Some people collect stamps, other amass shoes, and some even stockpile tiny little spoons. But this is Speedhunters, so don’t expect any of that.

When I first met Quinsley Sale a few years ago, I could tell that he was a unique guy, but in a good way. I was at a national drifting event and he was competing in his Nissan S13 200SX, which was one of the neatest, most immaculately kept cars around. To give you an idea of how fastidious Quinsley is, whenever he swapped wheels in between runs, he would use a little nail polish brush to touch up the paint on the wheels where the wheel spanner had scratched them.

Over the years, Quinsley has owned some awesome cars, including Skyline GT-Rs at a time when these Japanese beauties were still unicorns in South Africa.

One problem Quinsley had was that all his cars were crammed into his home garage, which became pretty cluttered over time. So eventually he decided to find a bigger place to house all of his collection, and I’m not just talking about cars.

Being an architect, he craves things that have character, so a clinical modern space with shiny walls and floors was never going to cut it. What he ultimately found is the perfect old industrial space, with exposed bricks, a concrete floor, lots of pillars, and glass windows in the roof.

Quinsley has named the space Garage KIU, with KIU an acronym for ‘Keep It Up’.

Quinsley could have just filled up the space with cars, but being an aficionado for old and odd things, he also brought along his eclectic collection of boomboxes, BMXs and other memorabilia.

I counted 29 boomboxes in the space, which really brought me back to my childhood and the glory days of cassettes and mixtapes. They’ve been collected and restored over a number of years, and all of them work.

It’s the cars that really make this place special though, and Quinsley’s collection is both interesting and impressive.

There’s a very cool Nissan Patrol in immaculate original condition, and a few R35 GT-Rs – one being his 800hp hillclimb car, which features a specially-designed aero package that produces 800kg of downforce, and numerous custom carbon fibre parts.

I also found two track toys, a Lotus Exige and an Ariel Atom. I can only imagine how fun the Ariel would be to drive on the circuit at speed.

The BMW Z3M Coupe – a model that’s becoming quite collectible – is in mint condition.

How cool is this Nissan R30 Skyline GTX, though? It was build over a period of five years and has around 1,000 hours of custom fabrication put into it, including a full carbon fibre body.

The two Skyline R33 GT-R V-Specs in Quinsley’s collection were covered in a thick layer of dust, but don’t worry, they’ll soon be receiving some much needed attention. One car’s fully-built engine is just waiting to be installed.

Who doesn’t love a few racing posters, especially when they’re Le Mans ones. There’s some really cool artwork popped onto the walls of this space.

The randomness continues with a whole corner dedicated to old school BMXs, and cool little quad bikes and three-wheelers.

Although the boomboxes are really cool, here’s the real McCoy – an epic Bang & Olufsen hi-fi system and a vinyl player. When these components were manufactured music was proper, not recycled hogwash.

This 350Z HR might not look perfect – and it does need some attention as it stands -but it’s actually had a full nut and bolt rebuild. It’s a great track toy, with a stripped-out interior, roll cage, AP Racing brakes, racing coilovers, and a full Haltech engine management system with digital dash.

The old patina-covered farm truck in the corner might not look like much, but all those boxes on the back bed aren’t rubbish – they’re trick suspension parts that will soon be fitted. A big engine is destined for this Chevy, too.

Don’t worry – the weathered exterior isn’t going to be touched.

Although Garage KIU is Quinsley’s personal space and not an active shop, because he’s so involved in racing, tuning and aero development, a few people approach him now and then to have work done on their cars.

Quinsley and his good friend Richard from VaderVI, which does all the actual carbon work, are quite picky about what projects they work on, and don’t just take on anything. The blue Skyline R32 GT-R is a customer car that’s been treated to custom carbon fiber doors, fenders, hood and boot lid, and fitted with air jacks and a few others things. The 200SX is Richard’s personal race car.

Garage KIU also tackles restoration work, and this Porsche 930 Targa was nearing the final stages of its rebuild when I visited. It’s already had a few hundred hours put into it, and features widened Fuchs wheels, a custom-built titanium exhaust, Momo Prototipo steering wheel and much more.

Even though we’re not all lucky enough to own more than one car, I know we’d all like a rad spot like this if we did. A place where you can keep all your vehicles, have mates come over for a chill or wrenching session, and keep a whole bunch of random but awesome stuff, too.

Cars on their own are pretty great, but it’s the whole culture that surrounds them that makes this hobby so awesome.

Stefan Kotzé
info@stefankotze.com
Instagram: stefankotzephoto
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