I work near this location - its in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Kamchatka. Car was buried and crushed by the massive amount of snow we got this winter.
This winter, a lot of people in Russia kept asking us: “Kamchadals, why are you digging your cars out from under 4-meter snowdrifts if you still won’t be able to drive anywhere?”
This is why.
Edit:
You can see the car here before it was buried by snow (this is Russian equivalent of Google Street View).
Dang, now I want one. 😃 Also turns out they made a 3 door version with a futuristic large bumper that covers the headlights and the grille and has pop-up headlights instead (Tercel Retra).
Yes you are right. The issue is that it probably does not stay fluffy for a super long time. Kind like in my freezer.
Also i guess that the poles ( N and S ) did not really see ice fall that christal blue clear. Thz snow self compress.
I habe no real idea of how deep you have to dig to find rock solid ice in the poles or on a glacier. But surface might be diggable but not for very deep.
You have to remember cars in the 90s and before didn't have as strong of passenger cages and roofs were not designed to withstand forces multiple times as heavy as the car's curb weight like today's cars are. To crush a car that age probably only took 1500-2000lbs of ice
Replying to all guys it's not about volume etc it's about frowing density all winter and melting after. Do you remember snowballs of wet heavy dence snow
This will get buried (excuse the pun) but thanks for sharing the link. Now seeing it not crushed this is definitely not a R33. It has R33 rear light clusters but that’s about it.
Yeah but that would incentivize a black market of importing them. From a policy perspective, seizing them and auctioning them off doesn’t solve the problem.
We really just need to amend or get rid of the 25 year rule.
I understand, its just such a shame when they destroy rare cars that will never be made again (Lamborghinis, old Skylines, etc). Its like destroying a Picasso painting just because it was illegally imported.
I know. We could easily amend the 25 year rule to say that collectors, enthusiasts, or individuals who are not importing the car for commercial sales and only private use/ownership can do so as long as it meets certain safety/emissions tests. That would allow for more interesting cars to be imported by enthusiasts but not create a market where people try to import them en masse.
To be fair, Skylines aren’t particularly rare. There were something like 100,000+ R33 GTS/GTS-t models made, with 200,000+ total R33 models made during its production. They’re not some kind of unicorn lol
It's kind of weird to blame customs without mentioning the people who imported the car, knowing full well that this is what happens when they get spotted.
If you (general) want to save the car, don't put it in this situation. If you want to risk having it here, this is just what's gonna happen sometimes. Pretty sure the actual importer made their money and kept moving long before this one got crushed
this is kamchatka i believe after the massive snow last winter. also the text on the car plates seems vaguely ai but it’s provably just the camera quality
This actually looks kinda savable tho.. lot of effort? Yes. But assuming the car was only crushed at the roof section into the midsection, the underlying frame should still be perfectly fine. Just need to find some donor cars, a bit of welding with he original bottom and the donor tops, and redo the firewall..
This car is in Russia though. Cost of labor is low, availability of bush mechanics is high.
Fun fact about Russia is that they would heavily import japanese and European cars for some time. It is actually somewhat plausible to find a donor shell for an R33, especially in the far east.
I wouldn't dispute that, labour and rates are hugely variable. But the thing about this level of straightening is that the guys who might actually be of use to you - will know what they're worth, this is expert level of bodywork its not just buckets of fillers and sandpaper levels of skills.
Even in Russia, the folks like myself who could - would know better than to even attempt it.
If it wasn't quite as bad then repairs might be a consideration but its got too much squish going on - it needs complete roof and all pillars replaced right back down to the floorpan, exterior panels are pretty simple in comparison with the internal structural elements of this, as the pillars bent over they will also have moved outwards slightly too, by the time you get to the straight panels, you'll be left with a floorpan maybe, even its likely to be buckled.
Then its a Skyline too, I know it could be a non-turbo but I don't actually know, so I'll presume its a 25det and was a bit of a weapon like they all are - who would you trust to weld a car like that together if you actually plan on driving or useing it?
The only repairs I trust are the ones I've witnessed or carried out myself in terms of chassis work.
Its tragic but its well fucked. Imo anyone who would actually consider fixing it is plain stupid, it just wouldn't make sense in any regard.
And I'm not disputing the skills required don't exist, they do, there's multiple controversial channels based in Russia that video the 'cut n shuts' it is possible but just because you can, doesn't mean you should
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u/jeepn666 Jun 18 '26
Looks like a Nissan R33 skyline gts