Collector Car Feed

This is no April Fools

This is Collector Car TL;DR: a weekly recap of what happened on Collector Car Feed, plus car auctions, listings, automotive news, and other things of interest to the average CCF Enjoyer, and you can get it weekly by giving me your email address.

The Videos

Keeping the “punching down” spirit alive, we looked at Altimas for three videos in a row last week.

The Crime Adjacent Nissan Altimas of Facebook MarketplaceWe start off searching for the peak Altima of the hood missile era: the Altima SE-R. Available with a six speed manual mated to the VQ35DE, it’s “basically a 350Z” according to numerous Facebook Marketplace sellers.

Hunting America’s Most Dangerous Car on Facebook MarketplaceThe Altima hunt widens as we take a look at some 90s Altimas for a change of pace, along with an absolute timebomb and a destroyed demolition derby example.

Nissan Altima Survival Tactics
This one starts out with a no title “if you know you know” Altima but quickly devolves into a classic game of spelling words with letters from old Del Taco signage. Watch this one if you’re only doing one: it’s my highest effort of the week.

The News

CARS AND BIDS DROPS DOUG’S TAKE
No link on this; I just noticed while putting this post together. Go to any auction on Cars & Bids and notice “Doug’s Take” has vanished.

“Doug’s Take” was allegedly Doug DeMuro’s personal opinion on literally every car listed for sale on Cars & Bids and was a staple of the site’s format until around April 1st, but its removal doesn’t appear to be a joke.
Was Doug tired of doing it? Were they all ghost written by C&B staffers? I checked the Cars & Bids newsletters and there’s no mention of this change. This is a developing story. Check back next week.

Formula Drift signs exclusive broadcast deal with Racer Network
If you want to watch Formula D this year, you won’t be watching on YouTube. Does this signal a complete collapse in stateside interest in drifting as a sport?

Get Caught Speeding In Illinois? You Soon Might Have To Install A Speed Limiter
If you get caught excessively speeding multiple times in a single year, Illinois may install a device on your car that limits you to within ten miles of the speed limit. Jalopnik (who?) cheers on this authoritarian cash grab.

Slate Auto Wants to Be Known for Crank Windows
“When was the last time you cranked your own window?” In an impressive attempt at spin, the budget EV startup is attempting to pitch manual windows as a virtue. Notably, this company also plans to make radios an add-on. And that’s notable at the moment because…

Dodge CEO Asks ‘Do You Need a Radio’ in ‘Back-to-Basics’ Quest for Entry-Level Cars
“Do you need a radio? Do you just have speakers that you Bluetooth to?” says Dodge’s CEO, copy/pasting an idea Slate brought to the table a year ago. The race to the bottom is full steam ahead.

The Cars

1999 Nissan Silvia
This is a swapped, originally non-turbo S15 Silvia, sitting on “Shogun” wheels wrapped in Nankangs, so you know this is pretty much bottom of the barrel, although the towers do look fine as does the underside. Pretty mid overall, but these don’t come up for auction every day.

1978 Datsun 280Z
Speaking of half measures, here’s an S30 with a look that spans generations. It’s a late 70s car with a late 90s bodykit and a 2000s engine swap.
The half measures: this “ground effects package” is typically used to cover up the ubiquitous body rust first gen Zs are known for. Is that the case here? Hard to say, but people are going to assume as much when you roll up in it. The GM powerplant is great, but they did all that work just to put a 4L60E in. The stereo also appears to be a bluetooth speaker in the center console. Since this is basically a Slate, expect this to go for mid $30s even though it’s currently in the $20s.

1994 Toyota Supra
This Supra’s claim to fame is being a “Fast and the Furious promo car”, which amounts to this car being owned by a British movie theater chain. They parked it out front for several months during the first Fast and the Furious movie’s theatrical run. So basically this means absolutely nothing. European domestic market with a US title, riced to hell, but hey, there’s a US-spec 2JZ-GTE in there, no shit. It’s hard to imagine a MkIV going for less than wherever this one finishes.

2002 Honda Civic Type R
Hachi machi, here’s a hard-to-justify, but cool nonetheless Civic. EP3 generation in a trim we didn’t get, sitting just over the border in Winnipeg. But it’s hard to justify because even though it’s a top of the line, rare trim (for us in the US), it barely puts out more horsepower than the next generation, abundantly available Si. Four days to go.

The End

Gave away three more Scion Sampler CDs to the newsletter subscribers this week. You should have been there. Scroll up, give me your email.

I picked up my junkyard FiST Recaros this past week, deep cleaned them, and installed. They are not messing around: the bolstering is extreme. It might be a little too extreme for a daily driver. I’m kind of on the fence at the moment, but I’m going to give them a month at least before making a decision. Driving in them feels incredible, but ingress/egress is ridiculous when I’m just trying to go to the post office or something. If it was a second car they’d be a no-brainer, though. Anyway,

See you Soon™.
-Feed

…allegedly

This is Collector Car TL;DR: a weekly recap of what happened on Collector Car Feed, plus car auctions, listings, automotive news, and other things of interest to the average CCF Enjoyer, and you can get it weekly by giving me your email address.

The Videos

We Found MORE Stolen Cars on Facebook Marketplace
The Stolen Cars trilogy continued last Monday with this video. We found a car being sold out from under the bank, a Chromebook being sold out from under a school, and much more in the same vein.

No title, if you know you know: even more stolen Facebook Marketplace cars
This concludes the Stolen Cars Trilogy; unfortunately we kind of run out of stolen cars here, but there’s still plenty of weird Facebook Marketplace junk. Did you know Maxpeedingrods makes coilovers for the Buick Century? Me neither, but there’s a slammed one in this video.

We found something unbelievably expensive at the junkyard
Netgear copped a sick pull at the yard and tells us all about it. This is another important lore-building video for real CCF heads and ends with an edit I’m pretty proud of, so this is my one-video recommendation for the week.

The News

The 2027 Nissan Z Visits the Plastic Surgeon, and the Nismo Now Comes With a Manual
Nissan just facelifted that car you saw on the street, driving the other direction, one time, three years ago. They will also now sell you the ~$70,000 version of this thing with a manual gearbox. Honestly it looks good, and “more stick shifts” isn’t a bad thing. It’s just hard to get excited for anything this ghost of a once-great marque does. Good luck, Nissan.

Mazda Promises To Keep The Next Miata Under 2,200 Pounds
The next Miata won’t be a pig, or even a hybrid as some have guessed. It’s going to remain the same well-balanced enthusiast-forward car, bought new almost exclusively by non-enthusiast retirees, that it has been for almost forty years. We appreciate you, Mazda.

The Ford Mustang GTD Might Have Just Destroyed the Chevy Corvette ZR1X’s Nurburgring Lap Record
Ford is, allegedly, at time of writing, now the fastest American around the ‘Ring. The absurd Mustang GTD is now, allegedly, the second-fastest production car, EVER, around the ‘Ring. Have I mentioned lately that Ford didn’t take bailout money back in ’08-’09, or ever in its history?

Kansas Joins Growing List of States to Pass Racetrack Protection Laws
The Kansas House of Representatives just passed, unanimously, a bill to protect existing racetracks from NIMBYs who choose to buy homes in subdivisions near them. This is not performative: dorks actually complain about the noise coming from racetracks they choose to live near, and actually get racetracks shut down. It really happens, but no more will it happen in Kansas. Iowa And North Carolina have already passed similar legislation, and ten additional states (not listed) have proposed similar bills.

The Cars

2000 Honda Civic Si
This is a beautiful example of an EM1 and will go for a fortune. 76,900 miles verified, single owner, stock. It has some sunburn on the roof, but that’s not going to stop this car from reaching $20K.

1996 Buick Roadmaster Sedan
Another beautiful example: this time a desirable American neoclassic. We love a good boat here. Imagine going on a road trip in this thing; if nothing else you’d be very, very comfortable. Everybody even gets their own ashtray!

2009 Rossion Q1
I’m including this only because I’ve never seen or heard of it. I assumed it was a Fiero-based kit car, but it’s a ground-up kit with a carbon fiber monocoque. Something different.

1993 Mercedes-Benz 500SL
And here we have Doug’s weekly humiliation ritual, in which he says only nice things about one of the worst looking cars you’ve ever seen. Really zoom in on this wrap job. Even in the first picture it’s just awful. Scroll down to the comments and have a laugh at the seller saying it was wrapped by him and “someone who is familiar with wrapping”. I wouldn’t let this person wrap a Christmas present, they might lose a finger on the scissors. Holy god what an awful looking job.

1993 Acura Integra LS Coupe
Another nice verified low mileage Honda that will go for a small(er) fortune, this second-gen Integra is unfortunately not a GS-R, and is a little crusty around the edges. You can still bank on $10K or better here regardless.

1992 Nissan 240SX SE
This car is really only notable because 240s don’t really come up for auction much on either BaT or CaB. This is the second on Cars and Bids in the past six months, and third in the past year and a half. Scrolling back even farther to the beginning of Doug’s Bring a Trailer knockoff, this is only the 21st 240SX CaB has listed since the platform’s inception during the coronavirus pandemic. 


As for the car itself, it’s your usual swapped 240SX: a mishmash of parts. Mystery Meat. There’s nice parts, there’s confusing absences, there’s modern stuff, there’s parts that look like they were installed decades ago. It’s a project car, but with SR20s priced like it’s a week before Race Wars, I expect $20K or more on this.

The End

Sheesh, somebody got a Super Street magazine calendar that matches up with 2026 days, AND a Scion CD today. You really should have signed up for the mailing list already! Scroll up.

I finally found a set of Recaros for my FiST, but they’re a ten hour round trip drive away, so I’m probably doing that right now! I also replaced my rear pads and rotors, and will be doing the fronts this week as well. I’m still hunting a minor vibration in the front end that only shows up around 50-80 MPH. Thinking it’s a wheel bearing.
The midwest is warming up, so it’s time to get moving. What did you work on this past week?

See you Soon.
-Feed