Sorry Not Sorry

"That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms" (thatbastardkurtis5)
11/09/2015 at 06:55 • Filed to: None

Not too long ago, I sold my Jaguar XJ12. It was my grandfather’s car and I wanted to keep it, but with a baby on the way I needed the money. Apparently that explanation isn’t good enough for my cousin.

He found out last night that I sold the car, and expressed his annoyance at my not telling him I was selling it. Honestly, I hadn’t thought of it...I’m not super close with my cousin, I see him maybe once a year. Since my grandfather passed away, he’s gotten kinda fanatical about having all of my grandfather’s stuff...he’s got his old IH tractor and his military records, I got the Jaguar, which I purchased before my grandfather passed.

Now I had kinda expected this, which is why I didn’t tell him when I sold it. See, when my grandfather died, he gave his current project car (a late MGB that he put a GM V6 and 5 speed into) to a friend of his...the funeral was barely over when my cousin was calling the guy saying he should really give him the car, or sell it very cheaply.

Which means I wasn’t surprised when he asked me for the contact info for my buyer, which I declined to provide. He then told me I should have contacted him before selling the car, so he could have kept it in the family.

I said it was my car, and I can sell it to whomever I like however I like. The Jag went to a good home with a guy who knows the cars and can give it what it needs. That’s way better for that car then to go sit in my cousin’s barn for the rest of its life.

Also, I mean before I bought the Jag it sat in a garage for seven years. He had seven years to buy the car, but I doubt he knew it was there. No, it was me occasionally running that car and dusting it off for those seven years before I even owned it. It was my car, and there was nothing wrong with how I sold it.

DISCUSSION (16)

BJ > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
11/09/2015 at 07:12

Kinja'd!!!

Seriously, what you did is just fine. Owning that car won’t bring his grandfather back.

shop-teacher > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
11/09/2015 at 07:17

Nope, you did nothing wrong.

Opposite Locksmith > BJ
11/09/2015 at 07:53

Your cousin has a kilo of somethin hidden in it and he's afraid the mobs calls are going to turn into visits

Opposite Locksmith > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
11/09/2015 at 07:53

And yeah you did nothing wrong obviously, he just thinks he has a case and he's going for it for that reason only

McMike > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
11/09/2015 at 08:08

The only thing I probably would have done different is give him the chance to buy it at the price you were listing it for. “I’m selling the Jag, if you want in on it, let me know. I’m asking $XXX for it.”

It sounds like he would have balked at the price, but at least you would have given him the chance.

Then you could have reminded him that he passed it up every time he mentions it.

At the end, it was your car, and you did nothing wrong.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > Opposite Locksmith
11/09/2015 at 08:09

Yeah, I don’t understand the entitlement. If my grandfather had given me the car when he died I could maybe see something (not really, but I could see being salty that I made a profit off of it) but I worked out the deal to buy it before he passed. It's not going to keep me up at night, but my wife was PISSED about him saying that shit.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > BJ
11/09/2015 at 08:13

I told my mother in law this story about my grandfather yesterday: my uncle bought a set of headers for his M5 and they wouldn’t line up with the studs, spacing was too wide. He tried taking the heads off, heating the headers, couldn’t get them on. My grandfather looks at it for a second and tells him “chicken wire...wrap it around the two middle tubes and it’ll pull em together, then cut it off after its mounted”. And it worked, of course. His solution to mounting a set of headers that cost more than my car on a car that cost as much as a house was 32 cents worth of wire.

I liked owning the car, but stories like that help me remember my grandfather more than things ever could.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > McMike
11/09/2015 at 08:23

I don’t even feel like I was obligated to do that. My cousin isn’t a car guy...the Jaguar would have been way too much for him, and my grandfather knew that. Hell, it was too much for me and I know what I’m doing.

To me, it was better to send the car to where it would be cared for. My grandfather m wouldn't have cared a lick for keeping it in the family if that meant stashing it in a garage or paying somebody else to work on it.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > McMike
11/09/2015 at 08:25

Also, like I said I didn't think of it...hes not somebody who's part of my daily life, you know?

Ash78, voting early and often > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
11/09/2015 at 08:37

I’d say he’s not totally off base in that family heirlooms should at least casually be offered to family members first, but for someone you rarely see or stay in touch with, he’s almost like a total stranger. You’re in the clear here.

Shit happens. In 2009, we had to “fire sell” my father-in-law’s 1965 Mercedes SL230 for like $10k (Blue Book $15k, today worth well above $20k). He had just passed away and the family believed his life insurance premiums had lapsed.

Well a few weeks later, life insurance paid out in full and suddenly that $10k seemed completely meaningless. That car had been in his hands for 25 years and was supposed to be my wife’s and mine when he got too old to care for it (verbal contract). I’m not bitter at all, just making a comparison. They’re just material things, your cousin will get over it. Hell, it’s a Jag — maybe you did him a favor by keeping him out of bankruptcy :D

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
11/09/2015 at 08:43

Unfortunately you can’t choose your family, your cousin just needs to build a bridge and get over it. If my cousin had said that to me I’d have told him to go fuck himself.

Although to be fair I’ve told a cousin to fuck off because she was pissed at me for not going to her wedding. This is with her not going to mine first because she “already booked her holiday in Greece”. Funny how she booked the holiday after she got the invitation for my wedding... Stupid bitch.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
11/09/2015 at 09:56

I'm sure if your grandfather wanted him to have it he'd have left it to him. You did right sending the car to a good home.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
11/09/2015 at 22:02

I could maybe see some grey area if he had just passed, you got and turned around to sell. Having bought it before gives you 100% right to do whatever.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
11/09/2015 at 23:14

Absolutely. But I've had the car over four years and it's only been two since my grandfather passed...its just such a weird reaction from the kid, I don't get it. Ah well.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
11/09/2015 at 23:35

Does he have some really fond memory of the car?

Similar boat. I have a relative that inherited a car. Loves it, takes car of it, but never drives. Needs a bunch of expensive parts. I’ve been like “it yours, (almost definitely your son) If you’re ever going to sell, ask me if I can match the price.”

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
11/10/2015 at 06:19

Nah, he just generally wants things that were my grandfather’s. I've had the car for four years, he never told me to tell him if I was going to sell it. If he had, I might have offered it to him, but he never expressed any interest until after it was gone.