I did it; I sold my baby. She's gone now, gone forever. Sniff.

It's a very emotional decision, you know, to sell one's baby. There are attachment issues, breaking that bond of love, saying goodbye. Not to mention accurate pricing and market demand.

The baby I'm talking about is my old 1993 BMW 325is coupe, of course.

(What, did you think I really had a human baby I was selling? Nooo… But if you want one, let me know. I know a guy who knows a guy…)

Though I wasn't the first owner of the BMW, I loved that car. You ever get attached to a car? Where when you have to part with it, you actually feel sad? Sniff.

Or… maybe it's just me? (You cold-hearted bastard.)

I took my baby all over the Bay Area. Up and down the 101 and 280, north as far as Mendocino, south as far as Carmel. Never to Lake Tahoe or Los Angeles though; my first car in California, a 2000 Ford Mustang convertible, had that honor (that was my first baby).

I doted on my BMW baby. Wash her almost every weekend, and always by hand. Cleaned and conditioned her leather interior. Changed her oil more often than I needed to. Filled her up with premium fluids. (Hmm, that sounded dirty.)

She wasn't without frustrations though. BMWs are notorious for electrical problems. One day, while driving to work, my speedometer just died. I was driving, but I had no idea how fast I was going. Replacing that was a pretty penny. So were the other various electrical problems.

My baby was sure high maintenance.

She was also expensive in terms of speeding tickets. But that was probably more of my fault, huh? I usually average a speeding ticket every eighteen months, which is exactly the period of time between allowable traffic school sessions. Fortunately, that meant I was always able to keep the points off my DMW record.

But to further complicate matters, she had tints on the side windows and a Dinan free flow exhaust. In case you don't know, tinted side windows are illegal in California. And the Dinan exhaust had a noticeable roar—it wasn't excessive, like some rice rockets, but it was noticeable.

Cops who wanted to give me an extra hard time would cite me for the tinted side windows and an aftermarket exhaust, requiring me to pay a fine or remove the tints and get a smog & noise check. Dammit.

But that's not my problem anymore, is it? I posted an ad on Craigslist at 11:00am on a Saturday morning and she was sold by 8:00pm. The sale was hella quick; I thought I'd have the ad up there for a week at the least. (Maybe I should have asked for more money?)

And now she's gone. My baby is gone, forever. Sniff. Bye baby!

. . .

Have you ever had a car you were attached to?