How 'bout a thread on the ones that got away in our youth?". My first one is a little OT, but in 1966 there was a late 30's Bugatti type 57 for sale at a local VW dealership parked out back. ST 8 with a honking blower the size of a medium pizza pan. Great body. Interior and wiring were used for rodent nests. $3600!!!!!!!!!!! Second was a 1936 Ford 3 window in about 1964. Very nice car. Built flatty, big and littles, very nice interior. Rumble seat. $650!!!!!!!!!!!! Dad refused to finance. Third is a 1956 Fairlane with a tri power 406, 4 spd, 9 ' posi rear. 13 second car. Raced by one of the Williams bros in the Detroit area. $750!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Again-pops nixed it. Well, That is a start. I ain't gonna even mentioned the OT Indians, Harleys, Vincents, etc. So..............What kinda sad stories do you other old farts have? And maybe with the collective power of the HAMB we can build a flathead powered time machine and make things right!
Mine was a 53 Buick Skylark in 1968. It was dark red with a red interior and white top. Left front fender and front bumper bent up a little when the PO hit someone in the ass. $900.00 I was still in school and made about $60.00 a week. My dad looked at it and said it was way too high and decided he wouldn't loan me the bucks. Probably just as well as I had a hell of a time keeping my 55 Buick on the road and paying the insurance the way it was. Still feel like I missed a hell of a deal though!
Tom Ivo's T was in the HRM 'Hot Rod Mart' ads, dirt cheap. Mom said no, but after I showed her the article, with the whole story and pics...she said "Call him, tell him you have cash..." I called, it was sold days before...
Summer of 1981. A 1965 Corvette for sale, 5 streets from my girl friends house. I stopped and talked to the young owner, who had inherited it and was selling it to help pay for college. It was in pieces, but everything was there. Price? $2,000. It took me 2 hours to get a loan from my bank. When I arrived with the cash, the new owner was loading it on a trailer. I used the $2,000 to buy a running, driving '66 Mustang. Yep, as much as I despise them, I was 2 hours away from becoming a "Vette Guy".
I was Corvette crazy when I got out of high school in '61. The next spring I took my Dad to look at a '61, two tops, dual quads, 4 speed on a local lot. Dad knew the used car dealer that had it and it was within my financial capability with a little help from Dad. We took it out and both drove it; Dad seemed interested. When we got back we looked it over carefully including in the trunk. Dad pulled the cover off the spare and there was an absolutely shredded 6.70-15 spare. The dealer was as surprised as we were. Dad nixed the deal. A few years later I bought a '62 that I kept for 15 years before trading it for my avatar car. You always remember the one that got away!
Charlie: There's only 2 good cars in the whole world. The one you just sold, and the one you just bought.
Two that stick in my mind. A 53 Ford Ht with a hemi. The private owner was letting me pay him in I think it was 3 installments and I got laid off before I could finish paying him. But he was a cool dude and gave me back what I'd already paid him. The other was a red 60 Impala HT 348 w/4 spd my dad wouldn't co-sign for it as he figured I was going to be drafted. This was in 63 and Vietnam was getting started
40 Ford tudor, Olds motor, white tuck and roll, all apart, pretty gold body..$200 34 Ford 3w rough... $1000 66 (?) Plymouth with a Hemi... would boil the tires going downhill.. scary car.. he wanted $1200 really nice 50 Merc 2 door...REALLY NICE... dang near perfect.. $1200 32 3w body only... nice... $5000 asking 37 Ford coupe, rusty, no motor, $100 various model As cheap, or near free BUT this was when I was living at home ( parents always said NO ), or when I was making $2 or $3 an hour. Thanks for making me cry myself to sleep tonight
The one that got away from me was, I think, a '54 Ford 2 dr Ranch Wagon. My Grandpa's car forever. When I got to driving age, I found out he had sold it and bought a mid 60's Bel Air because it had air conditioning (they lived in Tucson). I told my dad I'd always wanted that car and he told me I should have said something because he probably would have given it to me. Gary
Being a circle tracker, my story is somewhat different. In 1968 the widow of a driver wanted to sell his midgets. One was a regular Kurtis up right and the other was a roadster - think Indy roadster on a smaller scale. Both cars were fresh in all ways and ready to go with Offy engines. She wanted five big for the pair. When the antique oval car thing was at its height the upright would have been worth around 25 gs and the roadster close to 100. And I couldn't come up with any money anywhere. Such is life
You realize that if you would have bought the Hemi and kept it till now, you could flip it and probably buy the rest of the list with the proceeds?
I forgot about the Olds J2 convert with a 3spd on the column in a used car lot for $750. Dad would not co sign.
My High school class mate was selling his 32 roadster,channeled,flathead....ask me $35.00..I passed as it had a blown head gasket
In high school and had a friend selling a 55 Ford 2 door post sedan with a hot 292. I wanted it, but being not quite 16 yet, my dad said no. He would have also had to help me buy it, the price was $500. That sweet Y block exhaust sound has lived with me ever since in memory. Then shortly after that I went into the Dodge dealer (Moose Jaw Saskatchewan) just after I turned 16. Sat in a brand new 1970 Challenger 440 six pack. Yellow with black stripes and the pistol grip Hurst shifter. If I recall correctly the price tag was something like $4800.00
How bout a 50 Merc 2dr, bone stock owned by a little old lady, faded paint, beautiful body, great interior maybe 70k miles. It was in the Sunday paper about 50-60 miles from home. My neighbor tried to talk me into buying it, but money was tight 1976 or 77. The price was $500. Later, about a month someone else in town showed up with it. It definitely would have been a keeper!
the two I think about are the '69 Bonneville with 428 that my stepfather bought from my grandparents. I just turned 16 but they thought it had to much power for me. The other is my grandfather took a 66 charger(383-4speed) in trade on a tractor or something I was 17 and couldn't afford the $800 he wanted for it
to many to list but dad was involved on most as he was a USAF stateside reservist and was always bringing home hot cars from the guys shipping out - most OT.....he brought home a 36 Ford 4 door with a pretty stock Olds and my brother and I beg him to keep it.....been looking for the pic of it but there was one somewhere...the 41 Plymouth coupe that ran down at the car lot which the guy would take my little Yamaha in trade for he nixed because the oil looked to clean ? Dad knew of a 40 Ford coupe one of the service guys had but he was always saying how bad it was with the windows broke out and never would take me to see it......that kinda hurt he had it up until about 8 yrs ago when I asked about it again it was gone....
factory built altered wheelbase A /FX Plymouth..`glass fenders ,doors, bumpers, plastic windows etc. No drive train. $600
My older brother bought our Mom a 1951 Merc 2dr for $35 in about 1959. She told him she did not want it because it was a stick!
In 1975....When I delivered papers with my nifty banana-seat bicycle, wearing one of those funky ''double-sided'' saddle bags hanging over my shoulders....I used to deliver to a house with a --1962 Austin Healey sports car convertible with wire wheels-- it was silver, with black interior...I really liked that car! Sat under a tree off the side of the house....I finally stopped and asked the owner if it was for sale, and said he'd let it go for $300...I remember that price vividly, as it was a LOT of money for a 15 year old kid....it was missing a carb, but other than that, it was all there! I talked to my dad about it, and figured I could buy it with my paper-route money...and he told me I needed something ''more dependable'' to drive to school and deliver papers. Long story, but my dad would NOT lend me the $100 I was ''short'' at that exact moment. I watched that car for a couple of weeks, and hoped by some miracle I could ''get it''....Nope, ...about 3 weeks passed, and one day it was gone!!!...I ended up riding my bicycle to school in my senior year mostly, or the family ''dump truck'',____ and totally avoiding the mustard-yellow 72' Toyota Corona 4-door sedan my father deemed ''should do ya' just fine ''.....sheesh!!!....''THE HORROR''!!! ~~~ Ray
Limelite hemi 4 speed '70 Challenger for $3200, tried to talk my dad into it, I was 14, may as well have been a million, which it would have been in the ninety's. Well, maybe $850,000, no shaker... Steel Fiat topolino around that same time $800, I was close on that one, but my dad said no, too many of his cars hogging all the storage space...
55 Nomad, no motor , no trans, body great shape paint faded surface rust , I guess today they would call it patina ,Glass good . They were clearing out some stuff . Put down 100. bucks ,told the guy I will be back in 1hour with the other 400 bucks and a trailer. I go and come back just in time to see the jackass DROP the nomad off the forklift on to its side. Then he had the balls to tell me it was mine for the hundred bucks and I needed to get it out of the way. He did not like the way my buddy and I helped him off the forklift .
1983-ish. An older (30!) guy I knew had a 65' GTO project in his carport. It had been his high school car, and parked after he wiped out the rear end around 73'. He was slowly restoring it, but with a wife and kids everything had come to a stop several years before. I had repeatedly tried to buy it, and had the cash, but he was not going to ever let loose of it. One day he calls and says they are getting a divorce, and it has to go quickly. 65' GTO convertible, 389 (non Tripower) 4-speed, factory air. Motor and trans rebuilt and sitting on stands, new interior sitting in his guest room, suspension all done - needed the rear end rebuilt, and had a crazed 70's flake lacquer paint job stripped and repainted. $3500.00 !! I was twenty and still living at home and going to college. I had a truck and raceboat, and had just bought a 280ZX (have mercy, I was young). Dad said no projects in the driveway, and two vehicle / 1 raceboat limit. I couldn't sell the Datsun fast enough, and lost out. Still kills me. I got into Corvettes, and can't count the number of $2500 60's Vettes I passed on as being too far gone . . . That would now be considered prime project candidates. ***** Raiman1959, you did lose out - I drove a clapped out hand me down Austin Healey in high school. Perfect car for Lauderdale beach cruising! ***** On the plus side, I still have the OT Corvette I bought after I sold the Datsun. Thirty one years and counting!
Boatmark ^^^ Haha....yeah, thanks for reminding me of my loss!...Man, I had visions of grandeur with that car big time...I was mad at my dad for quite a while after that....somehow, cruising in a mustard yellow Toyota 4-door just didn't seem right for ''coolness'' factors!......that little Austin Healey would have been nice...can't afford them now $$$ from any standpoint...but, I ''almost'' had one!--- Ray
This is totally OT, but back around '86 or '87 a buddy of mine bought a sofa at a place called "Unclaimed Freight". He asked me if we could borrow my dad's station wagon to get it and deliver to his house. We arrive at the warehouse to get the sofa and there's about a dozen identical cars covered in clear plastic sheets. A bunch of brand new Deloreans for $11,000 each!
Common thread is how our parents screwed up our dreams.... But I guess if my son had asked me to help him buy a ragged out ricer when he was a kid, I'd have said no, too.
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