Hot Rods The car you never bought...thread

I was curious about the stories about the "Just missed buys, Should have bought, Local guy cut it up, High school kid bought and stripped". You know, the should have could have stories that other hambers have had over the years.

I really wish I would have bought a '31 Model A coupe that was the victim of a truck conversion. Had a chicken cage mounted in the back. Stock everything. Went back several years later, the place is all cleaned up with zero old tin to be found anywhere. Damn.

 

I’ll give you mine. I was 16. Went golfing and on way back home saw car along road. 1971 Dodge Dart. Had to stop. Had 340/ 4 speed swinger. Crappy green with minimal rust and springs showing in front seat with blanket. Man came out of trailer with son. Want to hear it run. Price 1500. His son says c-mon pa light em up ( still etched in my memory) it was 1996. Car sounded mean with a cam. Left thinking I want that car. Had 1100 saved up and didn’t have enough. Told my mom about car and asked to borrow money. She agreed and went back next day after going to bank to get my money. Sold!! Less than 18 hours. 340/4 speed dart swinger. Wish I bought that one.

 

1964 in San Diego ... '53 Olds Fiesta in a wrecking yard in El Cajon. It was $135 & didn't run, I was a Fireman deuce living on a destroyer. Still being 17, I didn't know what it even was until years later. I bought a $40 '54 Chev instead ...

 

When I was a dumbass 17 year old Okie, my Dad talked me out of paying $200 for a completely cherry Olds coupe. Of course, $200 was about a month's wages baling hay but still, I've regretted missing out on that. Another one I lost out on right after that was a beautiful black '62 Ford Galaxy 2 door hardtop, 406 w/tri-power and 4 speed. I had the money but I was underage so my Mom had to sign for it. The salesman did me in. He looked square at my Mom and said, "You know he'll probably kill himself in it".

 

Missed out on a 35 Tudor. Wasn't for sale at the time, left my name and number. Year later got the call, I had just bought some other shitbox and couldn't get the money up fast enough. It was a complete car that the guy had started taking apart for restoration. When he left, he left it sitting in the yard, wife sold it after the divorce was final. Could have gotten it for $500 back in 1980.

 

Two stories. First, 1970, 15 years old and walking home from school. I had to pass several used car lots on the way home and always checked out their inventory. There it was, 1955 Nomad. Opened the hood and discovered the previous owner transplanted a 57 270 horse 283 and a 4speed and the best part, soaped on the windshield was $300. I had $250 saved up from snow shoveling and lawn mowing and too dumb to offer that. By the time I scrounged up the rest, it was gone. Worst part is, I told the story to the lot owners son years later and he told me I could have worked off the balance washing cars on the lot.
Second. Three years later, working and living on my own, I found a 1966 427 Corvette Coupe. Mist Blue 425/427 and a 4 speed. It needed a starter solenoid and the owner didn't want to put any money in it. He was firm at $2000, and I told him I would go to the bank and be back the next day. Went to my banker and asked for the loan. he said no problem, $100 a month for 2 years, but we need full coverage insurance. So, off to my insurance man and his response was, no problem $100 a month. At that point, there was no way I could handle two $100 payments on top of my living expenses, so another one gone!

 

There is a theme. These are just sad to read. Now we are all fixing rust buckets with mismatched parts. Damn.

 

Back in the mid 70's I had recently purchased a 38 Chevy Coupe, it was a kit A year or so later an old friend told me about what he had for sale. One was a 34 five window Ford Coupe, the firewall was cut out but.....it came with a 34 two door sedan parts car....today it would have been fixed as it had a light hit in the rear. $500 for both. The other car was a late 30's Lincoln three window Zephyr Coupe. $500. I should have bought both of them, I just didn't want to spend the money. I have not always been the smartest guy in the world.

 

Oh man. We should a thread that was best deal we got!! This is too sad.

 

You are so right! I hate to admit this but as each story is told I start to smile about halfway through it.

 

It was 1987 ...... 1970 olds W30 442, all numbers match , 4 speed, red inner fenders , W27 alum rear diff, very minor front end damage $800 bucks. I already had 2 projects but man what a deal , I told local car lot guy about it & he still has it & give it a nice driver quality resto. Flux

 

there was a 1950 Olds coupe in my neighborhood when I was a young teen in the 70's. faded red, louvered hood, nosed and decked. rusty chrome wheels and pinner whites with a California rake and the coolest old red and white tuck and roll interior I had ever seen. in the garage was a yellow 32 roadster, also old, faded and worn out.

we used to ride our bikes over there to look at it from time to time to check them out. when I was 15 (1975) the Olds came up for sale cheap and I had no job, no money and no licence ... if he had waited a year to sell it I would have bought that car.

couple years later I passed on a red, 4 speed 1964 GTO for $800.00 because it needed a throwout bearing. that was another one I regret.

I'd probably still own the Olds today had I got it.

 

Well, look at it like this, they were both just Chevrolets.

 

1969 or 70. Guy had a field full of old cars and the city was making him clean them out. Found a semi decent, intact, rust free '38 Ford ambulance and was really interested, price? $300. Said it ran when he parked it there. He brought out a battery to jump start it but of course the motor was seized. Said I could have it for $100 as long as I got it off the property within a week. I was a poor college student with no place to store it so I passed. Still sometimes kicking myself even though there's probably almost no chance I'd still have it. But I bought my running '53 wagon in 1976 and still have that.

 

Way too many to mention but-32 coupe ex show car with a bad trans-$2500-1968-it surfaced some years ago for big$$! Many 57-62 Vettes $900-1200-same time frame, nice gold 62 Impala-409-409-$1100 and nice Trifive Chevys-$300-400-bought a few of those to drive-still have one of those. Didn't really have any extra money raising a family and just starting out. 1966-bought a mint 40 dlx coupe for $300 for a work car-had to borrow the money-sold it for $400-wow! 1967 bought a mint 50 Olds 88 coupe for $250 and drove it for a two years and traded it for a Harley-dumb!! Bought my 57 Fuely in 1977 for $1200-sold it in 2015. There were many others as well-all in Fresno area.

 

I passed on so many that I forget most of them. But coming to mind is I passed on a genuine GT350 Mustang for $1000 in 1971. Or a 1959 or 60 Corvette for $800 dollars a year or so later because it had front fender cracks. In the 70s cheap muscle cars were cheap and easy to find because of the oil embargo and stagflation.

 

Back in the day, a friend of mine came across a green 40 Lincoln Zephyr coupe with a 303 Olds motor and bought it. The body was pretty straight with no rust if I remember correctly. Knowing him, he probably paid no more then a couple of hundred dollars for it as he never had a large amount of cash. Don't remember what he sold it for but often think of what that would be worth today.

 

Tried to buy a 40 Willys pickup all stock and black when I was 16. Got the "it belongs to my uncle and he won't sell it thing" I drove past in my 51 Merc a year or two later and the cab was laying on it's side next to where the truck had been sitting and the bed had been turned into a trailer. I didn't have sense to go and try to buy the cab where it lay at the time but sure was upset.
A couple years later I was trying to deal on a 54 Pontiac Starchief ragtop at a dealer in Seattle and the other salesman comes out with a guy saying that he had just sold it. Figured that they used my being there to pressure the other guy to buy it.

 

Late 80s in SoCal. I ran across on old closed wrecking yard. The gate was open and there was a guy fiddling with a Ford roadster pickup. I stopped to talk and the guy said to c'mon in. He showed me around a bit. There were some really old cars sitting on old Ford axle housings. The oldest I remember was some mid 20s Studebaker touring. The "newest" car in there was some mid 50s Toyapet. He told me it was one of the first imported card brought in to California from the company we now know as Toyota. Anyway, after wandering around for awhile I asked him if the old roadster pickup was for sale. He said "Not yet, when I'm done restoring it, it will be and I'll be asking $5000 for it."
$5K was a lot to me then and I wasn't aware of what a screaming deal that would have been. Wish I'd kept up on it and begged and borrowed the money to buy it.

 

Summer of 64, wanted to upgrade my 57 Chevy high school car. 58 vette for a grand and I turned it down. Hurts to think about it.

 

'61 or maybe '62, I was checking out a '57 Chevy soft top at a used car dealer. I liked what I saw and put a $50 deposit to hold for a few days while I tried to convince my dad or older brother to co-sign my 19 year old ass. Couldn't/didn't/wouldn't do it. But since this post is REALLY about the Chevy and not an O/T car, the mods have to leave it be. *wink*wink*

So parked next to the '57 on the dealer lot was a sporty, foreign car on a trailer that looked like a cross between a 1950 Jaguar roadster and a TR6. The sales dude told me it was something called a "Ferrari", had been raced a few times and they were asking $2700, with trailer. I wish I could have picked up either of those cars.

 

1970, in high school, working at the local Esso station. Customer came in with his 60 vette, new black paint, new 327/t10, new interior. Said he was getting divorced, needed to sell it quick, would have taken $900 cash. Had the dollars, no way I would have gotten insured.

 

so i go to look at a 57 chevy 4 door hardtop last summer a few weeks before i bought my sedan. The photos on craigslist didn't show much, the woman selling it told me it was her husband's and he was on a work trip. I walked into the back yard, and behind a barn was a black 57 chevy 4 door sedan with chrome reverse steelies and a buick grille, had a push bumper on the front. Only could get the drivers door open but inside was really solid floor, and a homemade console for the muncie 4 speed in the car. I noticed some stickers on the rear windows from a drag strip in nebraska. Not expecting to find shit under the hood, i opened it and to my surprise was a small block, i could tell it had been messed with, i asked the lady if she knew anything about the engine and trans and she said her husband said it had a 327, never checked the numbers, then i was like okay let me see the title. She pulls out a 1974 nebraska title, matched the vin, year matched the plates i found in the back seat. What i could have had was a vintage drag car, and my favorite body style at that!

then things got sketchy....

She told me she didn't have a key to the padlock on the fence but the title matched so i was willing to cut through the lock like she said i could. we got the fence open and i had to be at an appointment so i couldn't get the car out that day. On the way home i started thinking.

No "husband" who's name was apparently the one on the title from nebraska in 1974. This lady was in her mid 50s. So adding that up, the husband could have bought the car in 1974 when he was 17 ish, but what made it weird is that when i asked if i could speak to her husband on the phone about the car, she said he could only talk at night due to time zone differences. I said that's no problem. Then she told me he only could talk to her at night. I was pretty sketched out, and felt almost as if i was stealing a car so sadly my mom talked me out of it. I'll never know for sure what happened to the car because it was gone a few days later, she told me her son had pulled it out and had it on the street, so i can't be sure it wasn't junked.... I've always felt horrible about that whole situation.

 

Oh man.... Lotsa cars I wanted but for various reasons couldn't close the deal. First one in '68 was a local ad that had a '66 427 S/C Cobra for $5500. Fresh out of high school, I nearly turned myself inside out trying to put together the cash to buy that. Even hit up my parents, telling them that it would be a great investment (little did I know...). My mother said I'd probably end up being a greasy smear someplace... and she may have been right at the time... LOL.

Next one a few years later, I was making my weekly visit to my fav wrecking yard for parts and there's a guy in the parking lot trying to sell a '57 T-bird on a trailer for $500. The yard would only offer $300, not enough cash that he needed RIGHT NOW. The car was straight, not rusty and complete (including both tops), but had a dead 312. After wracking my brain for a 1/2 hour trying to figure out a place to store it, I walked away.

Forward a few more years... Another T-bird, this one a '56 with a 406 tri-power FE/4 speed and the ugliest 'psychedelic' paint job you've ever seen. $1500, another one I just couldn't quite come up with the money being in the middle of a divorce....

The last one was a '60 Anglia, straight axle, tunnel-rammed 400 SBC, Muncie 4-speed, ladder bars and narrowed olds rear for $2500. I almost bought this one, even test drove it. Its unpredictability when dropping the hammer (it would go one of four directions; forward, up, left or right) made me pass on it.

 

I was in tech school in 1975 and I had a chance to buy 2 corvettes a 59 and a 60. Both were running, the 60 was a great driver and the brakes were apart on the 59. Both sharp looking cars, for $1000.00 each! I went home and told my dad and he asked me where was I going to put them. We then called the insurance man for a cost estimate. I could not afford the insurance and turned around and bought a new Harley Davidson Sportster. Gary

 

1975, I had the engine out of my '55 BelAir for a rebuild and found a '59 Vette with original 283 and 4 speed, $1900. Body and interior was good, but needed paint. The guy had all new stainless trim still in the GM packaging. Car needed a valve job, but ran and drove good. I passed as I needed to get the '55 back on the road. Some kid bought it and wrapped it around a tree a couple of weeks later.

 

A few one...

1954 Ford with Olds engine for 400$ in 1968.....

1966 Galaxie 427/4speed R code for 500$ in 1968... too much repair !!!

1962 Savoy 413 for 900$ in 1968....missing rear seat !!!

Got married in 1969..

1970 Superbird for 2,500$ in 1972.....no money !!!

1969 2 door post (ex-police) with Boss 429/4 speed for 2,500$ in 1972... no money !!!

etc...etc...

 

When coming back to hobby cars, late 80's, was looking around at 60's muscle cars, found my favorite muscle car, 1964 Pontiac GTO. Red, 4Speed, Tri-carbs, black interior, original, 30K miles, clean, like new from California. They were asking 12K which at the time and my experience with car prices seemed like too much, I offered 10K and man replied, No, 12K bottom price, So.... In my infinite wisdom, left my name #, told him I'd call him in a week or so, called and car was sold. Lesson learned, if something trips your trigger and you want it, the last few bucks on price means nothing, buy it. On our way to a Friday night fish fry in that time frame, drive by a Chevrolet Dealership and noticed a new black Camaro ragtop on showroom floor, stopped in, made us tickle and drove it home, still have it, now at 62K miles, NEVER been in bad weather, always garaged and stored properly, 305FI, 5 speed, posi, black top, grey interior and every option available in a Camaro at that time, a very nice survivor car. Here's the kicker, GTO would be worth 35/45 K today, Camaro cost 15K and now on it's best day 12/15K, So....... Nobody take any advice from me on what some car is worth or what car to buy. LOL

 

Ouch, this one really hurts. A '59 vette!? Are these stories intended to encourage us to buy every C4 Corvette, Fox body Mustang and/or mid 80s coupe car we can find? Will people 50 years from now be asking why we didn't buy everyone we could?

 

In 1962 I gave a deposit on a 53 Ford ht with a 331 Hemi and got laid off my job right after that. I was lucky the guy gave me my deposit back and of course by the time I was back to work it was gone.
In 63 I found a beautiful red 60 Impala 2dr ht, 348, 4 spd but I was unable to convince my dad to cosign for it. He was afraid I would be drafted
Another 53 Ford ht in 84 for $250 I didn't get there soon enough and was told it was sold. The buyer hadn't left a deposit but the lady wouldn't consider selling it to me even for more money. It had one rust spot the size of a quarter, nice paint and a beautiful interior