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You Can Lament the Ones That Got Away, But Should You?
The first car I ever had any real attachment to was a 2000 Honda Civic Si, and I was lucky to have it. Electron Blue paint, five-speed manual, screamin’ VTEC engine, four usable seats for friends (and girls) plus a few creature comforts…what more could a 17-year-old want in an automobile?
Better locks, apparently.
In the summer of 2007 (about a month before I set off for college in New England), a man snuck up the driveway of my parents’ suburban Houston home as I slept, and drove away in my car. I never got it back.
A lot of other sixth-gen (1999-2000) Civic Sis got stolen, too. Or wrecked, or ruined, or just driven to death. So, on the rare occasion that a clean one surfaces for sale or scoots by out in the wild, an odd feeling follows. It’s a mix of excitement, nostalgia, and sadness. But when a low-mile ’00 model sold for a record $66,000(!) at Mecum Kissimmee this week … well, that just made me want to throw up. I mean, it looked nearly identical to mine (mine didn’t have the wing), but some random bidder in Florida in 2025 deemed this Si to be worth six times what the insurance folks thought my Si was worth back in ’07. I felt like someone who sold his Nvidia stock in 2022, or that guy who bought some Papa John’s with 10,000 Bitcoin in 2010.
Is it really worth getting worked up over this, though? No, not really. It’s kind of stupid to think about it much at all, even if it’s hard not to.

First off, despite the matching appearance, comparing the two Civics is still apples and oranges. The odometer on mine showed about 60,000 miles. Granted, it was an unmolested, unmodified Si. Despite the occasionally rebellious teenager behind the wheel, it was a fairly clean and pampered one as well. (That was unusual for a popular tuner car back when people still took the Fast & Furious movies seriously.) Even so, mine definitely wasn’t perfect, even in 2007. Perfect ones are even rarer 18 years later, and the one that sold in Kissimmee is perfect. It’s a 2061-mile creampuff, as close to a showroom fresh one as anyone is likely to find anywhere.
It’s also worth pointing out that just because two bidders drove one car up past 60 grand doesn’t mean that every single other low-mile 2000 Civic Si is automatically worth way more now. There have been some big sales for ’99-00 Civics over the past five years, but a $66K price is an outlier.



Of course, we also have to remember that we can’t change the past. The fact is, some guy did steal my car. Civic parts were in demand, B16 VTEC engines were quite valuable, and the locks/ignition were easy enough for a thief. The police found most of the Si a couple of days later, in a trailer park about 50 miles away in the refinery town of Pasadena, Texas.
Supposedly, my engine was in the back of a pickup. The car was in the grass. The wheels were somewhere else. Insurance totaled the Si and gave me about $11,000, which seemed modest but reasonable at the time. As part of his sentence, the perp had to pay the insurance deductible, so every few months a check for 70-something dollars appeared in the mail. It was an occasional reminder that went on for a few years. Otherwise, I moved on with my life, and into other cars.



Finally, even if the car didn’t get stolen, it’s not like I would have locked it away, waiting for that sweet auction payday years down the line. No, I would’ve either sold it and gotten something else, or driven it into the grave long before hot Hondas were ever “collectible.” Sure, I miss it. Yes, I wish I had more time with it. But it was just a car. The daily drivers that came after went through Massachusetts winters and Houston hurricanes, racking up the miles along the way until they were spent. The little blue Honda would have suffered the same fate.
When car people get old enough, pretty much all of them have a “one that got away,” an “I never should have sold it,” or in my case an “I wish I had a better alarm system.” Lamenting those cars feels natural, and once they become valuable classics, the memories get rosier but the pangs get stronger.
Having spent the last two hours and 700 words dwelling on things I can’t change, let me just say this—no, there’s no point in lamenting the cars that got away. It’s better to just celebrate that we had them at all.

That Civic Si was a sweet fun to drive car. Unfortunately they got popular with thieves. It’s always going to bother you that the car was stolen
I thought that this would’ve been about missed purchases…
The one I regret is not being able to buy my grandmothers 79 F-150 farm truck when she had to sell the farm due to health issues. I was off in college and didn’t hear about her selling it until it was gone. I basically learned how to drive in that truck in the fields hauling hay well below legal license age. It was also the last truck my grandfather bought before he passed back in the early 80s.
I learned long ago not to dwell on values on cars. Unless you are into ultra high end limited number high demand models odds are you will never realize a major gain on most cars especially today.
I have cars today I did wish I had bought because today I can’t afford them. Dino and Pantera are two I passed on out of my range today.
But on the other hand I wanted a Corvette and a friend had the perfect one but I also has a son ready for Collage. So I waited. But it was one that they made a number of and I found when he graduated the very same car just different transmission. Price was right and miles were similar.
I put little stock in auctions and I also really never expect to shop an auction as too much risk vs seeking a private sale where you can take the time to find the car, inspect it and not pay a premium because some guy flew in to the auction and drank too much and wanted to show off by bidding up on a car he never wanted.
If you want one of these they are around and if you look you will pay much less. Also take your time in the hunt. Like deer hunting you have to sometimes wait till the right one is there and you will know when to pull the trigger.
Same also buy a car you love not for investment but because it is what you want. If it is worthless you at least have a car to enjoy. I did get in on Nividia and It has been a better investment but I can use it to buy the cars I will not make money on.
I try not to dwell on “the ones that got away”, whether it be cars, jobs, girls, or fish. Well, never fish, for sure. I like to celebrate “the ones that I landed” – and that I’ve been able to hang onto. It seems to be a lot less stressful!
Andrew, as you imply, it’s apples and oranges, cars that were put away bring big bucks because how many are out there as opposed to those that accumulate miles and wear and tear. Also it you spend enough time at Mecum or BJs or Bonhams you will see examples of two or more people that have to have a specific car, leading to an outlier price (which we hope the Hagerty Price Guide disregards). Enjoy your Honda memories, and remember to lock your car when you are visiting your parents in River Oaks, as they can not lock the gate because the streets are public right aways. 🙂🙂 (inside Houston joke)
I can’t lament the ones that got away, but I can lament the one I should have let get away! Back in the mid 70’s, my then mid 20’s year old self knew more than I thought (or is that less than I thought!). I found a beautiful 1971 BMW Bavaria. I was going through a mindset of purging what we had at the time and decided the BMW would be the way to go. In the ensuing 3 years of ownership I learned all about the BMW propensity to rust out over the headlight eyebrows, the BMW 6 cylinder issues with overheating and aluminum head cracks, the BMW automatic transmission difficulty to repair or even find a mechanic that would take the job on. And I’m not even mentioning the faded paint on the sides that looked great when polished but like crap when washed, requiring frequent waxing to keep up appearances.
I did learn along with someone who also owned the same car but a 1992, that if you couldn’t afford a brand new one, don’t kid yourself into believing the used one was a fair trade off. His resolution was to buy a brand new 5 series of the day. Mine was to set my sights lower.
Did I ever tell you about that redhead nurse I dated……
I feel that way about my 1986 Mustang GT. Bought new and driven for 9 years, 90,000 miles. Still in good condition, I sold it in 1995 because I was bored and wanted something else. After all, it was just a car. Now it falls into that category of TheOneThatGotAway. Who knew that almost 40 years later people would be paying ridiculous money for a good one.
I have a few that kinda got away. I had a 77 Celica fastback for many years. It was a neat car because it looked like a Mustang, although didn’t perform anywhere close to one. It had a hard life before it came to me, and it had a hard life with me serving as basic transportation on some fairly long commutes. By the time I realized it might have some collector interest, it was pretty far gone. On it’s third engine with 10 psi oil pressure and massive rot holes in places where unibody cars shouldn’t have rot holes. I look for them from time to time, but good ones are rare as hens teeth and are a bit more than I want to pay for something with 100 hp. Another that got away was my 68 Caddy. It had a perfect interior, but some rust issues and two burned valves because the previous owner didn’t realize it was a leaded car. This was before I had my own garage and I tried to resurrect it at the work garage on weekends, which meant packing everything up and ‘stashing’ it and the parts after every work session. I ended up selling it.
I used to have this recurring dream that I had all these and other dead toys back, in the condition that I left them. I would walk around them and get a wash of nostalgia, then I would go ‘what am I going to do with these…’ so no regrets
I think the propensity to dwell on the one(s) that got away increases as their values rise… I don’t regret selling cars that were great examples of the marque/model but have not taken off in value (e.g., my nice #3 condition 1980 Lincoln Continental Mark VI sedan, sold for $3K in 2021, which is what I had in it), whereas I do regret dumping my 1990 911 C4 after the engine blew — fixing it made no economic sense in 2010, but it sure would have just a few years later!
I have always just made decisions and not looked back. I usually sold most things for profit, which still makes sense today. I did have a lot of muscle cars in the late 80’s early 90’s that are worth a bundle today. (1969 GTS 383 Dart, 1970 340 Challenger 4 speed, 1971 440 Cuda, 1970 Trans Am 4 speed, 1968 440 Cuda, even the 1961 Valiant wagon with 20,000 miles) Oh if I only could have them all in a nice heated garage…….
Almost every decision to sell a car has been the right decision based on the circumstances and the information available at the time. We all have “the one we shouldn’t have sold,” but that’s based on hindsight. Most of us will probably agonize over those past decisions anyway, because nostalgia.
I did not let it get away. I saved my money all through high school and purchased a 356B Porsche after graduation. My first car. I was 18 at the time. I am now 71. I still drive it frequently.
I needed a truck in the mid ’90’s and traded in an immaculate ’91 CRX Si. Hard to believe what they are bringing today!