Holy fucking balls, that has to suck.
I have a small automobile collection. I've posted pics before. I should do another pic dump, actually. Anyhow, I can sympathize. I do a significant amount of the work on them myself.
When I say I have a small collection, it's not what some people think. They either think I have a bunch of fancy antiques or they think I have a bunch of rust buckets. They're nothing of the sort.
I think the best way to describe it is to say they're all either in a barn that I had built for them or they're in my garage. And, all but a couple are restored. The ones that aren't restored aren't restored for a reason. I don't own any "trailer queens." Every vehicle I own, I own for a purpose - and each and every one of them gets used once in a while - some more often than others.
That still doesn't describe it well enough.
I have a six bay garage. The first bay? Yeah, that has a lift in it.
That right there should give you an indication and explain it better than words will.
My collection is pretty modest. I have 22 vehicles, not counting things like my tractor or snowmobiles. Among my collection is a fully restored 1982 Volvo 245, a 1979 911, a Wagoneer from 1973, and things like that. I also have a '72 Dart, but it's only got the 6 cyl. in it. At least it's a manual. Once of these days, I may end up putting a beefy engine in it, but it'll never handle well, no matter what I do.
The cars I don't have restored aren't restored for a reason. For instance, there's a pair of M3s and a '90 and '91 Saab 900 Turbo, one with a blown engine and the other with a giant dent in the front from a tree that got in my way. (I have raced in the amateur event in something called the NEFR - the New England Forest Rally. Someone I call a 'buddy' owns a rally driving school, and it's not too far away.)
I don't want to bore you with a novel, but I'm quite passionate about driving. It's one of my favorite subjects, but I don't discuss it much on Voat, 'cause Voat is full of fucking morons who have opinions they're not qualified to hold. As people are passionate about automobiles, and tend to argue a lot, I generally avoid much discussion on the topic.
I'm not sure why I typed all that. Initially, I was going to tell you about a Pontiac Grand Am that I stupidly owned back in the 90s. In order to change the battery, you had to remove the front fender. That was intentionally done by Pontiac! It wasn't too hard to remove, but that is entirely fucking stupid. It had a cover inside, under the hood, so you could attach jumper cables. The battery was inside the fender. It was either a Grand Am or a Buick something or other. I didn't have it long and I was pretty poor back then.
(I'm taking a break from my work on a new project.)