting uni, I needed a car that would get me there and back, reliably and economically. It also had to be something that wouldn't attract too much attention as there have been many brickings / cars broken into at uni.
I set a budget of 5k for a good daily - at this point the GTR had just left. However, I didn't want something boring like a camry as I was still feeling the need to drive something cool!
While browsing gumtree one day (directly after watching an old Top Gear episode - guess which!), I saw a Porsche 924. You can probably see where this is heading.... All previous plans were out the window.
It was a 1982 Porsche 924 manual with 150km, full log booked history at Perth's main Porsche dealer, also where it was sold. An engine rebuild had occurred at 120km costing 5.5k in 1998 (all receipts provided).
So I grabbed dad and went to go have a look. The vendor's driveway was distinctively memorable. We thought we had the wrong place upon arrival as there was what looked like a never ending forest behind the letterbox. The only way in was a tiny little gravel road.
Well, since the letterbox and road name said it was correct, we trundled on in. The road forked into 2 with no suggestion of which way to go (still covered by immense forest). Guessing, we went left and followed for a good 500-800m still thinking we were off on a wild goose chase. Finally, a lovely old, huge house came into view with a massive separate garage, enough to hold a fleet full of cars came into view.
The 924 sat outside, looking totally at home. Everything looked picture perfect, except for this young punk and his balding dad, threatening to ruin the lovely oasis.
We parked up, waltzed over to the 924. First impressions were great! It was spotless! No rust, no scratches, no dents; just a few stone chips inevitable from the long gravel driveway. An old bloke proceeded to greet us, wife not far behind. They'd had it for years and years and were 2nd owners. 1st owners were another family member. It was for sale now due to lack of use.
After a quick going over, my suspicions were correct. It was simply a peach! The only downside was cracking to the dash, covered by a picture of a German flag and dash mat. Oh and the poo brown interior...
After a quick test drive, well not really quick. After crawling all the way back to civilisation, a proper test drive ensued. Basically I just went through the gears and revs, watching the gauges. All was fine.
6500 was the advertised price, 5000 was the figure to have it home
Now I should stress, I bought it nearing summer but it was still cool, and I did buy it in the evening time so didn't really get a chance to test the A/C, which didn't work... Other than that, it was going perfect! Great balance but obviously lacking in power compared to my previous toys.
I loved the poise of it, the spongy, comfy yet somehow balanced suspension. I then hit up my mate with the limited edition GTR for a late night hoon through the hills.
He was in front and just couldn't leave me - possibly due to me having more balls than him but I put it down to the handling of the Porsche
So annoyed he was, we stopped afterward and he wanted to have a quick play for himself.
Here is all 6 foot 3, 105kg of him trying to fit in - seat was all the way back in the picture! Laughter ensued. (I'm only 5ft 8")
I found another photo location, far better than the previous one. Getting there also involved some challenging roads which didn't bother me! I only had a cheap digi-cam though (which doubled as a video recorder - I recorded the drive but wasn't going very fast so won't bother uploading as its about 40mins long).
One day, one headlight stopped popping up, the electric windows both failed and the wipers followed. This seemed odd as everything happened at once. I parked it up and went to sleep.
However the next day, a freak hailstorm hit 90% of the metro area - it missed us (hills) but did leave tonnes of sideways rain. I didn't drive it far that day in fear of damage. I did however make it to the local Burger King (without wipers!). Pleased to report that there were absolutely zero leaks. With the big sunroof and hatch, this was a pleasant surprise .
Next day after all the heavy rain, all the above problems fixed themselves... I left it at that!
By now though, summer was here and it was bloody hot! I'm talking 40+ degrees. After about 2 weeks of having full days at uni, returning to a Porsche without AC, that'd been sitting in the sun all day, I was pretty over it... I should note that my dad's mechanic specialises in high end luxury cars and was head mechanic of Perth's Lambo/Ferrari/Maserati etc dealer. He only left there to start his own place. Anyway, he said something about the 924's fuel injection system being rubbish and expensive to repair if it went wrong, added to the fact that although there was AC, it was never going to work. This news basically led me to put it for sale after about a month and a bit. It sold pretty quickly with me getting back exactly what I paid for it. Another old bloke and wife bought it. T'was a rather sad sight seeing it drive off but I knew for sure that it would be well kept and I also knew roughly where it would live. It would only be receiving occasional usage on those perfect days.
The hunt for #7 was on.
Ok, car number 6.
Now that I was starting uni, I needed a car that would get me there and back, reliably and economically. It also had to be something that wouldn't attract too much attention as there have been many brickings / cars broken into at uni.
I set a budget of 5k for a good daily - at this point the GTR had just left. However, I didn't want something boring like a camry as I was still feeling the need to drive something cool!
While browsing gumtree one day (directly after watching an old Top Gear episode - guess which!), I saw a Porsche 924. You can probably see where this is heading.... All previous plans were out the window.
It was a 1982 Porsche 924 manual with 150km, full log booked history at Perth's main Porsche dealer, also where it was sold. An engine rebuild had occurred at 120km costing 5.5k in 1998 (all receipts provided).
So I grabbed dad and went to go have a look. The vendor's driveway was distinctively memorable. We thought we had the wrong place upon arrival as there was what looked like a never ending forest behind the letterbox. The only way in was a tiny little gravel road.
Well, since the letterbox and road name said it was correct, we trundled on in. The road forked into 2 with no suggestion of which way to go (still covered by immense forest). Guessing, we went left and followed for a good 500-800m still thinking we were off on a wild goose chase. Finally, a lovely old, huge house came into view with a massive separate garage, enough to hold a fleet full of cars came into view.
The 924 sat outside, looking totally at home. Everything looked picture perfect, except for this young punk and his balding dad, threatening to ruin the lovely oasis.
We parked up, waltzed over to the 924. First impressions were great! It was spotless! No rust, no scratches, no dents; just a few stone chips inevitable from the long gravel driveway. An old bloke proceeded to greet us, wife not far behind. They'd had it for years and years and were 2nd owners. 1st owners were another family member. It was for sale now due to lack of use.
After a quick going over, my suspicions were correct. It was simply a peach! The only downside was cracking to the dash, covered by a picture of a German flag and dash mat. Oh and the poo brown interior...
After a quick test drive, well not really quick. After crawling all the way back to civilisation, a proper test drive ensued. Basically I just went through the gears and revs, watching the gauges. All was fine.
6500 was the advertised price, 5000 was the figure to have it home
Now I should stress, I bought it nearing summer but it was still cool, and I did buy it in the evening time so didn't really get a chance to test the A/C, which didn't work... Other than that, it was going perfect! Great balance but obviously lacking in power compared to my previous toys.
I loved the poise of it, the spongy, comfy yet somehow balanced suspension. I then hit up my mate with the limited edition GTR for a late night hoon through the hills.
He was in front and just couldn't leave me - possibly due to me having more balls than him but I put it down to the handling of the Porsche
So annoyed he was, we stopped afterward and he wanted to have a quick play for himself.
Here is all 6 foot 3, 105kg of him trying to fit in - seat was all the way back in the picture! Laughter ensued. (I'm only 5ft 8")
I found another photo location, far better than the previous one. Getting there also involved some challenging roads which didn't bother me! I only had a cheap digi-cam though (which doubled as a video recorder - I recorded the drive but wasn't going very fast so won't bother uploading as its about 40mins long).
One day, one headlight stopped popping up, the electric windows both failed and the wipers followed. This seemed odd as everything happened at once. I parked it up and went to sleep.
However the next day, a freak hailstorm hit 90% of the metro area - it missed us (hills) but did leave tonnes of sideways rain. I didn't drive it far that day in fear of damage. I did however make it to the local Burger King (without wipers!). Pleased to report that there were absolutely zero leaks. With the big sunroof and hatch, this was a pleasant surprise
.Next day after all the heavy rain, all the above problems fixed themselves... I left it at that!
By now though, summer was here and it was bloody hot! I'm talking 40+ degrees. After about 2 weeks of having full days at uni, returning to a Porsche without AC, that'd been sitting in the sun all day, I was pretty over it... I should note that my dad's mechanic specialises in high end luxury cars and was head mechanic of Perth's Lambo/Ferrari/Maserati etc dealer. He only left there to start his own place. Anyway, he said something about the 924's fuel injection system being rubbish and expensive to repair if it went wrong, added to the fact that although there was AC, it was never going to work. This news basically led me to put it for sale after about a month and a bit. It sold pretty quickly with me getting back exactly what I paid for it. Another old bloke and wife bought it. T'was a rather sad sight seeing it drive off but I knew for sure that it would be well kept and I also knew roughly where it would live. It would only be receiving occasional usage on those perfect days.
The hunt for #7 was on.
Edited by Ten Four on Thursday 29th September 15:44
Thanks for the responses!
At this point in time, my sister 15, was nearly turning the magical 16 and With my influence, I got my parents to buy her a first car - a 1992 Nissan Silvia S13 (auto, non turbo).
Basically because she couldn't drive it yet for a good few months, I used this as daily uni transport. I did however, spend money fixing up things on it, a new exhaust etc.
(Pink plates went on AFTER I was done with it haha)
This daily drive meant I could look for something fun, something exciting, something fast...
I was looking around at what was available and nothing really popped out until one day on the skyline forum (again) when I found an advertisement in the national section with one picture and a brief description.
It was for a 1989 Nissan Skyline R32 GTR - The original Godzilla.
However the price was 23.5kono and everything I had was 17.
Still, I PM'd the seller saying what a great car he had and that I wish I could buy it but was around 5k short. He replied saying to come down and have a look anyway. This suited me!
Original pic from advert:
Now before I went to look at it, the seller sent me a link of his build for the car. (The car had a rebuild as the original engine gave up the ghost when he bought it about 4 years ago.) This included pictures and looked expensive! Forged pistons, sump baffle, head-work, ceramic coated exhaust - the lot! He even had all bolts gold plated as that was his old man's specialty. It looked great in the pictures.
For the viewing, I brought a GTR savvy mate as I knew the basics but he knew specifics. The arrangement was to meet at the vendor's work which we did. He ran a business that equipped 4WDs for big mining companies. Brand new 80k+ Landcruisers sat there in rows and rows but parked far in the corner, was this GTR.
Firstly, I'd like to say, I despised the colour of wheels. Faded red meant pink, ugh! Anyway, I got my mate to start going over the car. I went in and found the owner. I then told him my story about only having 17k and that was why I didn't want to waste his time if he didn't want to accept it. I never really got a clear answer from this but by now we were outside the car.
My mate had given it the all clear apart from 2 spots of rust - 1 on the rear window on the drivers side (tiny), 1 spot in the boot rubber and a small dent on the left hand rear arch. No leaks of any kind.
Moving on, a test drive occurred. I wasn't even in the car for this. I just left it to my mate who sat in the passenger seat, owner driving.
After 5 minutes, they came back and I got the all clear from my mate so I proceeded to ask the owner some questions.
Turns out he bought the car in 2005 for 30k stock standard drove it for a while till the oil pump failed - resulting in the starvation of oil in the engine and thus failure. He then decided to rebuild and upgrade the entire car. This meant sending the engine off for a rebuild which was fine. However, he sent the engine over east to a known racing company to be rebuilt. The cost was 18,500!!! Next was the suspension, everything was upgraded to bilstein and whiteline - another 4 to 5k here. Loads more money was spent.
When it came down to it, he reckoned he'd spent 60k on the car in total.... here I was, offering less than the cost to build the engine...
When it came to price, he said it had to go. He had just been through a divorce and even proceeds from sale were split 50/50. I felt awful, wanting to run and hide in the corner. Reluctantly, he said if that's all I had, that's all he would get. The GTR was mine.
Pics after a wash:
The chassis had done 65k kms, engine 5k kms... Did I mention 400hp at the wheels??
Quickly, I booked in for another outing at the airstrip with the skyline forum. This was so far the best fun I'd had in my entire life!
(Cooling off)
Me being pretty happy with life!
I loved the car. By now I was getting used to the power levels (lol) and I was starting to dislike the exhaust that came with it (super quiet), plus the car came with a adjustable sway bar not installed which wouldn't currently fit as the current exhaust had huge mufflers to quieten it down. This was surely no good for flow!
So I got a new stainless drainpipe installed
This was pretty loud as it was straight through but the pickup and handling (after new swaybar was on) made the car feel totally reborn! Boost levels were increased a little from 20 to 22 psi (motor built to run 25 all day..). This being the case, I booked it in for a re-tune to compensate. Power was slightly increased though I requested boost be turned back down to 20 - more on this later.
Some pictures during a run through the hills.
^Fav pic of the night
Next step was to paint those awful coloured wheels. My mate painted them though not to the result I was after.. Still, the look was far, far improved.
After this, I spent 1500 on getting all rust removed properly with new metal welded in to get it looking perfect. I had many great memories in this car and is still probably my favourite out of the lot.
However, performing the above modifications left me with some debt (again).
I did some research into other people with similar modifications, especially turbos and found they were making loads more power than me. I should have been making about 480hp at the wheels at 20-22psi. I was worried especially as the motor was still fresh and cost a fortune to build.
This and debt led me to putting it on the market. I had one bloke interested and he sent it for inspection which took 4hours instead of 2. The result was the garage thought my engine was either piston slapping or being a normal clattery forged engine. He proceeded to offer me 15k (advertised at 25). I declined.
It couldn't have been piston slapping! It was making 400hp at the wheels, not 200! They were trying to be sneaky..
I then had very little interest for a month until one morning I had a call just before I was about to uni. The call lasted 2 hours and I missed my class! (Whoops). The call was from a DR. Ron Laura. (Website: http://dr-ronlaura.com/). He'd called from Sydney interested in my GTR. Reasons were the power output and the relatively fresh engine but most of all, the car looking standard from outside and under the bonnet. I had stock wheels on the car now too and had sold off the black ones to a mate.
Anyway, I got the phone call 10am Wednesday morning and I was picking up Mr Laura from Perth's domestic airport Thursday evening! At first glance, I thought he was a retired wrestler. He is a really, really nice bloke though!
Ron (as I was allowed to call him) loved the car. He had booked in a local hotel for a late arrival so I dropped him there.... where they forgot to leave the key out. Brilliant.
Luckily, we had a spare bedroom as my sister was at my mum's place so Ron spent the night there. He wanted to call the previous owner to find out more about the build and car history (fair enough). I gave him his number. Now funnily enough, the previous owner had actually heard of Dr. Ron through body-building circles and wanted to meet up to discuss training or something... and the car of course.
So, Friday morning at 8am, we met up, me included. They had a good chat and at around 11, we were off to the bank at an agreed price of 24,500.
Pictures outside the bank.
Money sorted, I dropped Ron (well he did the driving, I didn't get to drive it the entire time!) back at the airport then headed to the car depot with my mate (to bring me home).
Really don't know why I was smiling as I was about to say goodbye to the greatest car I've ever had. This was to be Ron's 23rd car......................... in current possession.
The car made it safely over with no issues. Since then, Ron's spent money adding another fuel pump, rebuilding the turbos, buying a new clutch (the HKS twin-plate gave up at the new power levels!) and performing other jobs. The car now makes 580HP at the wheels, still looking totally standard. The cause of my lower power figure, was a blocked cat......
At this point in time, my sister 15, was nearly turning the magical 16 and With my influence, I got my parents to buy her a first car - a 1992 Nissan Silvia S13 (auto, non turbo).
Basically because she couldn't drive it yet for a good few months, I used this as daily uni transport. I did however, spend money fixing up things on it, a new exhaust etc.
(Pink plates went on AFTER I was done with it haha)
This daily drive meant I could look for something fun, something exciting, something fast...
I was looking around at what was available and nothing really popped out until one day on the skyline forum (again) when I found an advertisement in the national section with one picture and a brief description.
It was for a 1989 Nissan Skyline R32 GTR - The original Godzilla.
However the price was 23.5kono and everything I had was 17.
Still, I PM'd the seller saying what a great car he had and that I wish I could buy it but was around 5k short. He replied saying to come down and have a look anyway. This suited me!
Original pic from advert:
Now before I went to look at it, the seller sent me a link of his build for the car. (The car had a rebuild as the original engine gave up the ghost when he bought it about 4 years ago.) This included pictures and looked expensive! Forged pistons, sump baffle, head-work, ceramic coated exhaust - the lot! He even had all bolts gold plated as that was his old man's specialty. It looked great in the pictures.
For the viewing, I brought a GTR savvy mate as I knew the basics but he knew specifics. The arrangement was to meet at the vendor's work which we did. He ran a business that equipped 4WDs for big mining companies. Brand new 80k+ Landcruisers sat there in rows and rows but parked far in the corner, was this GTR.
Firstly, I'd like to say, I despised the colour of wheels. Faded red meant pink, ugh! Anyway, I got my mate to start going over the car. I went in and found the owner. I then told him my story about only having 17k and that was why I didn't want to waste his time if he didn't want to accept it. I never really got a clear answer from this but by now we were outside the car.
My mate had given it the all clear apart from 2 spots of rust - 1 on the rear window on the drivers side (tiny), 1 spot in the boot rubber and a small dent on the left hand rear arch. No leaks of any kind.
Moving on, a test drive occurred. I wasn't even in the car for this. I just left it to my mate who sat in the passenger seat, owner driving.
After 5 minutes, they came back and I got the all clear from my mate so I proceeded to ask the owner some questions.
Turns out he bought the car in 2005 for 30k stock standard drove it for a while till the oil pump failed - resulting in the starvation of oil in the engine and thus failure. He then decided to rebuild and upgrade the entire car. This meant sending the engine off for a rebuild which was fine. However, he sent the engine over east to a known racing company to be rebuilt. The cost was 18,500!!! Next was the suspension, everything was upgraded to bilstein and whiteline - another 4 to 5k here. Loads more money was spent.
When it came down to it, he reckoned he'd spent 60k on the car in total.... here I was, offering less than the cost to build the engine...
When it came to price, he said it had to go. He had just been through a divorce and even proceeds from sale were split 50/50. I felt awful, wanting to run and hide in the corner. Reluctantly, he said if that's all I had, that's all he would get. The GTR was mine.
Pics after a wash:
The chassis had done 65k kms, engine 5k kms... Did I mention 400hp at the wheels??
Quickly, I booked in for another outing at the airstrip with the skyline forum. This was so far the best fun I'd had in my entire life!
(Cooling off)
Me being pretty happy with life!
I loved the car. By now I was getting used to the power levels (lol) and I was starting to dislike the exhaust that came with it (super quiet), plus the car came with a adjustable sway bar not installed which wouldn't currently fit as the current exhaust had huge mufflers to quieten it down. This was surely no good for flow!
So I got a new stainless drainpipe installed
This was pretty loud as it was straight through but the pickup and handling (after new swaybar was on) made the car feel totally reborn! Boost levels were increased a little from 20 to 22 psi (motor built to run 25 all day..). This being the case, I booked it in for a re-tune to compensate. Power was slightly increased though I requested boost be turned back down to 20 - more on this later.
Some pictures during a run through the hills.
^Fav pic of the night
Next step was to paint those awful coloured wheels. My mate painted them though not to the result I was after.. Still, the look was far, far improved.
After this, I spent 1500 on getting all rust removed properly with new metal welded in to get it looking perfect. I had many great memories in this car and is still probably my favourite out of the lot.
However, performing the above modifications left me with some debt (again).
I did some research into other people with similar modifications, especially turbos and found they were making loads more power than me. I should have been making about 480hp at the wheels at 20-22psi. I was worried especially as the motor was still fresh and cost a fortune to build.
This and debt led me to putting it on the market. I had one bloke interested and he sent it for inspection which took 4hours instead of 2. The result was the garage thought my engine was either piston slapping or being a normal clattery forged engine. He proceeded to offer me 15k (advertised at 25). I declined.
It couldn't have been piston slapping! It was making 400hp at the wheels, not 200! They were trying to be sneaky..
I then had very little interest for a month until one morning I had a call just before I was about to uni. The call lasted 2 hours and I missed my class! (Whoops). The call was from a DR. Ron Laura. (Website: http://dr-ronlaura.com/). He'd called from Sydney interested in my GTR. Reasons were the power output and the relatively fresh engine but most of all, the car looking standard from outside and under the bonnet. I had stock wheels on the car now too and had sold off the black ones to a mate.
Anyway, I got the phone call 10am Wednesday morning and I was picking up Mr Laura from Perth's domestic airport Thursday evening! At first glance, I thought he was a retired wrestler. He is a really, really nice bloke though!
Ron (as I was allowed to call him) loved the car. He had booked in a local hotel for a late arrival so I dropped him there.... where they forgot to leave the key out. Brilliant.
Luckily, we had a spare bedroom as my sister was at my mum's place so Ron spent the night there. He wanted to call the previous owner to find out more about the build and car history (fair enough). I gave him his number. Now funnily enough, the previous owner had actually heard of Dr. Ron through body-building circles and wanted to meet up to discuss training or something... and the car of course.
So, Friday morning at 8am, we met up, me included. They had a good chat and at around 11, we were off to the bank at an agreed price of 24,500.
Pictures outside the bank.
Money sorted, I dropped Ron (well he did the driving, I didn't get to drive it the entire time!) back at the airport then headed to the car depot with my mate (to bring me home).
Really don't know why I was smiling as I was about to say goodbye to the greatest car I've ever had. This was to be Ron's 23rd car......................... in current possession.
The car made it safely over with no issues. Since then, Ron's spent money adding another fuel pump, rebuilding the turbos, buying a new clutch (the HKS twin-plate gave up at the new power levels!) and performing other jobs. The car now makes 580HP at the wheels, still looking totally standard. The cause of my lower power figure, was a blocked cat......
Edited by Ten Four on Friday 30th September 12:02
Insurance was third party fire and theft only (covers someone else's car if I hit them but not mine) - this kept costs around $350 a year. Just had to be careful that I don't hit someone!
I didn't make a 7k profit, more like 2.5k. I've probably left out some stuff I had to do to the cars excluding running costs due to memory. Ron knew what I bought it at but I showed him where the money was spent - especially meeting the old owner in person as he got to look at the car and he knew what had changed.
I didn't make a 7k profit, more like 2.5k. I've probably left out some stuff I had to do to the cars excluding running costs due to memory. Ron knew what I bought it at but I showed him where the money was spent - especially meeting the old owner in person as he got to look at the car and he knew what had changed.
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