Thinking about selling both of my swapped TIs
 

Hey Guys,

As many of you know I have two S52 swapped TIs; one I built as a trackcar for myself and the other for my wife. The second TI was purchased August of last year before we found out she was pregnant.

Fast forward a few months and we have just bought our first home in South Carolina (where I plan to retire in about 8 years) and the baby is due in June. I know this kid will be the central focus in our lives and I just can't picture my wife racing anymore (in the near future) because of this. Furthermore, I really don't have any interest in racing if I can't enjoy it with her.

I don't want these cars to be sitting around if in the foreseeable we really won't be participating in any driving events. We already have a Z4 that's an official garage queen. I know for a fact that the Z4 won't be driven anytime soon except for the rare weekend getaway. These leaves me with three cars that I don't see using on a regular basis in the next 3+ years.

My wife says I should keep the cars and just build an additional garage to store them until later, but I may have found something else to race by then (fingers crossed for a GT3 RS).

So what do you guys think I should do?

Personally, i would get rid of the cars since your not going to enjoy racing with out your wife. Building an additional garage will be costly if you don't sell the two cars or maybe even sell the three cars. What I would do is get a mini van or a Suburban with three rows of seats since they have a nice trunk, because going on trips you'll need that extra space. What I would do when you child grows up to about 3yrs old, would to buy a Ti then swap the motor again and race it with your wife and have a baby sitter watch over your child while your racing. Maybe the market will be better in three years maybe not, that's might be the only thing from you getting your asking price.

If you buy a GT3 RS will it be fully track prepped when you buy it or will you do all that by your self? Or I would just not race at all :( i know that racing will always be in your system its like a drug :), but since you and your wife are expecting I wouldn't race at all. Or what I was thinking when I read your post was keep one of the Ti's and sell the Z4 and the other Ti or the other way around and sell the Ti's and keep the Z4.

Such a difficult decision to make, but I would do whatever makes you happy, I hope this helps out.

Let me get this straight... your wife is in favor of building a garage to keep the cars, and you're not already building a garage? Am I the only one who doesn't see a problem here? :biggrin:

Seriously though... if you really like those cars and would keep them if you could find space, etc., perhaps you could put them in storage somewhere? E.g. a self-storage facility? That might be cheaper than building a garage.

Or...

1) start with a swapped ti, suitable for racing
2) add another swapped ti, suitable for racing
3) ???
4) PROFIT!

Wow, I wish I had such tough decisions to make!

Personally, I would not build garage space for two cars that are not likely to go up in value.

On the other hand, getting the green light from the wife for more garage space should not be left on the table!

BTW, I have some NOS Dinan parts that might fit your Z4.

If you tell me the year and engine, I'll let you know if I have something for you.

Thanks for all the replies guys. Currently we have plenty of space to store all of our cars. The garage would actually be an investment on our property. It would consist of about a 30x40 workshop/storage area with an apartment connected.

Because I'm still active duty (with the possibility of changing duty stations) and also plan on retiring here we figured we could store most of our cars in a separate area and rent out the house.

I wouldn't want to sell the the TIs just to buy another one later on. This isn't a decision that is dependent on money. We still have daily drivers that could easily accommodate our needs with the kids.

Selling the Z4 is not an option. Its a 2004 2.5

Please explain.
Or...

1) start with a swapped ti, suitable for racing
2) add another swapped ti, suitable for racing
3) ???
4) PROFIT!

I will happily take both and put miles on them and race them until you want them back. :D

LOL... wow, I don't remember where I picked that up. Probably slashdot or bf.c. It's just some silly 4-step 'formula' used to illustrate how to make money from random stuff. The "???" indicates the mystery ingredient that you need to come up with to make the formula work.

EDIT - in your case, step 3 could be: driving school; racing team; or race series.

IMO if you say the 8-10k you'll get for the cars isn't really needed money, I would keep them and build the apartment garage you're talking about. My father has thought about the same thing numerous times, but it would be another addition to our house because we don't have that kind of land. It's still a risk though, who knows how much real estate will recover its value.

Or I would sell the one I was less attached to, and keep the other. You and I both have seen many people sell there TI's then come back missing them. Just curious, what are the daily drivers, and why not DD one of the TI's? Hell, I know yours are way nicer, but mine's gotten 15k miles on it in a year and a half. I love it as a DD

I couldn't agree more! I would keep one of the Ti's and maybe keep it as a DD or keep it as a track car and drive the Z4 as the DD and give your wife a new car

I have a Dinan high flow throttle body #D760-3250 for that car.

http://www.dinancars.com/store/produ...5&cat=0&page=1

You can PM me if it is something you are interested in.

I hope the cars are worth a bit more than that but I know swapped TIs never really sell for much. I just hate having a car that is built with only one purpose in mind and never utilizing it potential. My wife has a 325xi and I just bought a F-150, I'm driving her 332ti from Athens GA to Beaufort SC because it gets about 10 MPG better than the truck. Her car is much more streetable than mine, it has A/C a full interior nice stereo and a more forgiving suspension.

I got 26 MPG with a 3.73 diff on my last trip and I never had to downshift from 5th to pass. The problem is that 4 months from now won't be traveling as much (the truck world work fine as the daily) and I can't think of many situations where the entire family would cram into the TI for a Sunday drive.
I have been looking at the Mazdaspeed3 as a more suitable replacement but I really don't know what would be the best fit for the family. :mad:

You are certainly right about the housing market, but in 8 years I can retire from the Marine Corps so the house may be a keeper.

You wish :smile: if I win the lotto I will have a free raffle for the members here on the forum.

it's from South Park, gnomes were stealing peoples underwear and hoping to make a profit on them :biggrin:

http://neoavatara.com/blog/wp-conten...ark-gnomes.jpg

if you don't plan on using the cars for 3 years, just send one to me and one to FamilyTruckster, we'll keep them warm for you until you want it back ;)

how much you looking to sell the cars for ?

I really don't have a solid number yet but I usually sell my cars at around 75% of what I have invested in them.

That would put them between 8-9k each.

Just as a heads up if I did sell either of these cars it would only be to someone who has moderate experience on the track.


The garage would cost around 38K with some aspects of the living area unfinished. We could initially charge around $650 per month for rent which would payoff the addition in about 6 years.