[qwikz28]

I saw a similar thread on another forum the other day and it has me thinking, what bad automotive decisions have you made? I'm curious as to your worst automotive decisions both with respect to your current or past F-Body or other vehicles and the lesson you took from that mistake. Here's mine:

1. Modifying my first car, a 2002 Camaro Z28, my father purchased for me brand new when I was 16 in stupid ways. First I spent a lot of time and money tearing apart the stereo system when all I wanted was a million dollar stereo system to blare music in. I ended up chopping up all of my stock wiring in the process. Second, I spent a ton of money trying to turn this thing into a race car multiple times over. Lessons are still being learned to this day because I've now owned the car going onto 20 years and I plan on spending even more money this winter (see you soon, Josh) turning the car back into a relatively comfortable cruiser for swift backroad blasts around the area with the kids. I think all in, even after reducing for money earned from the sale of parts taken off the car, I'm probably out over $50,000 in mods and costly repairs to this car caused by the mods. I'm an idiot. Lesson learned here is to enjoy what you have, get the right tool for the job, and realize major mods won't increase your enjoyment of the car proportionate to the cost (other than the little things like suspension, exhaust, wheels and tires).
2. Selling my 2011 Saab 9-3 XWD and leasing a 2016 Cadillac CTS. Nothing wrong with the Cadillac, but I loved that Saab and it really just needed some minor engine work to last me another 80k miles. Since then, I've really only been driving stock commuter type cars that haven't been fun or eye-catching. Lesson learned here is that I enjoy quirky cars more than I enjoy good cars and leasing sucks.