What Car Made You Do a Double Take at a Used Car Lot?

Photo: Chevrolet

I love driving past used car lots. It’s basically a spectator sport for me, which is thrilling and exciting, and full of hope but, also, disappointment. Every now and then, I’ll run into something unexpected, like a Chevy SS or Jeep Wrangler Unlimited LJ. When that happens, I usually spend the next few miles nursing my sore neck and shoulders due to the force of the whiplash. So, I want to know what car has made you do a double take as you drove past a used car lot?

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It doesn’t have to be a model that caused as painful an ordeal as the one I described, as long as it surprised you in a way that made you question your own judgement. Made you wonder whether that was a silver Chevy SS you saw, or just a lowly gray Malibu. Because if it really was an SS, then you’d be wrong to not turn back and peek into the cabin to check for a manual transmission, or, at the very least, ask what the price was. Right?

How wrong I was when that happened to me late last year as I passed a used lot. I even did a triple take, but I still didn’t go back. One of the other big blunders of my life — which has been, and, I assume, will continue to be, full of them — was casually dismissing an E36 M3 in Dakar Yellow at a local used dealer. I was fresh out of high school at the time, just a foolish kid who thought the five-speed manual transmission in that particular M3 would be a hassle to drive. I was starting college soon, and figured I should find a more practical used BMW.

I passed on that M3, but still look in the very same lot when ever I pass by. I like to imagine the BMW will be there all these years later, waiting for me to come to my senses. I guess I look in every used car lot for that unicorn, stealing glances through the rows any time I see a hint of yellow. And I often look for that silver Chevy SS, because there might just be a stick shift in there. What about you? What car forces you to do a double take any time you drive past a used dealer?