We all have stories about the one that got away. The girl (or guy), the fish, the house and in this case the car. But sometimes with a few decades of perspective that turns out to have been a good thing.
Mid 80’s, I was 16 or 17 driving home from downtown with a friend when we passed a Dodge dealership.
“Hey, wasn’t that an old Road Runner there beside the building?” We circled back for a closer look.
It was not a Road Runner. It was a 1971 GTX, a car we’d read about but never seen in person.
We got out and examined the car in detail. It was badged as a 440 six pack, but under the hood the 440 was wearing an Edelbrock Tarantula intake with an enormous Holley four barrel carb. It had the Air Grabber hood, pistol grip shifter for the four speed, and Dana limited slip rear end.
It also had jacked up rear springs, G60-15 rear tires on chrome kidney bean rims, rear quarter rust and the general appearance of being ridden hard and put away wet. But to us the car practically had a glowing aura around it, and the rising chorus of angel voices told us what we must do.
Just then a salesman came around the corner, to see these two shaggy haired teens crawling over the GTX. He started it up for us and it ran well with a lumpy idle and a bit of blue smoke. He told us that they weren’t sure what they were going to do with the car, but might let it go for $1,200.
Twelve hundred dollars! Between the two of us we figured we had that much money. The rest of the afternoon was spent checking bankbooks and counting change, but in the end we came up short.
We approached our parents, and you can imagine how that went. My friend’s father called the dealership and gave them a blast over trying to sell such a powerful car to a couple of kids with no money. My friend did get some benefit out of the fiasco because his father later helped him obtain a $150 Chevy Impala which was a much more appropriate first car.
In reality we may have crashed the GTX within minutes, or sunk all our future college money into it, or fought over whose car it actually was.
I’m 51 now and I could afford a GTX if I wanted it badly enough, but these days my automotive tastes run cheaper and slower. That way I can have my classic car enjoyment along with the other things in life that matter more. Now I mostly look back on the episode as an enjoyable memory, a little bit of “What if?” but with considerable relief that we didn’t succeed.
What’s the one that got away from you, and do you have any regrets?
Lately I’ve been thinking about a whole brand that got away because I didn’t know its secret advantage.
In the ’70s when I started buying and fixing old cars, I lived in Oklahoma. Nearly all old cars had hydraulic brake failure. This didn’t happen in other states. I suspect it was the same all-pervading dust that clogged VW cooling systems.
I had several close calls and one crash because of sudden brake failure. If I had known then about Hudson’s failsafe brake system, I could have been driving SAFE cars instead of deathtraps.
There was a clean solid Hudson Jet for sale along a country road just south of the town of Jet. (Really.) I’m sure it would have the usual old-car problems, but at least it would have stopped every time you hit the pedal.
Also, Jet is about 7 miles west of the town of Nash. Been up that way numerous times.
1 of 2 that got away for me was when I was in high school 1979 and working at a Texaco part time pumping gas. A customer had a ‘73 Firebird that he left parked at the gas station. It was brown with Pontiac ralley wheels, 6 cyl, with 3 speed in the floor. It was sharp and when I worked, I would look at it just sitting there wishing I could be it’s next owner. While I was working, I didn’t have enough money saved up to buy it, and my dad refused to help me out with a loan. So I missed out. It was still parked there the day I stopped working there.
The 2nd car was a Triumph GT-6 with a 302 Ford V-8/Auto conversion. Tan in color, clean conversion an looked stock, but ran like stink. That was a cool ride.
That last pick looked painful!
Sold a lot of cars I wish I still have kept.
’64 CDV
’68 Formula S Barracuda
’66 Olds 98 Convert.
The list of “got aways” is too long, but the one I wish I bought was a friends ’69 340 Formula S Barracuda with the recalled alloy wheels still on it after 180K miles. And this was in the late 1980’s. It was a nice driver wth the Torqueflite, less hairy than my ’68 4 Spd, and slower for sure, but was a nice looker in a pewter metallic with red interior.
Mine was a 1959 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster, for sale in a foreign car repair shop showroom in 1974. It was cream with a red leather interior. The owner (whom I didn’t meet then, but later became friends with, and who died at a relatively young age in a car-repair accident) was asking the then-princely sum of $8,500. Having just been admitted to the bar, and starting a new job as an Assistant District Attorney, I didn’t have the money to commit to what would obviously have to be a non-daily driver (winter in the Northeast). The car had been brought from Europe to the U.S. by the owner at the end of his military duty, and was in excellent condition. I often wonder where it wound up, and how it might look today.
1978 Chevy C-10. The truck my step father gave me that I was too lazy to work on and it was eventually sold.
I miss my 1976 Mercedes 300d, my 1984 Pontiac fiero and my 2003 Pontiac Aztek. i’ve had over 50 cars so far. Honorable metion goes to my 1969 Datsun 510, 1972 Cadillac Eldo, 1973 Coupe Deville and my 1997 Chevy Suburban!!
You need to do a COAL series!!
Lol!!! i just might!!
To many to list I’m affraid, but the car I really regret selling is my 82 Corvette.
*edit* which is in my avatar i see,lol
I am too young to give my own but I do have a good one about my father’s first car. It was a 1936 Mercedes 2 door sedan that was somewhat like this. It was black with a red interior with a straight four engine and a four-on-the-floor transmission. He purchased it for $750 of his own money in 1964 when he was only 16. He just thought himself to be the coolest guy in Palm Beach. It was great! However, his father forced him to sell it three weeks later. His mother became furious, and demanded his dad to buy him a Mercedes. He did, but it was a poo-brown 1959 190 four door sedan with a ripped interior and a cracked block. It did run though. *sigh* My father never did forgive him for it…
In the fall of 1980 I was starting my junior year in college. At a used car lot that was only moderately seedy in Muncie, Indiana (no small feat finding one of those, by the way) there it was: a 1970 Chrysler Newport. It was gold. It was a 2 door. It was not rusty. It had that cool gold vinyl interior. It had about 55k on the odo. And it was air conditioned. It was the twin to the car pictured, right down to the condition.
Being 1980 during 1) a recession 2) a period of high gas prices and 3) a period when Chrysler looked to be going under, the car was priced at around $800. The problem was that I did not have $800. Or wouldn’t until I sold my car.
I tried to call my mother to ask for a short term loan. She reminded me that 6 months earlier I had bought a 71 Scamp. Six months before that a 59 Fury and six months before that a 68 Mustang (which she reminded me I should never have sold). She declined to be an enabler to my addiction.
Hell yes I regret it. To this day I have never owned a fuselage Mopar. And I was *this* close!
I did, a 1973 Imperial top of the fuselage ladder. sold it cause it had a short that when i hit the brakes both the rear tailights and front parking lights would go on.(now that i think of it……that was a dumb reason to sell it)
’57 BelAir 2-door sedan for $1200 in 1977.
IIRC it ran, was inspected (or inspectable) and looked sharp. But I didn’t like that the floor pans had been patched with sheet metal; this was years before repops were widely available.
I miss my Chevette. No. Escort? No
Tempo? Cavaliers? No. The only one I miss is the ’84 Regal. Gray/silver with no Landau top and black rally wheels with trim rings. Hoosier white letter tires. Air shocks. The slowest 3.8L in the world. Drove like a new car. Until it was stolen. Then it was yukky. I’ve had a lot of undesirable cars!
I can honestly say that i miss my 1978 Chevy Chevette 4 door. never a problem with it.
SEVERAL.
My first serious prospect for a Jeep was a cream puff ‘84 CJ-7 Renegade almost identical to the picture. Full spice colored soft top/doors vs the ironsides shown. It had the 258/T-176 4spd (most desirable ‘80s power train) and about 70K miles. Perfect paint/body, drove like a new rig and had barely seen more than a gravel road. The $5K asking price was $2500 more than I had, but my parents would have helped. Trouble was, the oil pressure dropped off sharply after it warmed up, which usually means a sick motor. I haggled HARD using that leverage but it wasn’t to be. Later, I would come to own 2 CJs with the 258, both experienced the same oil pressure issue…test drove many more the same. Turns out it’s the work of a wonky electrical gauge…a common issue. D’OH!!!
—Immaculate ‘70 AMX in a nice avocado green, 360/4spd. Last of the 2-seaters, and a total beauty. I had nowhere near the $10K asking price when the ink was drying on my HS diploma.
—Triple black ‘92 shortbox 4×4 Jeep Comanche with 4.0/5spd, 4” lift, chrome roll bar/grille guard. Think Marty McFly’s ‘Yota but a Jeep. I had just set foot on that lot 20 minutes after it was traded in, which was 15 minutes after it was sold to the new owner.
—80 Ramcharger…holy grail of these: last year of the removable roof, but first year of the stronger 5×5.5 bolt axles with full floating front wheel bearings and part time 4×4 vs the ‘70’s setup. Fresh Hemi orange paint/black interior, no roof at all, breathed on 360/granny 4-spd and a straight no rust PNW body for $6K in 2013!!!! Sold before I could get up to Olympia.
—‘85 Plymouth Gran Fury owned by one old lady. 105K miles, sapphire blue metallic, slicktop with 318. Immaculate car that the grandkids wanted no part of. For $2500…meh I don’t need two cars. $1500…hmm that’s a good deal but I don’t need it. $1000…I should really buy this. $650…ok that’s practically free…im calling on lunch break. Its sold? Well DAMN.
In 1976 I fell in love with an immaculate ’66 Thunderbird convertible – baby blue with a white interior and top. The seller wanted too much and I just couldn’t stretch for it.
I was heartbroken when after ten years someone stole my beloved 1984 CRX 1.5 5-speed. It was recovered but trashed beyond repair.
Too many to list comprehensively. We could start with the fully(!) loaded low-miles ’79 Caprice Classic I described in this morning’s piece about the ’89. Then there’s that Dusty Rose Metallic ’62 Lancer 770 wagon with aluminum 225/pushbutton auto, disc brakes and a bunch of other upgrades done thoughtfully and correctly by someone I know knows what he’s doing. And that ’64 New Yorker the old-cars lot in Denver wanted too much money for, but had about 1700 lb·ft of quiet torque available by staring hard at the accelerator. And that’s not even mentioning the ones I’ve sold with mixed feelings.
Now you remind me of the 63 Dodge 330 sedan I found at an area dealer tent sale. Slant 6, three speed, a straight and not-rusty 4 door sedan that someone had done some decent (but incorrect) upholstery work on. It ran and drove just right but the dealer wanted silly money. I tried to buy it (for maybe a touch under $2k if I remember) but they were stuck on something like 5. So I bought another car there. But daggonnit that Dodge was nice.
I still wish I had my 1985 1/2 Escort if it didn’t rust from the inside. I was going to buy a 1985 Mustang GT for $2,500.00 to replace it from a local used car lot (this was in 1996), but my brother dissuaded me & I got a 1989 LeBaron GTC coupe which turned out to be a money pit. I still wish to get better examples of those two.
It was an early 1960’s Airstream travel trailer for me. It needed quite a bit of work, but it was really cheap. I made an offer of $1200 on the $1500 asking price. The seller said he’d consider it, but only after the second interested party looked at it later that morning. I got a call a couple of hours later saying he sold it for the asking price. He never gave me a chance to counter offer. I still kick myself over that one. Especially now knowing how much even written off ones are worth.
Three CCs I regret passing up
’66 Chevy Caprice SS with a 396 – bad rusty quarters on both sides $900
’70 Nova 3 speed 250 $600
70 AMC Ambassador 4 door $800
The one I had and sold was a 2005 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V. 175hp 2.5 four 6 speed, traded it for a Quest to haul my family in.
Still nostalgic for my 1970 Torino Brougham. It was my first good car; I bought it in 1978, and it had a couple minor body dings and the earliest beginnings of upholstery fabric disintegration, but was mechanically sound. I ignored the body dings, got good custom-fitted seat covers that matched the dark green interior, put a white vinyl top on instead of the factory black vinyl, and enjoyed the car for a good five years. Stalwart 302 V-8, good auto transmission (the only problem I ever had was a leaky vacuum modulator; replaced that, and it was back up to snuff), good factory A/C, reasonably quiet. Annoying quirks: front seat back was just a bit too erect for comfort; power brakes were touchy and came on too strong, too quickly; A/C compressor passed a rumble through to the body; power steering would become “sticky” and sluggish after I had been driving for a while. Never overheated, though, and never had an appetite for oil. What finally pulled me away from it? A variety of small problems all coming on at once, with about 115,000 miles on the car, and a Honda Accord hatchback.
Would I really want it now? I don’t think so. But I do have nostalgia for it.
Now, there is the one that I keep thinking, “I wonder if I really missed out on something.” In the early 80s, I saw a 1970 Buick Electra 225 Limited (if I remember correctly) for sale at my apartment complex. It was gorgeous, visually in very good condition. I think I convinced myself that I didn’t need to spend $1,750, and that I didn’t need that car’s fuel appetite in the 1980s. But it sure was beautiful….
I kept waiting for the fatal rust on your Torino – but Tuscon! Had you owned that car in the midwest you would eventually have come outside one morning to find a bare chassis surrounded by bumpers door handles and nameplates on the driveway. But then that might have happened to the previous owner before you had a chance to see the car for the first time.
Yeah–if cars rust in Tucson, it’s because they came from somewhere else and already had the rust bug. I never had the slightest rust problem on the Torino. But the sun is murder on paint and upholstery. It wasn’t so many years ago that any car that spent a few years here would have cracks in the padded dash, too. (I forgot that the Torino did have the obligatory cracked dash.) Seems like all the manufacturers have upped their game in body durability in recent years.
I have a habit of keeping most of my old cars, so few get away.
But I wish I kept my ’77 Jeep Wagoneer with a 401, my ’67 Lincoln and my ’79 Mustang Pace Car Replica.
As for purchases I didn’t get…… 1973 Trans -Am with a 455 /4spd, – $2000 back in ’82.
1965 Mercury Park Lane – $500 back in 1989.
There have been a few over time…
Around 1990 I found a black 1964 Thunderbird in good driver condition for $1200. Not wanting to spend $1200, I tried to sell my father on how it would have been a good idea for him. My mother agreed (which shocked me). He blew a gasket, saying he was being railroaded. Whatever.
Around 1994 or 1995 I found a 1972 Buick Riviera at a marginally respectable used car lot near the front door of Ft. Leonard Wood. It was a creampuff with 45,000 miles. Driving it was amazing and that 455 sounded great. The asking price was like $4500. I was concerned about how it fell on its face when punching the throttle.
There have no doubt been others, but those are the two that stick out most in my memory.
You guys keep reminding me of more. I could have bought a 71 Continental Mark III in around 1988. It was a pampered car that sat in a garage with a cover over it, owned by an old guy whose health was failing. He was a delightful old fellow who had owned some restored Duesenbergs in the 60s. He wanted about 3600 for the Ivy Green car with green cloth interior. Everything worked including the a/c and it drove right, but I saw that there had been some rust repair under a really nice paint job.
But no. I had to buy a project of a 61 Thunderbird for $1200 that was never going to be anywhere near as nice given all the work it needed. Ugh.
The wrecked Plymouth, above, is what happened to most ‘factory correct/numbers matching’ muscle cars of day. Hence, the high prices for ‘correct/matching’ examples, now.
Anyway, I wish I kept ’05 Sentra well past 100K miles. !!
” My friend’s father called the dealership and gave them a blast over trying to sell such a powerful car to a couple of kids with no money”
One of the main reasons for end of 1964-72 muscle car era, sales dropped from parents saying “NO!”.
All through high school, ending in 1982, on the banana bus home on the mountain route there was a Dodge Datona with a tarp over it in the driveway next to a run down house. Most of the time the tarp was over the wing with the front end poking out. Sometimes though it was covering the front end and letting the wing get some sun. NOT FERSALE now #&$# off. was always the answer. It sat there many years after sometimes getting a new tarp and sometimes basking in the sun. I found it a few years ago on a website called birds in the barn or something like that. Long gone now.
Another one was a 1967 Barracuda freshly painted for $1200. Low mileage and had a few freckles on it before the repaint. Really good condition. It was a grandma’s car. I worked in the shop where it was painted. The owner got it for money owed for weed and would just rather have the cash. This again was the mid 1980’s and I needed the money for school.
My Grandmother’s sister had a 1969 Javelin with the 290 v8. She bought it new because she liked the hubcaps. When she stopped driving it the family sold it for $150. Twenty years and only 15K miles on it. Was I ever pissed off when I found out. I was even more pissed when I found out who they sold it to. It likely ended up just like the Datona. Same type of person.
Still have my Datsuns though.
Only two come to mind, neither of which I’d have the hots for today. First was a ratty ’67 Firebird that caught my eye in the mid-1980s. It was priced above my budget, so I kept driving my Vega…
The second was the newly-introduced Mazda Miata back in 1989 (if memory serves). After a test drive and leaving my wife’s tired ’77 Buick Century with the dealer’s used car side, I thought it might be prudent (!) to get an insurance quote. That threw cold water on my car heat! The dealer gave me a lot of hassle, but I recovered the Century and we would drive it until a large rotten oak branch crushed the trunk and we sold it off.
’72 Karmann-Ghia.
https://blog.jimgrey.net/2009/12/28/the-car-that-got-away/
I hadn’t read that one Jim, there is still time you know 🙂
All of them because I was short on cash
1996 Audi A6 C4 1.9 TDI, mint looking and very good interior, €1500
1997 Volvo S70 2.5 TDI, €2250, only needed a bit of care in paint, owner wanted to get rid of it because he’d bought a Mercedes.
1966 Dodge Coronet, 2 door. Yellow with black interior, 318 Poly, auto trans. Nothing really special, but did have a nice interior with bucket seats, console and floor shift for said auto.
I wish I still had my 88 Mustang SSP. It was a 5-speed manual, and I got it at a municipal auction in 1991. It had only 42k miles. It was never a patrol car…but used by a detective. It was super clean and ran perfectly…just two cigarette burns– in the driver seat bottom,, and on the center console–the plastic turned brown.
I daily drove the car for two years and really liked it. Then…I decided to propose marriage to my girlfriend. As such, I converted the Mustang into a diamond.
I do miss the Mustang, and it would likely have appreciated well…but nothing is more valuable than a good marriage…and that is what I got from the deal. All smiles here.
I wish that I had kept my 1988 Mustang GT convertible. I purchased it new and put over 90k miles on it in six plus years. Eventually the deferred maintenance caught up with me and it needed about $3000 worth of repairs to restore it to new condition. In a moment of foolishness I traded it away on a new Mustang, unfortunately this one was not a GT, nor was it a convertible. Instead it had the 3800 V6 with the 5 speed manual transmission and it was almost painful to drive. I hated the car within two weeks of the purchase and we traded it away on another Mustang convertible within a couple of months. Yes, we took a financial beating on that transaction. If I had a do over I would buy some beater to drive to work while saving up the money to fix the GT. I have had other Mustangs since then, including the 2014 convertible I have now, but none of them have been as enjoyable as the 1988 GT.
I’ve been a serial long-term monogamist with cars, and always let my ambition match my abilities :-). So the few cars I’ve had have been ones I wanted.
I’ve been carless by choice for many years now but am still tempted sometimes. One that sticks in my mind was a local, well cared for 1973 Mercedes 230C at a nearby used car lot a few years back. I wasn’t mad about the colour, and I suspect it’s not an ultimate driving machine, but it still had me thinking.
That looks like a 1977 or later.
You’re right. It’s actually a 1980. Brain fog….
Like most, I can’t help checking Craigslist once in a while. This car really had me thinking….
https://houston.craigslist.org/cto/d/1979-mercedes-benz-280ce/6723418713.html
They’re beautiful cars. The dealer was asking C$11 800 (about US$9000) for the one in the picture (summer 2013). No idea what it went for. I’m always surprised at what seem like reasonable prices for cars like this, but of course they’re not cheap to run or repair.
Odometer was also 102 000km (60 000 mi).
There are lots that I passed on over the years, often because of lack of space, or just being financially responsible (where’s the fun in that?) A few that stand out were as follows:
1) A 1965 Rambler Classic 2 door hardtop. A local shop was selling it, and one of my colleague told me about it because he knew I liked older cars. I turned my nose up at it at the time because it was had an inline six and it was an AMC. I don’t remember the price but it was cheap and in decent shape.
2) About 20 years ago or so the local MTO was having an auction and they had several old enforcement cars, being 1989-90 9C1 Caprices with 350’s. I looked at them but they all kind of rusty and so I passed. Knowing what I do now, I should have bought one as the bodies really weren’t that bad.
3) A 1966 Caprice 4-door hardtop with a 396. I passed on it because it was a 4-door and I thought the gas mileage of a 396 would have put me in the poor house. It would have been a great cruiser though.
The one I regret the most though is my Dad’s old ’79 Ford F-150 Indy Support Truck. At the time I had my basket case ’72 Chevelle which I was focussing all my money into. Plus, I had no real interest in trucks. It was a 460 and all my dad did was complain about how much gas it used. II didn’t cross my mind at the time to buy it and he ended up selling it for next to nothing (mainly because no one wanted a 460). I have since tracked the truck down, it still exists and the kid that bought it off my dad still owns it today. He’s not willing to sell though, but if he did I’d buy it in a heartbeat. There are a lot of memories tied up in that old truck, so even getting one like it wouldn’t be the same.
The Girl… We were in high school together. We were in different circles, but shared interests in art and music… She’s still in my life, sorta. We still see and talk to each other on Facebook, actually. 9 out of 10 times it’s her posts on her advertising/media agency. If you saw her, you’d never guess she’s 56 years old. Taken good care of herself, for sure. She’s a relentless promoter, knows how to work the electrons. She actually says very little about her personal life, never mentions a husband and barely mentions her adult daughter. But, she has many, many, male followers. Did I say many, many, male followers? I was underestimating it by a magnitude or two. I was the one who let her get away, I was distracted with another girl and went our separate ways. Life took us to different places…
The Car… There’s been many. One that sticks out is the Javelin AMX I found in late 1992 when we were still living in Atlanta. I was going to the grocery store and saw this blue with white vinyl top and interior 1973 Javelin AMX. It was all original, but well taken care of. I copied down the phone number and called the guy the next day to look at the car. I got there after work and checked it out, it ran as good as it looked. We hit it off and developed a good rapport during the inspection. IIRC, he wanted $3500 or so for it, he had other cars and needed this out of his garage. I was stoked! I drove home excited to tell my wife about what I’d found. When I got home, she had news of her own. Baby Number Two was on the way! Yay? We had moved to the Atlanta area just 15 months earlier and I still hadn’t really gotten our finances completely straightened out after my layoff six months previous. I knew what I had to do. I called the owner back the next day, told him what happened and backed out of the deal, much to our mutual dismay.
I still search the interwebz for Javelin AMXs, but they have gone through the roof, putting them out of inexpensive hobby cars. I keep saying someday, but all the closer I will ever get are 1/64th scale Mattel replicas…
Early 1960s Saab sedan with a 4 on the tree and 2 stroke 3 cylinder engine. I was in graduate school at the time and about to married, I bought an OHC 6 tempest from my uncle instead which was fine but really wasn’t as unique either of these was still more practical than my Suzuki T500 though
That last photo is particularly horrible to look at, my favourite year of my favourite car in my favourite color. hope whoever was inside was ok, but jeez it looks bad.
When I was saving up to buy my first car (i.e. the first car bought with my own money), I came across a BA Falcon XR6 in one of my favourite colours, a dark emerald green. It had a black leather interior too, very rare for an XR6. And a sunroof! I felt like I’d hit the jackpot as I’d never before seen an XR6 so specified and I haven’t since. The seats were nice and plump too, like the leather seats in my current Falcon.
I test drove it and the dealer said he had another buyer interested but that guy had bad credit. I thought he was just trying to get me to commit but by the time I went back and agreed to buy it, he’d sold it to bad credit dude. I was PISSED.
All’s well that ends well, though. I found the XR6 I ended up buying. No leather seats or sunroof, sadly, but the cloth trim was great and had purple accents to match the purple exterior – purple was at the time my favourite colour (now I’d say indigo is my favourite, wow I’ve changed).
The best part? The previous owner had fitted a custom exhaust, something I’d never spend money on but something I’m so glad my car had. It sounded amazing. I wish I’d taken a video of my car…
My grandfathers 1965 loaded Bonneville convertible. He kept it in perfect condition, and it just recently had its 389 engine rebuilt. It was beige with a white top with white leather interior. He was proud of that car, I drove it for a few days after he passed and wanted it badly. But mom didn’t want it around, said it was too painful to keep around because of being a constant reminder of her dad. She soon took it to a used car lot and sold it, don’t know what she got for it. It was a though time for her, and for 16 year old me I was probably better off with the ’66 Beetle I had recently bought from dad. I did total the VW a few months later.
This is the only picture I can find, grandfather with his Bonnie in the background.
Mine was a dark green ’70 AMX. 390 4 speed. In prefect shape. This was in 1978. I had no money, and insurance would be a killer for a 19 year old at that time. Wasn’t meant to be.
Bob
For me, H-body LeBaron GTS/Dodge Lancer. When I was looking for my first car in 2007, I was set on some kind of Mopar FWD car. I was almost certainly dead set on the LH cars (particularly, first generation Concorde/Vision or second generation Intrepid), but the other cars I considered was the second-generation Sebring/Stratus, a J-body LeBaron hardtop coupe or the H-body LeBaron GTS/Lancer hatchback sedan.
I ultimately chose to buy a nice 1997 Concorde LXi. A few months later, I came across a mint condition GTS with a silver exterior and grey leather interior, but I just couldn’t bring myself to sell my Concorde, which I really liked.
I still think about the fact that there were more of them out there then than they are now. Those cars are now just about extinct and the one that I passed up in 2007 is almost certainly somebody’s made-in-China chest freezer today.
Mine would have to be a friend’s brother’s ’74 Super Duty 455 Trans Am in August 1981. 14,000 miles on it. The right color, Buccaneer red, and it had custom black leather, really nice leather, interior, with Recaro type seats, with the awful originals, covered in the same leather, tossed in on the deal. It was clean like it was brand new, with new 60 series white letter tires and was basically good to go. I had most of the money to buy it. I tried and tried to get a friend to loan me the rest of the cash to get it, but he was afraid to get stuck with it, so only mom was left. She would have wanted to ride in it, and that would have killed the deal for sure. It was loud as hell, and the exhaust note alone would have made her say no, let alone a ride in it. So, I passed on it and ended up with the ’79 T/A I posted about before. It ended up at least as quick as the SD was, and way louder, but it just wasn’t the same. I saw an SD-455, or one badged as one, recently at a “classic car” breakfast place, and wonder if by some miracle, if it’s the same car. Probably not, it had the “burgandy” interior my car had. If I ever have some money to toss away on an old car, an SD-455 is near the top of my list, with a ’68-70 Charger or Roadrunner right below.
’66 Chevy II SS dark blue, black vinyl interior 327 (I think) with a 4 speed. This was back in early 1971… guy wanted $1150 and I couldn’t come up with all of it. So I ended up buying a ’64 GTO in June 71 for $575.
That Chevy was cherry!
Cars I’ve owned that I miss, but don’t really regret having sold: ‘81 TransAm 305 4 speed WS6; ‘73 Vega GT hatchback 4 speed; ‘93 Land Cruiser FZJ80.
Cars I considered buying that I regret, though perhaps only in 30-45 year hindsight: ‘65 Corvair Spyder, ‘87 Mustang LX 5.0, BMW E30 M3) the 4 cylinder).
Its interesting that you’re 51 and talking about a Mopar that got away in the mid ’80’s. Summer of ’85, The Lynwood/Everett area used car lots were crawling with ’60’s and ’70’s iron. A buddy and I were checking out this one lot and I had honed in on a clean red Charger R/T. I barely noticed the ratty black one next to it. Garbage. My friend kept on frantically pointing out the black one. “What?! That one’s hammered!” “No, look at the stripe!” Holy crap. It said Daytona. I walked over and started looking. Ragged holes on the top of the quarter panels where a wing was bolted on. Wow, OK. Walk to the front… Nose cone present but damaged. One set of retractable headlights stuck open. Magnum 440. It was such a total Joe Dirtmobile. Orange diamond tuck velour seats, fuzzy dash cover, corroded slot mags. Well, I did drive it. It ran OK. The dealer did have the center section of the wing. I don’t think there were repop parts for these for another couple of years.
$1500.
I had the money. My folks forbade the damn thing. A couple of months later I bought a ’71 Chevelle for $675. I’m 51 and still think about that Daytona sometimes.
Summer of 1982…I was 17. A co-worker was selling his 1968 Barracuda Formula S. 383/Torqueflite, red fastback, black interior. It had under 100K mikes and wasn’t abused. The only thing wrong was the driver’s seat cushion had a few splits in the seams. Asking price? $1,000. Unfortunately-I moved out of home that summer, so I had to divert my money into living and keeping my 1970 Fury running. I still regret not being able to jump on this deal to this day.
I just recently passed on a 1987 Camry DX wagon with 5 spd. 62000 miles, 300 miles away in Pittsburgh. I had in the past 2 manual sedans of same series. I recall the transmission being a little notchy and the two liters being a tiny but anemic by today’s standards, but I love the quirkiness of a manual in a “modern” larger car, particularly a wagon. I think it sold for $6000 which I didn’t have. But I would have happily put $5000 on my Visa if I wasn’t already surplus a 5 speed Ranger that I drive 500 miles a year. If she ever comes back in my life, I’ll not let her go again…..
Having been a “curbside” off-the-books amateur car dealer for 40 years, I’ve had over 200 cars, many bought to play with and re-sell, some to drive, none kept.
The ones I most regret not having kept:
’57 300c convert
’58 NYer convert
’56 + ’57 Olds Super 88 converts
’62 Polara convert
’62 Jag Mk 2 3.8 4 spd
’68 E-Type 4.2 fhc (short wheelbase coupe) 39k miles
’66 Alfo Duetto,
and a few others.
The one I most regret NOT buying:
flame red ’63 Alfa Guilietta Spider 5 spd, with 38 thou miles for $600.
It was my freshman year of college in MD, couldn’t come up with $600
Dad said no loan, no way. I like to think if I’d bought it I’d still have it,
but given my history, probably not!
Here’s the ’58 Nyer.
Nice # 3 when I had it, now a show car in Sweden.
1 of 1 black converts with the Spruce interior:
Kinda miss:
’58 Firedome red/white coupe
’68 Firebird 400 4 spd vert, the…
40 years worth of gone cars, I better stop before I cry!
At my current age in my mid 60’s I’ve lived through numerous eras in car collecting. Which is to say that I’ve seen many types and categories of cars go from cheap and commonplace to less common and much more expensive. I began my career in car consciousness at age eight, that would be 1962. Needless to say I wasn’t in any position to buy anything myself, but I was a keen observer. My uncle had a cool ’49 Cadillac fastback at the time and I think that it left it’s imprint on me. A few years later he bought an Austin Healey 3000 which kind of left me cold. My Dad bought a nifty ’63 Lincoln around this time. As a teenager I was into motorcycles which I could sort of afford.I spent my efforts and meager funds moving up from a Honda 50 to a Honda 750, with several stops in between. Harley Davidsons had to wait until I was in my Twenties.
When I was in junior college, (1974) there was a Jaguar XKE convertible for sale in the school lot, asking price of 1,000.00. It looked pretty good but who would be stupid enough to buy a Jag?
Shorty thereafter I found a ’55 Cadillac ElDorado convertible for sale in a used car lot along the back fence. With a Continental spare, sabre wheels and twin quad intake. Complete and in fair running shape. It just had a big dent in the quarter panel behind the driver’s door. asking price? 199.00! I really wanted it, but thought my Dad would be pretty mad if I dragged that thing home. ( I later discovered that he he would have been cool with it, Dad was really a great guy.)
Just to twist the knife, muscle cars were dirt cheap during the late 1970s through 1980s. But who wanted a gas guzzler?
Fast forward to the 1990’s and I found a series two Jag XKE coupe, right in my neighborhood! It was in fair shape and if I recall the asking price was around 6,000 bucks. More money then I could casually pull out of my sock drawer, but it could have been doable with a little finagling. I liked it, but who would be stupid enough to buy a Jaguar?
At the beginning of the 2000s I was at a consignment lot and they had a clean late 1970s Porsche 911. I think the price was around 7,500 bucks. Again not a petty cash deal but do able with some planning. I didn’t have an appreciation for Porsches at the time. In fact I kind of disliked them and especially their drivers at the time. Besides. how could I buy a car that had pedals that went through the floorboard like a VW bug?
Just one more story. At that same consignment lot I found an early Dodge Viper that was about to be put out for sale. I spoke with the owner, who I’m guessing just wanted to get out of the loan. Asking price? 25,000 bucks. Really not chump change, but try to buy one at that price now. Not really do able for me.
Do I regret these missed opportunities? A little bit. But I’m sure that i wouldn’t have any of those cars today. I just don’t develop a strong attachment to individual cars. I always sell them at the moment when they reach their lowest value.
I have serially passed up on cars which were about to become classics, and whose value was about to skyrocket.
All the superannuated cars and vans available in the UK when I became old enough to drive – the obvious ones being things like 2CVs and Minis, but I even think about rear engined Skodas, Ladas, Rooted cars. I really wish I’d bought an original Mini or a Series 3 Land Rover.
I particularly recall a late 70s Mini Clubman I viewed in the mid 90s but passed on because although it ran well, it had some holes in the sills/rocker panels. Asking price? 80 quid.
Something I’m sure of: I would’ve very much regretted selling off Cheapo Falcon in mid-1994 after I made a mess of the front end on March 2, 1994. I hit the back of a taxi on my way to take an Old Testament bible exam at Palm Beach Atlantic College (now University). Some friends of mine kindly drove me to Old Gold Cars & Parts in Old Town, FL in May 1994 to hunt down the necessary parts needed to fix up the Ford. We found them and had them shipped back to West Palm Beach. Total cost for original parts and installing them was approx. $2,200. I kept the receipts for the parts and the repairs for years afterward but eventually lost track of them. Perhaps I threw them away. I just don’t remember. It was very kind of my folks and my friends to help me out with the $money$ it took to fixate Cheapo Falcon. And since then I’ve (thankfully) not done any more damage to it hence it still exists in 2018 and is ready to go do stuff.
My one that got away is also a ’71 GTX.
Spring of 1991, I was finishing up my senior year of high school on Long Island. That year, I was working as a gas jockey at a full service gas station and had joined the Coast Guard on the delayed entry program so I would be heading off to boot camp just after graduation in May. A fellow from North Carolina had just moved up and brought a black ’71 GTX with a blown transmission into the shop. The car was very well worn and looked like it had done some racing at some point, but it was a factory black car with the original paint, an Air Grabber hood, disc brakes, 727 automatic and since it came from NC, was completely rust free and that was unheard of for musclecar resto candidates in New York State at the time and this was long before restoration sheetmetal was widely available. He couldn’t afford to pay for the repairs and basically abandoned the car at the shop, so since I was originally from South Carolina and he was from North Carolina, I put my best southern accent on and made a deal to buy the car for something like $500. I spent my entire savings and bought a remanned transmission and swapped it in at the shop on the weekend but it still wouldn’t run. By that time, since I was about to ship out to boot camp and then on to parts unknown, my parents refused to let me keep it at their house and I had to cut my losses and sell it for whatever I could get for it, which was I think $800 and I heard the guy parted it out immediately after.
For me it has been Porsches.
Twenty years ago I was keen on buying a nicely looked after 1967 911 for $26,000 (Australian dollars). They were not much sought after at the time and it had been for sale for a while. I loved it but we were in the middle of a big house renovation at the time and I just did not feel able to commit to the purchase. Six months later, after the renovation was complete, the 1967 car was gone and I bought a 1981 911SC targa for $40,000. I never really grew to love the targa and I sold it after 3 years for less than I paid. If I’d bought the 1967 car I think I would have kept it. It’s probably worth $150,000+ today.
Ten years ago, I came close to buying a very nice 1990 Porsche 944 turbo for about $23,000. I passed on it (I can’t quite remember why now). Nice late model 944 turbos seem to go for $60,000+ now.
Funny though … I don’t regret not owning those cars for the driving fun because I’ve had other cars as good from that point of view. I just missed the boat on the skyrocketing values!
Oh well….
Only one, but it’s a doozy.
My earliest, clear memory as a child is the late summer of 1953 (I’m three at this point), when dad brings home the first Corvette that Motor Sales Company of Johnstown, PA received. He gives mom a ride in it, he gives me a ride in it . . . . . and promptly trades the car to Grabiak Chevrolet of New Alexandria, PA for two BelAir hardtops. Dad thought it was the stupidest car Chevrolet had ever come up with.
This story always stuck with me (dad claimed it was Corvette #14, although I can’t vouch for his claim), and fifteen years later I find the car.
Four blocks from my parents home.
Sitting in a garage.
Rotting.
Over the next year, I manage to piece together the story of that car. Seems the owner bought it shortly after dad traded it off, brought it back to Johnstown, and later bought a 1958 Corvette from dad. Which he was killed in in an accident sometime later. At which point, his mother (who lived in that house, four blocks from the parents) said, “This is my son’s car. I’m keeping it. It stays. Here.”
I kept in touch with the family (the lady got quite used to seeing my ’37 Buick parked out front periodically, although she really didn’t want to talk to me much) and, as the years went on and dad realized the value of antique cars, he started supporting me in my efforts to talk the lady into selling us (not just me, at this point) the car. And I got to watch as the years took it’s toll, watching the car rot away. By 1973, if it hadn’t been an early C1, all it would have been good for was a parts car.
And then, one summer’s day in 1973 I get a call from my father at my place in Erie, PA. Guess who hit the obituaries that morning? Jumped into my Vega and made a beeline home. Didn’t even stop at home, went by the lady’s house immediately.
And the car is gone.
Obviously someone in the family had that car marked, and it probably disappeared before her body was cold. Dad and I often talked about that car, prior to his death in 1992.
Wow! That really is the best story of them all!
In the late 1980s one of my neighbors had a ’73 Dodge Dart Swinger 2door hardtop, green with matching green interior and black vinyl roof, a slant six. Typical little old lady car in immaculate condition. Over the years I used to drive the car on errands for the lady, detailed it, did a few simple repairs (I remember replacing a slightly damaged grille once, etc). I really liked that car, even though it was just an older used car at the time. Unpretentious but with a bit of style that eventually made these Darts a classic. Several times I asked if she would sell me the car, she always said it’s not for sale, but if ever she decided to sell it, I’ll be the first to know. One year while I was away at college, the old lady died, her daughter got the car and promptly wrecked it.
This kind of relates to Syke’s story and yours…
When I was a kid, one of the neighbors had an early 1950’s CJ3 Jeep that he used only occasionally, mostly he would go deer hunting with it. When the snow flew, that was when I saw him using the Jeep, to plow his long driveway. He never drove it on the streets when it was snowing, however. By the time I was 16 or 17, he was past retirement age and the Jeep rarely moved. I asked him what the plan was with the Jeep, he said when the time was right, he’d sell me the Jeep. Great! So, I waited. And waited. I graduated high school and moved away and essentially forgot about it until…
He passed when I was living in Cleveland, during my early 20’s. I didn’t even find out about it until my mother mentioned it in passing. I went and spoke to his wife on my next trip back and they had given the Jeep to one of their grandsons! I was a bit crestfallen.
I’d heard later on through friends that the grandson had tried to use the Jeep as a daily, but didn’t know or understand how twitchy they could be. Long story short, the kid wrapped the Jeep around a tree and totaled it…
Oh, just when I try to forget…
These were the cars that I actually had, but let get away after the fact:
’72 Buick Skylark 350 “Sport” Coupe
Transmission went kaput, and sold it for $50. Gawwwwwd!
’79 Firebird Formula. A friend was selling it for $200, and because I wanted a stereo for my Cougar, I passed it up.
’87 AMC Eagle 4WD Wagon
That was a cool car, but getting too worn out. I let it go for $200.
I had an opportunity to buy a really nice (near-mint) original ’65 Chevelle SS for $6500 back in 1995, but I was young, money was tight and it would’ve meant selling my ’91 Cougar XR7 that I loved. Hindsight being 20/20…