what happens to a car after we sell it?

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some cars go away with no regret or even relief. others we loved but had to move along.

my first car was a used 1966 ford mustang hardtop 6cyl in goofy green-blue that i got in 1976. a few years later my then new, now ex, wife argued continually that it never worked for her (well, it was a tad tempermental). may god forgive me but i traded it for a chevy chevette, which was utterly reliable and forgettable. i always wished that my mustang found a warm home with a loving collector...

last year i parted with what became a one too many, utterly reliable car, a 2004 toyota corolla. i had bought it used from hertz in oregon in 2006 on returning from korea, drove it across country for six weeks and then up to canada for work, up and down the east coast umpteen times, and passed it to my sister when i returned to asia. last year she inherited our aging mom’s 2006 toyota highlander so we sold it at 103k miles to her coworker’s teenaged daughter. my sister happily saw it occasionally. two days ago it was t-boned when an idiot ran a red light. the teenager was fine but the corolla was totaled. i suppose that this beloved by many, faithful corolla’s quick death on duty, on the road, sparing the owner, is preferable to being junked because it became unfashionable.

at least i got to know the post-hertz corolla’s story. i wonder if others have similar tales of a former car?
 
I still miss my first car. A 1990 Ford Econoline 150. It was the car my mom shuffled all us kids around in. I sold it to a scrap guy who wanted the engine. It needed a transmission and I didnt have the money to fix it. I sold it for $200.00 and find out the guy couldnt even use the engine because it was a 4.9 and he thought it was a 5.0 V8. He took it to the junk yard. I still have dreams about it. Last time I dreamt about it, I put the wrong oil grade in it. I have weird dreams.
 
My first car out of college was the very first year 1993 Nissan altima. Drove it as my DD for 22 years. The son I'll never have. Held that thing together with bungee cords, bondo and other goop as it started to rust out. Managed to pass inspection, cuz in MA it's not required to look for stuff like that, and I made sure not to take to a shop that did.

Finally, looked like the clutch was going at 212K. Combined with other assorted issues, ended up donating the car to charity, for which I'm sure it was stripped down and sent off to the crusher.
 
A moment of silence for those we have lost, but are not forgotten...

Cue the bag-pipes

28tf1bc.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: E150GT
I still miss my first car. A 1990 Ford Econoline 150. It was the car my mom shuffled all us kids around in. I sold it to a scrap guy who wanted the engine. It needed a transmission and I didnt have the money to fix it. I sold it for $200.00 and find out the guy couldnt even use the engine because it was a 4.9 and he thought it was a 5.0 V8. He took it to the junk yard. I still have dreams about it. Last time I dreamt about it, I put the wrong oil grade in it. I have weird dreams.


I have mentioned my first car on here as well as my disdain for it. But in the spirit of the moment, I'll re-iterate the story.

It was a brown on tan cloth 81 Volvo 245 DL. Being the Canadian edition, it was equipped with the gutless and problematic and manual choked SU carb. Considering I was just out of high school and wanted something to attract the ladies, I loved it in a way someone loves an aging, decrepit grandparent who passes raunchy smelling gas and is always in need of assistance from those around them. Despite being a manual and very simply designed, everything that could go wrong, did. The undercarriage was completely rotted away (car was about 17 years old), carb problems caused the car to hiccup and buck when cold, the fuel evap system was not connected properly so every time you filled the tank, the fuel vapors would leak out and were so strong. i used to dare people to stand next to it and light a match.

Eventually I sold it to an old car collector for $500. He dealt me down from $700 so he thought he was getting a deal. He also renovated fancy old homes and had a similarly aged Tercel. I called him up one day a few months after he bought it. He said he did a few fixes to the car but overall it's been sitting. I'm pretty sure he ended up selling it for scrap, as that's all the car was worth by that point.

I also have lucid dreams/nightmares about it. Once I dreamt I was driving some type of sporty BMW, and that all of a sudden the performance became very poor. I popped the hood and take a look and there was the downtrodden B21A engine with the SU carb that haunted my first year of University.

...terrible stuff! I don't wish such atrocities on my worst enemy@!
 
If you still have the VIN, you can always run a Carfax and stalk it. Nothing like a 2004 Corolla getting a restraining order on you!
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude
If you still have the VIN, you can always run a Carfax and stock it.


I did that on a few cars. My brother's 94 Civic was involved in a rear end collision in PA. It was then shipped to the Caribbean.
 
I've been curious about my parent's old van that we've donated. Last time I ran the VIN, it was offered for sale at the Copart auctions. The other two cars we got rid of ended up being crushed and processed by Schnitzer Steel.
 
Originally Posted By: Lolvoguy
Originally Posted By: E150GT
I still miss my first car. A 1990 Ford Econoline 150. It was the car my mom shuffled all us kids around in. I sold it to a scrap guy who wanted the engine. It needed a transmission and I didnt have the money to fix it. I sold it for $200.00 and find out the guy couldnt even use the engine because it was a 4.9 and he thought it was a 5.0 V8. He took it to the junk yard. I still have dreams about it. Last time I dreamt about it, I put the wrong oil grade in it. I have weird dreams.


I have mentioned my first car on here as well as my disdain for it. But in the spirit of the moment, I'll re-iterate the story.

It was a brown on tan cloth 81 Volvo 245 DL. Being the Canadian edition, it was equipped with the gutless and problematic and manual choked SU carb. Considering I was just out of high school and wanted something to attract the ladies, I loved it in a way someone loves an aging, decrepit grandparent who passes raunchy smelling gas and is always in need of assistance from those around them. Despite being a manual and very simply designed, everything that could go wrong, did. The undercarriage was completely rotted away (car was about 17 years old), carb problems caused the car to hiccup and buck when cold, the fuel evap system was not connected properly so every time you filled the tank, the fuel vapors would leak out and were so strong. i used to dare people to stand next to it and light a match.

Eventually I sold it to an old car collector for $500. He dealt me down from $700 so he thought he was getting a deal. He also renovated fancy old homes and had a similarly aged Tercel. I called him up one day a few months after he bought it. He said he did a few fixes to the car but overall it's been sitting. I'm pretty sure he ended up selling it for scrap, as that's all the car was worth by that point.

I also have lucid dreams/nightmares about it. Once I dreamt I was driving some type of sporty BMW, and that all of a sudden the performance became very poor. I popped the hood and take a look and there was the downtrodden B21A engine with the SU carb that haunted my first year of University.

...terrible stuff! I don't wish such atrocities on my worst enemy@!


One good thing I got from the old van I had was my forum handle. I called the old thing the E-150 GT as i used to race my buddy who had another E-150 van. I always lost because he had a 351W but I could hang with my other friend's land rover.
 
So many cars I miss, for so many different reasons:

1987 Pontiac Bonneville. First car, first ever trans rebuild. Loved that car. Stolen from in front of my house and used in a sexual assault. I didnt want it back after that.

1986 Mazda 626. Rotten as could be, but that FE 2.0 engine was bulletproof. Learned to drive manual on this one.

1984 Fiero. 2.5 auto. I hated it, ladies loved It. Enough said.

1994 Cadillac STS. My first Cadillac. I still see it at work, the guy brings it in for oil changes. It's beat up.

1999 Cadillac STS. Second caddy. Loved it more than the first.

The list goes on and on.
 
No idea where my cool cars are now. 70 elcamino I sold and never heards from again.same with a 340 duster. My 69 chevelle was real nice but was not an SS....it became a roundy round car
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I saved the VIN of my wife's Subaru Crosstrek. We traded it in back in August. Maybe someday I'll run a Carfax on it and see where it ended up. I used to check the dealer's website every once in a while to see if it was still there. It was there for over a month, and then one day, it was gone.
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That's the only car I've ever sold/traded in.

My Explorer though, I won't have to ever run a Carfax on. I know exactly where and when it's going. I'm currently stripping and selling parts off of it a little bit at a time. Once everything valuable is gone, it's off to the crusher.
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I wish I had some record of the VINs of my '78 Malibu, '91 Sundance and '94 del Sol. I'd love to know where they are now, especially my beloved Malibu. But maybe it's best I don't know.
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The only car I miss was my 1996 Chevy C1500, Vortec 5.7L. It was a fantastic truck and I loved that motor. I kind of regret selling it, it used way too much gas at the time, so I bought a 97’ Camry to replace it.
 
I've only sold 2 cars in my life (guess I'm not too old, huh?). I sold my '02 WRX a few years ago. I bought it with 99,000 miles on it in perfect condition and bone stock. I put on exhaust, installed a COBB V2 tuner, sprayed the wheels black (I'm not proud, it was a questionable time in my life
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) , and drove the snot out of it to 155,000. Long trips, short trips, drag strips... it never let me down. I was traveling a lot then and I figured I wanted something that was a little cheaper to own (not that it was expensive, I was just broke). Sold it to a friend and bought my Civic. He rolled it onto it's side in a ditch about a month later. He finally traded for something else. About 6 months ago, I saw an '02 WRX for sale on Craigslist. It had a terrible "wide body" kit that was unpainted. Upon close examination, I determined it was the same car. Sad it went that way but I really don't miss it. I was a bad driver in that car and did a lot of stupid things.

My first vehicle was a '93 Toyota 4x4 truck. I got it from my grandpa when I turned 16 with 64,000 miles and PERFECT condition. I sold it last year with 160,000 miles on it. The bed was completely rusted out (couldn't even haul a bag of trash), it had no brakes (lines rusted), but ran perfect. I practically gave it away to a friend because I didn't want to put the money in it to fix it. He had the frame rebuilt, all new brakes, and built a wood bed for it. He drives it everyday. I see it a lot and I'm glad it's in good hands. I ask him all the time if he'll sell it back for what he gave for it...

I'll keep the '00 Civic until she dies (never will) and then I'll make a flower bed out of her.
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The other three I'm not attached to like that.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
No idea where my cool cars are now. 70 elcamino I sold and never heards from again.same with a 340 duster. My 69 chevelle was real nice but was not an SS....it became a roundy round car
frown.gif

Those were nice cars.
 
Inherited a 93 Ford Escort LX from inlaw that was well used up. Was trying to fix it up and beater it but the CARB offer to buy it for $1k is too good to pass, so I send it to the crusher for the $1k. It would have been fun to drive a POS and see the look at my work parking lot valet's face (I'll win the worst car of the lot award), or go to lunch with co-workers in my car answering their what is going on with you questions.

I had the urge to nurse it back to health by fixing EVERYTHING with junk yard parts, just to prove that I can.

I do not miss the lack of AC or worn out struts, nor the worry of valve seat dropping.
 
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'70 Corona: My first car...sold to a coworker who's son drove it into a stout pole (encroachment easily >50% of the length of the hood)
'76 Nova: sold to a coworker who decidedly sent it into a wall (NJ Rt.9) to avoid another car. Good man!
'02 Saab 9-5: sold to a friend who's son "sofened" it over 3 years. Sold to a hillbilly who really knew how to care for a turbo (that's sarcasm)
'91 Lumina Sedan: Sold to an Arab immigrant who never drove before. Watched the car for a year. One day the car was just gone.
'89 Galant 4 door: Sold to community college attendee. I watched that car for 5 years then it was gone.
'99 Cherokee: Sold to another college girl. Still going strong
'99 Taurus: Sold to a crossing guard who, within a week, wrapped it around a tree in Kentucky. Better him than me.
'76 Celica: Sold to a coworker who's Porsche (the cheap one) was stolen. weights, speed, engine displacement were real close. He sold it along.
'05 Saab 9-5 Aero: Sold to a Saab freak in nearby Conn. Going strong.
'99 Accord V6: Sold to a pharmacy worker..HIS dream car...still going the last we spoke.

I love my babies.

Hey, once I spied a Cherokee and the seller went into a quiet, mystical sounding rant about praying to see if I was the right person for his vehicle.
Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot? I admit to being amazed at his "involvement".
 
In 64 I got my first car a 63 Plymouth Valiant with the slant six. I would like to have it back just for the memories. Was a fun car.
 
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