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

In 1969 when I was 17 years old I came across a nice 1929 Ford Model A sedan delivery, running and very complete...$300.00. I am a MoPar guy so I passed on it. I can still see my own footprint on my ass.

 

I have two very unfortunate quick stories to share.

In '98, my old buddy Ron came running over to my space at the old Phoenix College swap and asked my to check out a car he was looking at... A '33 five window cursed with a bad case of the early seventies uglies. Bad wheels and tires, bad stance, bad wiring. But looking at this thing, it was straight as the day was long, fenders perfect, and had a beautiful black old lacquer paint job that shown in the sun... He bought the car for, like 10,000.00, which was a deal even then. I helped out all that summer, dialed in the chassis and stance, Ron painted a set of Ford steelies schoolbus yellow, we rubbed the paint out and I rewired the car. I got the hurst pedaled brake and clutch assembly to work correctly, tuned the 283 Chev, and we cleaned the living hell out of the period early sixties perfect diamond tuck black vinyl interior. A perfect early sixties time capsule... That fall, Ron called one day and said: "Your going to buy the '33... I found a '32 3window and don't have room for both". "Your going to pay 12000.00 for it, and you'll give me what ever you can afford for now, and 100.00 per month untill it is paid for, and I don't care how long it takes..." What did I say? "I don't know, you know I'm kinda just making minimal money right now, and my mortgage is kinda high and money is always tight, and..." Dumb!!!! Within six months I took a corporate job and was making tons of money for the next 6 years...

Now, let's fast forward to last month... Elpolacko and I are hauling B1gDaddy's deuce three window to Austin for L.S.R.U. and stop in a small town for lunch. It takes forever to hit the table, and my girlfriend calls, so I step out side to talk to her for a moment. I walk to the truck and trailer, and there is an old guy very patiently sitting on the trailer fender. He watches me check the lasings and such as I talk and motions for me to continue my conversation... I finish and he says "This is a '32 Ford 3 window, right?" "Yes sir!" He continues, "It's beautiful, do you want another one, only with all the fenders and stuff?" My interest thoroughly peaked, I try really hard not let my voice crack and answer "Yes sir!" He explains that he worked as a caretaker on a local farm for about 50 years, and that at one point before he worked there, a migrant worker had left one there, and that the owner of the farm had just passed and needed to clear things out. "When you come back through, call me and I will show it to you. do you have something to write with?" "Nope, but I have my cell phone, I can just put your number in." Up to this point, his conversation has been a slow english/ spanish drawl that I hear literally everyday 'round these parts. I might also add that we have been driving 15 hours, and I have been up continuously for almost 32 hours, so I'm a bit buggy. His voice speeds up as he tells me three different phone numbers to contact him with, his name, cousins name, everything. I get it all in, we say our goodbyes, and I promise I'll call when we pass through in a couple of days... Guess who forgot to hit "SAVE" on his cell phone?!?! Trust me, we spent almost two hours driving around every square inch of this small town AND it's outer areas....

 

a 41 willys when I was 13, my dad said he didn't want me to drag home such junk.....

 

Late 50's...in western New York state...a complete 34 Ford pickup....Rusted, but all there.... There was a question re; registration papers.... The other was in 1971,..a 70 Superbird on a Chevy dealer used car lot...for $3,000 ! I was enroute to an overseas assignment at the time..... Wonder what happened to those cars.......

4TTRUK

 

1980 I bought a 1971 pontiac trans am for $500 off a secretary in my fathers office that was a basket case I thought i did pretty good
sold it 6 months later for $1500 trippled my money thought I did great

saw teh same csar 2 years later for 6 grand GRRRRRRRR

buy a clean numbers matching 71 today bring $40 grand

 

My parents, to insure I finished my senior year in high school, said they would put
$500.00 towards a car.
So I promptly started scouring the for sale ads, and wound up at a Ford dealership
in the used car section, where I found a 1950 Studebaker P.U. that was super clean.
It was refrigerator white with a black tuck&roll interior,chrome deep dish rims, and
wide tires on the back. The guy must have had a connection at the local chrome shop,
because the grill, bumpers, and most of the dash and window trim were chromed. Along
with alot under the hood. Not stock stuff. It was lowered with a nice rake to the front.
I went home all excited and told my parents about it,only $1200.00, they said it sounded
like a good deal, and would go look at it. Then being young and stupid, I opened up my
mouth and told them it had a Hemi engine with a four barrel carb. and a Hydramatic trans.
Well that was the end of that. My mother said I would kill myself in it, and to go find a
car they considered safe.
I wound up with a 1957 Volkswagon bug.... Huh!

 

That, and a nearly complete 1933 Studebaker in 1988 for $300.00...

Similar to this one.

 

I dont know if I said the wrong thing but my buddy and I knew not to say anything that might mess up the sale but the guy that was selling a 39 Buick Century,'barn find' , said he only would accept $175 'cash only', wouldnt hold it for me for the $25 my buddy and I had between us. He sold it to a 17 yr old paperboy for $25 a month payments! The kid and his brothers ruined it.

 

During the muscle car craze:
Could have bought a 67 camero 396 4-speed 12-bolt for 800.00
"Dad said no you'll kill yourself", kinda like you'll shoot your eye out......
Also a 69 rs/ss no engine or trans for 200.00 perfect shape, just didn't have the time with working 12 hours a day, school, and wife and child...

 

Two mistakes
1. About 1990? I passed on what must have been the world's best surviving original 1934 Ford 3 window coupe. Perfect shiny paint, perfect interior, the only change ever was he replaced the rear fender welting. He told me how he kept the nuts and washers in the same order so they would not be different than factory. He wanted $12K, I would only pay $10K because that was top price in the old car guide. It is now sitting in a dirt floor garage and not for sale. Hasn't moved in 15-20 years.
2. In the mid 80's I found an original paint 1907 Indian twin that was just like the Ford above. Immaculate! It was $3K, I cut a deal and said I'd come back with the rest of cash with some cash to hold it til then. (I was on a motorcyle trip) An unknown til then partner showed up and demanded "substantial cash down", and was rather insulting. My buddy (He was going to buy a 1912 Indian belt drive single)and I left and without a deal. We were so pissed we didn't go back with the cash a few days later. What a dumb move! That bike, wherever it is, is now worth half a million bucks.

 

About 5-6 years ago.....My sons best friend had a neighbor down the street that was into old cars...he had a gasser style Anglia and other cool stuff. When I dropped him off one day I noticed the guy was tinkering in the driveway...I walk up, strike a conversation and behind his wooden driveway fence was an old custom...turns out the guy was Ron Dunn's nephew...and the car was the Ron Dunn Ford...could have had it for 16k....

 

Nineteen Thirty-Two FORD Roadster




U snooze..........
U Loose...............

 

in 1980 I had a chance to buy a '67 charger from my grandfather for $800. Of course i was 17 and he wasn't into payments.383/4-speed

 

A good friend had a corvette roadster that was a 58 back half with a 62 front. Nasty sounding 327 tunnel ram, muncie 4 speed,57 olds rear, real mag 5 window(oxidized black) wheels. The wiring under the dash shorted out and it wouldn't run, it sat for about three years and when I asked him about it he said, "When I get back fron this trip you can come and get it, pop's been complaining about all my crap setting around." His dad hauled it off to clean up the yard while he was gone out on the river for 30 days.

 

1979 my mother decided to sell the family 1969 bonneville with a 428.$300.Sorry kid to fast for you.Guy bought and wrecked it 2 weeks later.Guess it had to much power for an old guy too.

 

In 1976 I passed on an original 1969 Hemi Roadrunner for $2000, it needed transmission work.

 

Mid 1980's I wanted a 56 Chevy, but didn't know what a good price was.
Found a 56 Belair Hartop in great shape with new chrome for $1700. The valve covers were off and the battery was dead and the guy said call back in a week and it would be running. Of course it was gone by the time I called back. In hindsight, I should have bought it on the spot and towed it home.

 

When I was a kid (16 years old) I found a complete '32 coupe, that had been modified into a stock car (vintage racer) that was abondond in a field not far from home. I took the time to find the owner of the property & the car. I was told to "Haul that thing off. You can have it". The guy gave it to me! I took the time to get a truck & trailer, dig out of the mud, & haul it home - only to realize I did not have anywhere to keep the thing. I asked the guy at the corner gas station if I could leave it there till I could find a spot for it. He had it towed off after a week. It was all Henry, some vintage speed parts, and early wide 5's with floating hubs. DAMN!! I'd love to have that thing today.

 

5" 3", 110 lbs. Jet black hair, dark eyes, Vietnamese. Her name was Thao. Noone will ever take her throne.

 

...oh, and she was a 3rd degree black belt. She was also amazing in other ways which i will not mention here as it is very off topic, but since you asked...that's the find i let get away.

 

2009ish : 1960 Stude Wagon + 1961 Stude Wagon. 60 was a runner. Regal VIII. All the chrome was there. 61 was for parts. Mostly complete. $500 for the pair. Had the money, not the room. Found out a couple months ago that they both went to the scrapper.

 

Trust me brother, you could have just described mine, only with a Cantonese accent. And, like any of them there are days that I wish I'd passed...

 

I was offered the hull of a 427 AC Cobra...a REAL one...for $5000. This was in 1977, I was 16, might as well been a million. No chance in heck I could come up with that much money.

A couple of years later, a 1970 Boss 302 came available for $3900, running driving survivor, pretty nice car. Again, no way a teenager could scrap up that much cash.

Around 1980, a girl who lived up the street offered up her 1965 Mustang for $1000, V-8 auto with A/C and a factory installed Rally Pack, I offered $800 and she turned it down. That was dumb. She was pretty too, the girl and the Mustang.

 

1990....I was a broke college student and was offered a '69 Shelby GT500 Convertible in boxes with a ton of NOS parts...been in the garage apart since 1978-$5500. I couldn't come up with the cash

 

69-70 charger 500 440 4spd for 300 bucks in a Irvine, Calif. storage lot , seen it in the recycler and went to look at it but could not come up with the cash. Also sold my 68 383 charger to the dukes of hazzard show for 650 bucks from a add I saw in the recycler that I got in trade for my 64 dart GT 6 cyl.

 

Mine happened in the mid 70's, I had sold a 57 Chevy to a guy with payments (big mistake on my part), I think the car sold for $700 he gave me $200 and agreed to make $100 payments every week. The payments never happened and I went to chase him down for the money, he said he was having trouble coming up with the money, but he said he had a 32 Ford 2 door sedan in the garage he could offer for the remaining money owed. It was a rolling body with no fenders or hood, pretty solid as I remember, but I turned him down and got the 57 back, I was young and stupid, I guess he was too.

 

Also in the mid 70's I saw an add for a 41 Willy's coupe, X drag car. It was at a farm house outside town in the machine shed, it was yellow with blue tinted windows, glass front end, no engine or trans, they were asking $1500, I couldn't come up with the money, I often wonder where the car went.

 

Back in 02, 56 ford PU. Damn nice 70's style hot rod. Great starting point, no rust just covered in dust. Guy told me he wanted $2000.00. I gave him a $500.00 deposit, said I'd be back Friday, we shook hands and I left. Thursday afternoon he comes into my shop with my $500.00 and says he got an offer of $3500.00 and the truck's already gone. Didn't even give me a chance to match it.

 

Dad had built a '23 T back in the late 60's and then sold it a few years afterwards. After a few owners, it turns up at the Petaluma Police Dept. after being confiscated in a drug raid. They held a silent auction and I put in a bid of $2500 after scraping up the money. Needless to say, someone else won it with a $5000 bid. Mine was second highest. I told my boss about this and he said I should have said something earlier. He would have loaned me the money for a higher bid.

 

About 20 years ago a friend of mine called me about an ad he had seen in the paper. Ad stated "65 Z16 Chevelle" $1750 or best offer. The car was in Garland TX so we went to look at it. Sure enough, it was a real Z16. Not original motor or trans but everything else was correct. I didn't have a pot or a window but my buddy did. I told him to buy it but he said he didn't have time to restore it. I said buy it and spin it. Still did not buy it. Can't believe the prices now. Even then it was worth at least twenty grand.