Hubby found this ad about 10 minutes after it posted today.
http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/cto/4879128176.html

We're certain it's the car we bought the fenders off of 5 years ago(pics posted on this site) Probably not many '67 white Firebirds with TA fender vents. I still had the original ad and gave the guy the sellers contact info. Would be cool if he got his car back.

I've always been a bit bothered by these searches. If you want a car you used to own, why did you sell it?

Once you sell it you have zero rights with regards to it. Buy something else and make new memories.

Yes, these always feel slightly creepy to me; like a type of stalking.

I don't disagree with your statement, but I can see where 'emotional' ties to vehicles happen all the time. What about finding a car your dad (or insert relative here) owned when you were a little kid and you want to surprise him after all these years now that he is on his death bed? These kinds of stories show up a few times every year.
Or if due to a family emergency, divorce, (insert other reason here) you were 'forced' to sell a car, regretting it the day it happened. Then you spent the next 20 years thinking about it so you decide to go look for it now that you can afford it.
I don't find any of these scenarios to be creepy at all.

I agree with 68tpls400, my first car was a '67 Mustang. I loved that car but after a few years it started burning almost as much oil as gas. Being a broke college student I couldn't afford to have the engine rebuilt so I sold it and bought a cheap used Subaru. That's why I sold it, and I cried when the guy drove it away.

I still think about the Mustang wondering what happened to it, I'd buy it back if I had the chance. It and maybe my father's 1967 Pontiac 2+2.

I'm certain there are many who will disagree with me, but as salmon38 notes, it is a form of stalking. Sort of like swooning over the one that got away at your high school reunion.

I wouldn't call it stalking, more like hunting. Now, if you knew where the car was and sent the owner an email every month asking if they wanted to sell it yet - that would be more like stalking in my book.
If I were contacted by a previous owner who expressed an interest in buying the car back, as long as they weren't stalking with monthly contacts, I might appreciate it. I would definitely hang onto the info knowing that I would probably always have a quick sale and possibly for a few bucks more than I might otherwise get.
In this case it sounds like the car may have been getting parted out. That would be disappointing to hear...
Cal

What about the Papa Johns pizza guy. He now has a ton of dough and wanted his old car back so he found it and bought it. I think it happens a lot. Look at all the old guys that talk about that old La Salle ( or whatever) they had once and sold for $75. You hear it all the time, " I loved that car. Never should've sold it." They just don't remember that every time they drove it they had to put sawdust in the tranny to quiet the gears and chewing gum to try and slow the leaky radiator. And the fact that it had that one oddball tractor tire that made it steer funky.

LOL! Does having lots of money enhance or reduce the creepiness factor? It certainly enables it.

The reality is that most of these cars are off the road and have been recycled by now. Maybe that is all for the better.

If the fenders we bought are from this guys car, the car was being fixed up. The latest owner didn't want to deal with removing the TA vents and bought repop fenders. He also removed the bench seat but told me he was keeping it. Hopefully it's still on the road.

Bob, My first car was a Volvo Amazon 121. a few years ago I tough of buying the car of my youth, after I drove it around the block, the car was not as I remember it.( bad handling and lack of power.)
( but I still have all the happy memories with my first car)

I was always thinking of looking for my first car. I had a used 1979 Tenth Anniversary Trans Am that was sitting in my parents garage while I was in the Marine Corps. They were warning me to get it out but I didn't have the money to store it some where else. To my dismay I came home one day with the intention of working on it a little since from sitting so long the head gaskets were blown. I opened to garage doors to find it was gone. Dad called a wrecker who towed it away. My parents even went to the trouble of giving the guy the interior that I had safely stored in their basement. I'm sure whom ever drove the flatbed that day towed the vehicle straight to his house. Other than needed an engine rebuild it was in great shape. I still have the build sheet with the vin. I would love to find the car and get it back. Oh and since I was only 17 when I bought the car with dad's help, the title was in his name, so I can't even charge my parents with theft. lol.

Anyway, I promised my parents that if they ever left me any money in their wills, I would use it to replace the car they stole from me. lol.

Sorry - I have happily "buried" any feelings for my 1st car. It was the '70 Fastback listed below. Although it had an awesome 351 Cleveland 4bbl, it practically no options, it's black vinyl interior was dang hot during the summer (no A/C in So Cal), and every exterior panel it seemed had been smacked while owned by people previous to me (bondo everywhere). The LR quarter panel had been previously replaced in a sloppy manner - such that side of the car was 3/4 inch narrower compared to the other. The distance between the left taillight bezel and the fender "cap" was nonexistant and the LR tire rubbed on the fender lip whenever I carried anybody in the back seat. The interior had been hacked up for stereo speakers, including 2 "extra" holes in the front inner door panels because some music store jockey had saw cut the bottom metal panel of the door only to find there was no depth in that location due to the window support channel. Both front shock towers were cracked meaning it needed some significant stucture repairs. The only thing nice about it was being totally rust free and I loved the color I had it painted in. I loved the fastback styling, but I always lusted over a Mach 1 or Boss 302 during most of my ownership.

My 2006 V6 Mustang is just about as quick, is much more fun to drive, has many, many options including an awesome sound system and A/C, much better seats and twice the fuel economy. And I know it's complete history having ordered it from the factory and it not having even a ding in it.

See, and for those reasons you don't 'get it'. Understandable. But for a minute imagine spending your 12-17 years old time saving and saving for your neighbor's cool car until one day you owned it. Swore to yourself you would never sell it, loved it, drove it, lost your --- in it, then a short time later had to sell it due to xx (insert reason here). Killed you seeing it driven away.
Fast forward 20 years and you spent 19 of those years kicking yourself for selling it.
Yes, I think most people would at least 'try' to locate it knowing all the time if you found it, it would never leave your possession the rest of your life.
It happens all the time. Just to varying degrees. (and not just cars)

But...

My 1st Mustang WAS the result of exactly the same kind of early teenage car lust. There was the black '69 Mach 1 I saw every day on my paper route I have fallen in love with from when I was 15. I used to draw sketches of 69/70 Mustang fastbacks all the time. Every one I saw on the street stopped me in my tracks. It took a lot of searching (until I was 17 1/2) to find the "right car" AFTER I had worked all those years pitching newspapers to save enough money. I owned it and fixed it up for 8 years. I still have the personalized plate, rear gas cap/medallion, a NOS air cleaner decal, and a lot of pictures of that car. I held onto a totally restored Shaker Air Cleaner setup that I never installed into the '90's.

Ok, my co-worker and fellow car nut took the middle ground. Locating an old car of yours and finding out who owns it is research and not creepy. Potential creepy stalking is what you do after that.

Thank God for co-workers.

Hopefully you saw the article in recent days about the gentleman who walked upwards of 21 miles a day to get to and from work because his car broke down and he couldn't afford to replace it. For employment that paid him $10.55 per hour.

Sorry, "then a short time later had to sell it due to xx (insert reason here)" doesn't fly. Where there is a will, there is a way(see prior paragraph). Letting it go is the easy way out. Hunting it down years later hoping to get it back underscores that.

Let's just say you must have had a very fortunate upbringing. Many, many people seem to have bad luck pop up when most unexpected.

And that's all I have to say about that topic. NEXT!

My excuse was three small children, very little income as I was apprenticing at the time, no money to spend on the car that it dearly needed, and we needed furniture and kids stuff worse than a car that couldn't carry the family. It was a real 400 4speed car with lots of options. That was in 1993. In 2010 I tracked it through 2 owners and about 10 years after I had it it disappeared. Was told it was pretty rusty and needed everything by that point. But I sure would liked to have found it. I still would, it was last sold to two brothers in Victoria.

I kept my coupe since I bought it in'80. I was still drivable when I finally started my 2nd restoration in 2009.
After I tore out all the rust I was left with some good parts and a naked body! A very plucked bird!

I guess it's good to know where the dead body is. Guess it worse than not knowing.

My first was a 1970 Chevelle Malibu- blue on blue. The guy I sold it to totaled it within a month.

I wish I had that car back!!!!!!

I did find my 69 Chevelle a few years back, tried to buy it but the guy wanted way to much..

I often look for my 1st car. I open the garage door and there it is.

I look in my yard. The hood is on the wall behind me.

Keep your friends close but keep your 1st cherry closer ... lol

Cool Jim, very cool indeed. Still amazed that you are the original owner. And that really is a beauty, I enjoyed checking it out at the uprising last year.

Thanks Sleddog, You been working on yours in your heated shop?

Yes, good for you Jim. I wish my dad would have bought us a 68 vert instead of the 9 passenger wagon. But with 4 kids a guess you gotta go big.

Don't worry, I'll be ticking off people over yonder(PY Forums) shortly.

Thems are AMES forums for you now!

I have not.. Had a wrist injury that took surgery and months of therapy, and don't have the heat in yet. .:(

Hopefully this spring though!

My dad owned one of the 65 "unofficialy titled" ram air 997 headed 67's. Verdoro Green, 4 speed, black vinyl top. Sold it years after I came along...never held it over my head...but wherever I went..I always asked and looked. Needle in haystack I always say unless you have lots of money...time and resources. As well, mom's 65 tiger gold tri power 4 speed GTO went soon thereafter...although both were paid off.

First cars are like women...they both move on and only are left with memories. Leave it that way.

There are reasons we move on...money is the number one reason we let go....sentiment is why we search.

Would I have loved to find and buy that one of 65 for my dad? Yes! But then I realized that they were his reasons for letting go and my reasons for finding it. Aside from the extreme rarity...I don't think my father would have appreciated the new memories better than the old...so I too let the search go. Would I personally love to have it? Absolutely...I believe things are meant to be...but I'm not going to fret and lament over a one in a million chance of finding it.

Well put, and your parents had good taste.
My dad had a 1967 Pontiac 2+2. He always wanted a GTO but with a family he opted for a larger car. I know I'll never see that car again but I'd like to build our other Firebird to mimic it. 428, Tyrol Blue, parchment interior.
He's gone now, so this would be a kind of remembrance I guess.

I still occasionally check eBay and Craigslist for the 2+2