[V8] My 1990 V8

[FreddyP]

Hello to all the V8 faithful!  

By choice, I am coming to the end of my journey with my beloved V8.  Keeping it, and keeping up with it, has become more burdensome and it is time for me to trim back the size of my fleet.  It has been a wonderful car that forever changed my expectations of what a car should be able to do.  It still impresses me sometimes to this day!  Mine was built in November 1989 and purchased at Inskip Audi in Warwick, RI by a close family friend in early 1990.  I came home for spring break in March of 1990 and upon seeing and driving this car, I just knew I had to have one someday.  This car was special.  It had the looks, the car magazines were talking about it, enthusiasts were hungry for stately power and handling, and AWD in a car like this was unheard of.  In my opinion it was a game changer.

When Mike was ready to trade it in 1997, I took over.  There were lots of fun miles and memories over the last 22 years.  Somehow, I have had a fantasy that I would keep it forever, even if it wasn't a daily driver.  We all know the quirkiness of these cars and the challenges in keeping them in tip top order.  It also doesn't help that there are so few of them out there.  For me , continued long term ownership just doesn't seem like a realistic option unless I park it behind the barn where I can't see it from the house.  (I have a vision from childhood of my aunt's farm in Potsdam, NY where my uncle had parked a collection of his "favorite" vehicles in various places around the barn with intentions of getting them going again someday.  We all know how that ended)

So here is my dilemma: What does one do with these cars when the time has come?  Selling on the open market is a proven waste of time, as most of us understand.  Shokan has closed as far as I can tell.  And, quite frankly, the car is just too good to go to a boneyard or recycler.  I would really just like to sell it for a nominal sum, say $1000, and see it go to someone who would enjoy it and get a few more happy miles and years out of it. Maybe a budding car enthusiast?   A technical school?  A hopeless V8 fanatic?  All constructive ideas are appreciated and welcome.

Here are the stats: 1990 Black/Black, 165K, paint still shines up well, interior is clean, good tires/brakes.  Could use a timing belt inspection at some point (time, not miles), and the suspension is a little soft.  The front right corner of the bumper has delaminated its paint after an encounter with a rock.  I have lower control arms and strut cartridges in the trunk ready for install.  The car runs and drives.

My state inspection runs out in November, coincidentally 30 years to the month that the car was built.  My intention is to have its fate determined by then.

Man I'm going to miss this car -
Fred
Rhode Island