Well i am gonna chime in here and say i can understand both points of view. It is an amazing looking car and if i owned it i would sit there and look at it for hours on end every night. Your right aca18t, the workmanship does look second to none and all that jazz, and the build would be more than the asking price, but show me any modified car that isn't!!! Honestly 20 g's for a 1200....... any 1200..... I'm sorry but i just wouldn't go there. Hell you could buy an absolute PERFECT FJ20 turbo or SR20 turbo 1600 for less than that and wouldn't have to worry cause the car would be engineered WITH the Turbo.

I love my datto's as much as the next bloke on this site but with the way the prices are going, in a few weeks when i am out shopping for my new car i am seriously considering walking away from owning another datto. The prices are just getting ridiculous. It's only going to be a weekend car for cruising around but i am sick of building cars so want to buy something already done and you have to now look at spending 8-10k plus for anything with a straight body with no rust and just a stock a12. I am in sydney and if you look on car sales there are two that have caught my eye, one for 7500 with a straight body and nice paint, stock everything else and another with the same quality of body, nice interior and a slightly worked a14 for nearly 11k. I mean 11k for a car that is going to push to get under 15 sec quarter mile and doesn't have huge driveline or suspension mods so would handle like a stock ute. It jus doesn't add up for me.

It will be a shame cause i just love 1200's so much but i am budgeting on around 10k for the car and have seen so many more better options for that sort of money. I have been leaning towards buying a GT starlet or a mazda Familia GTR. You get AWD, turbo, modern features, reliability (provided you find an unmolested one) and with a small amount of engine work you can eat rexies alive, especially with the familia. And once you start talking 20k the options are nearly endless!!! You could buy an immaculate r32 GTR Vspec for that sort of money. I know everyone will go 'skylines are like assholes' and all the rest of it but hey, bang for your buck you just can't beat it.

I know i am going to be shot down for saying this stuff but i really don't care. I have been thinking this for a while and feels it needs to be said. It is just such a shame. The 1200's are classic and all and i will prob get over my 'i couldn't be bothered building a car' stage and buy another shell one day and build one but to me at the moment they are just becoming way overpriced. I know there getting rarer but that doesn't mean better.

Trav