Have you ever sold "the car you'd never sell"?

[KitKat]

This last couple of years has seen a stark change in my priorities and values, and within these last 6 months especially I've slimmed my fleet down to 3 cars. Why? The future of having my unit/storage is looking tenuous, I don't actually enjoy driving, I cycle more miles a year than I drive, I'm pretty environmentally minded, gone vegan (shoot me) and now feel driving for the hell of it just isn't a good thing. Frankly hobby cars just don't seem good value to me any more, insomuch as the time, hassle and expense of keeping them is no longer worth it to me. £100 would go further if invested in either my other interests (cycling, cooking, reading, podcasts etc), or in charitable causes.

Now my 940 is my "car car", and as near to a daily as I get despite not driving every day. So I don;t want to sell that any time soon. The AX is going to serve as a stop gap in the coming months, whilst Volvo is undergoing work, then I will probably sell that too. Which leaves my 100e.

I bought it in 2015 when I was 21, working away so earning good money, and brimming enthusiasm. I spent 3 years Pinto swapping it, fitting Mk1/2 Escort steering, GRP4 front suspension, TCA's and heavy duty crossmember, converted 2.8 Capri Bilsteins to coilovers, fitting Sierra type 9, fabricating a trans tunnel for it, fitting 105e axle on adjustable shocks and lowering blocks. Y'know, all the good bits.I did all the work on it myself, learnt a tonne and (at the time) enjoyed the build process.

Its been a hoot since getting it on the road in spring 2018. It drives very very well, goes like the hammers of fuck, handles terrifically, sounds good and looks just how I envisaged. Driven up to Santa Pod in a it a couple of times, pootled to the shops in it, and attended breakfast meets and shows just to piss of the purists. I always have said its the "car I'd never sell", because it never would be worth as much to someone else as it would to me.

But I've just not driven it recently, maybe twice in the last 6 months. Even for winter that's much less than previous years. And last summer I didn't use it as much as I should either. I just can't get in the mood to use it nowadays. It's not stepped out of line, or pissed me off and been relegated to a corner or anything like that. I haven't got bored of it specifically either, but more bored of "fun cars" in general I think. I keep it 8 miles from my house, and when the weathers nice I sooner reach for my bike than reach for the 100e keys and drive there to take it out. The urge to drive a "head turner" seems even more shallow and unappealing than ever to me now. It juts doesn;t make me happy any more. Not really, not in the true life-fulfilling sense of the word. I feel it's going to get harder and harder and to run cars like this in the coming years, with fuel prices and E5 and taxation etc. It's like a plane taking a nosedive: its all only going one way, its just up to you when you jump out.

So toying with selling it, and faced with the dilemma of how hard I should stick to the "never sell" proviso I made for it years ago, because I'm acutely aware this is a perfect example of how narrow-minded, inflexible stubbornness can get the better us. I am not going to delude myself into thinking I need to keep it to validate the good times and fun I've had before with it either. I believe lives about the doing and the being, rather than the having and the owning.

So who else here has sold a car they swore they never would? Did you feel regret weigh on your shoulders, or relief lift from them?

[HillmanImp]

I normally worry about selling cars I'm getting rid of until I actually wave goodbye to it and when they're gone I generally get over it pretty much straight away. 

I'm toying with flogging my Imp at the moment, whuch I bought in 2003, nearly finished restoring in 2010 and have left sitting there for 12yrs since, as I don't think I'll ever finish it these days. I have too much else going on, not enough room in the garage and too many aches and pains to actually do anything to it. Will be odd but fuck it, I've got to be realistic. 

That's just me though, maybe I'm a callous bastard. I still do pine over some cars I've sold but thats probably nostalgia I more than likely wasn't bothered after I sold them either. 

[KitKat]

8 minutes ago, HillmanImp said:

Will be odd but fuck it, I've got to be realistic. 

This is how I feel really. I also need to remind myself there’s plenty of cars I’ve sold which I thought I’d miss, when actually I hardly gave them another thought. But then I never said I wouldn’t sell those. 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

I've owned 59 cars in just under thirty years so have, on average, changed my vee-hicle once every six months. I have become a little better at hanging onto motors for more than five minutes over the last few years but I'm still a car whore at heart. 

Enter my MR2 on stage right. It's totally avoided my usual 'sack it off because I'm bored of it' routine for seven whole years.

Bought at the tail-end of my 30s, I've made a number of memories with it. The biggest is taking our young lad out in it - he really likes the car and I love the interaction of having him sat right next to me when out and about. 

It's bloody awful as a car. Noisy, bumpy, rattly, impractical as virtually no storage, a pain over speed bumps as it's so low and generally frustrating as a daily. 

The thing is, as a street legal go-kart, this thing is fantastic. To this day, I still drive the long way home at times and enjoy driving it for a hoon around some twisties just because. The 1.8 vvti lump is pretty respectable with fuel too.

My attachment to this car is completely irrational and the reality sometimes frustrates me. I have regular thoughts of trying to buy back my old 2.8 VR6  mk2 Golf GTi which I owned prior to the MR2. It's a better car in many ways than the MR2 and much more practical with a young 'un and fiancée in tow.

However, this one has remained a family member against all odds so I feel I owe it a continued stay of execution. Many of the survivors are being broken for spares purely because complete cars aren't really worth a load. Values are pretty much the lowest they'll ever be so it's not as if my bank balance would benefit hugely by selling. It's an old car and I don't think it would live for more than a couple more years if I sold it on.

Ultimately, it's one of the few cars I've ever been vaguely sentimental about and I still can't handle the idea of someone else driving MY car down the road with their name on the new copy of the V5. She's a keeper. 

 

 

This mk2 is the car I said I'd never sell and really should have kept. The sound of a 2.8 v6 in a mk2 with a fairly minimalist stainless exhaust is ridiculously addictive. 

Damn. Do I actually need to sell the MR2? 

[eddyramrod]

Need I say more?

[loserone]

[vulgalour]

Although not my first car, this was the first car I had after passing my test and I loved it.  I never wanted to sell it.

Life circumstances forced me to sell it when I really didn't want to and I never got to finish it.  I do regret selling it, and I also recognise the sanity of doing so when I did.  It's just a car, really, and there's lots of other cars out there.  My current 'never sell' is just as important to me as that old Polo was and if I ever have to part ways with it then I'm sure something else will replace it too.  Whether that something else is another car or not I don't know, that's something for future me to worry about, should the need ever arise.  Do I regret selling the Polo?  Yes, absolutely.  Would I buy it back if I could?  I'm not sure.

Cars are sentimental things, we build a relationship with them quite unlike most other tools because of the special sort of freedom (and prison) they give us.  As such it would be silly to divorce ourselves from the emotional attachment to them when making the decision.  You can rationalise environmental impact, ethics, and personal morality all you like but if you're not ready to sell emotionally, then you're not ready to sell. What the car represents is different for every person, and that's why there's no simple answer to what to do with that special car you'll "never sell".

[Fabergé Greggs]

2 hours ago, KitKat said:

This last couple of years has seen a stark change in my priorities and values, and within these last 6 months especially I've slimmed my fleet down to 3 cars. Why? The future of having my unit/storage is looking tenuous, I don't actually enjoy driving, I cycle more miles a year than I drive, I'm pretty environmentally minded, gone vegan (shoot me) and now feel driving for the hell of it just isn't a good thing. Frankly hobby cars just don't seem good value to me any more, insomuch as the time, hassle and expense of keeping them is no longer worth it to me. £100 would go further if invested in either my other interests (cycling, cooking, reading, podcasts etc), or in charitable causes.

Now my 940 is my "car car", and as near to a daily as I get despite not driving every day. So I don;t want to sell that any time soon. The AX is going to serve as a stop gap in the coming months, whilst Volvo is undergoing work, then I will probably sell that too. Which leaves my 100e.

I bought it in 2015 when I was 21, working away so earning good money, and brimming enthusiasm. I spent 3 years Pinto swapping it, fitting Mk1/2 Escort steering, GRP4 front suspension, TCA's and heavy duty crossmember, converted 2.8 Capri Bilsteins to coilovers, fitting Sierra type 9, fabricating a trans tunnel for it, fitting 105e axle on adjustable shocks and lowering blocks. Y'know, all the good bits.I did all the work on it myself, learnt a tonne and (at the time) enjoyed the build process.

Its been a hoot since getting it on the road in spring 2018. It drives very very well, goes like the hammers of fuck, handles terrifically, sounds good and looks just how I envisaged. Driven up to Santa Pod in a it a couple of times, pootled to the shops in it, and attended breakfast meets and shows just to piss of the purists. I always have said its the "car I'd never sell", because it never would be worth as much to someone else as it would to me.

But I've just not driven it recently, maybe twice in the last 6 months. Even for winter that's much less than previous years. And last summer I didn't use it as much as I should either. I just can't get in the mood to use it nowadays. It's not stepped out of line, or pissed me off and been relegated to a corner or anything like that. I haven't got bored of it specifically either, but more bored of "fun cars" in general I think. I keep it 8 miles from my house, and when the weathers nice I sooner reach for my bike than reach for the 100e keys and drive there to take it out. The urge to drive a "head turner" seems even more shallow and unappealing than ever to me now. It juts doesn;t make me happy any more. Not really, not in the true life-fulfilling sense of the word. I feel it's going to get harder and harder and to run cars like this in the coming years, with fuel prices and E5 and taxation etc. It's like a plane taking a nosedive: its all only going one way, its just up to you when you jump out.

So toying with selling it, and faced with the dilemma of how hard I should stick to the "never sell" proviso I made for it years ago, because I'm acutely aware this is a perfect example of how narrow-minded, inflexible stubbornness can get the better us. I am not going to delude myself into thinking I need to keep it to validate the good times and fun I've had before with it either. I believe lives about the doing and the being, rather than the having and the owning.

So who else here has sold a car they swore they never would? Did you feel regret weigh on your shoulders, or relief lift from them?

I'd be keeping the absolute fuck out of that- it's ace! 

There may be some momentary weight lifted in selling it, but I'd say you just need to reframe keeping it in 1 of these 2 ways. Either:

1) Keep it right outside your house so that you can use it every day. When I had my Morris stashed away it felt a bit like a burden, now I'm using it every day it undeniably sparks joy every single time. 

2) Keep it stashed away but try to remind yourself that it's actually an apreciating asset, not coming to any harm doing nothing. Revlieved of the burden, you'll come to love it again soon enough. For me, one of the greatest joys is coming back to a pleasure that you've deserted for a while, be it a favourite bike, recipe, tune, car, whatever! 

[Bren]

I wasn't sad when I got rid because my brother had took it on.

It's bean cans now - it would be the one car I would have back. It reminds me of better times. I was 19 when I got the car - it actually stopped me feeling like an ugly ducking.

[GMcD]

I've regretted selling plenty of cars, but I've never sold anything I've marked as a keeper as they weren't in that category when I sold them if that makes sense? 

[Richard_FM]

I was tempted to see how long I could keep my Toyota Yaris running, but towards the end of me owning it some things started to go wrong and the MOT tests were showing some things that were going to potentially write it off.

Sure enough, whoever bought it after I part exchanged it didn't bother to get it through the next MOT.

[chris667]

Yes, with three cars:

1. Mk1 Fiesta in Daytona Yellow. I did 40,000 miles in that car. It was a real giggle to drive, slow, and it broke down a lot. I sold it to someone who used it to ramraid an off-licence in Slough.
2. MGB GT. I sold it to someone who said they'd do it up and subsequently sold it for bits.
3. The Romahome, to Petrolize last week. Gutted about that.

But yes, my priorities are changing and the prospect of keeping all of these vehicles is worrying long-term. Besides, I need to get more active. I'm going to ride bikes and move more while I still can.

[Daviemck2006]

The 205gti we bought 8 years ago was to be a forever car until it went missing. It's back here now but I will never be able to finish it. A deposit and delivery charge has been paid, and I'm tailoring it to Sunderland next wednesday. Its disappointing but it's better going somewhere where it's going to get sorted then used rather than rusting in peace in my garden 200 yards from the north sea.

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

[RichardK]

Yellow SLK.

I'm at 183 cars since 1992 (I think) and "never sell" and permanence are alien concepts to me, but the SLK (bought at start of 2012) was sold in late 2018 (so, as near to permanent as you can get for me) because an abusive partner essentially made me do so (by controlling my collecting/spending and also refusing to work/demanding I pay for everything when already earning less than outgoings). I didn't want to and I regret selling it almost as much as I regret everything around that stage of my life.

[cms206]

I always swore I'd never sell my blue Cavalier SRi I had when I was 21 but life got in the way and a sudden storage loss meant it left in 2017. That stung a bit.

On the other side of the permanence coin, after my first Volvo (a grey 740GLE saloon) was an absolute disaster and completely unreliable, I swore I'd never have another Volvo ever. In June 2012 the Council Estate arrived with the intention to run it only the six weeks til it's MOT expired. Almost a decade later it's still here, pre-dating my marriage and both my kids. Unless there is a really huge change in circumstances it'll never leave.

[jon.k]

Two years ago I was in a similar situation to you, Kit Kat, and I sold my immaculate mx5 (the first proper car that I bought when I started working) after 10 years. I nearly backed out as I made a deal with the buyer and I did feel a bit of sadness as it drove away, but since then it's just good memories and relief that I'm not responsible for it and its storage. I've re-allocated the money multiple times on pushbikes which I go out and enjoy/commute on all the time, rather than feeling like I did with the car, that I had to use it for the sake of it, to justify keeping it.

[Rocket88]

14 hours ago, KitKat said:

This last couple of years has seen a stark change in my priorities and values, and within these last 6 months especially I've slimmed my fleet down to 3 cars. Why? The future of having my unit/storage is looking tenuous, I don't actually enjoy driving, I cycle more miles a year than I drive, I'm pretty environmentally minded, gone vegan (shoot me) and now feel driving for the hell of it just isn't a good thing. Frankly hobby cars just don't seem good value to me any more, insomuch as the time, hassle and expense of keeping them is no longer worth it to me. £100 would go further if invested in either my other interests (cycling, cooking, reading, podcasts etc), or in charitable causes.

Now my 940 is my "car car", and as near to a daily as I get despite not driving every day. So I don;t want to sell that any time soon. The AX is going to serve as a stop gap in the coming months, whilst Volvo is undergoing work, then I will probably sell that too. Which leaves my 100e.

I bought it in 2015 when I was 21, working away so earning good money, and brimming enthusiasm. I spent 3 years Pinto swapping it, fitting Mk1/2 Escort steering, GRP4 front suspension, TCA's and heavy duty crossmember, converted 2.8 Capri Bilsteins to coilovers, fitting Sierra type 9, fabricating a trans tunnel for it, fitting 105e axle on adjustable shocks and lowering blocks. Y'know, all the good bits.I did all the work on it myself, learnt a tonne and (at the time) enjoyed the build process.

Its been a hoot since getting it on the road in spring 2018. It drives very very well, goes like the hammers of fuck, handles terrifically, sounds good and looks just how I envisaged. Driven up to Santa Pod in a it a couple of times, pootled to the shops in it, and attended breakfast meets and shows just to piss of the purists. I always have said its the "car I'd never sell", because it never would be worth as much to someone else as it would to me.

But I've just not driven it recently, maybe twice in the last 6 months. Even for winter that's much less than previous years. And last summer I didn't use it as much as I should either. I just can't get in the mood to use it nowadays. It's not stepped out of line, or pissed me off and been relegated to a corner or anything like that. I haven't got bored of it specifically either, but more bored of "fun cars" in general I think. I keep it 8 miles from my house, and when the weathers nice I sooner reach for my bike than reach for the 100e keys and drive there to take it out. The urge to drive a "head turner" seems even more shallow and unappealing than ever to me now. It juts doesn;t make me happy any more. Not really, not in the true life-fulfilling sense of the word. I feel it's going to get harder and harder and to run cars like this in the coming years, with fuel prices and E5 and taxation etc. It's like a plane taking a nosedive: its all only going one way, its just up to you when you jump out.

So toying with selling it, and faced with the dilemma of how hard I should stick to the "never sell" proviso I made for it years ago, because I'm acutely aware this is a perfect example of how narrow-minded, inflexible stubbornness can get the better us. I am not going to delude myself into thinking I need to keep it to validate the good times and fun I've had before with it either. I believe lives about the doing and the being, rather than the having and the owning.

So who else here has sold a car they swore they never would? Did you feel regret weigh on your shoulders, or relief lift from them?

Dibs…..😂

[Vantman]

Citroen Traction Avant, i lost my storage so it had to go. 😞

[Garythesnail]

We've had Subaru turbos in the family since 2002. In 2014, Mrs. had a 2007 black hawkeye saloon and I had a 2010 light blue hatch..... and we both went diesel.

She still has her XF 3.0s.

I bought an excellent Seat Exeo estate. 11 months later I'd traded it for a 2012 WRX STi. I've had this car for 6 years. It is (they are) bloody good cars. This was going to be the 'forever' car. 20k miles in six years just wasn't enough use - as if I was 'keeping it for best'. I just liked 'having it' more than 'using it'.

I've just traded it in.

 

 

 

[KitKat]

3 hours ago, jon.k said:

but since then it's just good memories and relief that I'm not responsible for it and its storage. I've re-allocated the money multiple times on pushbikes which I go out and enjoy/commute on all the time, rather than feeling like I did with the car, that I had to use it for the sake of it, to justify keeping it.

Very reassuring to know you’ve trodden much the same path and don’t regret it. 

[UltraWomble]

Couple of cars Ive regretted selling, but not for long.

Life generally changes as you progress through it and so do your priorities.

One motorbike I wish I had never sold, mainly because getting another one in un fucked about condition for anything less than telephone number sums is nigh on impossible now. But then I remind myself why I sold it in the first instance and that yearning soon passes.

Would rather just enjoy life in the moment.

[GR8 PL8 M8]

No cars, but motorbike (scooter) wise:

I told myself that I would keep my Honda Zoomer (named "The Satzoomer" by a colleague as it was bright orange) for my whole life, even if just tucked away in a garage somewhere. It was my first bike, and pretty special to me. Unfortunately a collision resulted in it being sold to the insurance company as salvage, and then sold on by them for a surprisingly large amount on eBay.

I do regret letting it go, but realistically the damage was pretty extensive, it would have likely never ridden the same, and I wouldn't have been able to look at it in the same way. On the other hand, I'm somewhat relieved that I'm not saddled with the burden of keeping it my whole life (as I'm stubborn and would have stuck to it), and have made a point of not making similar promises since. My ute was always planned as a stepping stone to an eventual Maloo, and the Daewoo will be moved on if and when I lose interest/something else comes along.

[MT606]

aye my first car, a 1944 Jeep..... we moved to the grim north and couldn't find any secure storage for it so alas she was sold on. I regret it all the time but shit happens in life eh..... although there being no green lanes north of the wall tempers that sadness somewhat.....

[scruff]

Yes,

Bought this with my now wife as a barn find, rebuilt it (underneath) and went all over Europe in it, dailyed it too. Wanted a series one 80" since I was 10 years old and said I'd never sell it, but...

Prices going mental coincided with first child arriving so I shamelessly cashed in. Probably never have another now, and for what they demand there's much better things to spend your money on.

[garethj]

Yes, a few.  While I sometimes wish I still had them, at the time it was the only thing I could do due to circumstances.  Not too dissimilar to you - you just know it’s got to go.

Life is about choices, not all of them are win-win unfortunately.

You’re not owning the car to get somewhere, you’re owning it to help you feel good.  If that stops happening, selling is ok and will hopefully let you enjoy something else in future 

[Inspiral_Mondays]

My 1994 E320 Coupe. Bought in 2007 after an extended search, intended to keep it forever. Sold in 2014 due to financial problems. Pretty much in perfect condition, and so much blue.

[Matty]

On 4/30/2022 at 7:22 PM, KitKat said:

This last couple of years has seen a stark change in my priorities and values, and within these last 6 months especially I've slimmed my fleet down to 3 cars. Why? The future of having my unit/storage is looking tenuous, I don't actually enjoy driving, I cycle more miles a year than I drive, I'm pretty environmentally minded, gone vegan (shoot me) and now feel driving for the hell of it just isn't a good thing. Frankly hobby cars just don't seem good value to me any more, insomuch as the time, hassle and expense of keeping them is no longer worth it to me. £100 would go further if invested in either my other interests (cycling, cooking, reading, podcasts etc), or in charitable causes.

Now my 940 is my "car car", and as near to a daily as I get despite not driving every day. So I don;t want to sell that any time soon. The AX is going to serve as a stop gap in the coming months, whilst Volvo is undergoing work, then I will probably sell that too. Which leaves my 100e.

I bought it in 2015 when I was 21, working away so earning good money, and brimming enthusiasm. I spent 3 years Pinto swapping it, fitting Mk1/2 Escort steering, GRP4 front suspension, TCA's and heavy duty crossmember, converted 2.8 Capri Bilsteins to coilovers, fitting Sierra type 9, fabricating a trans tunnel for it, fitting 105e axle on adjustable shocks and lowering blocks. Y'know, all the good bits.I did all the work on it myself, learnt a tonne and (at the time) enjoyed the build process.

Its been a hoot since getting it on the road in spring 2018. It drives very very well, goes like the hammers of fuck, handles terrifically, sounds good and looks just how I envisaged. Driven up to Santa Pod in a it a couple of times, pootled to the shops in it, and attended breakfast meets and shows just to piss of the purists. I always have said its the "car I'd never sell", because it never would be worth as much to someone else as it would to me.

But I've just not driven it recently, maybe twice in the last 6 months. Even for winter that's much less than previous years. And last summer I didn't use it as much as I should either. I just can't get in the mood to use it nowadays. It's not stepped out of line, or pissed me off and been relegated to a corner or anything like that. I haven't got bored of it specifically either, but more bored of "fun cars" in general I think. I keep it 8 miles from my house, and when the weathers nice I sooner reach for my bike than reach for the 100e keys and drive there to take it out. The urge to drive a "head turner" seems even more shallow and unappealing than ever to me now. It juts doesn;t make me happy any more. Not really, not in the true life-fulfilling sense of the word. I feel it's going to get harder and harder and to run cars like this in the coming years, with fuel prices and E5 and taxation etc. It's like a plane taking a nosedive: its all only going one way, its just up to you when you jump out.

So toying with selling it, and faced with the dilemma of how hard I should stick to the "never sell" proviso I made for it years ago, because I'm acutely aware this is a perfect example of how narrow-minded, inflexible stubbornness can get the better us. I am not going to delude myself into thinking I need to keep it to validate the good times and fun I've had before with it either. I believe lives about the doing and the being, rather than the having and the owning.

So who else here has sold a car they swore they never would? Did you feel regret weigh on your shoulders, or relief lift from them?

Utterly perfect. Under no circumstances sell.

 

(I always end up selling pal, don't worry)

[reb]

I've had two "never sell" cars, my 205 and the 850 Saloon I got from my dad. The 850 was one of the few tangible things I had to remind me of him. In the end I replaced it with an 850 estate on the basis he'd have supported it because the new one was in a spec he'd have bought himself. I've never regretted it, even after all of the work I put in to keep it on the road. At the end of the day the estate is more practical.

The 205 though is a difficult one. I've had it since 2016, the year I passed my test. It was the first car I bought myself. I have a lot of good memories with it and when I sit in it it just feels right. Progress getting it back on the road is slow though, because every thing I fix seems to throw up two more problems. I'm now torn about what to do with it once it's back on the road. If I sell it I have to accept I'll never find another one like it, but maybe that's alright? I don't really enjoy driving anymore, so what's the point? Maybe I'll enjoy driving it when I'm done, I don't know. Maybe I'll have it as a summer daily, that would make some amount of sense. A big consideration though is how much it costs me to have somewhere to store and work on it, it's a not inconsiderable amount of money, which is a bit of a problem given I'm trying to save for a deposit for a house.

Dad once told me it's a bad idea to get attached to cars. He was probably right.

[Datsuncog]

Still bitterly regret selling my Viva HC.

Owned for eight years - and the first car of mine to actually make it back onto the road.

I was ludicrously pleased to be bombing around in this car at the age of 18. I put a huge amount of work into it.

I even took it to the South of France in summer 1999.

Which went about as well as you might expect. The head gasket went literally ten minutes after leaving the house, followed soon after by the starter solenoid - but I still drove it several thousand miles, with the heater going full blast and stopping every hour or so to refill with coolant.

With a replacement engine lobbed in afterwards, I swore I'd never sell it - but life overtook things. After replacing the wings and rear arches, and treating it to a full respray, it was horribly vandalised in Brighton and after moving it back to Northern Ireland and trying to pull together funds to get it fixed, I lost storage twice in quick succession - and then I moved to Australia (true love).

My father accepted £200 for it. Old Vauxhalls were worth fuck-all then.

Once I came back from Australia (yeah, don't ask) I spent years trying to it track down again.

Only a short while ago I learned that it had ended up with @junkyarddog of this parish - found behind a garage in Co. Tipperary, and sadly in a terrible state.

It yielded some spares, but ultimately it was beyond saving.

Not a day goes by when I don't bitterly regret giving it up.

I'll never be able to afford one now - much as I'd love another 2-dr HC.

Probably the biggest automotive regret of my life.

[Crusty Sills]

I bought my Beetle in 2009 with some money that my mum left me when she died 

It went through a divorce, kids, 4 house moves and was finally finished in 2014.

Said I'd never sell. However in the years after being finished I only did 800 miles. It seems I enjoyed the build and the look of the car more than the driving.

Roll on 2021 and we decided to buy a house. The Beetle needed to go in order to fund this. 

I dithered and dragged my feet eventually advertising it. 

Young guy came to see it and loved it. Got money I wanted for it and @worldofceri did the delivery on a return journey. 

I literally cried as it went but soon after knew it was for the right reasons. 

Got a picture from the lad with it nice and snug in his garage and knew it was time for someone else to enjoy.