The bumper was cracked at the bottom and the fenders were black.
I had converted the front of my Audi S4 to RS4-style widebody panels. By January I was trying to undo it. The rear had never been converted, so the car was wide only up front. It looked aggressive. It also meant the easiest way back to stock was to find another S4 owner who wanted the parts I had.
Several people around Denver and Boulder wrote at once. I told them I was taking offers and would trade for stock S4 fenders. The cracked bumper was probably only useful as a spare or for grafting. I could send pictures, or they could come by and look. Local was better because nobody wanted to ship large body panels if we could avoid it.
One offer was stock fenders plus $300. Another person offered to trade the fenders and bumper with some cash. I liked the first idea because I was probably going to paint the front anyway, but I wanted to check with the body shop before agreeing.
This was the less glamorous part of modifying a car. Buying the unusual part was exciting. Reversing the decision meant emails, color mismatches, cracked plastic, body-shop questions, and trying to decide what a used panel was worth.
I had listed the whole car for sale the previous summer. It had a long modification list and a price that reflected how much work I had put into it. By winter I was willing to make it simpler instead.
I did not know yet which deal would close. I knew what I wanted: stock fenders back on the car, the black widebody pieces out of the way, and preferably no freight company involved.
Only the front was widebody. That had become the problem.