Hello, folks. It's been a while since my last forum activity. I haven't really been able to bring myself here since I sold my darling, but I have to tell this story to someone and I thought you all would find it interesting. So here we go.
A couple years ago I came to the hard decision to sell my Cuda clone, and the only person willing to pay my asking price was a guy in Japan. Coincidentally I was majoring in Japanese in college at the time, so I was able to exercise my language skills while selling him the car in Japanese. Fast-forward to last summer, when I asked him if he had a shop that bought and sold American cars and, if so, could I have a job so I can live in Japan to further increase my speaking ability. He said he had to close the shop so he couldn't employ me, but "look me up if you come to Japan. I'll show you around."
February 1 of this year, I finally got to Japan and decided to look him up. He sent me a card Christmas 2012 saying he still had my car and loved it, so I asked if I could see the car. I met up with him, and he turned out to be really nice, but he wasn't driving my car like I was sure he was going to. He showed me some places around Tokyo a few times, but I always asked to see my car. He said his friend was holding on to it for him, since he didn't have the room, but we may be able to work something out. But every time, there was a different reason why I couldn't see it.
Yesterday, we were driving to his friend's shop, where his friend does custom body and engine work on American cars. On the way, he drove me down a highway that was lined with huge used car dealerships on either side. Well, out of the corner of my eye, I see it... My Cuda was staring me in the face from 100 yards away. Despite only a half-second flash, and being so far out of context (and physically far away), I had never been more sure of anything in my life as I was that I had just seen my car. I asked him to turn around so I could see it, ignoring that it was on a used car lot instead of in the care of a friend. After I got over the initial shock and excitement of seeing it again, I realized two things: I had been lied to and strung along for a couple months (which didn't really bother me all that much), and the horrible condition my poor car has fallen into since it arrived in Tokyo (which was... 'horribly upsetting' doesn't quite capture it, but you get the point). The car had no battery and four low tires, indicating it hasn't been driving in some time. I asked the girl who worked there, and she said it had been there for six months. The car didn't even have a price on the window anymore. I asked the same girl how much, since I am seriously contemplating bringing the car back home, and she shrugged and took an admitted wild guess at $30k.
That's pretty much where I'm at right now. I didn't mind selling to someone in Japan, because I thought that someone who cares enough to import the car would treat the car right, but to see it in that state with nobody taking care of it, owning it, or even interested in it really mad me sad. This is how cars get abandoned or recycled in foreign countries, and I really don't want to see that happen to my car. I know a BH23 Barracuda isn't the rarest of E-bodies, but it was mine, brimming with sentimental value (with which I know you all are familiar), but most importantly, it IS an E-body. Even base cars are pretty rare.
So that's it. I know there wasn't much of a point to it, and it may not even lend itself well to discussion, but I wanted to tell that story. An important note that I'm not sure I conveyed effectively in the actual story is that the guy who brought me to that dealership did NOT know the car was there. He sold it to a customer and never heard from him again. This encounter was completely by accident.
Anyway, thanks for reading! Hang on to your cars!! Right now, I'm going to keep trying to think of a way to get mine back. It's gonna be tough, but I have to try.
