Car restoration project sat in garage for nearly 10 years – what would you do?

Hi all. Just looking to get see what others think.

I have a classic mini in my garage, in bits. It’s a rare version (Mini Cooper Grand Prix from 1994) – only 35 were made. It has a slightly interesting history as well. It has the key parts with it that make it unique. I spun and crashed (idiot, I know). Since then, I took it off the road to restore it. This was nearly 10 years ago (2015). If I sold it, I’d likely never be able to buy this particular version again, they just don’t come up for sale. When I first got into minis, I spent some time researching them, and this was the one I always wanted. It just stood out amongst all the special editions.

I got a quote around 4 years ago for a full rebuild at circa £10k. Given the time that has past, that’s likely a bit more now. I don’t have the money to do this right now. I love the car, and I’d really rather not sell it. Am I being silly? If I sold it, I’d either want to buy myself another car (maybe a mini).

We don’t own a house but the retirement plan is to my wife’s home country where we already have land and the build will cost us a fraction of a house over here (and we can pay that off easily in the next few years). I have a couple of pensions and around £10k in the stock market at the moment. I’m not overly bothered about buying a house anytime soon, especially given interest rates on mortgages.

As a minimum, the welding and respray would need to be done. I could rebuild it myself after that though.

Curious as to some thoughts on this. I’m conscious it’s been sat for a long long time. My wife would love it if it were gone, although she isn’t pushing it (she did a few years back, but I resisted!). What would you do?