So I took 464 through emissions. It passed. I went across the street and renewed my registration. Paid in full, got my 2011 tab for the license plate – done deal. Then I had the title branded. Unfortunately, the dullard who performed the transaction didn’t tell me that salvaging the title canceled the registration and made the car ‘unlawful for highway use’ in the state of Arizona. I had to get a level III inspection at the DMV to ensure the car was roadworthy.
I’ve got more to post about the level III inspection process (as there isn’t much information about it on the web), but for now, let’s just say that the level III inspection is intended to make sure the car is safe, roadworthy, and not repaired with stolen parts from a chop shop.
They check the VINs, make sure all the glass is intact, the safety equipment is all in place and functional, all the lights work, and the doors all open and close okay from the inside and out. Not that, in an accident, any of this would be guaranteed to remain intact, but the law is the law.
Thanks to the numbskull who didn’t even hit the brakes before rear-ending me back in April, the rear quarter panel on the driver’s side was pushed into the rear door. Opening and closing this door a number of times resulted in self clearancing – the door was being forced foward, which meant that it was interfering with the opening and closing of the driver’s door. This would have meant failure and a lack of transportation for me.
It should be pretty obvious, from the title and the pictures, what happened…
It’s important to mention that properly repairing the car would be possible, but likely run in the neighborhood of $3000. Because 464/1000 was considered a ‘salvage’ vehicle, no amount of repairs would make it worth that much money to anyone but myself. Even after passing the level III inspection (which it did), the title still reads ‘restored/salvage.’ On paper, this is a parts car, junk, scrap, worthless. Hooray for mindless American consumerism and inattentive vehicle operators. I spent the insurance money on a roll cage for 195 and two weeks vacation in Europe.
I took the wee hammer and a block of wood and I smashed the quarter back out of the way. It was somewhat cathartic, but I felt so sick to my stomach setting up for this “job,” and even hesitated before taking that first swing. This is the most half-assed of half-assed “repairs” I’ve ever done, irrevocably ruining the car even further than it’s already been damaged.
There was a time when I wanted to buy a nice Galant to slowly restore to near mint condition; when I wanted the comfort of knowing I had another, super nice, GVR4 back at the fort when I was out racing 195; when I took my time and thoroughly cleaned every part that came off prior to reinstalling it. 464/1000 would eventually become a stunner, a well-preserved and beautiful specimen worthy of representing the Galant VR4 community in North America.
Today, 464/1000 is just a backup rally car. When 195/2000 gets bent, I’ll just swap everything over to 464/1000.