Everybody’s got a story about a car they shouldn’t have let go. I’d bet most of us have several.
For those of you that read my ACC columns and blogs regularly, you’ll probably guess that I’d pick my old 1972 Chevrolet K10 pickup as my biggest sale regret. I bought it as a project, restored it, and then sold it at the Portland Swap Meet two years ago for $16,500 to make room for a modern 2016 GMC crew cab 4×4.
But I’ve been missing the 6-speed in my 2001 Camaro SS for a few years now, too — really ever since I sold that car to buy an SRT8 Charger. There’s nothing better than a barking V8 and a stick for daily use — yep, even in stop-and-go traffic, I miss it. The 5th gen SS cars don’t have the same feel that my 4th gen ’01 had, which I chalk up to the introduction of numbing drive-by-wire throttle bodies with the LS2 V8s and some changes to the clutch mechanism that eliminated a lot of driver feedback.
The market is just starting to come up on 4th gen Camaros now, too, as evidenced by a few higher-than-I-expected prices out of Arizona and Florida this January. I should have held on to mine. I traded it in on that SRT8 Charger, netting $11k out of it. It could have brought more if not for the 80k miles on the clock, but in had no real needs.
Would I buy the truck and the SS back if I had the chance? I would. But the reality is that neither one really fits my life anymore now that I have two kids — at least not in terms of daily use, which is why I had to sell them both in the first place. I suspect the story is the same for many of you, too.
But I will own another 6-speed Camaro and another ’67-’72 pickup eventually.
What cars do you regret selling and why? Sound off in the comments below.