Without actually counting, I believe I’ve moved around 50 cars in and out of my life since I got my first car when I was twelve. To varying degrees, I miss just about all of them…minus one or two. The 1975 Camaro I started out with I never got the chance to do anything with, even though it’s a bucket-list car for me. The Cutlasses were the same way. I got to drive my first project car, the Caprice, maybe three times ever. The Monte Carlo SS I had to let go to make some ends meet, the 1978 LeBaron I traded off thinking that I needed something with better MPG and less miles. The Diplomat, the Mirada, the Chevelle, the Ramcharger, even the Camaro that my ex-wife drug home that leaked transmission fluid like a colander and had something dead stapled to the console lid…the memories bring back a kind of longing and a bit of “where did it end up, I wonder?”
Most of my car sales were by necessity. As one person, owning four or even six cars at once isn’t feasible for long. But that doesn’t mean that no matter how battered it was, no matter how big a pile of excrement it truly was, no matter how many times the bastard tried to kill me or whether I got a great deal in the end or not, I feel like the chapter ends every time I hand one off…and I don’t like that. Am I sentimental over vehicles? Of course I am, probably more so than I should be. But that’s today’s question: do you experience the same thing?
Just in case you were wondering where this all came from, this is a Ford commercial from the Netherlands that actually had me feeling something other than contempt for an early Ford Focus. It’s a cool watch, check it out!
I have a 99 Darango with 260K on it.It runs fine and everything still works ,and not very much rust.With that said ,yes its a rare one. However my 2 Labs and I went everywhere in the truck . It has now been made into our “yard car” and mobile dog house. It will not leave here.
I learned a costly lesson when I was younger about getting attached to possessions, (and women), and for the most part tend not to get teary eyed or emotional.
However, I have regrets about a lot of things I’ve sold off, trucks, cars, guitars, etc…, and later realized how good those things really were compared to what I upgraded to.
Best truck I ever owned was a 68 Merc 100 that came from a farm.
Plain Jane, built like a tank, 240″ 6 cyl, 3 spd wide ratio, 4:11rear, would go 55 mph all day long at close to 3000 rpm and get a consistent 26 mpg.
You know the story, more power, more comfort, go faster, spend a lot more money, loose 5 to 8 mpg for the next 20 years, thinking back about how much money you would have saved had you kept that old Merc, maybe upgraded to a 5 spd OD and reupholstered the seat.
We live, we learn!
Yes, I miss a few. The 67 Camaro that started to bang and rattle 2 miles from home. The 67 gold goat that I still think a lot about. My 1st car a 64 Falcon convert that taught me a lot about wrenching on junk. At 60+ I’ve had over 50 cars/trucks/sleds/busses and I miss them all a little. That is why I have 2 in the garage and 3 outside waiting for attention
There have been a lot of cars that I’ve felt some pretty serious regret at selling, but I knew I couldn’t keep the car given my current life circumstances. Then there were a few where my only regret was that I needed to do the responsible adult thing and sell the car for cash, when what I really wanted to do called for several pounds of thermite. And a number of fairly mundane cars where I didn’t really feel that much emotion about selling them – either I hadn’t developed many emotions about the car, or I was replacing it with something at least as interesting as what was leaving.
My 2 Corvettes were emotional to see drive away with some one else behind the wheel . There’s always something to pay for like college for the kids or a new grocery getter for the wife or a new house . Another was a 56 Ford Crown Victoria and because I’m 70 I have no idea what happened to that one .
I’d like to sell some stuff but nobody wants my junk. I gave my mom my 71 gmc to haul Yard waste but it was a roach (that is to this day the most reliable thing I’ve ever owned) and sold my first rig, a 69 C10 shortbox. I don’t miss it but it was a little hard to let go of. My 61 GMC shortbox I sold gets regrets from my wife. She loved that thing and I admit it was fun. I couldn’t let go My REO, 715, 59 Chevy panel or my Suburban collection. My daily driver I would, I’m not that attached to it even though I need it.
I’ve owned and sold many cars and trucks over the years but the two that were really hard to let go were the 2004 GTO and 1970 Nova SS.
This is why I never sell anything….. I win!!!
its funny this should show up here today. I work for a company that supplies me with a vechicle for work. Our choices are somewhat limited and i have had a 2011 and 2013 and 2014 dodge grand caravan for the past three years. Tomorrow the leasing company is coming to pick it up and replace it with a fully loaded Kia sedona minivan . I hated minivans when i first got one. I was always the guy who had a mustang or a tbird, something way cooler than a minivan. Yet after driving one for the past ten years i have matured and realize how useful and pratical the damn things are. I built a deck this summer and much to the amazement of the folks at home depot i brought home 16 foot 6×6 beams for my deck. I have slept in it when we couldnt get a hotel room. It hauls seven people with ease and all their junk too. It is no slouch either. If i had one of these when i was 16 i would have wrapped it around a pole in no time. It flies—not mustang gt flying but not under powered in the least…So today i caught myself driving around all sad because it was our last few hours together. I even stopped myself because i was talking to the van, saying goodbye. I am really gonna miss my old dodge POS. Its been one of those cars you could weld the hood shut. Never been to the dealer and never failed me in three years. I am scared of the new KIA never had anything but american cars in my whole life. Hope i dont regret my choice. To my dodge i say thanks for keeping me safe and getting me where i needed to go. Hope some family ends up buying you and enjoying your comforts…Good bye my friend….
It kills me. I would not get rid of anything if I didn’t have too. Just sold my Buick Regal GS because it was just to rusty underneath ran and looked great but radiator support disappeared, loved that car. Other stuff I just keep. I’ve got the same car for 25 years now. Gotta stop doing this.
Sentimental? Not a chance.
Regret is more like it..
I should have bought the FED, the Uncles Cobra Jet, the Mercury Caliente, the 55, the Sunbeam..
I miss the 53 Ford F100 I sold so I could pay back mortgage. It showed up on a flatbed and left in a box trailer. I did an Industrial Chassis Dakota crossmember, 350/350 with a GM 10 bolt rear. It sat on American Racing Hopsters. It needed wiring and plumbing to be drivable.