Financially, this car was the biggest mistake I have ever made. Allow me to explain...

In May of 2001, I encouraged my girlfriend to buy this car to replace her crumbling, piece-o-dung Ford Tempo.  I figured, "it's a Buick, it's a 3.8L, it's indestructible."  These cars have been known for their durability from day one.  It had 120000+ miles on it, but I thought that even if the factory engine did quit prematurely, I had a brand new, still-on-the-stand supercharged 3800 that I could drop into it for her.  

The car ran great through the summer, when in August she spotted an '87 Volkswagen Cabriolet.  She fell in love with it, it was in excellent condition, and the price was right, so I decided to buy the Buick from her so she could get her cute little convertible.  The lease would be up on my Sonoma in less than a year, so I would need another daily driver anyway.

The car treated me well up until October, when it decided to blow a fitting on the intake, preventing any coolant from entering the engine.  By the time I had limped the car home, she was ticking and rattling something fierce, so I decided this was as good a time as any to drop in my new engine.

Realize that by this point, I had already invested well over $1000 into the car in suspension upgrades, since I had plans of hanging onto it for a while.  As the conversion project progressed, I found out the hard way that it was anything but a direct bolt-in type job.  I was out scrounging up parts for it every single night, and I spent close to another $1000 just trying to make the new engine fit correctly.  A power steering assembly that I just could not squeeze in was the last straw, and I gave up.  I put an ad in the paper, and tried selling it all off.

I started out asking $3500 for everything.  The new engine alone was worth that, so I thought I had quite a deal going.  No bites.  I listed it on eBay for $2500, thinking it may skyrocket at the last minute.  No bids.  It's now well into December, the car has been sitting in my stepdad's garage for a few months, and the folks don't want to look at it anymore.  I put it on eBay for a last time, just before Christmas, with no reserve.  It finally sells for just over $1200, and I cry myself to sleep.

Being that I was sort of broke at the time anyway, it took me a while to recover from this one.  Big, big mistake.