Column: It´s Hard To Say Goodbye (To a Car)

I love acquiring cars more than I love owning them.  I've sought out many Holy grail cars from my youth only to not really connect with them.  One such car was my 1987 Grand National.  I've lusted after one since I was in high school.  I found a decent example, negotiated a good price and bought the car on the spot.

I almost instantly hated it.  Sold it on 6 mos later at a profit.

At this point I've owned around 110 cars and felt little sadness in selling them when the time came.  Oddly I seem to connect the most with cars that aren't particularly exciting or fast.  My 2020 Mustang GT was a stick and was both quick and fast, but it just didn't do it for me.

Yet every time I get behind the wheel of my 05 Ram 2500 diesel it's like I'm a little kid.

I enjoy the hunt and the acquisition the most.  The idea of finding a special, odd, or just super clean older car is exciting to me.  Often after I've had the pleasure of cleaning and tuning them I'm happy to send them on to their next home.

I know, I'm a weirdo.  Haha.

I just had to give up the Corolla I bought from another grmer back in 2014. I still think about it repeatedly and the decision eats me. But the truth was- I was probably never getting to it, and it was a northern car. I hadn't been under it in a while but I know I had to replace ALL of the brake lines at one point. The interior was pretty cooked. It was a well worn, 28 year old car. The engine was tired, the exhaust was leaky, most of the electrical was showing it's age, it had a habit for batteries and oil.....it hurts to give it up, but from a pure cost standpoint, it was time to go. It also cleared a spot in my inventory for another vehicle, freed up a project slot and the money with it to focus on my speed3...and it stopped me from trying to figure out what to do with it. Like, it's gone, is not coming back, the end. If I want another one, they're pretty easy to find around here- it is Florida and corollas don't die here. Doesn't make me happy, but it is what it is. 

I guess I'm the exception.  I've owned quite a few cars, but I only really miss two of them.  I miss my 94 Miata R in white, and my 85 SVO.  Neither was the fastest or best car I have owned, but I really liked them.  For me, I have to feel the car is a great value and does things I like, feels right, and I enjoy it.  I really enjoyed both of those cars.  I sold the SVO because I was moving and leaving the Navy.  I think I sold the Miata to make space for Corvettes, which I regret. 

I really like my current Impreza (rallycross car) because I have about 2 hours on dirt in timed events in it and the car has 3 hours of running on dirt with various drivers and has done zero complaining.  Next event is 3/5.  I also really like my current 96 Camaro SS largely because it's such a throwback and I got it so cheap.  If I had overpaid for any of them, I'd be sad.  I've done that before and it takes the fun out of it for me. 

Loweguy5 said:

I love acquiring cars more than I love owning them.  I've sought out many Holy grail cars from my youth only to not really connect with them.  One such car was my 1987 Grand National.  I've lusted after one since I was in high school.  I found a decent example, negotiated a good price and bought the car on the spot.

I almost instantly hated it.  Sold it on 6 mos later at a profit.

 

I know, I'm a weirdo.  Haha.

I've heard this from several people now. Having never driven a GN (or any G-Body of that era even though my family had tons of them when I was a kid) what is it about the GNs that disappoints? Do a few minor mods like moderatley increasing boost help?

In reply to Loweguy5 :

I totally relate.  Never meet your heroes.  It all reminds me of a certain member that got a C5 Z06 and felt meh about it.  I get it.  I really loved my C4 ZR1s engine.... the rest of the car was a C4 Vette.  I've owned lots of cool cars and they were okay.  The ones I really like are the ones that were inexpensive and my efforts made them better or nicer in some way.  It's the cars I connected with that I miss. 

I wept the day I accidentally sold my MG Midget I'd had since it was a $250 impulse buy of my father when I was 12 or 13. Sold it when I was 38 on an impulse. My wife took video and it still hurts. I shed blood for that stupid thing. A lot. Towed it around the country as we moved for the Coast Guard. Sigh. 

In reply to GCrites80s :

Honestly I think what made me dislike it was that it was a hot car built with the best technology in 1987, but I've driven performance cars from the last 5 years.  

To clarify my point, in its day it was ridiculously fast.  Now, when compared with quick cars from the last 20 years, it didn't feel very fast.  No question it jumped from 30-80 mph pretty impressively, but the rest of the 80s car around it wallowed around on a soft suspension, the interior was cramped for a fairly large overall footprint, and the total package just didn't excite me.  The only way I would want one of those would be with a near total modernization and upgrading of the suspension and powertrain which would make no sense finacially.

On the other hand, many years ago I bought a 1989 Taurus SHO with a stick from the original owner who was a professor at a local college.  The the princely sum of $2500, that well maintained 4 door was a mountain of fun and I miss it to this day! The paint was a little faded and the interior showed some wear, but mechanically it had been looked after.  While my ex-wife was driving it one day the transmission failed and at the time the repair cost outweighed its value to me and I sold it to the shop I had look at it.  I still miss it dearly and would buy another in a heartbeat.

I sold my Datsun in 1996 to fund a piano purchase and pay down some debt. Both kids excelled at music both starting on the piano and playing through high school so it was a good decision.  Today the same piano can be found for free on Craigslist.  

Wife said I'll regret it - nah, I said, I can always get another.  Money's been tight then kids through college and paying for home projects.  Still don't have my Datsun and I won't tell the wife but I should've kept it.  

(wife is Melinda or "Mel" as a nickname)

I've had some fun cars that I wouldn't mind having back, but the only one that I really felt regret selling was my first Porsche 944 Turbo S.  As it drove away I knew I'd made a mistake selling it.  Which led to buying my second 944 Turbo S, which was a total basket case and I LSx swapped it.  Many lessons learned on that car, most of them painful.

I'm also "a keeper".  The only car I truly regret no longer having is the Harvest Gold '73 MGB GT that I totaled on May 5th, 1983.  Besides a month's stay at a New Orleans hospital,  I just really miss that car!  At 106,000 miles, it looked like it only had 6000 miles on it.  Since it was always a southern Louisiana car, there was zero rust, only the fabric interior showing minor wear to give the game away.  C'est le vie! 

I did score a nice__nice and rusty, that is__'67 BGT to restore, but I've got a long ways to go on that project.

I am currently struggling with the reality of selling our '99 M Rdstr.  For the first time, I haven't immediately dismissed the idea when my wife brings it up.  It was the first BMW that we owned, bought in November 2000 as a CPO with only 5400 miles on it (currently around 96-98k).  It hardly ever gets driven anymore, and I do feel guilty about that.  The plan was to sell it after we took delivery of a new '01 M Rdstr (THAT's one I'll never sell) but at that time, nobody wanted one with 75 fewer hp than the new ones, so we ended up keepingt it.  I know I'll miss it because of the memories and all.

A car I'm not likely to sell anytime soon is the '57 Healey 2-seater I bought in 1978 while living in San Francisco.  Talk about your love/hate relationship; there's no five (5) minute job on that car that takes less than an hour or two to accomplish!  Since I've had it this long, I guess I'm just supposed to keep it.  Here in Florida, it doesn't see much use between May & October, but it's still a lot of fun to drive when the temps cool down.

I added a '99 M Coupe to our fleet eight (8) years ago, as it was a car I fell in love with after working on it for a previous owner in 2005.  Actually, it was when he had me fit a twinscrew supercharger to it a year later that cemented the attraction.  I missed out when he sold it prior to moving back to Europe in 2012 (during which time we  were building a house and moving to Florida) but it was a mutual friend that had it in the interim, and I didn't let it slip by a second time when she decided to sell in 2014.  It sees the most use during the summer, being a closed car with a/c!

Skeletons in the closet!  If you have any tips on how to avoid impending separation anxiety, I am all ears (eyes, as the case may be).  Or maybe you've always wanted to give a loving home to a triple-black (including hardtop) '99 M Roadster...

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I've had good luck on 2/3 cars bought on eBaymotors (long distance buys on rarer cars).  

Despite the 1 car that wasn't as represented I still wish the platform was more widely embraced than FB Marketplace which I loathe or Craigslist (miles better than FB MP but not perfect). Market place is just a horrible mess and Craigslist is full of time wasters, even as a buyer I'm shocked at the slow replies from sellers and ones who flake out on sales. I believe it's due to the relatively low investment in cost to put a vehicle on there. BaT is an absolute nightmare for a seller with the ridiculous comments and demands for service history and records on 30-60 year old cars! What ever happened to using your God given senses to evaluate the condition of a vehicle? If you're devoid of mechanical aptitude maybe take up a different hobby like Golf...