Thirty-two ago, I was about to get out of the Army. I hadn't grown up around guns, but since enlisting, I had shot a lot of firearms that belonged to Uncle and various buddies in my unit. I figured I should get some sort of neat-o bangstick to take back with me into civilian life, while I was still getting SP4 pay. I saw an ad for the Weaver Arms Nighthawk 9mm carbine in Firepower magazine, and decided that's what I wanted. (Yeah, you're rolling your eyes, but give me a break, okay? I was 21 and it was 1985.)
I went to the local gun shop and put down a $50 deposit on one. However, about a month later I was getting close to my discharge date and it hadn't come in. I was told that my deposit was non-refundable, since they'd already ordered this weird-alice gun they really didn't want to stock, but they offered to transfer it to a LGS near me once it came in. I was moving back home to go to to college, and I knew that bringing an EBR (or technically, in this case, "evil black carbine") into my non-shooting parents' house was going to be a very, very tough sell. I shrugged and gave the gun dealer the name of my barracks roommate, then told him if he wanted the gun when it came in, he could have my deposit. As far as I know, he never got a call and they just kept my $50. The next year, the 1986 assault weapons ban happened and the Nighthawk faded into history after about 1500 were produced.
Fast forward three decades, and I find myself randomly searching GunBroker for "Weaver Arms Nighthawk," every once in a while, just for old times' sake. Asking prices seem to be all over the board, and they're actually going for anywhere from $400 to $950, with $600-650 being the mean. Then, about a week ago, with a nice tax refund in the bank, I saw one for $530 with no reserve. Excellent condition, three mags. I kept watching and nobody was bidding.
The end result is that I picked up my Nighthawk from my local FFL last night and saw one in the flesh for the first time. Assuming these were serial numbered sequentially, it must have been one of the last ones made and, as far as I can tell, it must be darn near unfired. Other than a bit of shine in the very middle of the firing pin, I can't see any wear. I haven't had it to the range yet, but frankly it doesn't matter how accurate it turns out to be, how the trigger feels, or how reliably it runs. I bought it to close the loop on an open action item, three decades late. My inner 21-year-old is very happy.