Cars you DID NOT BUY.

[olredalert]

----There are literally 100s of cars I should have bought as Corvettes and muscle cars were my business for so long, but theres one that sticks in my mind from a long time ago. In 1969 I was working at a used car lot in Ft. Liquerdale called "Car City, the walking mans friend". We used to buy all of "King Oldsmobiles" trade-ins under $500 and we financed our own cars right at the lot. We went to King to pick up a couple of cars one day and there was a baby blue/white gut and top 64 GTO convertible with every available option sitting there for $400. My boss picked it up and I drove it back to our lot. The car was in exceptionally nice original condition with the exception of a poorly done enamel paint job. The boss said that I could have the car for the 4 bills. Still don't know why I didn't buy it.....Bill S

[TMagda]

Mercedes gull wing in decent driver shape for $17k. The owner of the car wash I was working in got it as a college grad present and was selling it. 1975. I knew it was special, but I was making $2.10 per hour and was only 16. It literally sold 1/2 hour after he put the sign on it.

[SS427]

1964 Thunderbolt for $1000 in 1976. Thought it was too much for me at 16 and first time driver.
1961 Impala SS convertible in 1977, 348 3x2 4-speed, white with red guts for $500. Walked away because generator was missing rear mount and had a coat hanger to stabilize it. I did not want a jury-rigged car. Otherwise a mint car.
1969 White COPO 427/425 Chevelle in Richfield, MN around 1979. Didn't buy it because I did not believe Chevrolet built a 427 Chevelle in 1969 and thought it was fake. I don't remember the asking price. Well known car today.
1970 Orange 440 6-pack Super Bee in 1979 for $900. Did not think my buddies would approve of me buying a Mopar.
3 1970-71 Hemi Cuda convertibles used at my 1978 High School Homecoming parade for the dignitaries. All three owned by the same owner in Blaine, MN and had for sale signs on the side quarter windows during the parade. I approached the owner after the parade and asked how much and he said something like $1500 each. I laughed and walked away.....
1965 Maroon Impala SS 409/340 convertible around 1981. $3500. Thought it was too much money.
1970 Shadow Grey, white interior, black vinyl top M22 LS6 Chevelle in 1981, Owned by Scott Ellingson (owned International Metal Strippers). Asking $5000. Thought it was too much.
1965 Z16 complete 396 engine in a junk yard in MN around 1982. Front clip of car was still in yard but body had been crushed. Had two friends with to verify. $700, Too much.
1949 Mercedes convertible around 1988, $1500. What the hell would I want with a Mercedes....
1969 Kingswood Estate Wagon, 427/425 in Bloomington, MN around 1990. $3500, too much.
1968 GT500 I found while on my 10 year wedding anniversary weekend in 1991 and we were out driving around in Dodge Center, MN. Drove past a farm and saw it sitting in a farmers 900' driveway drainage ditch. I copied the VIN down as no one was home and had a State cop buddy run the VIN. The car had not been registered in several years and the owner had a arrest list like I had never seen. Finally got a hold of him. Wanted $13,000. I told him he was nuts and a Mustang friend of mine bought it. Known car today.

Numerous other cars and too many to list besides the fact that it hurts too much.




[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/stupid.gif[/img]

[Rixls6]

65 Shelby Mustang in 1979, for $6500. Very clean low mile original with the tri-Y headers, and original spare, and a Paxton supercharger.
We were looking to buy our first house, so didn't buy the Shelby. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/frown.gif[/img]

Not a car, but an engine. About 1977 for $1,200
66 Hemi out of a Belvedere. All original, and we started it chained to the rafters of an old rickety garage in Chicago. The whole garage shook every time I goosed the throttle. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/worship.gif[/img]
The hoist we brought with couldn't lift the engine and kept sinking down before we could get it high enough to go in the pickup.
Called a wrecker, but his sling wouldn't go high enough either.
Should have tried to get another hoist the next day.

[hubleyman]

My story of one that got away is very similar to one of the other stories already posted... so I can totally understand how they felt.

Back in 1974 when I was only 16 years old, I had an opportunity to purchase a gold 1968 Shelby GT500 convertible A/T - for $4,000 (this was in the SF Bay area). It was all stock and in excellent condition.

$4k might not seem like a lot of money now, but this was the same time frame I sold my 1964 tripower GTO 4 speed car (in excellent condition) for $350 and also bought my first Corvette (a black 1962 with two tops) for only $200, and early Impalas in great condition were readily available for $100-300.

I scraped up roughly $2k but had a tough time gathering the rest of the money. The woman owner (who I believe was the original owner) gave me a month to get the funds together, but it just wasn't in the cards so we cancelled the deal.

I remember driving the car down the freeway at 55 mph in San Rafael and then she tells me to punch it, which I promptly obliged. It lit up the rear tires like I was taking off from a stop sign. Man that was fun!

Charlie

[Xplantdad]

1) 1970 T/A 340-6. Apparently a well known car today. Was till owned by the original owner in Yorba Linda, Ca. Low miles, all original, rare bronze paint color.

I test drove it, the guy had a small family and couldn't keep the car any more and it was killing him to sell it. He wanted $3500...I figured it was too much! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/frown.gif[/img]

2) 1969 Trans Am, located on a Buick dealer used car lot on Harbor Blvd. Saw it when I was driving to the beach to go surfing. By the time I got home and got my brother to go and take a look at it, they had already sold it. Sold for $2600 and they thought they did well...

3) 1969 Indy Pace Camaro. Located in the &quot;bad&quot; part of Fullerton, Ca, right down the street from the Fullerton DMV. Wasn't for sale...for a long time. One day, I talked to the owner and told him if he ever wanted to sell...to let me know. I gave him my number. He never called. Found out later it sold for $3200.

4) 1969 RS/SS 396/375 Camaro. Located on a used car lot at the corner of Brookhurst and Lincoln in Anaheim. Car had spent time in Tijuana and other parts of Mexico (had stickers showing this on the lower portion of the windshield). Tried to get my dad to loan me some of the money...he said no way. Was for sale for $3100....

Last one for me...another 1969 RS/SS 396 Camaro-still owned by the original owner (had AER?) series blue plates. Original everything including paint.The guy lived off of Sunkist and Mira Loma. I would stop by occasionally to talk with the guy as it was parked outside in front of his house always! I kept telling him that I wanted the car. Same story-not for sale but he'd call me when it became available. One day I drove by and it was gone....I rang the bell and he TRADED it in on a van!

My brother had a chance to buy a black/black 1971 426 Hemi 4 speed Road Runner-that was originally owned by a State Farm Insurance adjuster. The guy was apparently HUGE and strong...The car was located at shop in Garden Grove run by Ray Alley...I talked about this here: Clicky here!

Oh well...coulda-woulda-shoulda!

[L78M22Rag]

Bruce,
at least you made an effort to buy most of those. Can't really help it if things didn't go your way. I like this thread... makes me feel much better about opportunities I've missed.

Last year I sold an all original (original paint &amp; drivetrain) 1967 Camaro SS/RS 350 to a friend because he wanted the car. A month ago he told me that he was considering selling the car and he advertised it for the same price that I originally sold it to him for. He asked me if I was interested, but I didn't need another car (not at that price). Yesterday I spoke with him and found out that he accepted less than half the asking price for the car. I wouldn't have had the nerve to offer him that little. Had I known how badly he wanted space in his garage, that car would be back in my garage as a future driver for my son... or me, until that day comes.

[RichSchmidt]

I went to look at that Motion 72 Camaro as well. I was looking at it for a friend. I still have a copy of the Motion invoice that he had for the car. I think the car was done as a conversion in 1976 for a guy named Emilio Marciano of Paterson New Jersey. The cost of the work was $10,600. It was a nice solid car.

[olredalert]

----I feel the need to tell y'all about another one. My cousin, Dave (3 years older than me) decided he was buying an original 427 Cobra. He looked for awhile and found one in Indiana that was a raced car owned by a guy named Gene Cormany out of &quot;Competition Press&quot; (for-runner to Autoweek), and he bought it for $4500 with tons of spares. He was too cheap to rebuild the engine correctly so while it ran awesome, it only ran sporadically. That was in 68/69, and then he chipped a tooth in the Salsbury rear and gave up. He called me and offered it to me with all the same spares (3 sets of wheels and tires for starters) for the same price he paid for it. I begged every relative I had for that $4500 and they were all too smart to give it to me. I don't blame them either. Id have probably killed myself.
----Later, I found out the serial# was 3003, the third 427 ever built and an R car from new. Whats the car worth today, you ask? Probably around $8,000,000 give or take. Yup! That one hurt......Bill S

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

You win that one Bill, no regrets!

Ryan