It shook me a bit for some reason, and don't know where to share it- I figured anonymously, on here.

Fall 2020, due to pandemic boredom perhaps, I found a cheap C5 Z06 and bought it. I spent almost a year making mechanical repairs, doing a full detail, some cosmetic enhancements, and having a blast driving it, then realized it didn't work in a household that would soon have a 16 year old driver and 2 more young drivers after that. So I sold it Fall 2021.

I just had a hankering to see what became of the vehicle so I found my old messages with the buyer's info and went about e-stalking and hoping to find photos and see how the car was being taken care of, and if the guy was having fun with it.

The facebook page was blank, no street view at his address, so I google searched his name and hometown.

An obituary came up from late 2022, he had died while street racing a Corvette. Obituary said he loved working on his Corvette and taking it to car shows. It could have been a different Corvette, but it had the same color and it was just a year after I sold the Z06 to him - so probably the car I sold him. He was only 29 years old.

Found it very sad and unsettling, almost like a feeling I had somehow contributed to this tragedy.

Shake it off, you have not control or responsibility what anyone does with the car you sell them.

Corps_Ag12 said:

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Shake it off, you have not control or responsibility what anyone does with the car you sell them.

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Agreed, your transaction does not make you responsible for someone else's poor choices. If that were the case, I would have sued Volkswagen for my reckless driving when I was 19.

It's not a logical feeling, I know. But I was out looking for happy photos of the guy enjoying the car only to find out he was KILLED in the car. Just a total shock. Not that I knew him at all, but its just so senseless.

I found a post from the police about the wreck on Facebook, people had responded some other car kept trying to goad the deceased into racing and after ignoring this aggressive other driver for a while - even slowing down to 40 MPH for a while to see if the other driver would give up and leave -he did sadly take off and try to race - or get away from? No signs the other driver was ever found, or if they even tried to find him.

Dont race while weaving in and out of traffic, as was the case for this event.

I have owned a lot of cars, and I have "made up stories" for what I believe happened to most of them.

My baby blue 1996 Thunderbird, probably running drugs across the border. Still, the flashy color attracts the ladies

My 2002 V6 Mustang, in Los Angeles, old English vinyl applied to rear window with the last name of current owner, spinner rims, droopy exhaust with fart can installed.

2012 Mustang GT, RIP cars and coffee

2013 Boss 302 Mustang, in a rich dudes garage, not getting driven (IRL I still search for this car, would buy it back immediately if I found it which is why I choose to believe he's preserving it for me)

2020 GT350, hooning through the mountains of central Cali, on quiet nights I still can hear it growl all the way here in Colorado.

I have made it a point to TRY not to follow up with anything like this. I tried to track down my 1985 F150 that I got when I was 15. I spent years working on it and keeping it polished. I hauled my friends, girlfriends, we went camping in it…lots of good memories.

I ran the VIN and found a salvage title and and what I presume is a scrap yard situation. It bummed me out.

Sorry to hear about your vette but you sold the car to someone who made bad decisions. That's not your problem and you aren't remotely responsible for that any more than the bartender serving a beer to a kid who kills himself or any more than Remington who sells a rifle to someone who kills someone's with it. Free will and all that jazz.

Not logical but I understand.

After I sold the dadwag, it had a tire blow out in the highway at 70mph up in WA. The owner, his wife, his in-laws, his 5 y/o were all in the car. I had recommended when I sold the vehicle to him that he replace the tires as they were wearing out but the car was otherwise good to go. Evidently he didn't listen to that tid bit! I still felt terrible but am glad no one was hurt.

Sorry you didn't see a happy result with your old car, but as all have said - not your fault.

Not trying to one-up anyone here, but this reminded me of what happened to the old Cessna 150 we owned. Dad sold it in the '80s but I remembered the old tail# and looked it up. The guy that bought it was at a bar bragging to friends about his new plane (i mean, it was only a 150) then decided to go get in it and fly it over the bar to show them. He crashed it but survived.

I tracked down the '87 Porsche 924S that I resurrected from a blown timing belt in 2004 and took up to close to 200K miles. Sold it in 2008, it ended up trading hands in the Austin area, and was even visible in Google Maps Street View in the mid-2010s.

No clue where it went afterwords, but in its mid-20s with that kind of mileage it probably ended up on a track or parted out. I kept it pretty well maintained but could tell the bearings in the bottom end were showing signs of wear.

If I had the ability to run the VIN I'd be curious if it was still on the road somewhere or around what time it moved on.

I keep an eye on a Viper I used to have. Sold it to a guy in Montana, and it is still registered up there.

Old car stalkers are the kind of auto board people I fully understand, nice to see I'm not alone.

Asking about buying 2 used tires off Ebay is something I don't consider peak auto board.

Examples of the far extremes of caring too much and caring too little.

I had big time sellers remorse selling my 04 Silverado about half a year ago and texted the new owner asking how it was treating him. Top end rebuild due to blown head gasket and had to rebuild the transmission.

Suspect the late teens son has been running it hard, but still regret selling that truck and not my Golf.

Regret selling my 2 door Jeep. Made especially worse by the fact that I could have sold it now for the same amount as I sold it back in 2017.

I have a similar story. I traded in a vehicle several years ago. A couple days after trading it I got a call from a detective asking if I owned the vehicle. I explained that I traded it in. He tried to get off the phone quickly, and I tried to inquire as to why he was calling me. I didnt get much from him, but apparently the car was used in some sort of criminal act and a fatality was involved.

It is strange to think about. My dad bought it new and I purchased it from him. It was in the family for over 23 years and within days of changing ownership it was involved in something that permanently changed people's lives.

Nowhere near the tragedy of the OP, but somewhat sad from the car itself perspective. My sister had a 78 Monte Carlo. Probably nothing special (V6), but she all but trashed the thing out by about '81 -- sagging head liner, roughed up interior, etc. She decided to sell it, so my dad went to a guy who completely fixed up the interior. I couldn't believe it -- looked nearly new. Took it to get it detailed, and paint popped for the first time since it was on the lot. Sold it to some people that lived maybe a quarter mile away and, no joke, 3 weeks later, car is in front of their house with passenger side front wheel about where the glove box should be. No idea what they hit, but car sat there for almost a week before salvage came and got it.

That car suffered greatly -- first, my sister, then those idiots. Although I hope no one was hurt, I'd be inclined to feel sorrier for the car provided no one did!

When I was16 back in 1986, my parents traded in their white Celica instead of handing it down to me. I was privately pissed. After the papers were signed the dealer sent a towing service to get it, and just as they were pulling out of our long country driveway to the street, with all of us standing out there watching final glimpses of it …. Boom, the whole front right wheel and assembly fell right off the car. Apparently unbeknownst to all of us, battery acid leak had done some unreal damage.

Dad was like "you own it, not mine" to the towers. LOL. Harsh.