1996 Chevy Lumina APV GTP - $2016 Soccer Mom Challenge

I propose bonus concourse points to anyone who claims the remaining 2/3 of the body after you hang one side on your wall, then mounts that 2/3 of a van body on their existing Challenge car, and then patches in the missing side with scrap metal found on the side of the road, and then does a hand-painted approximation of the livery on it, and brings it to the Challenge like that.

Also, nooooooooooooo don't scrap it  I'd buy it myself if I wasn't a die-hard Ford nut with a serious aversion to anything Chevy or GM. (And even I can admit this thing is hella cool.)

Dusterbd13-michael said:

If i could figure out how to use the 3900 in place of my 3400 without having to reengineer everything....

I believe it would be fairly easy for you since you left the stock accessories.  You could probably even use the stock 3400 ecu.  Just need to add an external crank sensor.

Unfortunately, you would need to figure out dbw or change the throttle body and the vvt wouldn't work.

Scrap??!?!! This thing belongs in the Smithsonian! Seriously, this is like the most American thing ever: 

• Minivan
• GM
• Built by a guy in his garage with basic tools & no prior experience
• Red White & Blue
• GIANT berkeleyING EAGLE ON THE SIDE!!!

I have absolutely no use for this... how much do you want for it?

Patrick said:

Do the garage art thing then buy a fiero to put the engine/trans into

Hmm. I hadn't thought of that. Off to look at Fieros... No, I'm not feeling it. I'm sure someone else will. I just need to find them and sell them the "nearly complete" donor vehicle / rolling chassis.

Pete Gossett said:

Scrap??!?!! This thing belongs in the Smithsonian! Seriously, this is like the most American thing ever: 

• Minivan
• GM
• Built by a guy in his garage with basic tools & no prior experience
• Red White & Blue
• GIANT berkeleyING EAGLE ON THE SIDE!!!

Tell me about it. That's part of why I'm so conflicted. The more I think about, the more I like the part-out plan. That way I don't have to worry about finding the PERFECT buyer and feel bad for selling such a flawed vehicle, I get at least some of my money back, and I get to keep a few souvenirs (like the driver's side of the van) to go with the memories. 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

I have absolutely no use for this... how much do you want for it?

I'd love to get something like $3,000. But who knows if that's realistic. The van is the definition of "Unique Vehicle", so picking a price is hard. Realistically, I'd probably take $2,000, especially from someone in the GRM community.

While I'm similarly sad to see this go, I agree with your decision. Make space mentally and physically for the next better project!

Maybe take the money you get from selling and have a life size banner printed of the van and hang it in your garage. Or bedroom.

I run into this exact same situation with every car project that I do.

Pete

If insurance is the issue have you looked into collector car insurance? I was able to insure my 1991 mr2 challenge car with Grundy for $128 a year. This was before it was completed. Might be worth a couple of calls if that lets you keep it for a bit longer.

In reply to Fladiver64 :

Michigan is a no fault state and also just passed laws for minimum term you can buy (because insurance is mandatory for registration, and people were buying a policy, registering, and then canceling to save money). 

Worth a shot but from what I hear nothing is ever cheap to insure. $100/ month seems to be a good rule of thumb for minimum.

In reply to Fladiver64 :

With all of my insurance bundled through the same provider and the van classified as a low-use secondary vehicle my insurance for the van is only $297 every 6 months. I know it would go down to $140 if I could register it as a historic vehicle and get classic car insurance. The problem there is that it is a 1996 and therefore only 23 years old. And while I have the ability to afford the insurance, I just don't have the will to afford it. Mrs. ShawneeCreek and I keep a close eye on our money with monthly budgets and reviews of expenses. And that same $297 could be a nice weekend getaway for the two of us twice a year. And that is honestly worth a lot more to me (and her) than another 6 months with this van.

NOHOME said:

I run into this exact same situation with every car project that I do.

Pete

Thanks. It's good to know that I'm not alone. Logically my decision makes sense, but it hurts emotionally. Also, I have a lot of mechanical sympathy for things that still function. I had the hardest time throwing away a printer that I bought for $20 way back in college. It still worked great, but we had bought a new printer/scanner combo and we just didn't need my old printer anymore.

Is there the possibility of donating it somewhere and using the tax writeoff? I can imagine a tech school doing some good with this- maybe even get another college group to challenge. 

It's finally time to move the van along. Sale ad here on GRM. Asking $2,000.

It makes me sad, but I need to move on to the next project and this is just taking up space in my garage.

So Sonic shared your for Sale Ad with the people from 24 Hours of Lemons.. 

I wanted to add this photo of the Lemons post to the thread because it needs to be here.. 

Well, no luck selling it whole. Time to part it out. I'm going to keep the driver's rocker panel with my "sponsors" for the garage wall and the passenger seat for a future desk chair. I figure the transmission and related bits are worth pulling along with wheels and tires. Other than that, there isn't much that I see of value. Speak up if you see something else of value or something that you want. Otherwise, it goes to Omnisource for scrap metal.

I made a little progress tonight pulling most of the front bodywork along with the GRM stickers. My goal is to drag the remnants away by the end of the month.

Sean

In reply to ShawneeCreek (Forum Supporter) :

Honestly I want the whole eagle/side, I'm just not sure what to do with it. I could fasten it the the outside of the garage I suppose, SWMBO probably wouldn't see it there for a long time, but I'm afraid it would weather rather quickly, and such fine art like that deserves preservation. 

It's a 3900?  Are you keeping that?  Seems like it's worth it to someone 

Would the 3900 help Dusterbd break another diff in his Miata?

maschinenbau (I live here) said:

Would the 3900 help Dusterbd break another diff in his Miata?

I volunteered to ratchet strap it and make a nitrous pass at the challenge so he could better his dynamic time but he declined to put my life at risk 

The 3900 is sooo different from the 3400. 

If and when the 3400 goes, it'll get a mild warming over and a 3500. Because thays a bolt in.

I just read this entire thread from start to finish. I'm 1) impressed and 2) emotionally conflicted. Shawnee, you did a helluva job on this. Well done, sir!

In reply to Recon1342 :

Thank you.

On the whole I'm really proud of this van and what it represents. It's been a big part of my life since late 2015. It has helped me to get my last two jobs. I leaned welding, video projector masking, roll painting, and pin striping while making it. I got to connect with all of you good people through the build thread and in person at the $2000 Challenge. The van was never meant to be a vehicle for the long term... I take that back. Way back in 2015 I had a dream of making it a daily driver. That died on the vine after I found the rust. Plus a successful Challenge car is not going to be a good daily driver.

It really hurt when I initially put it up for sale, but tearing into it last night felt good. I'm finally making progress and moving on to the next thing, my 1976 C20 pickup. I'm getting a drive line donor/parts vehicle in two weeks. The plan is to use that to haul off the van to make room in the garage for both trucks. Beyond that I've got a vision for an all out Challenge build, but that is going to be a few years before I can get started. The truck needs to be done first.

-Sean

Time to wrap this one up. Over the past week I managed to pull the engine and transmission out of the van.

I then put the subframe and wheels back on it so it could be flat towed to scrap yard. It ended up with a decent Carolina Squat.

Despite being nervous, Mrs. ShawneeCreek did a good job of towing the van the 2 miles to OmniSource with me in the van. We made it safely with no extra dents in her car. After the initial weigh-in the yard lifted the van off the ground so that I could take off the wheels to sell separately. And before I knew it, they were running away with the remnants.

Goodbye van. It's been a hell of a journey. ...why is it so dusty in here?...

-Sean

I'm happy for you. You did something very awesome.

Celebrate its life, don't mourn its death. 
That was a project well done.