The One Item You Wish You Didn't Pass Up
 

What's the one single item you wish you would've tried harder to pull the trigger on but didn't?
Doesn't necessarily have to be a car,can be anything.
For me it was a Tuxedo black/Red Int. 1966 L-78 Chevelle Super Sport in Blue Island IL,sitting in an open garage during the Fall of '79.All original drivetrain w/Buckets,4spd,posi.Original owner getting ready to pull it out on his driveway with a For Sale sign on it,asking $1800.No mods that I recall,had a broken left taillight lens from when he backed up into his riding lawn mower.Body was straight as an arrow and Lacquer paint you could comb your hair in.Interior & Trunk were amazingly clean & solid.He said he'd take $1500 today as he was moving down south next month.I put a $100 cash deposit down,and told him I'd call him next week.Found out Insurance was going to be astronomical for a 17 year old kid like me,but didn't care as I wasn't going to be driving it but 6mos.a year,but my Dad sure did.He said no way kid.So I asked him to drive me there to get my Deposit back,He said nope,that's a lesson on you for not checking with me first & told the owner to keep my hard earned deposit.Owner then mentioned he just found the original Dealer invoice too among some other papers.Dad still said no,so owner said thanks for the call,the $100 bucks and sold it to another in less than 12 hours later.
Man that car was awesome. :burnout:

Not a muscle car, but, in high school a friend found a neighbor with a 1934 Plymouth coupe sitting in his garage. Owner put in the back of the garage when he bought a new 1951 Chrysler. We got the Plymouth running with just a new battery and a fresh tank of gas. The owner wanted $100 dollars, payable at $10 dollars a month. Friend quit school and went into the service. I figured he would send the old guy the $10 bucks a month. WRONG!! He never told me until he came home from basic. Man was I p.o'ed. The 34 still had 90% original paint, and even had a pull down shade for the rear window.

69 trans am ra4 automatic car.sold new here (actually out of tahlequah which is not far from here. i used to put groceries in it when i was 14 to 16. when i turned 16 i had the first black and gold trans am in tulsa. new 76. they used to try and get me to trade them even for it. no way that was going to happen being 16 with a new trans am. talk about a chick magnet. then they sold it a few years later and it ended up on a little used car lot right outside downtown tulsa. tried to deal with the guy but he wouldnt come down lower than 5k for it. i had just bought a really nice ra3 4 speed car for 1750.00 and told the guy i wouldnt go more than 3500. i then had a chance to buy it again a few years ago after the mexican sold it and passed on it for 150k. but at the time i had 20 69 ta's so i passed again. looking back i shouldve bought it both times.

I have a long list...but one that comes to mind:

1994 timeframe, called on an ad for a shadow gray on red 70 Chevelle convertible in Gurnee or somewhere close, in the northern suburbs, for $1700. Owner was an older guy and said the car was nice and ran/drove. Drove down there with my girlfriend and were an hour late due to her needing to finish her work shift before leaving. We met the guy in his driveway and he had just sold it to the second person who called, said he thought we were no-shows since we were so late. The car itself was gorgeous, probably a $6000 car at the time. That was a great lesson for me on the importance of punctuality....

With all youze Chitown guys on here, did one of you end up with it?

I passed up a beautiful ‘67 red/red 427/435 horse coupe that was for sale at Bloomington Gold 10 years ago. It was a 23,000 mile very original car. There it was at the NCRS Nationals going for Bow Tie judging on Tuesday. My word, did it look great. I certainly had some regrets seeing it again.

I had a chance to buy a Corvette 72 ZR1 in early 1984/85 for $14000. At that time a car had to be 25 years old to import it in to Canada. (If it was brand new, different rules)
I hashed it around trying to figure where to store the car for years...
What are they worth today??????

Early 1973 a friend offered to sell me his 1970 LS-6 Red Chevelle 4Speed Convertible for $ 2,500 ,, Gas prices were going up then and he could not sell it, I had just bought a new 1973 Corvette Shortly after that the car was found burnt and he collected on the insurance.

There was a 72 ZR1 that sold at Mecum Harrisburg on Thursday for $140k.

untouched 70 440 6 Cuda, late 80's, early 90's. Owner bought new for Son, Son went to "Nam, never came back. Helped the Old gentleman roll it out of the garage, put a battery, in it, poured gas down the 3 carbs and it fired right up. Probably one of the most loaded original Cuda's i've ever seen, Hemi Orange, White Top, White Leather gut, 4 spd, silver shaker, power everything had 1 small dent in a rear quarter
Dad would not lend me the $$ to buy it, Years later, I think he regretted it more than me. Then there's the 70 GS Stage 1 Conv 4spd....

About 10 years ago I had a chance to buy a sold original paint original interior '66 Fairlane GT that has a complete '67 medium riser 427 in it. Could have got the whole thing for $5500. My ex wife had me in debt so far that I couldn't come up with the money.

1969 SCJ Mustang. Factory drag pak with 4:31 gears. Black with black gut. Was a drag car all its life. Perfect body but all apart. Had weld-on ladder bars but otherwise no mods. Original engine and top loader. Out of Arcanum Ohio. In 1994 (or 5) a friend and I offered 5k for it. Just needed assembled. Heard he sold it for not much more.

It was time for a new car. I lived literally right across the street from the Pontiac dealership in Framingham, MA. Looked at a 73 Red/Red Formula 400 Firebird. Auto and AC. Out the door price was 4 grand.

In my travels I stopped at a used car dealership to check out their inventory. Sitting on the showroom floor was a 1964 289 AC Cobra. Painted in brown metalflake. He wanted $5000 for it.

Hmmmm - used car with 4 speed which the wife can't drive, 2 seats - horrible color. Or . . . brand new Firebird.

No brainer!

Being a farmer, I should have bought as much ground for $1000 an acre 30 years ago that I could get a hold of. That number now has another 0 on the end.
When I was about 18 a family friend had mid 60s corvette with a fresh red paint job. I believe it was red to start with, had black interior. Looked like original 327 and interior needed cleaned up. I don't remember if he was moving or why he was selling it but 5000. I am guessing that was about 1985 or 6.

How long have you been Divorced? :tongue:

LOL - well hindsight as you know is crystal clear. In answer to your question: 42 years.

Back in 1997 I heard about a 1st gen Camaro being for sale at our local Dodge dealership. I stopped by one day and found out it was a one owner 1968 SS 396 L35 with Turbo 400 trans. The husband had recently passed and the wife didn't want the car anymore. She either sold it to the dealership or turned it in toward a new car. The Camaro was all original and all the dealership had done was have it repainted in the original Ash Gold. It had a gold interior. They were asking either $16,000 or 18,000. I just couldn't pull the trigger. I had only a year before spent right around that amount to buy my 1969 Z28 RS, and I felt guilty about spending that much money again so soon.

Yeah, this car here.......
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...let-camaro-13/

I was the high bidder, but the car did not clear the reserve. I spoke with the seller and he revealed what it would take to buy it. In short, I was being penny wise and dollar foolish.

I then later found out only 4 of the original IROC "body in white" cars still exist. Ray Evernham bought the car.

I am such an idiot sometimes:mad2:

My big regret was the Rally Green 69 Yenko Camaro I didn't buy at Super Chevy Sunday show in Indy back in 1994. Asking price was 30k but I was chicken to pull the trigger because I had just got out of college at 22 and bought a low mile 89 Corvette for 18k. I'm not sure if would have been possible to make a worse financial decision..lol..

But you're OUR idiot Tim, all good!! :biggthumpup: :beers:

:haha::haha:

1969 Black SS396 4 speed L78 Camaro. Special black interior, around 1979? From a couple of guys from New York. Rust over rear wheel wells. Young, dumb, etc.. didn't want to deal with rust. Arggh. Called Mick Price about a Hugger Orange Yenko for in early 80s?. Didn't have a real way to come up with the asking price. Should of, could of etc..

----Back in 1976 when I started work at Classic Motors in Hinsdale I missed a big one . The 1st day at work I was shown the work area and immediatly saw a yong guy working on a GT 40 Ford. Later when I was talking about it with my new boss, Richard B, he offered it to me for $30,000. Since I only had about 3 grand to my name I had to pass. Should have tried harder, but I comfort myself by saying that I wouldn't have kept it long because as usual I had bills to pay.....Bill S

In around 1977-78 a local used car dealership that I had bought a couple cars from had a 1964 Corvette convertible. It was white with tan interior. It had the removable hard top and knock off wheels. The dealer offered it to me for $6800. Being a 20 year old with very little money I had to pass.

1989. Had a 6 foot tall slim athletic blonde wrapped around my finger.Had the face of an angel,but she probably would have caused me more problems than it was worth so I passed.

I think about 7 years ago I looked at a special order paint 70 Chevelle LS6 car. It was painted Hugger Orange at the time. It was part of a collection. I didn’t pull the trigger and a guy came in and bought it along with several of the other vehicles.

Back in 1992, 1970 RA IV 4-spd Trans Am, Lucerne Blue/black interior for $13,000, after looking at it I dragged my feet for 1 day because that was a large sum to me back in the day, finally decided to go for it, called the guy and he had already taken a deposit on it. Still haunts me to this day.

Since we're in the, "anything" realm, there were 3 that I messed up big-time passing:

1. A house on a double lot on the Imperial River in Bonita Springs, FL. They wanted $300K, and I was waiting for my investment spec house to sell and I was gonna pull the trigger, but it sold before mine sold by days. I should have put in the offer contingent on mine selling. Someone bought it, subdivided it and sold each side for $700K, ugh.

2. A lot on the south end of Ft Myers Beach, right on San Carlos Blvd, across from the beach. There were two houses across the street directly on the beach that were new, and the lot I was looking at was spaced directly between them so you had a clear view of the Gulf of Mexico. I had a deal with the owner as I was going to buy directly from her as her contract was up with her realtor at the end of December, but on December 27 she got a full price offer. I was, again, waiting on my spec house to sell and had to get a little financing, so I told her to just accept the offer. She was actually on the verge of tears when we were talking because we had struck up a friendship as she was from PA, not too far from where I went to college, but I felt guilty trying to use that new friendship to buy the lot. That lot was ~$375, and I was planning on putting about a $200K house on it, and today that would probably worth about $1.5-ish.

3. When I finally sold my spec house, I was looking through the newspaper and a FSBO came up in the Park Shore neighborhood of Naples, FL, for an older home for $395. I went and looked at it and it was an elderly gentleman whose wife had passed and he was moving. The house was older, but neat as a pin. For some reason, I just didn't pull the trigger. Still not sure what was holding me back, but that house is worth $2.5 to $3.5MM.

Sigh.

Mines not as bad, but only buying 2 lots to build our house on and letting the 3rd lot go. I knew by the time we got done building we would be pretty leveraged and I thought a 5 car would be big enough. Now that my wife has a boat and I have 3 Chevelles Id like to keep that lot was very very cheap. For reference any gargage/building in our small city is now 175k plus

In the summer of 1982 I bought a '70 Chevelle Super Sport from the second owner who only owned it for about six weeks. It was all original except it had a two-barrel small block in it. But I liked it and I could afford it. I found the build sheet and discovered I owned an L78 Chevelle. Through a stroke of luck I found the OO a few weeks later. I drove to his house and we talked about the car. I learned he pulled the original engine in 1978 because he didn't want it in the car anymore. He told me he gave the engine away. When I asked who he gave it to for whatever reason he didn't want to say. A few years later he left LI for Florida. In 2016 I mailed him pictures of the car. He was so happy to see it he called me up. We talked about the car and the engine. He told me he gave the engine to his neighbor Ray who still lives in the same house. Fifteen minutes later I was knocking on Ray's door. I said I know this is crazy but I'm looking for a 396 engine his old neighbor gave him in 1978. He said 'sure, I remember that engine, I sold it a few years ago'! That L78 engine, carb to pan, sat untouched in a backyard five miles from my house from 1978 to 2013. In 1982 I was standing 100 feet from it. Even after offering a finders' fee to him, Ray has no idea who he sold it to. That memory has haunted me for 41 years. I sold the car in 2019.

I know you said 1 thing but I have 3 I can't believe I passed on.
1967 GTO Gold with gold interior and black vinyl top HO 4 speed car factory a/c. Car was from South Carolina only rust was a 2 inch hole in the 1 quarter panel. Car was stripped to a roller with all the parts going with the car. $8000 about 5 years ago, what I fool I was.
Back in 1992 by friends bother in law had a 1967 Shelby GT500 he was selling. He pulled the engine and transmission and never went any further. Wanted $7500. Car was in Texas and I had just bought my 1st house so zero money and had to pass.
Last Car about 18 years ago 1965 Catalina 389 tri power white with red bench seat interior. Car was from Nevada zero rust , faded paint but mint interior for $1,500. Waited to long to decide and was gone in a day.

Shoulda...Coulda...Woulda...
 

I enjoy all these stories of what might have been. :tongue:

My father had a lot of these...one of his favorites was about a rabbit :rolleyes2:

He used to say: "if the rabbit had made it over the fence, he wouldn't have ended up in the stew pot"

I guess we all have a few like these...just be glad for what you got :biggthumpup:


-wilma

I dipped my toe into the water of the house flipping business. There were 3 appropriate properties available when I first looked. I bought one, but for 1/2 a second I thought about trying to buy all 3 (low interest rate days...). I should have. The flip was easy and profitable. Would have earned, pre tax, a concours 69 Z/28, a perfect 70 Chevelle SS 454, and one of the best 79 Trans AM 400 4 speeds, and maybe a bit extra for a garage extension.

Many years ago I was working with a guy who had a '64 Plymouth with all of the aluminum body parts, stainless steel tube K member and a 426 max wedge. He was ready to sell for $7500. I was trying to get my Camaro together at the time and couldn't afford another project. A friend bought it, sold the aluminum for $15000, put fiberglass on it, sold the 426 for $7500 and raced it with a 440 for many years. He couldn't get the aluminum dash out of it because the roll cage was built through it, so that's still in the car.