Burton

I would also add: Teach your children about guns before gangsters or rappers do.

Welcome to 2014! I got that channel early last year, and it is by far the best car channel ever. I only wish they would have moved the Barrett-Jackson auction to that channel just like it was on Speed. With Speed being changed, the BJ auction is now spread over a bunch of channels, is showing only half of what Speed did, and they quit doing the Hagerty Fantasy Bid.

How much was that GTI new? I bet it was well over $25k, and that was 7 years ago. Comparing pricing between a new car and a 7 years used one is worse than comparing apples to oranges... you're comparing apples to cheeseburgers LOL

More info on the whole deal: http://www.starquestclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=140989

Did you go abck and edit it? I saw it when it was longer but didn't have time to reply. I wasn't there, but my understanding from what I've read here and on Facebook, is that a gal in our club (Big John's wife, I believe?) worked at the Mountain Breeze and was kind of a liaison to get the deals on the hotel. After the drama at the meet (whatever that was), she was fired. I think the thing people are getting at by going back to Vacation Lodge, is a deal where they don't want to give the money and business to a hotel who fired one of our club members over last year's meet. Kinda like when a friend of mine got fired from a restaurant job over some BS... we never went back there to eat. We didn't want to support a business who treated our friend that way.

Well, it took an hour on the phone, but I know what it takes in TX now. You can register any imported car under normal registration as long as it: Has all Federal import paperwork Has a title written in English Is insured Passes standard safety inspection check (has lights, horn, brakes, etc...) Has a special state inspection sheet (similar to the "green sheet" you get when you bring a car in from out of state) Passes a DPS inspection (lights and bumpers are at the legal height and to DOT specs). I don't quite understand why the State Inspector couldn't verify that, but that's the way they do it. You can get an Antique registration, but the car must have everything above except for the DPS inspection. It does still need the initial state safety inspection, but once you have the initial state inspection done, you don't have to do it again. I have no Idea how JDM titles work, but the gal I spoke to said if it was in Japanese, then it needed to have the title translated into a new title given in English. She had no idea about how to go about that. She thought there was a possibility that the Feds might give it some sort of temporary English translation title with the rest of the import paperwork, but wasn't sure and said I would have to call them about that. Do Japanese titles come in English or Japanese, anyone know? I'm assuming they'd be written in Japanese.

I suspect they were sold... This is over 2 years old.

Well, I'm only going by what my inspection guy told me. He may or may not know what he's talking about... maybe he wouldn't want to mess with the paperwork or whatever. Anyway, what he told me was that when the VIN of a non USDM car was entered into the system (something they have to do for every inspection), it would come back as a non USDM car and get red flagged as not being able to be registered. Not sure why it wouldn't be a red flag on an Antique registration, as you have to give the VIN for those too. Maybe then they just care that it has a VIN and is a legitimate car, and not so much where it came from. Hmmmm, now that's got me thinking.... I actually bought a car from my inspection guy a few months back to part out. It was a 74 260Z that was originally bought in Greece by the PO who was stationed there, but he was able to bring it into the country when he came back stateside, and it held a regular registration since the early 80's when it came into the country. Still, I gotta think it would be a good idea for anyone wanting to import to call your state transportation people to make sure before actually purchasing something. Remember, each state can set their own transportation laws. The Feds set up basic laws that must be adhered to, but from there it's up to each state to decide for themselves above and beyond the Fed guidelines. I know some states could care less, but I gotta think some of the car Nazi states like CA and NY might have tougher laws. I used to live in MI, and they didn't have any inspections, and seemed much more lenient about transportation laws than here in TX, so I suspect it's fairly easy to import there, but MI also seemed tougher than other states I lived in like TN and WA.

The Feds say it's OK to bring them in, but check your state's laws before you plunk down the money. If you live in a bill of sale after 25 years state, or a state without safety inspections, you're probably OK, and it will probably be a piece of cake. States like TX where I live have safety inspections. For a car to be registered normally, it must pass a yearly safety inspection based on USDOT laws for the year of the car's manufacture.If the car wouldn't pass those laws then, it won't now. We do have "Antique" plates for cars over 25 years, that don't have to adhere to the stringent safety laws, but you can also only drive the car to and from shows, a repair shop, or in a parade. Get caught driving for something else and get a ticket. Pretty much the only way to have a Skyline in TX is to Antique it, or use it for racing only. There may even be some states that won't allow it at all, even if the Feds say it's OK now.

I don't mind people parting out cars as long as they're not parting cars that could easily be made road worthy. I've parted my share of cars, but all have either been extremely rusty, had no title, or were in a flood. My biggest pet peeve is people who send parts cars with lots of good parts still to the crusher. People buy a parts car for a few hundred, sell a few hundred in parts, and then are content to get scrap rate for the bulk of it once they make their money back. Cars going to the crusher with good parts... doors, glass, even rust free 1/4s. Just as the car's values go up the more that are destroyed... the parts values will go up too with all the good parts getting scrapped. Fenders are almost a dime a dozen now, but what happens when everybody's sending their parts cars to the crusher with fenders? 10 years from now when you can't find a straight fender for under $200, people will be bummed they scrapped fenders with a couple door dings. When I part a car, I take anything that is still good... roof panels, harnesses, donor patch panels, any screw that's not stripped or rusty... I even have a full, straight front clip from a car that had no title. Also, while nobody will get rich parting SQs, there is money to be made at it. Much more money than trying to fix the car and sell it working. I can buy a $400 car, keep the best parts for myself, and sell the rest of the stuff for $1-2k. That's pretty good money for a few hours tearing down a car.

They all tend to want to stick out, and looking back on the pics of the car when it got here, it was sticking out bigtime. So far, I got all the slop out of the hinge at the glass and at the body, but it still sticks out a bit. Thinking I'm going to have to take the hatch back off and enlarge the mounting holes at the body to try and get an extra 1/8 inch out of it. If this wrre just a regular job, I'd say good enough, but this thing needs to be show quality. Oh, and I don't know if I could do a paint job for you this year or not. I'm not taking on any more work until probably June what with the new baby coming in April and me needing to be around to take care of things while Kate recuperates. Got a few people who want me to do some jobs for them in the summer and fall, but it will all depend on who has the money to do it once my time frees up.

I voted. I hope you win. I hate begging for stuff like this too, but I entered my Starion in a Barrett Jackson contest and because of people here and on facebook I won the whole thing. Got to go to the 2011 BJ Scottsdale auction for free because of it.

&0's and sunny here now. Although, it is a bit chilly at night, down into the 30's

Been there, done that... They've had great talent and talented coaches, even at the same time. They couldn't make it work then, so I have little faith they can make it work now. I think they're destined to keep losing as long as the Fords keep owning them. We all know anything with a Ford logo on it is broken.

In other news.... The Lions have set themselves up for yet another disappointment. They get all excited about new coaches and players but in the end, they still suck. They've had good peeps in the past that couldn't help 'em, I don't see anything different by hiring this new coach.

I wasn't there, but I heard that some drama went down at the new hotel last year. I guess there was someone in the club who worked there, but after the drama that person got fired and people don't want to give business to that hotel because of it. I only went to PF's when it was at the Vacation Lodge, but always liked that place.

I don't miss my first car, a 1983 Nissan Stanza, but I do mis a number of them I had after that... 83 Dodge Challenger with the 2.6- found the frame was very rotten, so my parents sold it and got me another car 87 VW Scirocco 16v- Loved that car, but blew the head gasket and it was going to be around $2k for the dealer to fix, so my parents made me sell it and got me a GTI. 87 Nissan Pulsar NX- had a ton of fun in that car, but I blew up the tranny so it had to go bye-bye.

Thanks, guys! Yes I did tint the windows.... 5% on the hatch and 1/4 windows, 25% o the door windows. I still gotta get some things lined up... Still gotta put the hood latch on so it will close all the way and get the airdam/fender adjustment spot on. The big pain has been the hatch... I've adjusted that thing six ways from Sunday and it still protrudes out the back a bit.

First, I'm bummed that some of the pics are fuzzy... I didn't even look at them closely before I emailed them to ya. Sorry bout that. I can get some other ones tomorrow if it's sunny. I did take a couple of artistic liberties... The mirrors are one. I've been doing that to all the SQs I've painted in the past few years, and I think it gives a much cleaner look, especially with tinted windows. The other ones are on the underside of the hood, but I don't have any pics of that. There are a couple other things I've done, but those aren't really artistic touches... They're more like extra work on stuff that we didn't really discuss doing, but I felt they needed to be done so that the overall package looked better. Those are surprises tho, so you can't see or know about them til you come pick up the car

Maybe I'll actually register and drive mine this year LOL. Other than getting moved around the yard and shop, it hasn't been driven since the registration ran out in June 2011. Wether I drive it or not, it will be getting D2s this year. The wife's car will be getting some body touch-ups and a repaint so it can go to the TX meet. Might bring my car too, if I can find a 2 place trailer to use.

I gotta think you're right. As many ideas as he has for the way everyone else runs their meets, he's gotta be chompin at the bit to put together his own.

Being from Grand Rapids, I remember the car storage. Can't use your car for 6 months, then when the snow clears you still gotta wait for 2 or 3 good rainstorms to wash the salt residue off the streets. Even tho I'm in TX, my car's pretty much been in storage for the past 2 years LOL. I rarely have a chance to drive it, and haven't renewed the registration since 2011 LOL

Yeah, I was gonna say maybe $80-100 each if they were in really good shape. I've seen uglier sets go for $50 a wheel, sometimes less.

The Force is strong with this one. Everything is right in my world. I've had arguments or disagreements with friends based on lacks of reapect or whatever, but if the people are people you truly care about and they truly care about you, then things should be made right. I've had a few instances like that in my life, but made sure to set them right. Then there's arguments or disagreements with people who mean very little to you and vice versa. Neither side respects the other nor care about the other, so what's to make right? Going out of my way to try and resolve that wrong wouldn't feel like I was doing the right thing by my principals and morals at all, so if anything if would affect my life with more negativity and inner turmoil than anything else. Everyone's different. Some people might find inner peace being the bigger man, but others would not... By doing so they'd feel like they were sacrificing their principals or morals. I get what you say about trying to be a better person. I think we all hope to improve ourselves in many ways throughout our lives. I myself am trying to be a nicer person. I've always been kind and respectful to those that treated me the same way, and have ended up with a large circle of outstanding friends who are more like siblings than friends. We'd all do anything to help each other out and never let petty stuff get between us. I'm fiercely loyal to those whom I have respect for. However, I have always been quick to jump on people I didn't know well who have disrespected me. Respect is a huge thing in my life, so it's easy to get bent out of shape when disrespected, but I'm trying to be better about that, especially with people who really don't mean much to me. Getting in internet arguments and debates on cars and politics with people whom I've never even met, is just extra stress and unhealthy... not to mention, silly. Trying to avoid that sort of stuff in the new year. That said, I still won't sacrifice my principals and give in to someone who couldn't care less about me.

Yah, if some people want to get together and have some shots in his honor or whatever, I'm all for that... I might even join in, just based on his SQ knowledge, and the people he did help and get along with. Aside from that, I wouldn't want to be a part of some sort of meet that was being touted as a tribute to him.