3-4 months of living in HI

[bus man]

Originally Posted by omnipotent_HEROiNe

and since it will be u.s. and gas will then be 5 times lower than ever before, for me , i will be also buying a nice luxury coupe, a mercedes-benz s-class, w140 chassis. very sturdy and meant to last a 1.000.000 miles, most can do 3x that. for real. same with that periods e-class, w124. classic cars. i will be buying the cl600, since there are only 5.0 and 6.0, why not go all out and get the v12. i know they are cheap ashell because if anything breaks..it will be very very costly. thankfully i can get parts sent from EU body shops and spare part stores, where they are MUCH less for ANY EU cars like BMW, MB, Audi etc. maybe ill even also get an old e32 chassis BMW 750iL if i see one for dirt cheap.

Congratulations on your amazing good fortune! (I assume you won the lottery, right? 'Cause how else can a 20-something guy just up and move for a few months and buy a whole bunch of luxury cars?)

By the way, according to a quick web search, and converting liters to gallons and euros to dollars, the price for a gallon of gas in Tallinn is $5.04. In Honolulu it's $2.72. Cheaper, yes, but not quite as inexpensive as you might think.

Originally Posted by omnipotent_HEROiNe

i hope parking cars in the city streets is ok? i plan to live in an apartment, most definitely. i dont mind having to search for a parking space or anything like that. i just like to have lots of old cars laying around, all drivable ofc.

Have you ever lived in a major city? Because parking your fleet of cars on the street -- ANY street in any part of Honolulu that's built-up enough to have a high-rise apartment building -- will simply not be feasible.

[hotzcatz]

There's not a lot of the 70's cars around anymore. They're 45 years old and getting close to being an antique car instead of just vintage. But you can probably find a few here and there. See if you can find a Fury III, those things were huge. Early '70's Impalas were, too. And, a convertible might be nice, don'tcha think?

Check Honolulu's Craig's List to see what's available for cars. Honolulu also has a huge rust problem so most of the old cars are really rusty. You may want to shop for your cars in Arizona or one of the dry western U.S. states and then ship them to Hawaii.

The idea of buying a new European car, driving it until it's got enough miles on it to import as a used car was so you'd be able to perhaps sell it at a profit in Honolulu. I've heard of folks going to Germany to buy a new BMW and then driving it for awhile over there first so they don't have to pay new car import taxes. Not sure if there's enough savings that it would work, though.

[omnipotent_HEROiNe]

No, why would i need LOTS of money for that? You just have to have maybe half a brain and a pair of hands. And the w140 s500 coupe is a million mile car, as is a w463 g500 (g-wagon, g-klasse). id love to get one, but its spare parts over here are so expensive duoe to it being a MB, id rather just settle for a Lexus/Toyota. So a LC 100/LX 470.

owning these cars and living in Honolulu metro for 4 months is not that expensive.

Yes i live in a big city right now, have always lived in urban settings.

[MrCoffee808]

It's tough to own old cars in Hawaii.

First off as an island it's tougher to find them because there are fewer around and you can't just get one from the next state over like you would on the mainland. A smaller supply means the prices will be higher if you can even find one at all.

Second the cost of getting car parts is high because again of the smaller supply. There will be fewer cars of the same model in the junkyard and they will likely have been picked clean already. Also the cost to bring in parts is very high, shipping for larger parts like bumpers, fenders, transmissions or short-blocks can double your cost. On smaller parts many businesses will only ship by air which means even on those parts shipping will almost double your cost.

Third it's hard to find some older cars because of the proximity to the ocean. Hawaii is really hard on cars and electronics, alot of older cars are completely rotted out. We do have alot of collectors here so it's not impossible to find older cars but again rust has destroyed alot of cars and of those that are left some of them you don't want to buy if you plan to still own them 10 years from now.

[omnipotent_HEROiNe]

ive found quite a few good Land Cruiser 100 chassis with a 4.7 gasoline engine, which I prefger to the 4.2 diesel, even though the diesel gets about 3x the mileage. I dont care about that, Oahu is not that big. Also, I would never buy a diesel car. Guess i'm just "weird" like that. After I have my main car, the Toyota Land Cruiser 100, which seats 7ppl (up to 9 if they are all fit,heh) I'll be happy already. I would like to buy an old U.S. boat just for the hell of it and the ridic. gas mileage and the low amount of HP. to us, Europeans, its kind of baffling how underpowered absolutely every U.S. engine is. But then again, theres lots of torque (which is pretty useless) and the sound is great. I just like that its huge inside and kind of nostalgic, as well. Not in the sense that I've ever been in an old U.S. boat like the Eldorado or any other top-of-the-line luxury coupes but they are fun cars and im sure that even if im in the most remote place on earth (HI), the parts will still be cheaper for U.S. cars than for say Mercedes-Benz S-klasse coupes (w140 chassis). I have that car right now here in Tallinn, Estonia, EU and I love it. I will store it in my parents garage while im gone. I also store it for winter as I dont want my baby to start rusting. They use freaking salt on the roads over here which is AWFUL for cars, esp. JPN cars which have VERY thin metal. its quite common for JPN cars to be so rotted from under the belly, that you can stick holes into the floor of the car because all of it is straight up rotten and all pure rust. But I still prefer cars made in the 80s-90s. I just like the style of them, the price is not insnane, you get cars that cost 200.000$ new for 10k$ now. so you get all the luxury you could ever want like massage function for both front seats, heated/vented seats both front and rear, nightvision, adjustable suspension, solar windows, solar sunroof, very qood quality soundsystem already built-in etc etc. there are the options that are important for me, theres tons more. they didnt cost 200k$ for nothing when new, yknow over here, maintaining an EU car is pretty cheap aswell as long as you dont go the official MB dealer or nothing but if you are that dumb to take a 2002 cl600/cl63amg/cl65amg to the dealers well then you deserve to be 'robbed'. the electronics on that car are old enough that by now, EVERY shop that specializes in MB's can maintain your car fully and interact with all of its on-board computers etc. no need for a dealer, EVER. just a good mechanic that knows their MB's. if you take your car to service in a noname-we-fix-ALL-cars-place then, again, you deserve to get robbed and still have your problem. if its good for everything, its actually good for nothing. thats something i learned quite early on as a youngster

[AKtoWAtoUT]

Originally Posted by omnipotent_HEROiNe

ive found quite a few good Land Cruiser 100 chassis with a 4.7 gasoline engine, which I prefger to the 4.2 diesel, even though the diesel gets about 3x the mileage. I dont care about that, Oahu is not that big. Also, I would never buy a diesel car. Guess i'm just "weird" like that. After I have my main car, the Toyota Land Cruiser 100, which seats 7ppl (up to 9 if they are all fit,heh) I'll be happy already. I would like to buy an old U.S. boat just for the hell of it and the ridic. gas mileage and the low amount of HP. to us, Europeans, its kind of baffling how underpowered absolutely every U.S. engine is. But then again, theres lots of torque (which is pretty useless) and the sound is great. I just like that its huge inside and kind of nostalgic, as well. Not in the sense that I've ever been in an old U.S. boat like the Eldorado or any other top-of-the-line luxury coupes but they are fun cars and im sure that even if im in the most remote place on earth (HI), the parts will still be cheaper for U.S. cars than for say Mercedes-Benz S-klasse coupes (w140 chassis). I have that car right now here in Tallinn, Estonia, EU and I love it. I will store it in my parents garage while im gone. I also store it for winter as I dont want my baby to start rusting. They use freaking salt on the roads over here which is AWFUL for cars, esp. JPN cars which have VERY thin metal. its quite common for JPN cars to be so rotted from under the belly, that you can stick holes into the floor of the car because all of it is straight up rotten and all pure rust. But I still prefer cars made in the 80s-90s. I just like the style of them, the price is not insnane, you get cars that cost 200.000$ new for 10k$ now. so you get all the luxury you could ever want like massage function for both front seats, heated/vented seats both front and rear, nightvision, adjustable suspension, solar windows, solar sunroof, very qood quality soundsystem already built-in etc etc. there are the options that are important for me, theres tons more. they didnt cost 200k$ for nothing when new, yknow over here, maintaining an EU car is pretty cheap aswell as long as you dont go the official MB dealer or nothing but if you are that dumb to take a 2002 cl600/cl63amg/cl65amg to the dealers well then you deserve to be 'robbed'. the electronics on that car are old enough that by now, EVERY shop that specializes in MB's can maintain your car fully and interact with all of its on-board computers etc. no need for a dealer, EVER. just a good mechanic that knows their MB's. if you take your car to service in a noname-we-fix-ALL-cars-place then, again, you deserve to get robbed and still have your problem. if its good for everything, its actually good for nothing. thats something i learned quite early on as a youngster

FYI, they have an Automotive forum on this site. Pretty much everything you've said about cars has been 100% irrelevant to Hawaii or relocating.

[leilaniguy]

You try parking an old lead sled on the streets of Honolulu it won't last long at all. The battery will be gone overnight and the neighbors will call and have it towed within a day or two.

[omnipotent_HEROiNe]

aww, leila, dont me so negative. im actually hoping that a parking space will come with the apartment i will be renting. i will also be looking to rent/buy an additional parking space. since i plan on living in a highrise, im pretty sure they have a parking structure downstairs, underground. i will be living at Ewa Beach for a bit at first, right near the ocean as i'm told.
i know there wont be a problem parking my 2 cars over there.

AKWAUT:heh, ur correct, i went quite a bit offtopic. guess i just got caught up. i am quite a car nut, as one can probably tell. im esp. into luxury cars from the 80s-90s. nothing better than driving a 150-200k$ car that you bought for a measly 10k$ and can get serviced for quite cheap nowadays. gas prices in the U.S. will also be like living in heaven, literally, for me, as it costs 1.50€/LITER (1 gallon = 3.8 liters) over here for 95E. diesel price is the same, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a tad bit less. its crazy, i know, but these prices are normal for Europe. too bad they arent in sync with the usual income over here which is about 1000$ for a white collar worker, about 600-800$ for blue collar work. everybody has a side hustle, its impossible to live on just one wage in most cases. its the worst for young people-all the good jobs are taken by older ppl who wont give them up until they croak right there on the spot. so most people resort to drug dealing. there are no robberies etc. over here as guns are pretty much unheard of in the hands of civilians. i'd say it would be possible to get most everything over here (we dont have lots of diff. drugs, only speed,coke,ecstasy and 3-methylfentanyl which is 6000x times more potent than morphine and is the reason why Tallinn is the OD capital of the WHOLE Europe. its an evil, evil drug. i suggest you guys read up on it. im glad we dont have crack or meth over here, though, or we would be completely screwed. most ppl love their speed (amphetamine) over here and if they were to get their hands on meth, we'd have an overnight epidemic on our hands, like we had an OD epidemic in 2002 when 3-MF replaced heroin and there were anywhere between 40-60 deaths per DAY in a city of 400.000. that lasted for about a week and a half, as it took time for the word to spread that heroin is gone and a new opiate has been introduced by the chechens (chechen mafia are the ones who control the fentanyl trade over here which nets them 400-500million EUR every single year).
damn, im going completely offtopic yet again. i'm sorry. i just wanted you guys to get a "whiff" of how things are, in general, over here in Tallinn, Estonia.

On the bright side, we are the most successful nation of all the previous soviet republics.
We have the highest income, we have great healthcare which is absolutely free if you work and even if you dont. The only problem is the the extreme brain drain as all the good, gifted doctors are going to other rich Scandinavian countries where the salary is 3-5x times what they would make over here. I guess everyone wants to keep on climbing the ladder, cant blame them, esp. doctors, who spend lots of time learning their trade and do such important work. We are also called the Silicon Valley of Europe. Skype was invented in over here in Tallinn by 3 Estonian guys in their 20s, for example. so was Kazaa, but i dont think most of you have heard of it, as it was software that allowed you to exchange files with other people (pirated stuff). kinda like Napster, but for everything, not just music. And we have some of the best looking women anywhere as Tallinn is 60% Estonian and 40% Russian, there are people with blond hair and blue eyes and then there are "exotic" beauties with dark skin and black eyes. And then there are mixed people who have dark skin but light-grey or blue eyes, for instance. I have spoken to plenty of tourists in my time and ALL of them mention the ladies and how beautiful 99% of them are. The best part is, most of them are not afraid to show their assets either, so they wear skintight jeans or short skirts etc. It's definitely a paradise for men of all ages, thats why its so popular with UK bachelors and also people from Scandinavian countries, where they only have blondes and then immigrants who are black or arab. we have less than 1% of people that are immigrants, most of them just dont find our country appealing as we dont have welfare like Sweden, Norway, Denmark or even Finland. im kind of glad we dont, lol. if youre unemployed you get a ridiculous amount of money for like 8 or 10 months and then thats it. 0. go and find a way to make it on your own or freeze to death.

I apologize again for going so offtopic. I look forward to my experiences in Hawai'i and meeting people from all over the world in terms of culture and appearance. I might be overwhelmed at first being in a place where white people like me are a minority since over here there are no people of diff. color, only from different countries, but they're all white. The only asian/black people i have seen, are tourists. I have spoken and helped quite a few of them and so far all of them have been absolutely lovely people, some of them I still keep in contact with over the internet.

btw, do any of you guys ever get together in real life also or something?
i know it's not exactly that kind of a forum, but since Hawai'i is kind of unique in that it's small and home-y, I was wondering whether people who live on the same island/state ever meet up for fun?