Ever sold a car, missed it, and bought it back?

I'm curious how widespread a phenomenon this is among us car enthusiasts.

In 2004 I sold my 944/968 track beast to a fellow PCA guy. I then went SCCA racing for the season, but at the end of the season, I missed the Porsche. The guy I sold it to had run it in a few DEs, but he found it too difficult to drive. So I bought it back. For the same price he had paid for it--the only way he would do it. As my loving wife pointed out, I had basically loaned him my car for free, with the added bonus that I was now paying to the taxes and fees to re-register it for the second time.

In 2010 I sold my pristine 1988 911 to put money into a business. That was just before the thing doubled in value almost overnight. About a year later I tried to buy it back. The new owner said no. I asked again last year, and offered him a ton more than he paid, but he said he planned on giving it to his heirs. But if he changes his mind, I'll happily do my second buy-back.

Am I alone in this madness?

[Don Ro]

Never have, but I'd damn sure like to have...several.

[Seahawk]

Tried and failed: 1994 D90 with one of 40 imported that year with an aluminum hardtop.

Two years after I sold it I called the young man I sold it to to try and buy it back...he said no f'ing way, but it was nice talking to you.

Regerts [sic], I've had a few...only car I regert selling.

[drkshdw]

Yes I sold it. Yes I missed it. No, I didn't buy it back. It was my first 944, an 86 in Alpine White. Drove it daily for 3 years and put about 50K miles on it. I foolishly traded it for a car I thought I wanted because it needed some work. Regretted it pretty much since the day I traded it.

It was bought by a woman who lived down the street from me and I always wanted to buy it back but never bad enough to make her an offer. Every day the car was sitting in the driveway as I left for work. Then one day the car was gone. And it was gone the next day, and then the next and the next. One day I drove by and she was mowing so I stopped to ask her what happened to the car and if she sold it. Nope. Her idiot son (14 at the time) took it out with his friends and wrecked it.

Then about 2 months later, it reappeared in her driveway. Didn't look like anything had happened to it. Kept watch on it for a few months and then when I went to work one morning, it was parked on the street. With the front end pushed in with a Hummer parked on the hood. It was finally totaled. Never saw it again.

Fast forward about 8 years I'm at the junkyard pulling parts off a 944 and some kid asks me if I have a 944. Got to talking and he had one too. Showed me pics of it and told me it was an 86. Funny, it was Alpine White. How many 86 Alpine White 944's could there be around here? I know most 944's in this city and never saw another white one. Looked a little closer and it had a set of door handle cups on it that I have never seen on another 944 before (except the pair that I put on my old one). Asked him where he got it and sure enough, he had gotten it from a body shop that had 'restored' it after being hit by a Hummer.

That car was the first car I ever bought on my own without my parents help. It was the first car I drove cross country with. I had many a 'fun' times in that car and memories that could last a lifetime with that car in the short 3 years I owned it. I wish I had bought it back before it became a salvage heap but that's not the way the cards fell. It will always hold a special place in my heart but I'm okay letting someone else enjoy it because I know I could never knowing the history it now has because of the carelessness of other people.

[BeyGon]

Sold my 89 911 here, I would have to win the lotto to get it back. even then he might not sell it.

[A930Rocket]

I’ve always wondered about calling the buyer of my 930. It’s in Canada now. If he sold sold it, I told him to call me first...

[GH85Carrera]

No.

I still miss my old 914, but I don't have the space for it even if it showed up and was available. I suspect much off the old feeling for it are the good times and not the times that I was sweating like a race horse on a hot day stuck in traffic.

[javadog]

I've done it twice...

[id10t]

No cars, but a rifle and a shotgun...

[Dantilla]

A different twist.....

A guy came and looked at my long-hood 911, then made a ridiculous low-ball offer.
"No thanks"
He made the same silly offer a few times, and got the same answer each time.

Fast forward a while. The 911 has been sold.

This dude calls me back, asking to buy the car. Sorry, it's been sold. Quite a while ago.
He asked me if I would please call the buyer, and get the car back so he can buy it from me.
"No."
He seemed very upset that his dream car had slipped from his grasp, didn't understand why I wouldn't try to get him the car.

[Eric at Pelican Parts]

I haven't run into this problem... yet. I was on the verge of selling my 240SX and another car, getting offers that were really hard to refuse, but stopped myself. My friends have sold cars they regret selling, and said I would definitely regret it. Finding one with original paint and interior, which hasn't been turned into a drifting beater is pretty much next to impossible. I can't be chasing after another unicorn! I'm more about buying cars to keep for life... unless i'm going to start flipping cars. Who knows, maybe some other circumstance in life will come up and i'll be needing to sell... but I'll do my best not to!

[pwd72s]

I'd like to have my first new car back. A '65 Pontiac GTO. But Thomas Wolfe was right..you can't go home again.

I console myself by saying whoever bought it after I traded it in probably trashed it...the reason why old muscle cars do well at those auctions.

[RANDY P]

I have had 2 2002 s-10 extended cab stepsides in Indigo Blue- one with I4 the other V6- Traded the 1st one for a 328ci, missed it and bought another- with the V6.

Oh, and MAGA.

rjp

[exc911ence]

I did it with my old 75 911S... bought it, sold it, then bought it back... then resold it. I actually tried to get it back a third time but the current owner won't let it go. He's definitely a smarter man than I...

Did it with a couple of motorcycles as well... I still have both of those.

[Mr. Merk]

If I had all the money in the world I'd buy back every car I've ever had (that hasn't been crushed) and build it the way I always wanted to.

Last year we accidentally found my wife's mom's first car, a '64 Plymouth Valiant V8. They took it to a couple shows/cruises but has been rented for use in True Detective 3 since March. They are using it in the 1980 time period of the season which is ironic because the car was actually stolen during a bank robbery in 1980 in the same town the show is being filmed in.

[masraum]

I haven't ever bought a car back, and wouldn't. I would like to have similar cars. I'd love to have a 1965 Impala, but not the same as my first car. I'd love to have a 3.2L Carrera, but I think I'd rather have a coupe this time. Not that I didn't like the targa, I'd just rather have a coupe.

[RonDent]

I haven't, but I own a '01 996. I am the 5th owner, kind of. The original owner has owned the car 3 times. Sometimes ya just can't let go.

Originally Posted by masraum

I haven't ever bought a car back, and wouldn't. I would like to have similar cars. I'd love to have a 1965 Impala, but not the same as my first car. I'd love to have a 3.2L Carrera, but I think I'd rather have a coupe this time. Not that I didn't like the targa, I'd just rather have a coupe.

I learned to drive on my mom's 1963 Valiant wagon. It was light aqua in color (like Crest toothpaste) and had a slant 6 with the cool pushbutton transmission controls on the dash. It had no power steering so the big wheel made it feel more like a ship's helm than a car. Honestly, I don't wish I still had that car, or many of the others I've bought over the years, and there have been a lot of them.

As I get older, I'm going into a more buy-and-hold strategy.

[BeyGon]

I only had one chance at that, when I went to Vietnam I left my BEAUTIFUL 56 Bel Air Two door hard top with factory padded dash, power pack motor, all rebuilt, never wrecked, I bought it from the original owner when I came home from boot. Rebuilt everything in the thirty days at home. A wonderful car. I left it for my sister to drive while I was gone. I got a letter from my dad saying he sold it and used the money to make a down on a new car for my sister. It was worse than a dear john. I was pissed. When I came home I got my sister to take me to the guy that bought the car, I was ready to buy it back. Until I saw it, it was a mess. I am still pissed about it. When I talk about it these days my wife say, you gotta let that go. nope.

[BeyGon]

This guy bought his back.


Man accidentally buys back his long-lost 1966 Ford Mustang | Fox News