In the summer of 2020, I decided that the '99 BMW M3 convertible I bought was in no way a sufficient replacement for the '95 M3 coupe I lost to headgasket failure and pending first-child arrival. The magic was gone; I knew I lost a special car two years earlier, and no amount of attempts at making up for lost time would replace what had since been built into someone's track toy.
So, in one of the easiest transactions ever, I sold the car in about 24 hours for a respectable amount over what I had into it. The guy who bought it was not my kind of person, and I didn't expect to ever see him again. Save for one time when I passed him in traffic, I haven't.
Well, John spotted the M3 on Facebook Marketplace tonight, and it's for sure my car. It made me realize there were a bunch of special parts on it I should have kept before selling it, but that's hindsight for you. What's curious is the guy selling it is asking double what I sold it for not even two years earlier. Frankly, more power to him, as I'd be amazed if he got that kind of dough out of what was at best a nice driver example of the drop-top M3 that most purists have little interest in owning.
Still, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a pang of regret at seeing all of the work put into that car and noticing the seller's listing didn't mention a damn thing about the cooling system refresh, the Eibach/H&R suspension, the new rear window in the (very tired and near-death) soft top, and the CD43 headunit. The good news is, however, I feel absolutely no desire to buy it back.