That's my car!!!

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/cto/5129677358.html

Searching Craigs for fun last night and found my car. As in I bought it new.

Purchased in 2003, ordered exactly how I wanted. When we went to pick it up from the dealer, they had it sitting in the showroom. Sales guy had to drive it out and my 3-year old son climbed in the passenger seat to ride. So, technically, he was the first person to ride in it. He loved it and named her Bekka. Told him on the way home that he could have it when he turned 16.

He always remembered that and referred to it as his car.

Fast forward a few (7) years and same boy is now full bore into karting. Nationals were coming up and he was already having a stellar season. Decided to sell the car to help pay for the racing the rest of the year. He and I both teared up a bit when she left, but, as he said, karting was more important. Ended up getting spun in the pre-final (started 4th) and worked up to 13th. Ended up 6th in the final which was the best he'd ever done.

Fast forward a few more years and the same boy starts thinking about what to drive as his first car. Really starts looking at different things. Decides he wants a hatchback with low power because a high powered car is "just silly to drive on the road. You never get to open it up". Considers a swathe of different cars, but keeps coming back to a MINI. Still have a few years (he's only 14) and I'm sure his opinion will change, but right now, it's another MINI.

Then I found this last night. Confirmed it was my old car by comparing the VIN to the original window sticker I still have.

Nationals is coming up in a few weeks. Gotta keep my cash for it and, again, he's having a stellar year and really looking forward to it. So, she'll get sold and be lost again.....

No real point to this post except y'all are the only ones that would understand why I'm a little sad today about an old car.

-Rob

Did she have eyes when you sold her?

Very cool man.

Hell I hate to advocate going into debt and getting a loan for it, but how the hell can you NOT buy it back?

I put the eyes on it. Which is what tipped me off that it might actually be my car. (I didn't do the yellow calipers, though).

I'm already deep enough in debt, so that's really not an option.....

-Rob

Aw, man. I sold my first car at the insistence of my now-ex-wife. The money ended up going to pay HER bills, because she was/is a deadbeat. It's the only thing I'll never forgive her for, and she did some berkeleyed-up stuff to me.

If I ever see that car for sale, I'll buy it. I don't care if I have to rent out storage space for it.

Sad story about the car, but good luck to the little guy at Nationals! Let him know that we are all pulling for him!

Great story, Rob. After hearing that, you and your son need that car. It's our duty to be enablers, so go for it!

Nice car, by the way. It deserves to be back in the family.

you can always do a VIN search later to track it down.

How important is Nationals to your son and you? Does he have a real shot at the big time or is this truly a hobby? Is it worth skipping a year to get the car?

I'd kill to get my first car back, but unfortunately it's now recycled into a million Civics, Transits and toasters around the world as it met it's demise at my hands at the bottom of a ditch about 2:00am on the way back from watching the Lombard WRC round in England.

Yo, Adrian ... you're new avatar reminds me a bit of Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Heeeerrre's Johnny!

This reaffirms my mandate to never sell my motorcycle. First one I ever owned. If I sold it, I'd spend the rest of my life tracking it down.

This story is why I keep the 911. Even knowing I would get waaaaay more for it than I have into it, she is almost like a member of the family. The memories we have of some cars are to valuable to let go of.

Heck the way my one kiddo is I may have a 02 Jeep Wrangler forever now...

Sad update. Cruising CL on a slow work day.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/5272469920.html

It's a lot cheaper now, but looks beyond my skills/time to repair.......

I'll be crying at my desk the rest of the day.

-Rob

dude....that sucks. My condolences. Years ago I traded in a Honda that I'd had for several years and later heard it got totaled running from the cops. It made me sad and I had no where NEAR the attachment you did...

You say it's beyond your skill, but the ad says it's in "good condition"...

Son of a.... I feel your pain.

Wow. I felt bad when i found out one of my old mustangs was totaled and it wasnt near as sentimental.

oh god man. I'm so sorry.

Sorry as well. I miss my MINI and its only been gone a few months.

Your story reminds of when I sold my MR2 Turbo. Several kids had looked at it, and I had gently refused to sell it to them, knowing how badly that could end. Finally, a nice middle aged man came to look at it, and paid cash.

I found out a few days later when I saw it totaled at a friend's shop that he had bought it for his 16yo son who had gotten his drivers license only a few hours before. The kid totaled it less than two hours after the man drove it out of my driveway (went off backwards down the side of a mountain).

Although I didn't buy it new, it was only a bit over a year old when I got it. It was my daily driver, autocrosser and track car for over 7 years. I spent a huge amount of time and money rebuilding the engine to have 300whp only months before. Sadly, of the dozen or so MR2s I have owned, only a couple weren't totaled by the next owner, my IT racecar and one I sold my brother. I still REALLY miss my turbo though.

I cried when i saw what haopened to my acr.

I cried when i saw what happened to the original drivabeater.

I feel yalls pain.

I don't know those things are like a Lego and erector set mixed. That could make a killer challenge car. I say DO IT!!!! I was considering purchasing it until I saw it was in Dallas. Even there with shipping it still could be a worth wile purchase. Offer 1,000 . You don't get this opportunity often in life.

In reply to dean1484:

The a-pillar is bent.....its toast

When I was 17 I sold my prized B13 SE-R autocrosser to a kid who lived up the street (because I had bought an MR2). He slid it into a curb and bent one of the front control arms, after which it sat in front of his house for like a year while he didn't fix it. I offered to buy it back multiple times, and at the end of it all... his parents SCRAPPED IT instead of selling it back to me for 4x the amount

Still pisses me off just thinking about it.

My aunt had a Caddie, about a '64 or '65, bought new. It was MINT. Like, she wiped down the seats with a wash cloth once a week, etc. She bought a new '75 CDV (last of the 500CI) and sold the old one to some guy that "promised to take good care of it..." as she had a lot of attachment to the car. A week later, she saw it parked with the rear quarter panel mashed in. Heart breaking.

Buy it and swap the heart into something else? At least that would live on? Or ask if he will part it.

I still have my Mustang that I bought when I was 16 years old. Unfortunately just this past summer I decided I should put it up for sale yet. I haven't done it yet but it's trending in that direction.