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What's up guys! My name is Ryan (I just turned 22). I wish I would have posted this sooner right after I purchased my car but I was too lazy back then. A lot has transpired since then, so this is going to be a long post but I want you guys to read it because I think it is an amazing story. I've actually had this account since October when I bought my first G35. It was an 06 IP Coupe (5AT w/ sports package & stone interior + a Stillen cat-back exhaust) that my dad drove me to go get in Oakland (currently live in Cupertino). From first sight I fell in love, paid $7500 for it (124k miles) and was the happiest young man driving home in a car he had been dreaming about owning since high school. In fact, I wanted to buy one for my first car but they were to expensive for me at the time and my dad said I couldn't handle the speed. Boy was he right because 13 unlucky days into owning it I ended up in an accident. I was in the left lane on a 3-lane road behind multiple cars at a red light. When the light turned green nobody seemed to be moving so I wanted to get in the middle lane with was empty. As I saw the black Audi Q5 in front of me start to move forward I began to creep slowly as I checked over my right shoulder to see if anybody was there. I saw two cars in the far right lane and ended up paying way too much attention to them as I slammed into the car in front of me after he stopped for some reason. I hit him very hard caused lots of damage to my baby. At the time, it felt like worst moment of my life. Heres what my car looked like before and after the accident.
Still my favorite side profile shot No caption needed
The weeks after our local body shop was trying to determine if the car was repairable or not. But sadly, it was just above the threshold and was considered totaled. I felt deflated, and I had no job at the time since I was fired by my boss a few weeks prior (staircase building). I wanted to try to salvage it because I had looked for an IP G coupe with low miles for a long time and that seemed like the best deal I could ever get. But the insurance company (State Farm hallelujah!) ended up giving me a little over $11k dollars in compensation for it! (or I could keep the car and take $10k). I ended up listening to my Dad like Steve Miller once said, "Take The Money And Run!". Being how determined I was to find a new one I stumbled across a another craigslist post that looked like this.
This was the post that I saw
You could only imagine how bad I wanted it. The catch was the car was located in Redmond, Oregon. The only reason I found it was because I was using Search Tempest for Craigslist. I searched in places other than Northern California because I knew this type of car is such a hot commodity here. I asked my Dad to drive with me to go get it, and he ended up going. We left on the night of Friday November 2nd, 2018 in his 2010 white G37 that I actually found online for him years before. My brother also drives his old 2003 G35 sedan. I guess you can say our family loves Infinitis! The drive took around 13 hours with stops included (probably 9 hours of driving total; 547 miles), and that's just one way. To say this was a journey was an understatement. You guys are probably thinking I'm crazy for going that far to look at a car but I had emailed the owner over 50 times (sent/received) so I had the car thoroughly "vetted" before I arrived. It was driven by the wife of the guy I was talking to (they are 2nd owners) and he said he was just about to take the craigslist post offline and garage it since winter was coming and it seemed like nobody there waned to buy it. The seller also seemed like a nice guy so my Dad and I felt confident the trip would be worth it. And I can gladly say it was. I've never seen a G in such great condition. The car was pretty much bone stock except it had at AEM cold air intake. The pictures speak for themselves. There was only one ding on the passenger rear side panel and a couple scratches on the door handle.
He sent these pictures as I was on the way Gotta love that sport bumper and projector headlights! The seats were in near perfect condition
The second I got in the car to follow him home I was literally crying. It felt like I lost almost everything a couple weeks ago and then it was almost like I got a gift from the heavens. I can't thank my father enough for going great lengths to make his son happy. He knew that this was my dream car and he really didn't care how far he had to go. Once I got the car my life started changing for the better and I got a job working at a body shop about a mile away from home (Autonation Collision Center Stevens Creek). The car was basically the exact same as the car before except it was an 07 and the mileage was stupid low! I baby this car like no other and have spent hours upon hours reading threads in this forum to better my understanding about the car. I have lots of plans to modify it and will never sell it! Since owning it I had a stereo guy do a navigation delete/add an aftermarket head unit, and also threw 20% llumar F1 pinnacle all around except windshield (being the young 21 year old I was). Im always careful with where I park her Can't get over the side shots on this car! It's a little hard to see at night but the privacy is nice. I also added a back-up camera
Since owning it I did get into another accident ironically with another black audi (A4). Long story short, I was coming home from work in Fremont one day and there was lots of traffic (it was after 5PM) and I thought he was going to go on a yellow light but he stopped last second and I tried to brake but skidded into him. If I had already spent my money on new tires (which I should have done instead of the HU & tint) I might have had enough grip to stop, but it was just another lesson I had to learn. I immediately begged the guy I hit to come to my body shop since I knew that I couldn't have another ticket or accident claim or my insurance would skyrocket. My boss ended up hooking me up with a deal when I told him it happened coming home from work since I was in Fremont to train one of their parts guys (that's what I am). I post all the invoices for our shop so I knew the total cost of just parts for his car was approximately $1200 (not even including the labor/paint costs + rental car) but my boss ended up only making me pay $247 . This really made me feel like I was appreciated and ever since then I have been trying harder at work to make up for it. It will be getting fixed this upcoming week by them and I'm sure I won't have to pay that much. Big benefit of working at an auto body shop which I love!
Lil' fender bender The damage to the headlight pissed me off the most lol
Right now the car has about 58,315 miles and I am about to give it a wash after I post this. I know this was a very long post but it's Sunday so I thought you guys might have the time to read it. It makes me teary eyed just writing it because this car means so much to me. It taught me lots of lessons like patience, letting go, and gratitude. I know it sounds corny but it's really true. Maybe I just see the deeper meaning in stuff but it's more than just a car to me and that's why I plan on customizing and driving it to the ground. My next dream car is a Nissan GTR but for now this is the perfect car for me. I regret not writing this the day I bought it but I'm also glad I got to share this story with you guys. I love to ask questions and spending my spare time on the forums just reading what you guys have to say. If you actually read this whole thing I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it.
Sorry I didn't post this sooner but she got out of the shop around October. It was a long process because the first technician at my work totally botched the job and left my G looking like this...
Just look at the gaps at the top of the headlight compared to the bottom, it's crooked As you can see what I came in for (fender popped out) was never taken care of...
And if you didn't think that was enough, when Joel's helper named Angel was removing the clear bra on the hood of my car he got the heat gun too close to my driver side headlight and melted it. I found this out when I got my car back from the shop the first
time because boss told me to wait to bring it in again so he can transfer those two to a different location.
Lol mess up my car and you're outta here
SMFH
I ended up having to talk to my boss directly about this... I knew the condition of my car before I brought it in and I want to give a shout out to user KungPaoMushu (I think that is his name) because he was the one that asked me if there was any heatguns used during the repair when I was meeting him to buy his lights. That's when I realized they damaged my headlight and my boss was kind enough to cover the cost of replacing it with a refurbished one that costed $725. Although he probably wasn't too happy about it.
Since my car was basically at work for over 2 months due to all of this nonsense. I figured I might as well take full advantage of the PDR guy that stops by our shop almost weekly. I asked him if he could remove the ding on my passenger side quarter panel and he was kind enough to do so. Plus when I got the final bill, I think my estimator missed this service and didn't charge me so I pretty much got this taken care of for free! But to be honest for all the headache I had to go through with my work it was well deserved IMO.
Before Before
Fantastic job by Joe (Dings n dents) located in bay area
I brought my car in again to be worked on by somebody else (who actually used to own a Laser Red G35 coupe recently) and he did a pretty good job. I am not gonna say it's perfect by any means but in the end I decided that it really doesn't matter. Not worth causing a fuss, especially when you work there. Besides I plan on doing CF hood/fenders in future so this is just temporary. He did help me sand and paint an OEM grille which I have been wanting to do ever since I bought the car. This is how she looks now!
just looks right
One thing I must say is when I got my car back I had so much fun driving again. You really don't realize how much you appreciate things till they are gone. I also threw one some new Bridgestone Potenzas and got them mounted downstairs at the MINI dealership + alignment for roughly $755 total. Got to love working for Autonation
Edit: Sold this car because I found a mint 2008 350z Nismo I couldn't pass up on... only 32k miles! Still plan on modding it excited to start with a different platform even though it is still essentially the same car. Would appreciate any follows and I do follow back
IG
nismoz33_
Last edited by Ryan_vq35; Apr 5, 2020 at 03:13 PM.
A lot has transpired since then, so this is going to be a long post but I want you guys to read it because I think it is an amazing story. I've actually had this account since October when I bought my first G35. It was an 06 IP Coupe (5AT w/ sports package & stone interior + a Stillen cat-back exhaust) that my dad drove me to go get in Oakland (currently live in Cupertino). From first sight I fell in love, paid $7500 for it (124k miles) and was the happiest young man driving home in a car he had been dreaming about owning since high school. In fact, I wanted to buy one for my first car but they were to expensive for me at the time and my dad said I couldn't handle the speed. Boy was he right because 13 unlucky days into owning it I ended up in an accident. I was in the left lane on a 3-lane road behind multiple cars at a red light. When the light turned green nobody seemed to be moving so I wanted to get in the middle lane with was empty. As I saw the black Audi Q5 in front of me start to move forward I began to creep slowly as I checked over my right shoulder to see if anybody was there. I saw two cars in the far right lane and ended up paying way too much attention to them as I slammed into the car in front of me after he stopped for some reason. I hit him very hard caused lots of damage to my baby. 
At the time, it felt like worst moment of my life. Heres what my car looked like before and after the accident.
ended up giving me a little over $11k dollars in compensation for it! (or I could keep the car and take $10k). I ended up listening to my Dad like Steve Miller once said, "Take The Money And Run!". Being how determined I was to find a new one I stumbled across a another craigslist post that looked like this. 
