It’s been a while my friends! Man, life sure can be crazy sometimes. I can’t believe this is only the second blog post I have made in 2023. After getting an email informing me that my hosting fees are going to be charged to my account soon, I realized it was probably time to get back to utilizing this space again and stop throwing my money away. Let’s get caught up a bit!

It’s no secret that I have not felt very motivated when it comes to my S13s in 2023. Kind of ironic for someone that coined the phrase “Unwavering passion for S13,” but I think it’s the reality for just about all of us. I think in many ways the trouble started when I decided to take on building a second car before I even managed to “finish” the first one. I told myself the typical things we all do when I got my coupe chassis back in 2018:

“I’ll just get the shell now and keep it until I have time to build it.”

“I know I should only focus on one project, but I’ll just get things for it as I have the time and funds.”

“If I don’t get one now, I may never get the chance to own one again.”

Of course, it’s hard for me to not hit the ground running when it comes to building a car. It’s a blessing and a curse, really. Things escalated quickly, and before I knew it I had two cars at about 90% completion. All of the desirable and hard to find parts were there for the most part, but I just couldn’t seem to come up with the time, money or motivation to get either car across the finish line. I had fallen into the same trap I had always warned other enthusiasts to be wary of. A lack of money and feeling discouraged about the visual state of both cars was definitely killing my enthusiasm.

I mean no offense by this, but I have never been a hoarder or a collector. I have seen lots of people like this in our scene over the years: the ones with a giant collection of the rarest items in their basement without a car to install them on. Conversely, there are lots of people that own 3 or 4 or 7 or 12 cars, but none of them are necessarily something they can feel proud of. None of them are finished. Sometimes none of them even run. There’s nothing wrong with this of course – we should all be free to enjoy the hobby however we see fit. But for me, neither of these situations has ever been ideal or something I was seeking out. By building the coupe, I sort of fell into both – I was hoarding parts in my basement like moldings and weather stripping for a rainy day. At the same time, I had two cars- neither of them really in a place to be considered roadworthy or polished.

I put a fair amount of miles on my hatch at the start of the season and was really enjoying it. My wife and I even took a summer road trip up North to the lake house in the car and had a great time. The coupe was sitting waiting until I had the funds to buy a set of 17″ wheels for it as I did not like the look of my 17/18 TEs. As fate would have it, I started having some issues with the hatch. I noticed one night that the car was smoking heavily at idle after a long drive. The rear tires were bald, which should not have happened nearly as fast as it did. After some inspection, I noticed that my rear toe was somehow way off. I got fairly overwhelmed and frustrated even at these small things because they both meant spending money I didn’t have. As a result, I now had two cars sitting and collecting dust.

Another big life event happened in May of 2023. I had some surprise medical/educational bills arise for a member of my family that I simply could not afford without parting ways with items from my cars. I did not want to take on any debt, so I decided to part out the suspension and brakes from my coupe to cover those expenses. It was not an easy decision and I was pretty upset and depressed about it at the time, but I knew I was making the right choice for my family. As a parent, sometimes you have to step up and make sacrifices. This was a big test and challenge for me, but I felt very fortunate to be able to provide in that way.

As summer continued and began to transition into fall, I knew I had to make a change. I had been stressing and thinking for months about how I was going to climb back out of this hole. After telling myself to just let both cars sit until I had the money and my passion had returned, I finally accepted that I needed to make a change. I bit the bullet and decided to part ways with my S13 coupe project. It was a really difficult realization to accept, but the fact that the car had been sitting on jack stands with no plan for being operational again made it a bit easier.

I tore into the car in early September and began listing items for sale. By mid October, just about everything was gone and I was ready to sell the rolling chassis. I ended up selling it to a really nice guy I connected with through Instagram (@infamous_twotone) and I feel really good about him getting the car. He came and picked it up last Sunday, and I immediately felt such a surge of relief. I swept out that side of the garage and immediately pulled Alicia’s van into the garage for the first time since the winter.

At last, the burden of trying to own and maintain two project cars at a high level was gone. Once I dove into parting out the car for good, I felt immediate relief. I know there are people out there saying “you’ll definitely regret it,” and in some ways I know they’re probably right. But at the same time, I know I did what was best for both my mental state and for my family at the time – and that feels really good. I had no idea how much owning two of these cars was wearing on me. It was adding a lot of stress that I didn’t even realize was there. If you are struggling with multiple projects and that strong feeling of trying to avoid letting go, I highly encourage you to take a break for a while. If that doesn’t seem to be helping, I would try downsizing your collection and focusing on one project. I know I am only a week into it at this point, but it’s so validating and freeing to lose some of the stress and feel productive and passionate again.

That being said, I didn’t fully shed my newly acquired hoarder tendencies just yet. I elected to keep a number of parts from the coupe that have become pretty hard to get a hold of these days including the dash and defrost vents, Silvia front end, aero kit, and moldings/weather stripping. I also kept my new-in-box Silvia lighting. There’s a chance I will part with these items eventually, but I wasn’t in a dire situation where I had to sell them right now and decided to store them away just in case I find another use for them one day. Time will tell how long this idea sticks.

All said and done, five years later, do I regret owning the coupe? Yes and no. I had an amazing experience putting together my second S13 build and feel so fortunate that I had the chance to do that. Even if I didn’t get to finish it like I wanted to, I do feel a sense of accomplishment to have put together what I did. I’m hoping I might have another chance to own a coupe or an S13 Silvia someday, but that thought is definitely going to be put on hold for quite some time – at least until my house is paid off. But my kids are going to be starting college shortly after that, so I highly doubt money is going to be growing on trees for me any time soon- not to mention that mental strain I was talking about earlier in the post. For the foreseeable future I am definitely a one project kind of guy. I learned a ton about myself from the experience though and I am really glad it happened, even if it distracted me for a few years.

So what about the SR20DET drivetrain from the coupe? Well, I am working on finalizing a deal with a friend of mine to take that drivetrain and turn it into a full paint job for my hatch. I won’t be taking the car in for paint until the spring, but I am beyond excited to finally accomplish a goal I have had since I bought the car in 2008. I am really eager to tear into the hatch and start getting everything ready to go while adding some new touches to the build along the way. It should be an awesome winter.

My motivation is in full swing right now and I couldn’t be more excited! I’ll dive into some of the plans I have in my next post. I may backtrack just a bit to try to really have a clear record of 2023, since in a lot of ways that is the reason I like to maintain this blog. But then I will be ready to move onward and upward! Things are beginning to start rolling and I am really excited.

Thanks as always to anyone that manages to still read this. The random messages I get from people that enjoy or have enjoyed this content over the years definitely fuels the fire I have for tinkering with these things in the first place – so thank you! Have a great weekend.

Damon