I’ve come to a realization today that will inform all my future automotive decisions, and hopefully will help you, too. As a car collector, I’ve owned many, many automobiles, and I’ve never purchased one with intentions to flip it. I buy cars because I love them, and then over time I choose which ones I keep and which I let go. These are sometimes grueling decisions that torment me night in and night out. But then, ultimately, I do decide and… well, that’s it. I decide, the car goes away, and I move on with life. I’ve never regretted selling a single car, and that’s something I want to remind you all of (and also me) as we struggle to make tough automotive herd-culling decisions. As I did with my 1979 Jeep Cherokee Golden Eagle.
I’ve owned probably 30 cars in my life thus far, and I currently own about 13. So that means 17 cars have come and gone; and since I only buy cars I love, that means I’ve had to sell 17 cars that I care about. That’s not an easy thing to do; like I said, it’s kept me awake many a night!
My most recent sale just finished up: My 1979 Jeep Cherokee Golden Eagle is gone. It’s a car I thought I’d regret selling because it’s just so dang beautiful. Just look at this gorgeous machine:
I bought the SJ-platform Jeep way back in late 2017, and though it was running, I removed a cylinder head to replace a broken exhaust stud, moisture got in my cylinder, I decided to yank the whole engine, and frankly — I just really made a huge blunder.
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Working on that AMC 360 proved to be a pain in my arse, and I ultimately replaced that motor:
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It took me years to get the Golden Eagle back on the road, but even then, that replacement motor ran terribly:
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I towed the 4,600 pound hulk across the country — from Detroit to LA — with hopes that I’d someday get the gorgeous SUV (the most beautiful SUV of all time, in my opinion) back on the road:
But what ended up happening is that my life became infinitely more complex once I arrived in LA, leaving me with really no time to wrench on the Golden Eagle. So it languished in that hot Van Nuys parking lot for almost two years. I never even came close to placing a spanner on any of its bolts:
So I spent lots of time — many months — struggling to let go, and writing articles like this one:
Seriously, if you type “David Tracy Golden Eagle” you’ll find dozens of articles involving me just generally struggling with ever facet of this Golden Eagle ownership. Deciding whether to buy it, buying it and towing it home, ruining it, struggling to fix it, struggling to get myself to sell it.
It was a shitshow from day 1, and — as an expert mechanic — I have to say there was a bit of pride holding me back from just cutting the Jeep loose. I struggled to let go for so long, but then I put the Jeep up on Facebook Marketplace for a price I’d be happy with — $8000. I didn’t think I’d get any nibbles, and for the longest time, I didn’t:
But then a business owner out of Texas called me. I told him what was up. Engine is seized. Numbers matching. There’s some rust (I sent videos). The buyer didn’t even remember how much I was asking for the Jeep, and just agreed to pay me what was on the listing. I received a check the next day via FedEx.
Shipping the car was a bit of a shitshow, as I have been traveling a lot these past few weeks, and the buyer kept arranging for the truck to come when I was in Europe. Then the truck arrived without a winch. Then the buyer went radio silent for weeks before telling me “oh, the truck is coming today” when I wasn’t expecting it. It was a bit of a pain in the arse, if I’m honest, but the Jeep is now gone. I now have $8000 in my account, and, well, I’m happy.
I feel zero regrets, and even if the buyer fixes the Jeep and sells it for $25 grand, I won’t be bothered in the least.
This process made me realize something that I hadn’t thought of before: In my years of selling awesome cars (I’ve sold two Jeep Grand Wagoneers, two Willys FC’s, a Willys CJ-2A, a Plymouth Valiant, a mint-condition five-speed Jeep Grand Cherokee, a mint-condition five-speed Jeep XJ, and on and on) I have never once regretted letting one go.
That seems pretty wild, in a way. Look at how minty this 1991 Jeep XJ was — a five-speed manual!:
And look at how perfect this 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee “Holy Grail” (also a five-speed!) was!:
I sold the XJ for $7000 and the ZJ for $9500, and I haven’t had a single regret. Selling those helped me move to LA, put a little jingle in my pocket, and though I’ll definitely never own an XJ or ZJ that nice in my life again, I don’t really care about that. I own a junky version of each of those cars, and I love them just as much. In fact, I’m less worried about driving them, and I feel less guilty having that much money tied up in them.
I’m going to quote the article above from two years ago:
Loving a car is all about the balance between the great moments you’ve enjoyed with that vehicle and the hardships it has caused you. You want the former to outweigh the latter, of course. And while yes, I could probably take the black XJ on some epic trips, the problem is that I’d have to live 200 years for the joyful moments to outweigh the misery.
This was a big part of the problem with some of the cars I’ve sold. The Golden Eagle pained me so much that I know I can never truly love it. Ditto with that XJ. There are some other cars that never pained me — that 1993 ZJ, the BMW i3 I’m currently selling, my old Grand Wagoneers — but I already have variants of those cars. I have a 1994 ZJ, I have a 2021 BMW i3, and I have a 1985 Jeep J10 pickup truck. Those other cars have nothing that I cannot feel when driving my current vehicles.
The truth is: There are just too many amazing cars out there for anyone to get caught up regretting getting rid of vehicles. And what’s more, I think one thing many people struggle with as they battle regret in general: They fail to put themselves into the position they were in when they made the decision. Every time I begin regretting anything, I remind myself: I made that choice because it was the right one at the time.
I often hear folks say they regret selling their 1969 Ford Mustang Fastback or 1970 Challenger or whatever for a stick of chewing gum and $150 cash. “Damn, if I’d just kept that car. Look at how much it’s worth!” I get it; you’re regretting selling that car years later because of how valuable and hard to attain that machine has become. But remember: You needed that $150 cash. Don’t insult your former self; you weren’t an idiot. You made a conscious choice that made sense at the time. And if you’re still bothered, go out and buy another cool classic car. There are too many amazing machines out there for you to let any of this fester.
If I can find joy in a weird electric city car, you can wash away your regrets with a few hours on Craigslist and a trip to the bank. Trust me.
Thank you for writing this. I have deep, visceral pain letting go of most of my cars. There are only a few that I don’t regret selling, but the rest still haunt me, especially my ‘97 TJ and ‘06 987.
Good for you getting rid of something that caused more pain than pleasure. But since you find that body style the best looking SUV, you just need to find a replacement that is in better shape for this point in your busy life. And you should have a second Euro vehicle. So here, use that $8K to bid on this nicely modded ’79 Cherokee Chief with a diesel swap in Italy that is sitting at 4000 Euros with 3 days to go! That’s like (hmmm, multiply by 1, carry the zero, add nothing) ah yes $4000! Think of the adventures you and not Elise could have racing against LM002’s across Sant’Agata!
https://www.carandclassic.com/auctions/1979-jeep-cherokee-chief-8WZB74
This purchase sounds like a scam. Has the check cleared yet?
It cleared the next day.
My regret is never having owned one at a time when they were somewhat affordable. Now they’re either rusting hulks over super expensive rebuilds. Granted I was only a kid in 79 and could barely afford a 10-year-old rusted hulk, but it feels like a missed opportunity. Later on in life, I had another chance at picking up a 1990 2-door Cherokee 5-speed, brand new, but again passed. I did have 1 other Jeep in my life, so you would think I would have learned from that rusty mistake, but no…
You have never really been down to the point of having to sell something you truly love in order to survive. I have had to and I still, 32 year later, regret having to sell my 1970 396SS El Camino in order to survive. I actually cried when it left with its new owner.
So yeah I regret having to sell it in order to eat and avoid living under a bridge in a card board box.
I really hope that you never have to get to that point and in the future instead of pontificating how someone should not regret something, remember that you have not walked that person’s walk and you have no idea why they did it.
I definitely don’t mean to invalidate your feelings. It’s OK to feel regret.
This message was really meant to be helpful (and also just an opinion based on my experience), and while many have reached out to me personally saying it was for them, I understand how someone with your perspective might see it as invalidating and maybe even a bit annoying.
Just know that I do not want to make it seem like getting over regret is simple or that your feelings aren’t valid. I think most would feel the way you do given those circumstances, and I thank you for opening up here on this forum.
Thank you for replying David.
I do appreciate that.
Peace and love brother gearhead.
Peace and love.
I have a theory about when people regret selling a car. David, you have never sold a car and then moved on to purely practical decisions around cars. Each sale has been followed with a different interesting car adventure.
Many people only really own one or two interesting cars when they are young. Then, they get older, get married, have kids, etc. Their money can’t be tied up in cars. Their car decisions are reduced from fun to just pure need. The car they regret selling might be one of the last fun cars they had.
You should share some of your stories about them here!
I think literally every vehicle he has ever owned has been chronicled on Jalopnik or here.
Most of them were auto, but not mobile without a flatbed.
Most were manual! And 3/4 were mobile lol
David, the idea of moving forward without regret is a great message, even if it has nothing to do with cars. It’s a good reminder. Well done.
As much as I really enjoy the ’12 Mazda5 manual (itself a bit of a holy Grail), now that we have the Pacifica hybrid I’m looking longingly back at the ’09 Saab 9-3 sportcombi I sold to buy the Mazda longingly. It was the right move (or at least right-ish) at the time, but with a new family hauler I could have almost double the power, double the torque, and a more comfy interior for the same fuel economy. At this point tho, given the hassle and lost $ in selling a car, accessories, extra wheels etc, I doubt I’m selling the Mazda any time soon.
The closest I come to regret is the recurring dream where I didn’t sell any of them, I just forgot that I put them in storage. No regrets because every vehicle I sold funded the next one.
What happen to you, man? You use to be cool and about the DIY shoestring budget car culture. Then you moved to California and did the startup thing, found a girl, and got two BMW hybrids? What a completely sell out.
/s (just so we are clear).
It’s hard being a titan of industry
/s
Yeah, yeah, that’s great … you’re up to 13!?!?! THIRTEEN!?!?!?!
*Heavy Sigh*
He was making such progress for a while there.
One step forward, two steps back.
So…
2 i3s
His first xj
J10 pickup
Overlanding grailkitten zj
91 Wrangler
Mustang
The recently purchased… Cj2? Cj3?
Metropolitan
20 mile leaf
Diesel caravan
…
I’m coming up with 11, especially since I thought he gave the Ute to Lawrence. What am I missing?
I have a parts ZJ and a WW2 Jeep.
Oh, the WW2 jeep is a different vehicle than the cj2 or 3? I must have mentally combined those two.
Still no RX7 though? I could completely see you owning something aesthetically in the vein of the “zero fucks” FB, but with knobby tires, a little lift, and either the original 12a or a go-devil peaking thru the hood. If you keep it rotary I’ll help you rebuild it when necessary!
I will own an FB someday.
Did you give the Ute to Lawrence? Or is the number actually 14? Or is it even higher?
And an Aztek.
So, it’s really it least 15, DT math is really something.
I don’t regret selling my old Cruze. I’ve seen it around a few times since it was sold to a local buyer. I would have liked to have kept it but no space prevented me from doing so. That was likely a good thing since it would have sat most of the time. It’s nice knowing it’s still in use and being enjoyed.
Business owner from Texas… did it get bought by Wagonmaster or Vigilante?
I don’t have any cars I regret selling but there are a few that I miss. If I remember hard enough I can recall that they were really PiTAs to keep running but when they were running they were awesome and they were always pleasing to look at and sit in… I do miss them, but I don’t regret selling them, it was the right thing for my sanity.
I still wonder about that balance of “great moments you’ve enjoyed with that vehicle, and the hardships it caused you”.
My old van caused me plenty of hardships, but every time I try monetarily quantifying the good moments my friends seem to be bothered.
They just don’t fit into an Excel sheet well.
I’m afraid that any trip to the bank cannot accompany a lack of regret. I do not do debt well, so no matter what car I bought with the funds, I would regret the payment more than I would enjoy the car. Cash paid for crapboxes makes me happy though. And once you are at the bottom of the barrel, you can even resell them for what you paid!
I don’t think I’ve ever regretted selling a car, but there have been several I regretted not buying.
Ditto. Not that I was actively looking to buy until about 10 years ago, but it’s hard to accept that the second gen CRX Si is now ridiculously expensive.
I regret selling only one of my 27 vehicles. I currently own 4, so 23 have been sold. The only one I regret was a 95 Mazda Miata. So I’m now fixing that by getting a 96 Eunos Roadster. Already bought it but don’t have it yet.
So you loved the Accord and Kia huh?
OK no, I hated those.
Haha yeah I remember those stories. We all make missteps along the way when we have that many cars. I’ve had 2 of 27 that I hated as well.
Please don’t start singing, “My Way.”
Frank Sinatra? Or Limp Bizkit?
Sid Vicious
Congratulations David! A smaller fleet is a better fleet – you can only drive one car at a time and Elise is probably more comfortable in the more modern cars in your fleet.
It is nice to have a car with the occasional jobs to do yourself – I just did the front brakes on my daily driver – but I am bringing it to the shop for tire rotation, alignment, and brake flush – I only have so much time and these are (hopefully) less likely to get screwed up by the stoned technician.
I wish I could say the same. I regret selling a couple of cars, but the biggest regret I have selling is a ‘77 IH S1700 crew cab dump truck. I didn’t need to sell it, and to this day I don’t know why I did. I needed a dump truck, and regularly still have use of one. Stupid on my part.
“Arse”
“Spanner”
DT hasn’t gone Hollywood, he’s gone Manchester.
We know who to blame for that: mister hazelnut coffee mate hisself
I typically don’t. I sold my 80 Series land cruiser for CHEAP, don’t feel bad at all. The one I do regret was my 91 Toyota Pickup 4×4. The headgasket had just started to leak, and I was on my way to college. I sold it for next to nothing. It was by far the cleanest Toyota Pickup I have seen in decades. Extended cab, 5 speed. I’d still drive it today if I had only hung on for a while to fix it.