Insane BRAND NEW Seadoo HX Barn find

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I'm about to tell you about the holy grail that slipped through my fingers, the classic that still bugs me to this day. Sure, I've missed out on some incredible finds before, but this... this was the kind of once-in-a-lifetime discovery that vintage watercraft collectors only dream about.

To be fair, I never really had a shot at getting this one. I stumbled upon the listing months after it was posted in a Facebook group. By then, it was long gone, and maybe that dulled the pain just a bit. But what I missed out on wasn't just any old ski - it was a brand-new 1996 Sea-Doo HX. And when I say "brand new," I mean absolutely untouched, straight-from-1996 perfection. The photos were almost unbelievable: pristine lines, unblemished polystyrene, and an engine compartment so clean it looked like it was teleported straight from the factory floor. The paint? Crisp as the day it was sprayed. It even had the original DESS key, still sealed in its factory packaging, never once turned in the ignition.

The story behind this unicorn is almost too good to be true. From what I've pieced together, a guy in Europe—maybe Poland, but I could be wrong—stumbled upon this HX that had been frozen in time. It had been sitting in storage since the day it was purchased. The original owner had bought two of these machines for racing, but for some mysterious reason, the second one never saw the light of day. It just sat there, waiting to be discovered.

The guy who found it was blown away. He posted in the group asking for advice—should he sell it, preserve it as a time capsule, or actually use it? That post absolutely exploded, with passionate collectors and riders from around the world weighing in on what they'd do with such a rare treasure. By the time I saw it, it was too late. Months had passed, but I had to know what happened, so I reached out to him.

What he told me hit like a punch to the gut. He'd kept it but gave it to his parent, who started using it immediately. And then came the real heartbreaker—she stripped off all the pristine OEM decals and swapped out the factory bars because she didn't like them. I nearly fell out of my chair. I was screaming at my screen, "What have you done?" Look, I get it—if this were 1996, sure, mod it however you want. But 25 years later, you had one of the rarest, most perfectly preserved examples in the world, and just like that, its magic was gone.

This story haunts me because it proves those unicorns are really out there. That dream scenario we all fantasize about—opening a barn, a garage, or a forgotten storage unit, and finding a brand new ski sitting there—it can actually happen. The real question that keeps me up at night is: what would I do if I ever got that lucky? Part of me would want to preserve it as a time capsule, a piece of watercraft history. But the other part of me would be dying to take it out and ride it, savoring every moment on the water while keeping those hours low.

And here's the kicker: when that original post went up, the ski hadn't even been fueled. The OEM tank was still pure white, completely untouched by gasoline. It hadn't even been PDI'd. No oil, nothing. Zero hours. Literally factory fresh. To this day, I tease myself thinking about what I would've offered if I'd seen that post in real time. How much for a piece of PWC history? It would've had to be close to 10k, easy. And honestly? For something this rare, even that might have been a steal.

Thanks for reading, and remember—keep hunting for those classics, we are can Keep The Classics Alive!. They're out there, waiting to be discovered!

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