In “Kodachrome”, Paul Simon sings of past loves, “Everything looks better in black and white” (Okeh, sometimes he sings “worse” instead of “better”; he says he forgets which he originally wrote…whatever; for the purposes of this post, the lyric is “better”). And it’s true: the human memory isn’t the camcorder it feels like. We magnify our recollections of the good, and we minify our recall of the bad. That’s probably for the best, for otherwise we’d be dragged under by accumulated strife and sadness. Nevertheless, most of us sometimes hanker for the good(?) ol’ days. Sometimes we get a chance to go back, one way or another. Often this winds up to prove unwise and disappointing; that magical playground is nowhere near so giant and awesome as we remembered it, etc.
But with cars it can go either direction, I suppose. One could come face-to-face with all the nuisances and faults one had forgot, and have one’s nose shoved in a steaming pile of past misdeeds and errors…or one could find oneself happily home again (as in this Chev sketch of a few years back, which tears me up every time on account of my own history with a dad and a car).
That could-go-either-way thing is a guess on my part; I’ve never tried it, though the opportunity came round once: I had a “wanna buy it back?” come in from the guy I’d sold my first fully operable car to. It was a ’65 Valiant Custom 200 (the very one in the pic here—a ’65 Dart badged up thusly and built in Ontario for the Canadian market). I won’t go into much detail here; I swear sooner or later I’ll get round to doing my time in the COAL mine. But I was briefly sorely tempted—boy, was I ever! I ran mind-movies of putting right all my wrongs, fixing all those shortcuts that stemmed from upgrade enthusiasm and feature creep. But I don’t have much more spare money to mess with cars now than I did then, and I have a lot less space, a whole lot less time, and a whole hell of a lot less inclination.
So I thanks-but-no-thanksed it. By and by, the new owner got in touch; I was heartened to learn he had plans (and resources, facilities, tools, and knowledge) to refurbish it although it’s “only” a four-door.
How ’bout you? Did/would you ever buy back your old car? Or did/would you Just Say No™? Howe’er it was, did you come to regret your decision?
While I’ve had quite a few cars and motorcycles over the years, I don’t think that I want to buy any of them back. I’m not nostalgic about most things, as in physical objects. I may feel a little nostalgic about the experiences and memories that went along with those objects. Sometimes. I don’t think that I will relive those experiences by driving those cars or riding those motorcycles. I’m ready to move on, and I have developed new automotive interests. As Carly Simon sung in “Anticipation” “And stay right here, ’cause these are the good old days. These are the good old days.”
My long gone 69 VW Beetle – wish I’d never sold it. Bought it cheap when I just needed a set of wheels due to getting a job – sold it for roughly what I paid for it and thought I was being clever. Co-worker bought it for his twin daughters to learn to drive in. It wasn’t perfect but it was sound, ran great, and had all the positive attributes of that era Bug – good build quality, easy to work on, 12V electrics, true rear IRS rather than swing axles, yeah, it was a “big window” bug with the simpler style blade bumpers, but it still had some of the vintage VW look. I later bought a 73 Super Beetle that wasn’t nearly as much fun to own or drive. I occasionally rummage around the interwebs thinking I’ll buy another 69 – but I’d rather have mine back. I’m sure it long ago returned to the earth from which it came…
If I had the opportunity to buy my ’03 Marauder back, I’d do it. Sold it in ’11 when I needed the money I had into the car for other things, and because I wanted something that got better mileage for my daily commute. I’ve missed it ever since though–big, fast, comfortable, and just enough swagger. It had 115k miles at the time, so I’m sure the miles would be up towards 200k now, but assuming it’s still around and hasn’t degenerated into a clapped-out heap, I’d make it happen. Never saw it again after selling though so I don’t think it stayed local. Need to run a carfax at some point and see if it’s still with us…those cars do have an enthusiast following so hopefully it’s in a good home.
I’d also buy back my ’96 Mark VIII, small problem with that being that it was totaled in an accident. I’d like to have another though, preferably with a sunroof this time.
I never got rid of my first car, the ’79 Malibu, but it hasn’t run in 15+ years. I’d really love to drive it again…someday, someday. I’m glad it’s still around though (and thankful to my folks for letting me store it at their house all this time).
I actually did buy an almost exact copy of my ’86 Jetta GL (have owned this one for 26 years) about a year and a half ago. I saw on Craigslist an ’87 Jetta GL, same original paint color (polar silver, looks beige to me) that appeared to still be in excellent original condition. $950 was the asking price, settled on $700. The brown and tan interior is the same as the ’86 as well. I can drive either one and garage the other and the neighbors think I actually only have one car. The only difference between the 2 1.8 gas engine 5 speed cars is that the ’86 has a sunroof, the ’87 does not, the ’87 has rear headrests, the ’86 does not, and the ’87 has cruise control which the ’86 lacks.
Put about $300 into it (brakes, tires, fuel pump relay, drive axle, wishbone) and it runs and drives very well. Had a couple of family members in mind to sell them as a first car cheap, turns out almost no one knows or cares to learn to drive stick, so now I have 2 twins until I finally decide to sell the ’87.
So actually I bought a second identical car while still owning the first. For now every month I flip the insurance from the ’86 to the ’87 and drive the insured car so I still only pay insurance on one so it basically costs nothing to own and use the second Jetta.
I had a 1980 Jetta and a 1980 GTI which I used to swap plates on. One would run great for a while then something minor would break and I would swap the good parts on the other one and drive it until it broke. Rinse and repeat. This worked well for a couple of years until the Jetta got too rusty. I towed it to the wrecker and almost got enough money to cover the uhaul trailer rental. Apparently steel was cheap that year as I only got $40 Canadian for it…
This post could go on all night, but I’ll try to keep it simple:
I had a ’91 Miata for years and years, I LOVED that car, and would have kept it long enough to get buried in it… I totally rebuilt everything on it except the engine (didn’t need it!) so by the time I did get rid of it, it looked pristine and drove like the sports car it was. I met my current wife while I had it, and suffice to say, we had a difference of opinion about it. (read: constant arguments and fighting about it.) She just isn’t a “car person”, and wouldn’t be seen in it. Anyway once Child #1 arrived, the arguments about it got so bad that I took the first offer I got for it (of course, way less than I thought it was worth, 16-year-old Mazdas don’t have good “blue book” values) I still see it regularly, one of my wife’s relatives owns it now. I’ve told them I want it back when they’re done with it, and The Mrs has told them not to sell it to me, so we’ll see what happens…
Now that I think of it, I HAVE bought one of my cars again. My first car was a ’80 Pontiac Sunbird, I had it for a couple years but had to let it go (didn’t want to, actually) because I just couldn’t afford to fix what was wrong with it (clutch, brakes, plugged catalytic converter) and was in college anyway. A few years later, I was living with a bunch of people at a different college, one of my roommates stiffed us on a bunch of the bills and offered me his car instead-another 1980 Sunbird, but this one had 1/3 the mileage of my old one. I learned the hard way about old cars that didn’t get used much-pretty much all the rubber and seals needed to be replaced on it, but I did it because I liked having it. I let a friend borrow it, and a city snow plow pretty much tore it in half when he illegally parked it one night, and the insurance payoff was less than the repairs I had done on it… OOps. Actually I’d probably get another “H-body”, if I could find one that hasn’t been turned into a drag racer-buying my first car TWICE!
I’d really like to have my 89 CRX Si back. Er, maybe not MY CRX, but one just like it but not driven the way that one was.
I wouldn’t mind having the Mazda back, if it came with the same girl/same age in the passenger seat.
The one car I’m nostalgic about is the 1970 Torino Brougham I had for about five years. It was the first decent car I ever had–no rust, paint in good shape, body in good shape, mechanically excellent. The 302 V-8 never gave me a bit of trouble, and the only trouble I ever had with the transmission was when the vacuum modulator went bad. It had power steering and brakes, too; I had never had those before. It had the spiffy Brougham interior; definitely a cut above the standard Torino. Best of all, it had factory A/C that always cooled well and never cause the engine to overheat.
It had its downside, though. The front seat back was too erect, pushing against my shoulders. The power steering could get a bit sluggish after a long stretch of driving. The power brakes were incredibly oversensitive. I could never get 20 gallons of gas into the allegedly 20-gallon tank–not even if the tank started out empty. The car’s handling was adequate, by standards of the time. When I got to test-drive a Honda Accord, it was a revelation.
Yes, I’m nostalgic for my first decent car, but there’s no going back.
One car I would like back…my 1965 Rambler Ambassador 990 convertible. I sold it because finding replacement front-end bushings was impossible and it was driveable if you could stand the jackhammer feeling every time you hit a bump. It’s been over 20 years now, but I still miss it. If VIN H306205 is still out there, I want to hear about it!
I learned my lesson with my other favorite car, 15 years ago. After owning my 1990 Taurus wagon for five years the transmission needed a $1400 transmission overhaul.
I fixed it and still have it. 🙂
Don’t have to since I still own it.
Wow, so many good stories here, I spent a long time thinking about my first, a rusted out 1959 Ford F100 pickup that I did buy a close copy of in 1988, it was O.K. but I sold it on after a few years .
The next one was a 1060 VW 3114 Deluxe beetle, I thrashed that poor thing like a rented mule even though I loved it .
I bought another identical one and drove it for a few decades, my son has it now .
? Maybe a COAL thread about the first vehicles you :
Crashed
Had sex in
Took a long road trip in
Etc..
-Nate