What was the biggest 'find' you let get away?

Well I have 2. I walked away from a 1953 Chevy, stocker, beautiful patina. A true barn find. $1200. Next was an incredible 1964 El Camino, another California stocker, $1800.

 

complete running clean 67 nova super sport $3500 back in 98

 

58 corvette $1000.00, but it was in 65

 

In 1989 I passed on a '65 GT350 for $12,000 because the numbers didn't match and a dent in the left rear quarter had not been repaired very well. What a dumb ass...

 

1975 - Chanelled '32 Ford roadster with a 348 Chevy, 4 sp, Mustang blue bucket seats and a chrome roll bar. In the trunk were TWO Corvette fuel injection units. One appeared complete, the other just the manifold and plenum. $400!!!!!!!!!!

I know were the car is today, back up on the frame with a flathead.

 

Hmmmmm..........it was 1972.......my brothers friend pulled up in his 62 Corvette.....sateen silver 327 4-speed....black gut........I beam lifted front with Ansens all around....the hot rod look of the day........said he was selling and did I want first dibs.......price 1850........went in to ask Mom as I was 18........she said how much do you have saved........950.........she said "well I guess you can't get it!...........Mom's know best as I would have more than likely put the car in the woods......high horsepower.....six beers and drum brakes on a Friday night at 18 did not mix well back then.........but I did buy a 67 Nova SS and still own it today..........and managed to get a few of those 62's along the way too.

 

I have a 64 fairlane 500 sedan....my father Tryed to get me to buy a engine from his friend 20 yrs ago for $2600 bucks with a 4 speed....At the time I could of bought it but, I didnt need a motor and it was alot of $ for me.....IT WAS A 427 SIDE OILER......I still kick my self in the ass for not buying it....

 

It's all ways the money right? When I was a paperboy in the early '70s, there was a '57 Chevy 2 door Bel-air on my route, $300.00, it might have just as well been 3 million!

 

1978, passed on a 69 375 horse 4 speed orig. paint and interior camaro for $1100.00 because the flywheel ring gear was stripped than a week later I passed on a "in the crate" L88 for $500 , dumb ass

 

15 years ago. A cherry '65 Mustang Fastback GT for $8,500 from a kid down the street. Red w/ white stripes and Americans. I didn't buy it because it was an automatic and I wanted a 4-speed.

 

1976....my friends dad owned a local salvage yard.....i went to see if he had anything for an old ford roadster.....he had a ton of old henry shit still at that time.....mike the son came up from the bottom garage and told his dad he just striped some old cragars off a tow in...slamed em on a ...1969 dz camaro.....his dad tells me to stop back, said he had the frame work for the roadster up at the house and would bring it in next week....week passes and i go down to get the frame work...mikes dad is pissed when i show up....seems mike got 9 tickets over the weekend with the dz...nd he blew the motor and his dad told himm to stuff something into it cause it was going up for sale....
well i go down and check out the 69 dz camaro...nice clean car....his dad comes down and says he has the frame for the roadster up stairs ....i ask how much for the 69 dz...he says $500 cash....well i tell him i'll be back in 1 hour to buy it and hand him the $50 dollar bill i was going to pay for the roadster roof frame.....
so i jump in my 65 ss impala convert, drive 7 miles up to the roadster and tell the old guy i changed my mind....too much work welding in the trans and motor mounts.....now mind ya this flattie in the roadster runs, shifts ect....came out of a 31 model a that got rearended...he says if thats what ya want to do ad hands me back my $500....total price for the roadster....i drive back down and pick up the $500 camaro with the blown dz block in the trunk....and a fairly fresh 350 under the hood..leave my vert ss setting there all weekend.....come a weekend later my other buddy bill, his dad, who i asked about the roadster (he was old hotrodder and had pics of himself with a few ford roadsters) seen me roll up in the 69 camaro...he asks what happened to the roadster deal ..i tell him, hey, why pay $500 for a convert when i already have one,,,,and the camaro is drive out ready to roll for the same money.....
well Bills dad picks up the roadster...hell he talked the guy down to $450...welds in the flattie and runs the wheels off it till around 1988...by then the dz camaro is long gone, traded for a 68 roadrunner....bills dad sells the roadster that summer.....some where around $9500 is what the guy pays for it.....i was there when he paid and drove it off....listening to his wife bitchin about how he paid so much cash for a toppless..... 1932 ford..

my dumb ass didn't have much to say other then that it was a long time passing to make a great profit on the old ford.....

IF I ONLY FUCKING KNEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

April 1st, 1978 (no foolin'), local newspaper ad:

For Sale, 1970 HemiCuda, Purple w/White interior (I KNOW this car!), Automatic, runs...$1,000 or BO

Race over to the guy's house...car sittin' in the middle of a BIG mud puddle...used as a dog house that last winter for his Shepherd. Used as a daily driver in salt-stained Ontario, before that. Needs EVERYTHING! Runs...barely...to 20 mph, shootin' ducks through the carbs. Matching numbers, front-to-back, top-to-bottom. NO aftermarket...get to replace EVERYTHING at the Mopar Store! And I mean everything...

Very nice local-show winners were about $7,500 at that time, the BEST were $10K.

Pass...

What would the driveline and matching VIN be worth today?

 

more recently, i passed on a blower intake setup for my dodge 325 hemi...for under $700....so stupid at the time, newbie Hamber...and figured i needed to buy other stuff to get Lil Beast running that winter....that was 4 years ago....and my topo is still in the garage,,,,and a blower intake for the dodge???hell it's hard to find a 4 bbl intake for the 325, let alone a blower intake.....

so now i know!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Last week I saw a disassembled 426 hemi in the local want ad paper called uncle Henry's.....price 800.00. I figured it was gone so didn't call on it. Four days later I called and the guy said he had no calls till the day before and the guy to call bought it right away. I didn't really need one but thought it would be good to resell. The guy said nothing was missing, it was all bagged and sorted out needed a rebuild, nothing ruined or cracked......oh well, ya snooze ya loose!

 

When I was in the Navy nearly 80's and stationed at Whidbey Is., Wa. I was getting parts at NAPA for a car I was building. I walked out afterwards, a parked '67 Chevelle with 4-sale sign caught my eye. It was all original SS327 4-spd. car, very clean. Price $2400.00 OBO. I walked away and thought about calling the guy...maybe tomorrow. That night, I was at a party and a friend came in, told me he just bought this nice car. I went outside with him to check it out, it was the Chevelle. He asked me to hop in and take it out for a spin. Fock! this car was fast and I could've kick my self in the ass for waiting.
That's not the end of the story. The guy brought it back to Wisconsin. So we would go out and hit bars, ask him if he ever wanted to sell the car to me. He just wanted to hang on to it. Years past and I called him one day out of the blue. I asked him if he still had the car? he said he sold it 2 days ago. doh!

 

Back in the mid 70's I passed on a AAR Cuda for $900 all factory stock, Guy was going in the Navy and just wanted to get rid of it.
The 2nd one was a legit Dana 427 Camaro, 4 speed car mint at that time for $3000.

 

this was around mid-summer 2003. i was in the Marines and my unit was deploying in late sept. i would cruise around the hills of perris ca looking in peoples yards for old cars. i seen fins sticking out from behind an old garage up on a hill near a mobile home. it had a long driveway and for some reason kept driving. i deployed came back home and went back to further investigate since it had bugged me for 7 months. young lady came out and i asked her about the car. then she calls her grandma out and she tells me her dad worked at local dealership in riverside and bought the car for her highschool grad in 1957. she drove the til 1959 and it sat in that yard ever since. CAR= 1957 CHEVY BEL AIR HARDTOP ALL ORIGINAL just sun baked and flat tires.The fucking documentation was all in the glove box still. She had just sold it to a guy for 2,000 dollars couple days prior!!!! Since then i ALWAYS stop and ask.

 

For us who grew up when what we collect now was just normal everyday cars, we could probably fill a book with stuff we just passed on by. Who wudda thunk all this ole junky crap would have become worth anything?
The 1966 Shelby GT350 I passed up on for a thousand bucks in 1970 usually comes to mind and haunts me.

 

And well it should! Lol
I'm in the same boat, in the mid '80s my buddy had a '64 Mercury Monterrey, 390 and 4 speed. When we ran the numbers we found out it originally had a 427 in it. We ran the piss out of that car and the 390 ran like a top. When he had to sell it he only wanted $400 for it. I'd just quit work to attend college full time and couldn't see hitting my meager savings to buy the car. I definitely qualify for the "Dumb Ass of the Year" for that one.

 

I had a honey hole years ago and I told a so called friend about it and he and another guy went and high graded the place. What a dick head.

 

a. Back in 65, 57 Merc Turnpike Cruiser 2dr hdtp, all black, upper fin inserts were some kind of perforated gold metal $500 (YKWNM...young kid with no money)

b. sometime in the mid 70s, 1946 Chrysler Club Coupe with the plaid seats (Highlander?) control knobs & handles were still like new. Car had no dings and was always garaged. 6 cyl FH. I was 2nd in line...1st guy bought it for $125 (Makes me sick to think about it now)

c. sometime in the 90s, 1955 Packard 2dr hdtp. $550. (I really dont know what I was thinking to have passed on that one.....guess I wasn't thinking..)

 

Well the "biggest" one was one of those GM top cockpit display busses like the one sold on BJ several years ago. It was in a wrecking yard in NH back in the late 60's. I've kicked myself in the butt many times over that one. I always thought they were way cool.

 

The chick next door.

 

1967 Chevelle SS 396 4 speed car. Missing the motor and transmission, 100% mint for $1700. It was 1987 and I was 16 years old....

 

My dad LOVED his 1963 Buick Riviera.....even got custom plates (R 63 RIV) eventually it broke down and sat for years, one day I heard he gave it away because he had no money to fix it (this was about 15 years ago)

I KNOW he wants that car back.

I wish I could find that car, restore it for him, and give it back to him before he passes away.