Pondering Life Choices

[@willstaffan3229]

That ZZ engine needs to go into the Berkeley!

[@spacecat7247]

I guess it comes down to how much space you have for storage. Energy, time and money. Finite resources. Maybe pull and pallet the engine and transaxle?

[@paulterhaar4862]

I would save the engine and gearbox, the rest to the scrap. You got more than enough other interesting projects like the Berkely, the Subaru 360 Van, etc...

[@barrieholding6340]

I dont think you realize just how small a Berkeley is

[@davidkastin4240]

Part it out is my 2 cents.

[@JustinPaul1st]

If the city allows it rebuild it get the chassis straightening by a panel shop or maybe body swap, its a Toyota it will run forever.Considering the prices of cars these days I will consider it

[@steveschwab922]

Nope. In the future, don’t accept gifts from customers unless you can convert them yourself cash immediately. Some gifts take more out of you than they are worth.

[@r1lark]

It ain't worth it! Spend your valuable time on your family first, and then one of the cars that you really like..........for example, the Berkley. 🙂

[@stevegeikow7146]

Do the Berkley...

[@2stroketurbo]

😊

[@2stroketurbo]

😃

[@stevegeikow7146]

Google Berkley car with Yamaha engine.

[@Kujokouklos]

In Greece it is absolutely legal to straighten out the body of a wrecked car. I know first hand my 1998 Corolla was totaled 3 times during it's lifetime and 20 days ago I was rear ended by an uninsured vehicle. Guess what! I am fixing it again. Of course in Greece it is cheap to fix a car, my rear ended Corolla will just cost 500 Euros to be new again, while used cars here cost a kidney and a brain. Although I can buy a perfectly new YARIS CROSS cash, I prefer to keep my money for a rainy day. But that is just me, I was always fixing stuff rather than replacing them, but I never in my life I were in dept, even for a 100 euros and I am 55 years young at this time. Fix it and keep/sell/giveaway/whatever. My 2 cents!

[@brianandrews7099]

Spending that much to replace things like airbags would be a deal killer for me. Also, if the steering in bent and requires a frame machine to pull it back into specs, I would not get involved with tying to save it. If the frame wasn’t bent enough to throw the steering and alignment off and if I were repairing the car for myself and I wasn’t worried about the advanced safety features of airbags, I might be willing to find the damaged parts and slowly weld and bolt it back together … but not to resale or pass on to family or friends. It would be a lot of effort and it would probably be better,smarter, and safer to just track down a more solid example of the same car with bad running gear and swap everything over from this car.

[@mitchelljohnston9920]

Having rebuilt/bought back from the insurance company twice (same model and generation of Corolla), we sold it to son... who himself wrecked it 9 months later ... and rebuilt it. It’s still running strong. Financially speaking, I told the salesman at the Toyota store, "I'll see you in a decade." Yet here we are, bought the car in 2002 (February-- as a 2003 model) and still haven't traded it in. Oh, just get creative and put a less homely front on it. There is no substantive frame damage preventing a good alignment. You could alternatively choose to let the local Vo-tech school use it as a rebuilding experience.

[@willrosberg8084]

Someone has to say it. You Mark, have too many cars. Kitty says meow.

[@PapiDoesIt]

Pull the drivetrain and wheels, some interior components like the gauges and scrap the rest. That could power another project some day.

[@cobyhoff]

We had a 2006 Corolla that probably looked a lot like that when we had to let it go. (Totaled in a crash on Hwy 26) That was a great car, but the safety features were a bit lacking. The accident probably wouldn't have happened if it had anti-lock brakes. Every time you start up one of the multiple Corolla/Matrix that you have had, the sound is very nostalgic for me.

[@dlittlester]

Once the airbags are deployed, most cars are toast. I used to sell parts to body shops. It's a sad situation, but I don't know what the answer is.

[@markmclellon8516]

Cut it in two behind the firewall, pin the steering for straightforward, and weld a motorcycle frame to the frontend. You have a trike.

[@vanceblosser2155]

In Virginia if the frame is bent it's illegal to straighten it and put it back on the road, because if you have another accident it won't behave the same due to having been bent before. Last year, my late wife brushed a concrete lane separated with her front left tire at about 20 mph in her 14 year old Nissan Cube which she had owned since new. It popped the tire and triggered the airbags. No dents or other damage to the car, I could have mounted a new tire and driven the car except you couldn't see because of the airbags hanging down from the ceiling. Absolutely no damage otherwise. But the expense of replacing the airbags, ceiling panels, seats where the side airbags were, was much more than the appraised value of the car so it was totalled. It had been very reliable with the most expensive thing being the scheduled 100,000 mile service. The only repair it ever needed was a weld broke on the muffler. I wonder if someone is driving it around now.

[@Foxonian]

My state is the same. Any frame damage is a total loss.

[@ilovetotri23]

You have to save it Mark!

[@TheYORK21]

Don't know about your country, but this can be fix on a weekend and sprayed the next weekend. Its not expensive and thosr ZZ engines are extremely reliable if they're serviced correctly.

[@ramishrambarran3998]

For a Third World country like mine ( or Pakistan) you fix it. My straightener can fix that car, known as the Corolla Altis here. There are hundreds of shops that sell imported used Japanese car parts reasonably. You can buy a front cut without the engine and transmission, or a nose cut with both fenders...........and a bonnet ( hood) Most body shops here can fix that car. You can even get a steering wheel with intact airbag ! But if I live in the USA, it will be easier ( less problematic at my age) for me to sell the car to the junk dealer. Trinidad and Tobago. West Indies. 3:03

[@wanderinggentile]

I'm in Costa Rica. If the papers are too far out of date, it's uneconomical to repair. Better to find something with a live tag and bad valve seals to take that 1ZZ drivetrain.

[@chriscansdale6389]

Sometimes I think the customers that 'love' you are possibly taking advantage of you, rather than just dealing with their smashed cars themselves. You already know the answer.. made in their millions.. like most of those old Honda's you attract.. not worth bothering with, nor saving. As you say, you can't do 5 cars a day anymore.. anything like that, that you can't convert to money pretty quickly is costing you.. I'd be devoting the spare time you have into preserving the special cars you have already..

[@2stroketurbo]

Good Advice 👍

[@chriscansdale6389]

@@2stroketurbo a lesson I've had to learn. I have a mate 20 yrs older than me with SO many projects he's getting too old to get anywhere near doing most of them. I've run out of room and will now stop collecting and do the ones I have..😬

[@timwatson3879]

...I think you just found an engine and parts for your Berkeley... if that body can hold it, and if the driver can as well....

[@briankeenan4901]

Sell the engine .Sell the rest of it to a junkyard.

[@ericwhitehead6451]

Not worth your time Mark. You got it free, so whatever you get for scrap value you'll come out ahead.

[@kevinsomarriba5780]

Save the powertrain and slap it into one of your FF cars

[@user-jm9vx1pi4q]

Scrapyard. Repairing the frame damage exceeds its value

[@MrGazzw]

Don't think it's worth fixing up really, given its age and value, unfortunately I'd say its a car to break for parts as there looks like there is still a lot of good parts on it and there is likely a good few people looking for good parts to keep theirs on the road. Someone mentioned putting the engine in the Berckeley, but I'd say too modern, possibly something like a flat twin 2CV or a flat 4 would suit it better.

[@benjee74]

Fix it.... U pull it parts, and she will live to drive again

[@pstreetgarage7304]

Financially Probably not but then again its a very reliable and economical car. Probably better than anything coming off the line in 2024

[@retrobrid2784]

Donate it to the retrobrid motorcar corporation

[@danebeck7900]

Save the engine and transmission and scrap everything else

[@allencrider]

I think thhose are referred to as _parts cars_

[@JoshuaGroot-r6t]

Scrap it!

[@terryatkinson899]

Parts car.....😮👍🇮🇪

[@ceriabestsb3023]

Not worth to repair in my opinion..better sell as parts car..just a Corolla..you have more interesting cars in your place.

[@joeschwab3194]

Make it a donar

[@zardozungadonkbungabonga]

Parts car

[@JustinPaul1st]

If the city allows it rebuild it get the chassis straightening by a panel shop or maybe body swap, its a Toyota it will run forever.Considering the prices of cars these days I will consider it