Ever sold a car only to watch it die?

I hate selling my cars. But you can't keep 'em all. I've only sold two that the new owners treated better than me. I want them to go far away. The worst one was I sold a 60 buick 4dr flat top that I had owned for 16 years. I had the seats redone with NOS material, found a full set of un-pitted interior chrome, a crack-free steering wheel and dash pad. It was an original paint, 60,00 mile car that needed minimal rust work. I never saw it again. UNTIL 2 years later at a mecum auction at Goodgys. The rust had exploded like 15 pipe bombs. The seats were blown out and there were mushrooms growing in the carpet. It had 130,000 garage-free miles on it, and sold for $500. Years of therapy later, I'm better now. There are cars that need to be driven fast and hard, and there are cars that deserve caretakers, and there are people that can't tell the difference. -Lon

 

Yep, had a 62 Mercury Meteor S-22. Very nice rust-free car, missing motor and trans.
Guy wanted it BAD, he had all these ideas so sold it to him.and then he...cut out the front suspension, the firewall, scrapped the 62 front sheet metal, bought a 62ish Falcon glass front end to install,...and then it set and rotted into the ground. He had it and some other cars and trucks and finally had to put up a fences cause the neighboars bitched.
Last I was by his place the fence was down and all the vehicles were gone, assume it got scrapped.

 

Yep !! Sold a 65 Chevelle SS 327 Cali car to some moron that cut it half to save a pyle of shit convertible that he kept wrecking. Sad death of a very good car !! >>>>.

 

Yup, Got a beater '65 Impala SS and made it nice again, put quarters on it, new black paint, red pinstripe, nice ralley wheels, switched out the tired 350 somebody slapped in there with a nice 402 BB and new trans. Sold it for cheap money and one day couple years later i saw it parked across the street in a neighbors driveway. I started walking across the street to check it out and stopped halfway. It must have been used as a daily driver, including in the salt all winter, there was rust holes all over, it was scraped and scratched all over, mismatched wheels. I turned around and went back home. when they started it up to leave it sounded like it was running on seven cylinders or less. Oh well, I don't sell 'em anymore.

 

yep,every single one. My best is a 64 malibu it was my daily. I drove it for 5 years. Sold it with a tired six,for a handsome profit. Found it on craigslist a year later with a supposed broken v8. A fuel pump later it was fixed. Sold it again for another handsome profit. The dude had it stolen from him 1 week later with the title in the glovebox!!

 

I bought a 1970 Boss 302 with the wrong engine in it in the early 80's. It was my wife's daily driver for a year and then I sold it locally for $3200 and doubled my money. I watched the young kid that bought it beat it to death for a year and then it disappeared. A guy at a car lot called me up one day and said that he took it in on a trade on a Gran Prix. He knew me dad and recognized my name on the title as a previous owner. He said th car ws too rough for him to sell and he offered it to me for what he allowed on the trade in, $800. I bought the car and stored it for the winter and sold it in the spring for $1600. I always kind of hoped that car would come back home one more time.

 

In about 87 I sold a true 69 Buick GS400 convert that I restored and it was way to fast for the kid I sold it too... 3 days later he creamed 4 parked cars and totalled it... Now with the advent of the internet i come to find out they only made 1776 GS400 convertables that year...what A dummy I was..that car was a fabulous and fun car to DRIVE...I used it as a daily driver for like a year....

 

My 58 BelAir 348 2 dr hdtp. Guy bought it, didn't have a clue how fast it was and took out the right side on a bridge approach. Really liked that car. As far as I know the other cars I built and sold have went to good homes. Kinda like selling puppies, you get attached but can't keepum all!

 

Have you ever sold a car and realized you don't own it anymore ?

I feel your pain, 1965 I built a real sleeper 47 Plymouth, 67,000 original miles. paint and interior were as new. (just realized the original owner probably didn't like what I did either lol) built 331 cad, power steering and brakes, air,
sold it and the next time I saw it it was jacked up in front with little tires,loud pipes and spray tinted windows. made me sick. But it wasn't my car anymore.

edit. just thought I'd add one more thing. I loved that car, went thru a divorce and since the wife had the three kids and the Plymouth was a very safe 4 door I let her have it. I bought a 65 el camino (1969) she was mad because because I had a new car and brought the Plymouth to my work place. left it with my boss with instructions for me to sell it. No way would she let me buy it, I'd already tried.
I set it out front on Colorado st in Pasadena. with a cardboard sign
FOR SALE
$100.00
and drove off, there was a guy waiting by the car when I got there in the morning with $100 cash. he wanted to know if I could help him tow it home. I laughed and told him everything about the car. Forged pistons, 3/4 cam, big valves dual exhaust with one pipe showing, built hydro, 61 dodge rear end, 60 buick power brakes, 56 mercury power steering, Mark lV under dash air.
man that really hurt, kind of like the car in the garage that belonged to the soldier that didn't come home.
the guy almost didn't buy it. he thought it was a deal minus engine and trans. and was wary of the "To good to be true deal"
to add insult to injury I told him the battery wasn't part of the deal, the wife had borrowed it from her dad. he told me he'd buy a new one and return it. He burned me and I had to buy a $37.. battery
yeah I feel your pain

 

I've never sold one that didn't go far, far away - never to be seen again.

JH

 

I remember the day mum, dad my 2 sisters and me picked up thier brand new XD Falcon wagon back in 79 as if it was yesterday.
5 years ago they purchased a new car, they gave me the Falcon wagon, I kept her for a couple of years and because I needed a ute and I needed to put my project in the garage I was forced to sell her.
The bloke that came and test drove her drove her like the late model turbo telstar he showed up in, he needed a 2nd family car. I never thought to ask if he was going to park her in a garage till after he payed for her the next day, he didn't even have a carport.
That was around 2 years ago, between the way he drove and the fact he parks her outside I just know she's gone down hill, I'm glad I dont see her, I'm peaved at myself for not finding her a better home, she had NEVER been out of the shed overnight, or thrashed while we owned her, mum and dad recon not to worry, it's just a pile of metal.
But they don't understand.

 

sold my '67 427/435 coupe to a guy who had it 4 weeks before he totaled it into an oak tree.


sold my '30 panel delivery and the next time I saw it he had put these awful wheels on it and painted a mural on the side...

Oh, well...when they're gone, they're gone...it makes you cringe but, they're not mine anymore

 

Hasn't happened to me, but then again I haven't built a car yet

Id did happen with my cousin and an OT car. He bought a 1971 Plymouth Duster when he was 12 or so. Spent years fixing it up and had a hot little car by the time he turned 16. Ended up selling it a couple of years later. Within a year it had a stupid aftermarket wing bolted to the trunk and extensive body damage. Looked like the guy played bumper cars with it. It was totaled a little while later.

 

56 merc me and my Dad saved out of a field. I did all repairs. Dad bought the parts I put them on. We had it painted and new whitewalls back around 1983.
I saw the car in a gas station, it was painted with a brush or a roller with what looked like house paint.

 

Many times. In fact, more often than not.
My take on this is simple. The next owner is using and enjoying the car a little differently than I might have. Even if that means in IMHO they are killing the car. Unless they wreck it beyond repair, hopefully someday it will be sold to someone who will bring it back to it's previous glory.
I don't sell them anymore. Just add to the corral.
I guarantee any vehicle that comes to my guardianship always feels like it's getting a new lease on life. I treat them all like they are part of the family.

 

It wasnt old, but I owned a first year VW Golf. Pretty hard to come by. I repainted the outside and the interior was perfect. Sold it to a kid I knew from high school. He let his girlfriend drive it and she blew the motor. He scraped the car. I met my wife in that car. It still makes me sad.

Also my father owned and raced a 1971 MGB. Did rally races all over the east coast. He ended up selling it to a kid after my brother was born. That kid blew the engine in that car too.

Its a curse!!!

 

Yep, 56 G.M.C., all original ,mint condition,short box,deluxe chrome package,big back glass,pontiac v/8 with 4/speed hydromatic . sold back in the 70s to an 18 year old. He removed all chrome ,painted it a spray can brown color. strung it out a piece at a time and complained all the time it was falling apart. Blew the transmission out, let it sit in the unsecured yard of a transmission rebuilder until it was stripped of all usable parts. I never saw it after that. I want to sell my chevy sometime, but out of state so I don't have to go though that again. If it don't sell, it will be parked in the back of the shop until i'm gone, then the family can do what ever they want.

 

Maybe the guys you got your cars from thought the same thing.

 

I sold my -56 F-100 Pickup many years ago it was -95 or so, newer seen it after that, and i still miss it much. It was my daily driver for two years and it has M400cid and C6 and 9`rear. It was a best damn truck i ever had. It was wisited shows in USA in mid -80's and it was quit low from that time , but not shopped. Where are you now ???!!!!

 

I feel your pain Mazooma, that would make me sick! Worse yet would be if the guy who bought your panel would ask you "How do you like it now?"

I haven't had anything nearly as hurtful as that. Sold a 63 440H Rambler coupe to a guy who wanted to run the shows with it. Next time I saw it was at a show alright, but it had gotten scroungy inside and out with bird crap baked into the finish so bad it looked like it would take sanding to get it off. Was he trying to start a new fad?

 

Maybe in the taste department,but not the rust prevention/cleanliness department. Its one thing to change a car to your taste,entirely different to run something into the ground. I guess that is why I am glad I am getting a little older now,and have the ability to not sell to buy another!! I have taken lesser offers on cars knowing they are going to a better owner.

 

I don't think the original owner of this would complain.

 

I got a 42,000 '62 Chevy II 2dr sedan with a 153 4 cyl for nothing in 1973. It had a great body but needed a floor and some other mechanical work. I fixed the floor, rebuilt the engine and installed an Indy shifter on the three speed. I sold it to an 18 year old kid in 1976 for $500. I even gave him a new replacement piece of chrome for the dented piece on the trunk lid.
He didn't have it two days before he called up and left a message complaining that I sold him a piece of junk.
I called back and found out from his dad that the kid had installed a Ford battery (reversed terminal) and had managed to screw up the generator.
I offered to convert the car to an alt but the dad said to forget it as the problem was now the kid's.
I think he mumbled something along the lines of "You can't fix stupid!"

 

I've had cars that I wish I had back, usually because it was a fun car to have owned. But once it's sold, I have my money and do not care a whit where it goes or what happens to it. It's not my car anymore.

When I die, what I have at that time goes to my wife and kids to do with as they please. Can't do anything about that, either, can we?

 

Sold a very nice rust free 37 2 door sedan slant to a family friend. He had big hopes & dreams for the car. I helped him install the new engine & trans, I wired the car. It was ready for paint & upholstery. He got sick w/ cancer & passed away. Car sat for a year in their garage. I went over to see what I could do to help her finish the car to sell. She was in a financial crisis. We found out he had 50% deposits on paint & upholstery already so I got the car over there & got car done (paying for alot of it out of my pocket). Then her story changed, one of her boys wanted it so se wanted to try & keep the car. Another year goes by & I ask what's the deal on the car? Kids have been driving it & not very good at that. Car was a mess. 2 months later, she lost her home. Hasn't worked in 18 months. Basically lost everything. Still has her Vette (relax, it's a 84) and the 37. Then she winds up moving to the mountains & joining some religous group. She gets talked into giving the church all her worldly possessions- including the vette & the 37. Last I heard, she moved out of state. Never got a dime back.
Hindsight- I should have bought the car back a year after he died.

 

I can say I've had the reverse happen, and I'm glad for it.
I gave my 49 Fleetline to Fat Hack, whose trials and tribulations you can follow here if you search. He in turn, sold it to RacerRick, who put it down over an S10 frame, and now consequently has let it go to someone else.
I didn't have the time or money to do anything with the car, so I passed it on.
I'm just glad to know that it's still around... at least the last time I heard of it it was.

JK

 

in the late 70s a buddy of mine had a 68 ss camaro, original big block car but had a 350- 300 in it. 4spd console, gauges in console and fold down back seat and fresh paint .he had it for sale for 3k, took the cash to him and he wouldnt sell it to me cause he didnt want to see it again!spent a half hour trying to convince him to let me have it. had a fresh 427/435 lined up for it too! some geeky 16 year olds dad bought it for him! i seen it a few times, the driver side window was smashed, he cut a hole in the hood and put a ratty tunnel ram on it then added a nasty hood scoop, later the door handles were ripped off and a big dent in the quarter panel! one day i was at my buddys house and his old camaro limped by belching black and blue smoke, i said, hey aint that your old chevy? he looked down and said yeah, the asshole lives on the next block!i said see, if you woud have sold it to me, it would look just like the day you sold it plus it would have a big block in it.he refused comment.

 

My 67 Mustang GT notchback, with a well massaged 428 and 4 speed, caught fire when I was 18. The insurance company paid me out(after much argument over the value) and I moved on, but about a year and a half later I see my car again, re-painted, new motor and auto etc. I meant to talk to the guy but no one was around. A week or so later I'm partying in a local nightclub and there's a commotion out front, some kind of car accident. I go out to look and there's my old car, ploughed through the big front window of a car dealership's showroom across the street, lots of cops etc. I wander over and start talking to the driver, a guy a little older than me and kinda drunk. He had put a bone stock 302 and auto in the car and said he had floored it and it had so much power he couldn't control it. I told him that had never been a problem with a big block and clutch.

 

Sold my '30 ford roadster with a 324 Olds (judge's orders!) ...hoped I would never see it again, but it showed up at the Powerine station next to Bob's in Pasadena, motor was running rough, paint scratched, frame had tweaked, and instead of fixing it, the guy just welded the doors shut...(of course, had I been smart and boxed the frame, may not have happened)...

 

Sold a almost perfect 65 4 speed Cyclone back to the guy I bought it from only to find out weeks later he T-boned a 3/4 ton chevy on ice. His excuse was he had to dirve the car to work in the ice storm on bias summer tires. Go figure