You know all those guys who bemoan the fact they ever sold their first car? I'm hoping to join that crowd.
I've decided to put my 1970 Plymouth GTX up for sale.
I'm not selling it for all the usual reasons (needing money, out of space, tired of fixing it). Sure, getting the money from the sale would be nice, as would reclaiming some garage space and some free time (no more hours repairing the occasional fluid leak, as I did this past weekend).
No, the desire to sell it is far more basic: I just don't want it anymore.
That may sound harsh considering I've owed the GTX for 23 years, but I have my reasons.
Let's start with the fact that I've never really liked the car's color. When I spotted it in a local Auto Trader in the summer of 1986 (Auto Trader's were paper, not digital, back then), it was a black-and-white photo that neutralized any color considerations. After seeing the car in person I found the color acceptable; I didn't hate it but I didn't really like it.
However, because it was my favorite year for the Plymouth GTX, it had the Air Grabber option I wanted, and it was in excellent shape with 84,000 original miles, I bought it from the second owner and was thrilled as I drove it home. Most people I showed it to loved the color, including my Dad, friends and, much later, my wife. But there are at least six or seven Mopar muscle car colors I prefer over the FK5 Burnt Orange.
But if the color really bothered me the car wouldn't have spent over two decades with my name on the title. The real issue started in 2005, when an idiot body shop was assigned the task of repairing the car's minor dents and rust before giving it a full repaint. What started as an exterior restoration bled into an interior refresh when the shop's owner assured me he could do it.
Being an idiot myself, I believed him. The short story: after nearly two years I repossessed the car from said shop (no money changed hands), found another shop to complete the exterior work, and completed the interior refresh myself. Most of the damage done by the first shop has been repaired, but there are aspects of the car that will never, in my mind at least, be right again. I chronicled this unfortunate turn of events back in August of 2007.
So the color was never my favorite, and the car was deeply screwed up by an incompetent body shop, but it was also repaired and it looks great now. So why get rid of it?
The third factor in this decision comes in the form of my 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE. I found this car on eBay and purchased it back in March of 2006, then I drove it out from Denver to Los Angeles. It was a one-owner car, as well as a dealer demo model meant to drive showroom traffic. As such, it not only has a gaggle of cool options but it was painted FC7 Plum Crazy Purple at the factory, one of my favorite Mopar colors. After getting some minor body work done and putting on some Torque Thrust wheels, the car looks and runs great.
This Dodge hasn't grown on me -- it's bored a hole into my cerebral cortex and taken up residence. I love the look. I love how it drives. I love how the air conditioning can freeze me out of the thing on 90-degree days (without the temp gauge going above halfway).
But mostly, I love how it feels like an old muscle car that's never been *#%&ed up by an idiot shop and brought back as much as possible. I drive it and I feel like I'm driving an original muscle car with some tasteful -- and fully reversable -- modifications (wheels, electronic ignition, stiffer shocks, etc.).
I drive the GTX and I feel like it's a car I used to really like...before it got screwed up by some nimrod.
And that's why I'm going to let it go. The theoretical emotional ties I should have with the GTX have been severed, and I don't see them re-connecting (especially when the GTX has to compete with the Challenger).
Plus, in terms of epic emotional ties to four-wheeled devices, my Ford GT blows everything else away (another one-owner car, that owner being ME!).
The best part for prospective GTX buyers? They won't have any history with the car, good or bad. For them it will be a very pretty, numbers matching, mechanically solid old muscle car with 23 years of documentation (including stories in Hot Rod magazine and a cover appearance on Car Craft). And for $25,000 it's more than fairly priced, even with the down market on muscle cars.
It's entirely possible I'll regret selling it at some point in the future, but I'm willing to risk it based on how I feel today. The way I see it, the classic muscle car I've lost interest in could be someone else's dream ride, and I'd honestly rather see it in that person's hands.
If you or someone you know has any interest, let me know. I'm planning on taking it to the Mopar Fall Fling show on October 17th in Woodley Park. I'm betting, at that price, I won't be coming home with it.
By rick8365
on September 29, 2009
06:36 AM
Man-o-man....that is tempting.
By ksm1
on September 29, 2009
07:05 AM
Karl,
It makes complete sense. Yes you will fleetingly miss the car but like thinking of your first girlfriend that feeling will quickly pass. Letting someone who chooses the car as it is because they like and accept its character is a great thing. Lastly, you will have $25 grand in your pocket to buy another toy! What fun.
By 06scooby
on September 29, 2009
07:13 AM
"Lastly, you will have $25 grand in your pocket to buy another toy!"
or buy your wife something way cooler than her very vanilla malibu... maybe you should buy her a G8 GT!!!
I still find that funny that you hop from your GTX, Challenger, Ford GT, Multiple motorcycles and whatever 6 figure car edmunds.com has in the garage... and you wife still tools around in a 2004 Malibu! haha!
By chuckg
on September 29, 2009
07:23 AM
As I gaze into my crystal ball, I see a Plum Crazy 2010 Dodge Challenger in your garage this spring. You know of course that Dodge is building a limited number of them starting in late fall, early winter. Get a deposit in now. They're great cars!
R/T or SRT 8?
By levyrob
on September 29, 2009
08:11 AM
Emotions and sentimentality are an interesting aspect of car ownership. But sometimes its just time to "let it go". It's hard to overcome that mental hurdle that says "this just isn't doing it for me anymore" - to which I finally succumbed to with my Miata (too small, too low, too noisy, too much traffic to enjoy). I sold it to an enthusiast from out of state for whom the cross-country drive home was part of the charm of buying it. Someone will get a very good car from you, and you'll probably have a story to tell when its done.
If you don't already have one, GMP makes a fabulous 1/18 scale Plymouth GTX in a variety of colors. Get one as a desktop reminder, and you'll never be "without".
By ferrari812
on September 29, 2009
08:54 AM
does your GTX have the 440 or the 426? auto or manual?
What engine and tranny does the Challenger have?
How do they compare with each other in terms of performance?
By estreka
on September 29, 2009
10:14 AM
"Ever Regret Selling Your First Car?"
Nope! That '89 Pathfinder was a total lemon. I have zero attachment to that thing. I do, however, miss my '97 Accord coupe terribly. I sold it to my best friend who didn't take care of it at all. It was junked last year.
By the_big_al
on September 29, 2009
11:20 AM
if i had 25K and a willing wife, I'd drop it right now... too bad I don't have either right now. THe wife HATES old cars and thinks they are smelly, clunky and just OLD. The 25K would be a small issue but easier to overcome than the wife issue....
By switch625
on September 29, 2009
11:30 AM
Ferrari, to answer your question about the GTX...it's a 440 Super Commando, Torque Flite 727 automatic. I remember staring at the back end of it as it pulled away from my then-new 1987 Mustang GT, wondering if I had dropped a cylinder....
Karl, Trev. I read the article and was moved to write and share that little story of the wonder years. I've always associated you with that car, but I get your reasons. I'm pretty much at the same place as you with my Vette, and I've "only" had it 11 years by comparison. Every honeymoon has to end...your's lasted longer than anyone else's that I know. I wish I had the chance to see it/ride in it one last time before it changes hands, though.
All the best buddy!
By editor_karl
on September 29, 2009
12:57 PM
Oh Chuck, you are EVIL! I had no idea that was going on with the new Challenger. I thank you for the info (and I'll go ahead and predict my wife is crossing you off the holiday card list).
What's up Trevor! You're someone who can tell the tales of the GTX's early years -- so please don't! I want to be sad about losing interest in it...but I don't have the interest in getting sad over it. The way I see it, there was an entire generation of motorheads who got to experience these cars from new, and they are the ones with the strongest connection to muscle cars. Us "younger" guys will never truly know how those cars were in their glory days.
But the Ford GT is the cool "new" performance car of my era, so for me all classic muscle cars have dropped a notch as a result. I still like them, and the Challenger is more than filling my classic muscle car needs. But that leaves the GTX with pretty much no purpose in my garage. Time for someone else to enjoy it.
By pat1usmc
on September 30, 2009
05:53 AM
I wonder if you'd feel differently if you were the original owner.
Good luck with the sale though! I know first hand how tough that decision can be.
By george2040
on September 30, 2009
06:14 PM
I don't miss my first car, a 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu. Looked good before the quarter pannels rusted out from the inside, but had all the torsional rigidity of an old pickup truck. It was a magnet for dumb guys with just enough brain power to build up a small block or big block Chevy V8 and twist screws on a carburetor. Tired of those guys talking to me in parking lots trying to buy it cheap.