I have been playing around with the idea of selling my 01 TA, my dream car since I was a kid btw. Anyway, I just bought a newer used Silverado 1500 truck and am financing it, this has increased my monthly expenses(car payment and insurance) by about $350. So I could nearly pay off the truck and cut my expenses if I sold the car but I just am not sure if I will regret it later...currently I'm having to keep the car at my parents garage about 20 minutes from where I live and it never gets driven. I live in an apartment and don't feel comfortable leaving it sitting out on the street so if I keep it I'm going to have to put it into storage for an additional $50 a month or wait until I can buy or rent a house with a garage.

Got about $30k in savings and about $28k in debt between my student loans and truck financing. Currently I'm living on a budget of $1900 from my $3000 I clear each month from my job.

So anyway, should I just sell it given my situation? The car only blue books for about $9k but I've got about $6k worth of parts so I'm for sure going to take big loss. I still enjoy the car and have tons of big plans for it if I keep it but I feel like I'm perpetually waiting on the right time to dump the money on the required parts to fix it up how I want it.

Anyway, here is some info on the car:

2001 Pontiac TA WS6 M6
83k miles, southern car, very little rust

Turn one steering pump
Kooks 3/4" headers, off road
Kooks true duals, off road
AIR delete
93 octane tune
MGW shifter with custom shift **** Z06 18" chrome wheels with chrome lugs Hankook tires on front
Nitto 285mm tires on back
Custom metallic orange paint
SLP air lid
Custom fuel rail covers
New alternator
MSD spark plug wires
Poly motor mounts
New idler and tensioner pullies
Koni shocks
Strano springs
Founders phb and relocation bracket
Strano sway bar front and back
Pioneer head unit, /w steering wheel controls
JLP sub woofer and amp in stealth box
Custom decals on badges
All stock engine (to best of my knowledge)

 

I can tell you this much, if this is your dream car and you have big plans for it, you will regret selling it and you'll just be looking for a replacement when you are in a better spot financially.

Ultimately you've gotta do what you've gotta do to pay the bills, but is it possible to make put in extra time at work or make a little on the side? I know you just bought the truck, but is down grading to a cheaper truck an option?

 

If you can get storage for $50 a month I would gamble that $600 per year and KEEP the car. Even 2 years for $1,200 is nothing in the grand scheme of things if you love the car and plan on enjoying it one day. Selling it won't bring you big bucks anyway. That $$ will be gone in no time and you'll have nothing but a truck. If that gets old, now what?? You to start all over again and probably spend even more $$$.
Since the car won't be driven, is it possible to cut back on your insurance coverage to save you some money?? It might offset the storage costs.

 

Thanks, that is what I was kind of thinking. I'll have to see if maybe I can have the car covered by the storage buildings insurance and then just reduce my coverage to liability

 

My thoughts are that if you're in debt, have to pay for storage, and have no idea when you get to this car, then sell it and move on. It's not like primo WS6's aren't always going to be available....and cheaper than they are today. You can always keep those parts and use them on your next car, even if that's 5-10 years down the road....or sell them. $28K in debt is fairly significant for a single young guy which I assume you are.

But.....

If your sig line photo is the car, ie an SOM WS6 M6, that's a pretty desirable beast, even with 80K miles. You may find any number of people interested in taking over your SOM car + parts. It's one of the few WS6 that has insatiable demand. The only other car I'd put in that same league are the anniversary cars, especially the 1999 WS6 in white/blue. Finding another SOM M6 when you're looking for one could be difficult. Low mileage ones with 20K or less miles are over $20K. So that's a lot of room to play in for someone who has to have SOM. And if you look at the Wanted To Buy ads on this site, there's nothing that comes up more often than 2001/2002 WS6 M6.

 

I sold my 2001 WS6 #4541 and it was my dream car. Regretted it the whole time, was a big mistake. If there is anyway for you to keep it I would. That being said I was able to find the WS6 #3392 in my sig several years later, but I still wish I had never got rid of the first one.

 

Thanks for the advice, I found a reputable place I can store it for $420 a year, once it's in storage it's there for the long haul but most likely I can drop the insurance considerably as well.

I paid cash for the firebird and in storage it will only be costing me about $35 a month in storage and probably not much in insurance. It's not a factory SOM, it was custom painted but personally I like the custom paint even more than the factory.

I have more cash in the bank than I have debt so I could technically be debt free at any point I choose but I just don't feel that's wise at this point. Think I'll keep it in storage and if for some reason money gets tight I'll take it out and sell it.

 

I think that is a good decision dude.

 

As long as you intend to keep it forever, the custom paint is of no issue. In the collectibles field I see it often stated "this will never be sold in my lifetime." And invariably within 3-10 years something major changes in their lives and it gets sold.

On resale 5,10,20 years down the road, it will be important as 90% of buyers will want a sharp factory paint job in the original color, preferably the original paint.

I just assumed it was an original paint SOM car when you called it a "dream car." Nice original paint SOM WS6 M6's are a tough bird to find. Repainted to a different color? In my mind that's less desirable than any factor color other than possibly Pewter....which some people do like. Knowing it's repainted, and repaints often don't last all that long, I would be much less inclined to keep it (sometimes not even 5-10 years before they're peeling again). Now if your dad, brother, best friend, or yourself did the custom paint, I could see an attachment. As long as you love it that's all that matters.

What was the paint color before? Did the new SOM completely cover the orig paint, including underhood, wheel wells, trunk, jambs, undercarriage, etc? Was it originally an SOM car that was only repainted? That wouldn't be as much of an issue.

 

The car was originally blue, and they got most of the car painted except the undercarriage and under the hood. It was repainted when I bought it. I'm not really interested in the collectable nature of the car since I'm going to drive this car and enjoy it, I don't care if I make money if I ever do sell it but I can see now how much I would regret losing it. I genuinely enjoy working on it as a hobby and it's no where near perfect but I have a lot of memories in the car and that's what makes it worth something to me. Unfortunately life gets in the way and the car hasn't been driven a whole lot lately. Maybe I'll have to wait 10 years but I eventually want to customize it completely.

In regards to the paint, the paint job was done very well overall but of course I do have rock chips, I get a new one every time I drive. I just live with it, when I get to the point where I can't stand the rock chips I'll hopefully be skilled enough to paint it myself.