I passed on a 32 Chevy coupe for $65, but it was 1950, I was 13 years old, and I sure as hell did not have $65. I often wonder what happened to that car, and would I still have it if I had bought it. I did buy a 38 two door sedan Chevy for $125 a couple of years later, a really nice car that still had the original spare in the trunk.
Still not a regret, but I kinda wish I had bought these 2 particular engines back in the early 1980's...... Speedway Salvage in East St. Louis had a " $50 any engine" policy. Sitting inside a junked school bus was a flathead and a Chrysler Hemi. I do wonder what I would have done with them, I was a kid living at home with no real garage space.
Back in the mid '70's I stopped in a small town south of where I live to look at a '65 Chevelle 2-dr wagon. The little old lady said it was not for sale but she took my phone number anyway. A couple years later I got her phone call. She said she would sell it to me for $1500. I told her sorry but I did not have that kind of money. BTW it was an extra nice garage kept piece. It had a 283 PG with factory air that worked.
I had one of those and I also had a 64 Chevelle 2-dr wagon. I found the 65 when I was looking for parts for the 64. The 64 had a 6 with a 3 speed. Sold them both for $650 in 1986 when I was going through a divorce.
It is better to keep your mouth closed and be thought stupid than speak out and remove all doubt-Abe Lincoln. I am sure he would have mentioned writing it down in a forum if he had known!
With out breaking my balls with details, I will list a few from 1968 to 19 70. All these cars were within a mile or so of my house. I had the ability to track them down, but lacked the resources to make them mine. 1. 435 horse 67 stingray coupe. slight fender damage, four speed car-$800 2. 67 dodge R.T. hemi car black on black beefed auto and warmed up motor, done by Knot Farrington (former Bonneville racer and auto tranny guru) for a friend who worked for him. $2500. 3. A Hemi roadrunner that was deemed to much car for some brat by his dad. 3000 miles-$1800. 4.1957 corvette with a screaming 327-4speed (offered by a friend to help finance the above mentioned R.T.) $900. 5. Sidney Fosters original ford altered wheelbase thunderbolt match racer called "Quick Draw" in its topless configuration $1500. There are many more, but I can't take it anymore!
Not buying but when I sold my 58 Pontiac 2dr Strato Chief. Did a lot of work on it, 64 283 truck block, 327 crank, L79 cam. Put a Muncie m20 in it, had 4.11's The guy I sold it to wrecked it 2 years later. Sure wish I had kept it.
my first ride back in high school was a 65 impala 4dr hardtop i bought from my parents. wanted a 2dr fastback soooooo bad but finaly settled for a 74 Z-28. wouldn't you know about a month later came across a fellow in the next town selling a brown 65 fastback 396 SS rust free from NV. loaded with AC, cruise, buckets ,console,the whole 9 yards and only @ $1000.00 more than my Camero no way could I convince my folks to front me the cash to buy it and then sell the Z-28 so I had to let it go. probebly would have trashed or wrecked it anyway, OH WELL!
about 1976. I had the chance to trade a 1958 Corvette with a 283 powerglide for my 1968 Datsun pickup if I would throw in a hundred bucks, I wanted to trade straight up so I declined. ouch..........
In 1972 my father and i went to buy a 427 side oiler for his circle track modified when we showed up at the guys shop the engine was in a ac cobra daytona coupe with some front end damage 1500 for the whole car my father was like what do i want that thing for a purchased the engine for 850 hows that for regrets.
1964 GTO, original red paint, 389 4 speed, black interior... $800.00. Bought my 69 Judge a few weeks later... had a lot more fun in the Judge, but that 64 was sweet, my Judge was a pile.... a very fast pile as far as mostly stock muscle cars go, just not very pretty. another one was a 13 second wheel standing 64 International Scout with a set back DZ 302 for $1500.00, bought a money pit "axled" 56 Bel Air instead. Scout would have been fun. probably would have killed myself in it though. this was 1978 - 1980
a mint 54 cusso $1700 + a whole car load of spares,, a full body flamed 56 cusso for $2600.. but probably the best was a mint 39 Chev coupe for $1000. i had $900 and didnt want to spent my rent money for the balance, dumb thing was i couldve caught up the back rent easy the next week ... what wrong with me bahhhh hahahahaha
A guy i lived with owned a 25 Dodge bucket with 350 olds. He let me drive it when ever i wanted. Some days id take it to work, which was only one block away. I did it because i could. Car got sold, and someone painted it yellow with a blue chassis. It sure looked awful, but it was only paint. Then it turned up on a local car lot for 5 grand. I could have brought it, but i didnt. Ive tried looking for it since, but its nowhere to be found. Fast forward to a year ago, and same guy had a model a truck for sale. Made sure i didnt let this one go.
31 years ago, almost to this date - I was 20 and my beater '71 VW 411 had just crapped out. Answered an ad for a '67 Mustang convertible - fresh 302, new interior and top, bodywork done and primered - $1500. Passed because it would have taken another 6 months on my pay to afford the paint job and if I drove it through an Illinois winter in primer I was afraid it would have been rusty again. So I bought a '74 Coupe deVille instead... then passed on a trade + cash (the '74 + a grand) a few months later which would have netted me a black '57 Caddy Series 62 coupe. Dumb dumb dumb.
i really regret selling my 56 chevy 4door wagon back in 04. i was just starting to get sick and had to sell her so i wouldnt loose my house. still trying to find it but almost given up hope i think its up in Wisconsin but not sure.
Just remembered another - about 12 years ago the L.A. County administrator's estate auction had a solid, running, 99% complete '57 Rambler Rebel four-door hardtop. (This was the silver factory hot rod with the big AMC 327 V-8, 4bbl and dual exhaust - as fast as a stock Corvette.) Was going to bid on it but passed because they also had a '59 Studebaker Silver Hawk (which wasn't as nice as the Rambler) in their warehouse waiting to go through probate. Well, the Rebel sold for $500, and to add insult to injury the Stude disappeared several months later when some relative of the owner turned up, paid the storage and claimed it...
In 1986-7, I found a '56 chevy delivery for $1500. Well with me still in high school living at home dragged my dad to see it to get the ok. He said it would never be worth anything it doesnt have the original engine and the rear quarters had rust. Im still kickin HIS ass he wouldnt let me buy it!
ive past up alot of crazy deals in my day.ALOT.but the one i really regret is a 41 willys with a mean 350 in her 4 speed and 456 rear.1800. in 85.my wife and i were have troubles and i wasnt so sure i would have a place to live let alone a place to park a extra car.now i have a glass willys to build but my heart just aint in it.but someday i will build it because there aint no way i can buy a steel one at todays prices
about 1984 I was in college and working 2 days a week for $56 take home pay, had to pass on a clean 1960 Impala 4-door flat top because I just simply didn't have the bread.. $400! talk about hard times...
Must have been about 1980 I went to look at a VW for sale. When the guy opened the garage he also had a 275 gtb Ferrari. He said nobody could make it run right. $4,000 and "get it out my sight."
In the summer of 1968, I worked at a warehouse trying to earn enough money for college and to buy my first car. A block away there was a stock, unrestored 1937 Plymouth coupe parked at the curb each day, and after a few weeks I decided to go door to door trying to find the owner and see if he would be willing to sell. That's when I met Addie and Edith Weigand, two sisters in their late '70s, never married, and the owners of the car. They invited me in, served me tea and cookies and asked me about myself. Of course, I didn't ask many questions about them, and I have always regretted that. Finally, they thanked me for my interest but explained that they'd bought the car new, weren't interested in learning to drive another car and just didn't see a need to sell it. A few weeks later I saw the car had sustained some significant damage to the left front fender, the wheel was bent and the tire flat. I tried to find out several times if they were okay, but they never answered the door. The summer came to an end, I went off to college and never saw the car or them again.
1995 I was at a garage sale and a Guy had a 1949 Chevy panel. He said a guy offered him $50 for it he said he wanted $100 So I Bought it. I told a guy at work that I bought it and he offered me $200 and I sold it the next day
Boy do I have some regrets. Back in the late 60's I had just started working for the Post Office. It didn't pay much back then, $2.95 and hr.. Anyway, I ran across a 57 Ford T-bird on a car lot for $1295. It had the hardtop, 312, 4-speed. Passed, wife told me she was pregnant. Two weeks later I come out of a service station restroom, and head to my mail truck. There is a guy there with a 54 Corvette getting gas. I stop and drool over it, and he starts bitching about the hood not popping opening unless he uses a fiberglass comb. I tell him what a great car he has, and he says you want this piece of shit, you can have it for $1200. I say wife is pregnant and money is tight I'll have to pass. A year later my daughter is born and money is still tight. I am delivering mail to a new neighborhood I had never been in before. I come down a street and there in the driveway is a 56 Mercedes Gullwing coupe. I am blow away by this beauty. I'm walking around it and a guy come out and says you interested in it? I say who wouldn't be. He says it is for sale. $1500. This one I come home and talk to the wife about. She says be realistic, 3 people, one 2 seater car. I tell her, the baby is small, she can sit on your lap for a couple of years. She says no way. Shit. I should have divorced her right then, instead of 15 years later. Haha. Oh well.
In 1969 I had just totaled a new Vette [79 days old]. A friend tells me of a 63 split window I could get for $900 [original fuel injected]. I go see the guy and he wants $1100, I offer him $950 and he says "no". Two days later I'm thinking its stupid to pass up for $150, so I go back and he had sold it for $900. Also the same year my cousin, a Ford salesman offers me a new Cobra for $9000. Thats almost twice the price I gave for the new Vette $4650. I had bought the Vette while on R&R in Subic Bay, Philippines.
The Jalopy Journal
