Seeing this burgundy red Grand Caravan on the road the other day brought back a lot of memories of ours. That’s not exactly surprising, since we kept it for 15 years, and our kids practically grew up in it.
This isn’t our actual former Caravan, although I did see that at a gas station a year or so after I donated it.
Here’s our actual former Caravan, in 2011, almost four years after I donated it. I wrote that encounter up here. I talked to the owner, and he was very happy with it, finally having a vehicle big enough to take his wife and five kids on trips.
It took us on so many trips, including this one at Odell Lake with my younger brother and his family.
After my older son Ted came back from a year of high school in Innsbruck, we invited several friends and relatives, boys about his age, to come visit. I managed to squeeze six of them into the Caravan, and go on two week-long camping trips. The logistics were a bit challenging, but doable.
Here’s a shot of my two sons fast asleep on that trip. Time does fly…
I could write for hours about all the trips and adventures and the four transmissions, and the three ABS pumps and a few other things. Actually, outside of those two weak spots, it was quite durable and reliable. Fortunately, it never left us stranded once.
So do you encounter a former car of yours, real or just similar?
In a small country like mine, it is very easy to encounter your ‘old ride’, either your actual old ride or one like it, and they always bring a smile to my face as I remember the ‘good times’ I had with them.
I frequently see my last car on the road. It was a fairly common car in the most common color. The newest are 15 years old. “Yep, there’s the rust.”
I saw an example of my ’93 Audi S4 in the same color combo that I had (Green over Ecru) just yesterday although it was a ’94 (almost zero differences). It left me a little wistful but also cognizant that it’d now be an almost 30-year old car and the one yesterday had lived a rough life, or at least bore lots of witness to almost 30 years of use. I don’t know that I’ve ever actually seen the actual car I used to own, any of them.
I sold my high school / college era 1976 Cutlass Supreme Brougham to its third owner, a guy that eventually took a job at another store in the supermarket chain I was working for. I was specifically trained and of age to run the chain’s standalone liquor stores (in an adjoining stripmall bay), so I frequently worked at various stores throughout the chain.
I pulled up in one of the parking lots one day, and there it was. It was looking kind of sad, I had sold it because rust was setting in, and it was much worse for wear having seen another couple of winters in salt country. I was a proud and meticulous owner, and the subsequent owner…. not so much.
A dozen years later, the first proud and meticulous owner of my Cutlass showed up at the division of the bank I was working at as the CFO. A fun and surprising “small world” chat ensued.
Not mine, but very close. Just needs Goodyear Arriva whitewalls.
I see a number of 3rd gen Camries like mine in Oregon, but hardly any 1st gens in the past 12 months. I smile every time I see a circa 1987 Chevy Caprice (which is very rare) and I enjoy seeing almost every 1991-1995 Plymouth Voyager. I have a lot of good memories of my 1995 Plymouth Voyager. I see some circa 2003 Dodge Caravans though I wonder for how much longer and of course a bunch of circa 2004 Toyota Siennas.
My family’s cars are usually driven until they drop so I have only seen one car after it was sold. That was my worn out 1987 Chevy Caprice Estate at the demolition derby in Trumansburg.
Here is a photo of the only Chevy Caprice Estate I have seen recently.
Our former car, my wifes car, was a 2003 Chrysler Town & Country, we traded it in for a CPO 2016 Honda Pilot this past January. In the 16 years and 135k miles that we had it I can honestly say that it was relatively trouble free. Oh sure, it did have some major repairs, but overall, it was pretty good for a Chrysler product. It was the rusted rear axle that was the breaking point. I do see other Chrysler vans from this generation on the road and miss our old one. While our new Pilot is great, mostly because everything works, it has more gadgets and buttons than I like. There is no love here, maybe in another 15 years. The van on the other hand had remote square doors and if you took out all the seats, well, I just dare you to fill it! We recently had to move our daughter home from college in the Pilot, we just barely got it done, the move in next time will be a challenge
“It was the rusted rear axle that was the breaking point. ”
Not literally, I hope 😉
We’ve seen our old Caravan a few times at the kids’ camp we donated it to. Feels great to know that they are getting some use out of it.
On the other hand, when I saw my former TR4 for sale in 2017, in virtually the same condition as when I sold it I had different feelings.
It was kind of like meeting an old girlfriend who’d broken your heart a long time ago, and wanted to talk.
Unlike my previous encounter with that car, this time I knew when to walk away.
In 2000 I sold my ’91 ex-police Chev Crapiece to an Asian American young man who had always only ever known Japanese cars. After an early setback—the starter failed, which caused his folks to scold and chide and tell him he should’ve bought a practical, reliable Japanese model—things smoothed out for him and he lurved it. Used to see him driving around town from time to time with a big grin on his face.
In 2009 I sold my extremely nice ’89 Dodge D-100 to a millwright a block away, who bought it to replace his beat-up GMC which finally died when the oil filter rusted through (think about that for a minute). He liked to drink his lunch from a flask, and to step into his shop was to get instantly stoned on heavy-duty solvent fumes, and he drove a lot, so I got to watch the poor truck very quickly degrade from its outstanding condition to the average condition of a 20-year-old pickup truck. That made me sad.
In 2010 I sold my mechanically refurbished ’71 Dodge Dart with a beautifully redone interior when I grew tired of it failing to keep the rain out. A year later I saw it at a car show, with all the bodywork done and a careful paint job. That made me happy, especially because it was a 4-door.
In 2014 I sold my straight, shiny, unrusted, low-miles ’73 Dart to a grandma- and grandpa-aged couple who flew in from elsewhere to buy it and drive it home. Never saw it again after that day, but seeing them happily belt in and drive off was plenty enough (and also kind of weird, a bit of a reversal of the usual order of things wherein a youngster buys a sanitary old Dart from grandma and grandpa).
In 2016 I sold my ’91 Dodge Spirit ES 3.0 (very clean, very straight, very well equipped, low KMs, etc) when its A604 ProbleMatic predictably crapped out. Sold it to an individual from multiple hours’ drive away, who rented a trailer to come fetch it. Told me he’d had some difficulty getting approval from his wife, on account of the twenty-eight other FWD Mopars already in his possession, but eventually she’d said OK. Also told me he planned to swap in a 5-speed manual transmission out of a Shadow/Sundance. I’ve never seen the car since, nor heard from the guy, and I’m really okeh with that. I hope he succeeded with the 5-speed swap, I hope it’s just as much fun as I bet it would be, and I don’t need to know for sure.
In 2018 I sold my exceedingly fine 1962 Dodge Lancer and the 3-decade mountain of accumulated parts and accessories. Doubt if I’ll ever see it on the road; it’s now in Australia.
In 2019 I sold my Volvo 164. Fairly good odds I’ll see that one on the road one day when it’s reassembled. Might even get to drive it again, which would be a first since 1998 or ’99. Chance would be a fine thing.
Daniel, you made me laugh out loud at the “Crapriece” remark! I’m glad the young lad got it going successfully despite his parents’ dislike.
I had to visit U of Waterloo years ago to do on campus interviewing. I was directed to go to Needles Hall. Of course, the Waterloo grad who told me about the place kept referring to it as “Needless Hall”. So what do I do when I get to reception, naturally I ask the nice lady where to find “Needless Hall.” She was not impressed with me that day. The next time I see a Caprice I may find the alternate pronunciation coming out by mistake on purpose.
I believe I once saw my old Plymouth Voyager with the baseball ding in the back hatch running about town, still with the same ding.
That Chev was very used when I bought it. I made some repairs and improvements—some on my schedule, too many on the car’s—and eventually it was time for its next owner to take up the challenge.
“Crapiece” is indeed a little like the Bugs Bunny pronunciation “stragedy”—once you’ve heard it, it’s difficult to go back to saying “strategy” (or “Caprice”).
My first brand-new vehicle was a 1994 Chevy Astro van that I kept for 5 years. it started turning into a money pit as soon as the warranty was done at 36 months. Saw it about a year after I sold it and noticed when the driver stepped on the brake he was getting a tail-light and reverse light glowing dimly as well. That ended any nostalgic feelings pretty quick.
In university, I owned a 79 BMW 733. I loved the car but was alarmed at the total lack of aftermarket parts around here at the time (1993) and my total lack of money. The car was solid but had looming problems and the local dealer was the only source of parts, at very high prices which I couldn’tafford .
I traded it to a used car dealer in exchange for a 77 Lincoln Mk V, with mixed feelings. The BMW was a practical, beautiful car that drove very well. The Lincoln was far more dated and impractical.
About 14 months later I saw the BMW and stopped to speak to the owner. He reported spending about $4000 in the first year fixing problems. As the Lincoln turned out to be amazingly reliable and trouble-free I felt better about the decision.
My ’07 Fit Sport was T-boned and totaled. It later surfaced for sale on Craigslist with a salvage title. It was often parked at a little auto repair shop/car sales location that I drove past on frequent occasions, and I always had mixed feelings when I saw it. I wondered had the side/seat airbag controllers been replaced in it along with the other required repairs….:-)
I’ve never had that issue. Other than my original rusty Valiant, that was sent to the wreckers in 1988, I just have to open the barn doors and visit everything that followed after.
Great photo!
A Chevette Scooter was my means of propulsion during some of my college years. It served me well as cheap, largely reliable transportation, before I sold it and got an S10 that was more comfortable and enabled me to haul stuff more easily.
It surprised me, because the car was getting long-in-the-teeth when I traded it in, to see it out on the road several years later, still sporting a distinctive fender dent. It was also graced by the livery of a small rural church that I had not heard of. Perhaps the church leader took a vow of vehicular poverty.
It made me feel good to see the old Chevette spending its twilight years in the service of a higher power, and I chuckled a bit inside when reminiscing about the times when it served me as a mobile den of iniquity.
I still see my ’89 Ranger some 10 years after I sold it. The “Blowoff Blue” paint has been cover with a Camo wrap and still has my non-stock 14 inch rims. It now sports a large dent in one box side like it hit a pole, but it’s still plying the streets of Bellingham. Hard to kill those little 2.3s…
My habit of wringing every possible mile out of a car means means the last few vehicles ended up in scrapyards, two for mechanical failure and one totaled. Most of my previous vehicles were sold in New York before I moved West so long gone. The closest I’ve come to encountering a previous vehicle was a notification from the city of Hillsboro that a car I had traded in at a dealer was in the impound lot.
I sold our BMW 528i and our Vanagon Westy to neighbors. We moved only a mile to a new home a few years later, and I saw both those cars regularly, with the same owners until we moved to a different county ten years ago. I had feelings of nostalgia, even regret for the Westy; not so much for the BMW.
Several years after I sold my Toyota Land Cruiser in 2008, I passed it on the freeway miles from home. It was highly modified. I had sold it through an online Toyota forum, so I looked up the owner, and found this picture. I just checked the forum and the same guy still owns it. That is probably the one vehicle I wish the most, that I had kept.
There have been multiple sightings of multiple former cars. Always a mixed bag…
My 1989 Mustang turned up twice after I parted with it. The kid who had it had wrecked it. He was Owner #3. That Mustang turned up again at a repair shop one day while getting another car inspected. Owner #4 had wrecked it again. Both were front end collisions.
The 1996 Thunderbird sold to a guy not that far from my house. After we moved I never saw it again. I saw him in a grocery store parking lot one day. His driving on a nearly flat tire didn’t generate a lot of confidence in him.
The 1996 Escort was sold to my brother-in-law who promptly trashed it.
My 2001 Crown Victoria was sold to someone 90 minutes away and I’ve seen it a handful of times since but not in the last two or three years.
Our 2001 Taurus sold to a local girl who had totaled our her Cavalier in the high school parking lot. Her younger sister was in my daughter’s dance class. I saw that Taurus a handful of times.
The 1993 Buick Century was sold to Owner #3 who was young and tempted by a Grand Am (why???). So it went to Owner #4. A few years ago I saw that poor old Buick in a grocery store parking lot. The roof was caved in and it looked like crap outside but the interior still looked immaculate.
I have not seen the last vehicle I sold since selling it and I’m just fine with that.
The only car I ever sold and then saw again in the flesh was my ’96 Dodge Ram Class B RV. I saw it go by in oncoming traffic, heading north up the coast. The owner had put a bike rack onto the hitch, and the van looked to be in good shape (of course, this was maybe only 6 or 8 months after I sold it.) I felt happy that the new owner appeared to be enjoying it and putting it to good use.
I see my old 2004 F150 Heritage a few times a month but then I sold it to a teacher I worked with and her husband is using it as his commuter. His other truck is a 1 ton GMC dually with the Vortec 8.1 V8. The F150 is his “gas sipper”.
My Highlander is parked a few blocks from my office, sold to an extended family living in a house across from one of the local parks. It still looks the same but the abandoned 97-05 Malibu sitting along the side of the house makes me hope the Toyota has a better fate.
The wife’s old 2005 Vibe I still see rolling around too, although it’s got to be getting close to 200,000 miles on it (145,000 on it when she traded it in 2016). Given that it was a manual transmission model and we did all the recommended services, it should be giving good use.
Seeing any of them makes me a little wistful and nostalgic.
Every couple of years, I’ll look on Carfax to see how some of my former rides have fared.
My ’95 Outback, my favorite car I have ever owned, got to just under 200k miles before it got scrapped.
My ’93 Saab 9000, that I sold to a college kid with about 145k on the clock and a straight body, but trashed interior lasted only about a month after the sale before he totaled it. Too bad – it was a nice car.
My ’03 Outback was also sold to a college kid who took it to Colorado. It’s now got some 180k and is up in the Dakotas, still kicking.
I never wrote down the VIN of my first car, a ’95 Firebird. That car was beautiful, but it took a beating in the 5 years I had it. I do sometimes wonder if it’s still out there. In my neighborhood, I know of one house with an immoblie ’96 Z28 and another house with an immobile Trans Am from the mid or late 90s. Sometimes I think about leaving a note on the windshield to see if they’d want to sell, but then I remember what a POS the ’95 Firebird actually was.
Yep:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-outtake/curbside-outtake-passed-on-the-left-by-my-former-herbie/
I also still see the ’99 F-250 4×4 Powerstroke I sold to a local landscaper prior to buying my ’15 RAM. He’s had to make some repairs to it, but that was expected when he bought it.
Up until The Current Unpleasantness, we saw our ’12 Routan every Sunday at church, having donated it to our pastor and his family.
Finally, as noted in the post I did on my ’69 F-100, I saw the truck a few times in town not long after selling it. Haven’t seen it since, though.
I used to see my old 93 Corona around quite a lot many years after I sold it looking well beaten but still going strong and running 17 inch wheels, those cars were pretty indestructable and the bodies were galvanised so no amount of neglect kills them, I’d have another NZ spec Amon Toyota Corona as a cheap runabout but not an import.
The only car Ive ever seen on the road since I sold it is my green /6 ’73 Duster that I sold about 7 or 8 years ago to a young guy that worked in a hot rod shop. The last time I saw it was about 3 years ago and it still looked pretty much the same as when I had it so at least he is keeping it on the road.
I had a few cars that I sold and would have liked to see what happened to them. I sold a ’69 Charger project car to the Petty Garage that they built and sold and I never saw the end result. I had a ’68 340/4 speed/AC/disc brake Dart GTS and a ’71 Demon 340/4 speed that I sold as used up drivers in the early ’90s and would like to see if they ever got restored.
Not my car, but my Dad’s ‘74 Mercury Comet in the employee section of a grocery store. Dad got rid of it because of a burn valve. The new owner had just started the car as I passed by and I could hear the distinctive clatter from the engine. I saw the car several more times in the same parking lot till the store went bankrupt.
Yes and it broke my heart.
My Festiva wore out its welcome – it didn’t wear out. But after nearly 300,000 miles, it was time. So I drove it up to trade it in at Ford and get a Ranger and it was sold by to someone before my papers were signed for the new truck. I hoped not to see it again, but I kept spotting it around town for the next ten years.
The last time I saw it was in a junk used car lot. At first I couldn’t believe it was the same car, but curiosity made me turn around and investigate. I knew that car inside and out after 12 years and I was able to recognize it as the same car by a tiny dent I put on it under the rear bumper.
I stood there looking upon my old friend, seeing how the years and another 200,000 miles had worn it down to rolling junk. It was dirtier than I had ever permitted it to be, the interior was gross and the parcel shelf had huge empty speaker holes cut into it.
I felt guilty as hell. My family lifestyle couldn’t have permitted me to keep this little car, but this was a car I should have parked in a garage and taken care of like an old milk horse. It was a great car. It was a silly little car. It wasn’t a Mustang, or a truck. It wasn’t a collectible car, or a valuable car. It was just a great car that exceeded my expectations for nine years, never quitting, never stopped being fun to drive, and never complained.
I still feel bad about it and once in a while I google these little cars for sale to see if there is one around worth salvaging. Yet I can’t imagine explaining to someone why I want to drop thousands into restoring a Festiva. You really needed to have one with a five-speed, fancy tires, upgraded interior and clean enough to eat off of, to understand, I guess.
My town is small enough that I still saw my old Tribute fairly regularly–until about a few months ago. I wonder if it finally bit the dust.
Aside from that, Mazda Tributes in general seem to be fairly thin on the ground here, at least in comparison to how many first-gen Escapes still roam the highways. They’re uncommon enough that I say, “huh, wouldja look at that.” And they’re still fairly attractive crossovers IMO, especially in two-tone.
Four transmissions？Wow！
I had two that I saw on a regular basis., both driven by the same person and it put me off forever. A cousin who is
A) notorious for driving cars into the ground thru lack of maintenance
B) financially always on the edge
got two cars from me over the years.
My 79 Chevy Belair was a low mileage one owner that I gave him to help him and it was driven into the ground in a couple years.
My 84 Pontiac pariesienne was loaned to him for 6 months and came back in bad enough condition it was sold on the spot for scrap price.
This was a guy who managed to blow up not one but TWO slant sixes over the years by the way.
Pretty much any vehicle after that was driven til it died or disposed of far enough away I wouldn’t run into it again.
In 1995 I sold my silver 1982 Porsche 928 (pictured here) to a very close friend, my former college roommate. Within 18 months, he and the car had a disagreement with a stone wall in Kentucky horse country…the wall won. He sold the car to a dismantler and we’d both assumed the 928 had traveled its final mile.
Almost 8 years later, in 2004, while perusing online classifieds, I came across photographs in an offering that were too similar to ‘my’ car; non-professional, hand re-stitching of the leather dash cover (which I did), a mark on the passenger seat and several other familiar signs. I made contact with the Seller, confirming the VIN and swapping stories before being strongly ‘encouraged’ to re-purchase ‘my car.’ After pondering it for a good seven minutes, I passed.
In 2013 nine additional years had elapsed and I ran a Car Fax on the VIN. Since I’d declined the re-purchase opportunity in 2004, the car was well traveled. It had been auctioned in the Southeast, had an emissions test in California (which it failed), was registered in Arizona, and then registered in Nevada, was auctioned again and returned to California for another emissions test, which it passed!
No additional ‘entries’ were made after the successful California emissions test (in 2007), so I have to believe it finally has been laid to rest. A truly incredible journey for a truly incredible car. Thanks for the memories 9-2-8, may you rest in peace…
The last car that I had was one that I never really “connected” with. I really wanted another small pickup and it was the 4th car in a row and no truck. I solved the need for hauling with a hitch and utility trailer along with a roof rack for the canoe. I kept up with all the repairs it needed and the final straw was a second damaged ball joint. Yeah an excuse to justify to myself what I was wanting to do anyway. Just for laughs at the dealer I agreed for them to look it over for trade in value and told them not to take it out on the roads due to the damaged part. They returned with an offer of scrap value, Yeah, ok, no.
With the replacement vehicle in the driveway and the other car repaired the next door neighbour showed interest. I told him to do a little research and make me an offer. Any offer at all would have seen it go. Two months went by and nothing, not a word. I called my long time childhood friend and asked him if he was interested. The answer was “not really” until I made him an offer. He was pissed off that it cost him more for the safety check, taxes and licence fee than he paid for the car.
I am happy where it ended up. Daily driven, roof racks on all summer for the canoe, occasional hauling with a trailer and a like minded owner with all the skills and knowledge to keep it safely on the road.
I saw my ’69 Camaro about a year after it was sold. The grill was missing sections and there was severe dentage that wasn’t there when it was sold. It saddened me. Reading thru these stories shows me that’s a common thing. They almost never get better than when we had them.
I had a ’92 2wd S-10 with the 2.8 V6 5 speed that was my first new vehicle, I sold it to a friend in 1995 when it still looked new with 25k miles on it. He kept it for 12 years and by the time he sold it with around 150k it was beat to hell and severely rusted. I continued to see it around town for a year or so and then it dissapeared, probably to the junkyard. It was kinda hard to see it go from new on the lot with 11 miles on it to that. Lately I’ve been keeping the vin numbers of my vehicles to try to keep track of them, my ’12 Silverado that I traded in 4 years ago turned up on a local car lot last year. Sometimes I dream about cars I haven’t owned for decades.
Only saw one, a Toyota Corona sold off for parts due to chronic rust, thanks to beachside living in Roseneath, Wellington. I was surprised to see it fixed and warranted roadworthy a month later. As Bryce says these cars are indestructible.
In a similar project I did a Lockdown Madness Prevention exercise to collect photos of all my 51 COALs to date, in purchase order. Photo substitutions were needed but the subs are all the same colour and condition in almost all cases, so it was like revisiting them. Here’s 1976 to 1984 to start.
And 1984 to 1986.
I donated a Chevy Caprice Estate wagon like Teddy’s, above, to a church I used to go to. Oddly, turned out the church secretary happened to be in need of wheels, supposedly, and so wound up with it. More oddly, it wound up a few monts later that she and the priest were having an affair, and both were embezzling from the church kitty.
Pretty sure that’s the last car I ever donated.
My family got a new Volvo 122s in 1967. It stayed with us for about 31 years. Totally garaged, red paint still pretty great. No accidents. I snagged it to use as our 2nd car in San Francisco and still garaged it but ultimately, the partner didn’t like driving it and freaked when it stalled in the worst intersection in town. It was just before sites like Craigslist and certainly before Bring a Trailer, where it would have likely commanded a great price when we finally sold it to a neighbor from a “for sale” sign in the window. For years, it was in our neighborhood. Loved that… then I saw it moved ‘hoods to be surrounded by a guy who clearly loved older American cars.. still good but since I haven’t seen it in 10 years. Being a Volvo, it’s surely still running. Missing the best car ever. If anyone sees a California black plate, red, Volvo 122s, license UBL 5–, find me, “pickles” on most big car sites. Love to get her back.
In August, 2010 I traded my Toyota Solara in on a new Mustang. Shortly after that I started seeing my old Solara roaming around my neighborhood being used as a pizza delivery vehicle. I continued seeing the car, off and on, still delivering pizza, up until a year or so ago. I can still faintly smell the pizza for several days after bringing one home from the restaurant, I can only imagine what 10 years of pizza smells like inside a car. Perhaps one gets used to the smell after a while and it is no longer noticeable.
I traded in my 1982 Mercury Capri 5.0 5-speed at Peyton Cramer Ford in Torrance, California for a 1988 Saleen Mustang. About a year later I was with friends waiting in line at the Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa Beach when we saw Jay Leno pull up in his black Bentley Turbo, and noticed that parked on the street in my line of sight was my old Capri, still in the same condition as I sold it. Made me happy. About a year after that I saw my old Capri on the 405 freeway, unwashed and its front left fender badly dented. Made me sad.
I’ve never seen any of my previous cars, but the registration system in the Netherlands allows you to follow it up, since like in the UK the plate stays with the car and some basic info is public. My old Volvo 850 went the scrap yard last year apparently; “status: gedemonteerd”. It was still in good nick when sold a few years back but just too expensive to run.
My dad did see our ’87 Kadett E Caravan a few weeks after it was traded in for a Passat in the summer of 1994. It already had a big dent in the driver’s side front door.
Hi BeWo:
Does the Netherlands system allow you to look up a vehicle by VIN? One of my former cars was exported there (from the U.S.) 14 years after I sold it and I’ve always wondered where it’s living now. Thanks…
I saw my first car, a 1982 Austiin miniMetro once, a few years later. It was parked, with the lights left on but unlocked. So I opened the door and turned them off. Felt like the right thing to do.
Last car but one was a 2006 Ford Focus, which 2 years after I sold passed me on the motorway doing 95 plus. Out of interest I checked it on the gov.uk database, and it had been clocked fairly significantly
I saw my 2010 Challenger R/T coming out of a Kroger parking lot on Sunday morning. It was clean and looked very close to when it was new:
I’ve seen my old ’79 Trans Am around lately, but I haven’t seen it since it was repainted, in it’s original red. I don’t think the shade had a name at that point.