After many years of living car free, I'm going the final step and passing my car on to someone else.

Why didn't I sell it before even though I wasn't driving it? I loved it and it was hard to give up the dream of fixing it up into the cool car I knew it could be. But in 7 years, I've changed and its time for her to go.

Here's what she looked like when I bought her. But now she's back on eBay where I found her. The auction ends on Oct. 28. We'll see what happens.



https://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=330815015949

Good for you. A couple of weeks ago I donated my car to charity (although we are car light - my wife still has a small hatchback).

Someone should make a nice project out of that wagon. My first car back in college was a '78 Impala wagon with a 305 V8. It was rusty and guzzled gas, but it was great. Good luck, I hope the auction goes great for you.

Art, do you feel any reluctance in letting it go?.I sold the last vehicle of mine a year ago, though I had not driven it in 3+ years. There were alot of memories tied to that truck. "the dodge" as my young daughter called it. I no longer miss it. It really was more of a pain in the ass.

Sort of reminds me of my "library". I had all these books that I read in the 1970s languishing in my basement. I wasn't reading them. Hadn't cracked a page in years. Decided to give someone else a chance to read them.

For the first few days after selling my last car I felt strange. Something was missing. A certain comfort level was gone. A new uncertainty had arrived. Then one day, not too long afterwards, I looked outside where the car was usually parked, and I started giggling, because at that moment I realized I was free. It was a very interesting release of emotions. Those uncomfortable and uncertain feelings washed away in that instant. Most of us probably experienced something similar when we let go of our last car. I also get a similar set of feelings when I sell things that I've owned for years. Eventually I force myself to get rid of the thing and the same process happens, though it isn't as intense because nothing I own was as valuable.

Tremendous reluctance. Very mixed feelings. I love cars, but more as the ideal of cars, not as the situation is in current reality.

I thought of giving the car to charity, but I felt the need to respect the car. That's part of why it's time to let it go to someone who has the time and skills it needs. It's really got great potential as a project car. It's rare. It should be preserved. Google, 1983 Bonneville wagon, and its picture appears.

It does have potential, I built a 83 Pontiac Bonneville sedan for a lady friend. It would cruise the western U.S. all day long at 75 with narry a ripple through the drinks in the cup holder. Except for the monster 350 I crammed under the hood everything else was built to stock specification. 330 horsepower was perfect. I commend your taste in automobiles sir.

The OP should now look at alternatives.

1. Get the phone number of 2 or 3 taxi cab services -- You never know when you might need a taxi now that you are car free. I have used taxi service twice this year alone so this is important.

2. Get the Phone number of Avis/Hertz or any rental car service --- This can be quite expensive but a bargain compared to owning a vehicle. I've rented a car twice in the last five years. Actually, this is more expensive then calling a taxi but worth it if you have multiple stops.

3. ZipCar --- I'm actually looking into this service since they are near me. I like the fact they offer the first service for practically free! I'm going to give this a try just to see how it works!

4. Bus/Rail options --- I have bus and rail schedules saved on my computer and it helps me time them and avoid waiting that dreaded half hour or more for the bus. I also printed a mini day schedule listing when the bus arrives at my corner so I don't even need to look at a full schedule.

5. Folding bikes - When used with transit, gives you maximum flexibility for transportation.

Thanks for your concern Steve, but as I noted in the auction, the car hasn't been out of the parking lot in years.

I'm a sucker for wagons, but I'm flat broke and my wife shudders at the thought of a wagon, minivan, and most hatchbacks as another vehicle.

Well, the auction is over. It brought in more than I paid for it.

Now we'll see what the next phase brings as the buyer seems to be up in Illinois.

As a teen and older, I never thought that my dad's '62 wagon could ever amount to much until I saw this one.

Best "wagon" we ever had was a 1966/67 Oldsmobile Delta 98 Hearse What a monster! 455 Rocket with drum brakes on all four corners, went like a bat out of hell, but slow to haul down from speed. We had it outfitted with a gun rack and a wet bar.

Aaron

Was that for your Proton Gun?

Nope...shotguns we used to take it dove and duck hunting.

Aaron

I learned to drive in a 67 Cutlass Wagon, non vista cruiser fortunately. My mom always felt that she should have all the acceleration possible in case she needed to get out of a situation, so it had the Rocket 400 engine. No one ever told me I was driving a 442 in drag. It could boogie and its handling was good enough that I could put it into a 4 wheel drift. No gun racks or wet bar though.

I had a '72 Olds with the big Rocket engine. It was literally my grandfather's Oldsmobile, since I inherited it from him in the early 1980s. I liked driving it around Lansing--the home of R.E. Olds, the Oldsmobile, and the REO vehicles.

Well, it's gone. It just rolled out of the driveway on a truck headed for Chicago. Now I am completely car-free I guess. As the driver was buckling the car down to the truck bed, I felt like I was at a funeral, patting the car and wishing it well. That will pass, but I honor the moment of loss.

nice for the last two years i owned my car i barely drove it 100 miles i bet.. hard to let go, but once you do, easier to move on

I have you beat. In the 7 1/2 years I owned that car, I barely drove it 50 miles, and I live over 30 miles from where I bought it. But the week after I bought it, I lost my job and my wife asked for a divorce, so I had to cut my expenses, and basically never got into the habit of using the car.

But I was happy that even after such a long time being still, the car fired up, and drove out of my life rather than becoming an automobile shaped object. It was time to let it go on. I'm not the same person I was when I bought it. Still, its the loss of dreams that I had then. Ideas of using it to carry my bike to great places to ride and happy times, and I had always loved that body style, so I really wanted to make it nice. But I could never get myself to spend the money and time.

Found myself singing "Car-free" to the tune of "Born Free" as I rode my bike around doing errands getting ready to lead all the bicycles in tomorrows Big Jingle Jubilee Holiday Parade.

Speaking of cars, my last one was a 78 Caprice Classic station wagon. Wood panel doors and big as a boat! When the car was new, she was a thing of beauty.

Wagons rock!

My family drove all over Germany, The Netherlands, France and Austria in the 1980's with my 1976 MB200 wagon. Got rid of it when it started leaking oil at 330,000 KM.

It's always something. I keep hoping for a nice neat resolution.

The car is up in Illinois now, the title arrived there by registered mail today. But the fellow tells me that he got my self-addressed-stamped envelope that I gave to the truck driver who transported the car up there, but not the two copies of the bill of sale inside. So I have to send more copies tomorrow.

I can understand that the driver needed them while he was carrying the car, to demonstrate his "right" to be carrying the car, but he had no need for those documents after he dropped it off.

Yesterday, the car's new owner sent me pics of the car in the body shop getting a makeover, all her dings being smoothed out. Makes me feel like I did the right thing for the car in selling it.