History So, what happens after you part with a car?

Great point! I sold my chopped '29 Tudor back in the late 1990's a 70% done roller. Saw it about 4 years later, a horrid street rod with the etched flowers in all the windows. Bob

 

Sold my 29A coupe to pay back my parents for the last semesters of college tuition. Took awhile for that college degree to pay off, but it did. Now I'm taking my time (41 years and counting) to build my second 29, this time an AA. And also trying to pay my son's college tuition. Would love to have either of the 29s under my ass and on the road, but no regrets.

 

Sometimes you get a reminder that the internet can be a wondrous thing.

The other day I drop into another forum where I've been since early 2000s, open a new guys intro post and see the pictures of his recently acquired '32 3 window. My brain immediately clicks on how much it looks like one I parted with around a dozen or so years ago, looks the same as mine did except for a red pin stripe down the side. He had posted an undercarriage shot from when he had the car on a hoist and I spotted several things that were the same as I'd done..........too many coincidences. After a day long cycle of back and forth turns out to be another of my old rigs. Probably a bit street roddy for this crowd, but considering I started it around 1991 it was more traditional appearing than many of the time (I never could embrace pastels and sculpted upholstery).

It's now in Eastern Canada, and based on the sketchy stories the new owner was told it made a big loop of the US getting there. He seems like a good guy and of course has a million questions. Fortunately I have a fair number of build photos so that should help my old memory bank recall...............though it sounds like there have been at least 4 owners between us so who knows what's been diddled with.....
Here's what it looks like today......

 

I've gotten attached to all the cars I've owned,mostly because of the memories I had with them. I've had sellers remorse for 3 years over this Chevy, it's now in Sweden.

 

Loved ALL my cars, some when I bot them, Some when I sold them,
Lots when I bot them back 2 or 3 times, some I would buy back again today,
I am a slow learner !!! They never look SO good, as when they are leaving.

 

I have owned and sold a number of vehicles, most of them OT and not of the best quality. But I did acquire a 67 El Camino with no motor or trans and since it took most of what I had for cash ($500.00!) It sat for awhile until a friend told me of a 72 Lemans that had run into a building. $100.00 later and a couple of weekends later it was running with the Poncho 350 and a set of scrounged torques. Ill get to the rest of the story now. Sold it a couple of years later for another project and no room at the track house. 15 years later on the last day before we moved out, across the street parks the Elco. New paint but the same torques and he rebuilt the Poncho (that fit better than a SBC). New owner stopped by to tell me thanks for 15 years of fun.

 

Usually what happens after I sell a car, is that the money burns a hole in my pocket and I spend it.
Sold my 69 Firebird, bought a 60 F100 a couple of months later. Sold the F100 last spring, paid off some house expenses and bought the next project...

 

Sell stuff? How can you be a collector without a collection?

 

LOL that's called a hoarder.

 

Only if it's old newspapers,or mcdonalds bags,or other general garbage does it make you a hoarder!

 

Sold my Chevy today. I thought I was alright to part with it. And, I was ok, up until the new owner got behind the wheel. I watched as it slowly backed out of the driveway, paused, then shifted into drive and cruised away.
I realized, as it was leaving, I never saw this car in action as an observer, always the driver. I thought of how great it looked and all the work I put into it. I was surprised at the great, yet brief sadness I felt. I almost wanted to run after it and tell him "I changed my mind!" LOL but, it had to go to make room for the new one coming home next week.

 

What gets to me is the cars I know I no longer have, but can't remember selling, giving away, or scrapping. What did I do with them?

 

Hello,

It was a sad day when the moment came to drive away from a gas station after leaving my 58 Impala with its new owner. The new owner was a friend and several years behind our graduating class of 1962. He had been in my car several times and always left, saying… “…When you want to sell your Impala, please contact me first…”

So, I was getting prepared to go away to college and needed to sell both of my teenage cars. The 58 Impala was an automatic sell. My friend said he had the cash to buy it, if and when I wanted to sell it. I did not advertise the for sale, I just let my friend sit in the drivers seat and we went around the block. Upon arriving back at his gas station job, he gave me the cash and it was a happy/sad moment in time. The old saying in sailing is that the two happiest moments in a sailboat’s life are … “when you buy it and when you sell it.”

This moment in time was not happy, but a necessity. When I took off the clear plastic seat covers, the upholstery had the brand new smell still wafting after the removal. The rugs were spotless and for him, it was like buying a brand new car, although it was 8 years old and had plenty of So Cal cruising and hot rod/drag racing miles on the odometer. It was a pristine Chevy and it still had the look and power from its 8 year history.

Jnaki
Thanks, @themoose version

The Impala did not look like this when we drove away from the last image of it. My friend had been in that version several times and remembered the constant road encounters we had in So Cal cruising. During the previous summer, the Skylark Wire Wheels got stolen, but the Impala was scratch free.

I had just replaced the 4 new tires and black Buick steel rims from the dealer’s stock. Since I had converted the Chevy bolt pattern to Buick in order to fit the Skylark Wire Wheels, the reverse was true. I had to get Buick rims to fit, so I could drive the Impala on the streets, again.
the last look...version
This was the last image of my old 58 Chevy Impala with black Buick rims. It was an 8 year memory that will last a lifetime. Cruising with my friends all over So Cal coastal and inland locations was the norm. The mountains, the beaches with my brother, plus the longboards, and finally, once out to the desert towing a trailer with two desert racing motorcycles were the main uses.

But, one last moment was the time we welded a solid bar tow hitch to the rear and hooked up our backyard garage, home built blower spec, 292 c.i. SBC motor with a new 672 Isky-Gilmer Belt Drive supercharger for added power. Then towed the Willys to and from Lion’s Dragstrip for that chapter of our lives. A fast, cruising, tow car as a necessity... YRMV

 

As someone posted previously, I usually sell my cars because something about them didn’t click with me. I did sell two of them to a friend that still has them, and has fixed every little problem that he could find, so they are in good hands. For a while, I somewhat regretted trading my ‘50 Dodge club coupe for a ‘23 T, but I was not comfortable driving the T on the highway. I actually prefer my current ‘40 Olds to the Dodge so the regrets are gone…

 

Another revised old thread. Oh well...

Usually, when I sell a car it is because I have already been driving its replacement. I want to make sure the "new" ride is up to what the old ride had going for itself. Once the new ride has proven its worth, the old one will pretty much just sit around and will be neglected, can't afford to have two hot rods.

Selling the old one is its chance to bring someone else the joy it had provided for me all those years I've owned it. With me, the new owner is at least getting a ride with proven road miles reliability that he can modify to make his own.

I have seen a few of my old rides cruising around. They bring smiles to my face when I see how the new owners have changed the rides to fit their personalities and are still driving them.

 

People part with cars? Huh….

 

I typically sell cars to move on to something else. If I would have kept my first father/son project back when I was 16, I may have never been that way. But, I have learned to treat these old cars just as what they are and try to be a good caretaker of them while I have them. I have made many better, kept some the same, and had a few that might have been sold as projects. I rarely regret selling any of them since I can’t take any of them with me when I die anyway... For reference though, I have so many memories with my kids in my 56, I may have to keep it until I do die and give it to one of those kids.

 

I had to sell my long time coupe to get my avatar. I definitely had sellers remorse. The buyer does love it though. He got a dead nuts reliable car.Although the Fleetline was a longtime bucket list car. It’s been a bit of a challenge. So I’m very conflicted. Snowman ⛄️

 

My 63 Fairlane that I got new is within five miles of where I live. I found it looking for GarageSales a year or two ago, had a nice visit with the owner (and his wife offered first right of refusal...no interest in having it back). Back in the 70's I bought a 57 Chevy Bel Air hardtop with a 300 horse 327 for $165 (why I can remember that and not what I went upstairs to???) I have no idea I never even moved it after it was delivered (with no brakes) and traded for the 38 Chevy "IKEA" car that I still have. Later in the early 80's I picked up a nice 57 BelAir sport sedan (four door hardtop) for less than a thousand dollars for my daughter to drive because it had an automatic and she had been temporarily handicapped with a knee surgery. I sold it to a local guy and he spent over $10K restoring it (it had no rust and was a nice driver). I don't miss it either. The last car I bought and is gone is a chopped 49 Ford I bought in Kansas because the wife liked Shoebox Fords. I did some work on it (and it needed lots of stuff) and when the wife lost interest sold it for a loss of $3K The Nephew of the guy I sold it to did a "little" work to it and it has won at least two awards at the KKOA. Nice kid too I don't miss that car either.

 

All the emotions, sometimes we fall in love with a car and for some unknown reason, we sale whether financial or just spur of the moment deal the car is gone, one car in particular is regreat selling is my old 32 beater, I sold it because my mom was dying with cancer and I wanted to do every thing I could to give her what she needed.

I sold the car with the agreement if he ever sold the car I would get first refusal.

One day I got word that he had passed away, he lived in North Carolina and a fell hamber contacted me about his passing, I attended his memorial service but knew that wasn't the time to bring the car up, a few months passed and the fellow Hamber called me to tell me the car was for sale, I called his wife immediately and said she would give me first refusal, 3 days later we drove to her home and once again I had the car I had always loved.

Brenda took this photo as I was leaving her driveway and pulling out into the highwayon my way back home. HRP

 

I pine for it for the rest of my days, only remembering the good times, forgetting all the things that was wrong with it.

 

I've sold a lot of cars in my days, but only one still strikes a bit of loss.
I built a 54 Dodge pickup and we had enjoyed driving it for 4 or 5 years. The motor I threw in it to get it rolling was getting a bit tired, but otherwise the truck was fun.

Then one day I heard of a 39 Plymouth business coupe for sale. I went and looked at it and fell in love with the project car that ran and sort of moved, but to get it meant I would have to sell the 54. My lust for that business coupe overcame my thought process, I sold the 54 to buy a not yet ready to drive project 39 Plymouth. The sale and buy was done during the winter, I fully expected I would have the coupe road worthy before cruising season arrived, but the Plymouth was uncooperative (putting it mildly).

This was the 1st time in many years I was without a driving hot rod for a full summer. The Plymouth fought every project (little or big) that was required. When I finally got it on the road, I wasn't really happy with it. Still fighting trying to get some upgrades done, frustration was setting in. Then one day my work truck needed a motor, and the Plymouth went up for sale. It was a happy day the day it left.

I had sold a great truck to buy a project that didn't cooperate. Nearly every day it was something I regretted. Looking back, I still wonder if the Plymouth project would have gone smoothly if I really would have regretted selling the truck before it or not.

It was from that point on, the new ride would be made road worthy before the old one went away. Recently I built what I thought was going to be a great ride, but once built I discovered I didn't fit in it well. Fortunately, the old ride was still here it enjoy, so I sold the just finished truck and built a different one. I don't miss that 1st truck at all. Now that the "new" truck is road worthy, I am at ease with the old ride going away, but I sure was happy it was here for the interim between he two truck builds.
Pictures or it didn't happen:
The 54 truck
The 39 Plymouth
The one I didn't fit in (too tall).
The 2nd truck build
The old ride.