A similar thing happend to me two years ago. I had already purchased my Gold 67 RS, thanks in part to my stepson helping to get me the bug to get back into 1st gen Camaros. He was still bugging me that he wanted a 67-69 Camaro, and he was willing to give up his supercharged 96 Mustang to get it. Well it was a slow day, in fact it was my birthday, and I was trolling ebay during my lunch hour looking at 1st gen Camaros and seeing what I might be able to get for under $10k and what is close to me in northern California. I then stumbled upon this ad for a powder blue 68 RS Camaro with medium blue stripes. I look at the license plate and low and behold the plate matches the plates on my first Camaro! I e-mail the guy to ask about the car, and after a few e-mails we determine it was my old RS. He had purchased it from a friend but was now selling it to buy a both. The friend had bought it as a parts car for the restoration of his 68 RS convertible but then changed his mind because he thought it was in too good of condition to part out. I had bought it in my freshman year of college for $3900 after my first car (A 67 Chevelle Malibu) had been totalled in a wreck. (Rearended by uninsured driver.) At the time it was all original, 327 2bbl PG with deluxe parchment interior. It was originally a British Green car, but the guy had painted it hugger orange. I had owned it through college which included replacing the original 327 with a rebuilt motor after it went south. (We did that in those days.) I also added headers (exhaust manifolds cracked), a 4bbl, dual exhaust, and fiberglass mono-leafs in the rear. I started to restore it after college and had plans to return it to British Green. After about 18 months and after finding countless amounts of bondo covering rust and body rot, I decided enough was enough. I didn't have the room or time to finish the restoration and my little brother was about to turn 16 and bugging me to sell it to him. I fixed the bad bodywork left from the previous owner, who by this time I deduced had bought it slapped bondo on it and painted it for a quick resale to me, and put it back together so my brother could use it as a daily driver and sold it to him for $1500. Within a year he had blown up the 327 and replaced it with a 355 along with pulling the PG and swapping in a TH350. He later sold it for $1100 when he couldn't get it to pass smog.
So here I was looking at my 1st Camaro online. The center console was now gone, but it still had the motor my brother built (it was painted lime green) and the stereo and Grant steering wheel I had installed when I owned it. The Parchment interior was now black and the center console was missing. The guy wanted $13K for it and knowing the condition of the body underneath the paint, I was skeptical it was worth that much. However, if it wasn't for that God awful paint job, I may have bought it back.
A week later I called the guy who had sold me the Gold 67 RS and he put me in touch with a guy selling a clean 67 coupe that had been sitting in storage for 25 years. That car ended up being the little blue 67 coupe I own today.
Things happen for a reason... but if it had been painted any color other than powder blue, I'd probably own my first Camaro again today.
Anyway, nice to see someone get the potential to purchase their first car back.
