Whats the stupidest thing you let pass through your hands

My grandfather always tells me about the barn full of deuces and deuce parts that he didn't buy for 10k in the early 80's because he had nowhere to put it all. Also, when my aunt picked up a 40 chevy his quote was " Nice car, I sold one for 75 bucks."

 

A rough 49 Mercedes roadster body I sold a guy for $75. No drivetrain, top, interior, trim, wood all rotted. He reserched it and found out it was one of three left in the world, sold it to a musuem back east for $30g s

 

I walked on a 67 corvette, all orig and running needed brakes and a two inch hole fixed in the front for 2,500.00 back in '83 ...Dad said "you cant aford the parts to fix it!" he was right I was 17 and needed a daily driver but I wish I could have bought it and just stored it for resale later.

 

Ouch!!

 

here are my agonies -

1973 - 64 chevelle 327/4 speed,red, black int., - bought for $200, sold for $125
1974 - 56 ford victoria 312/auto - blue/white, - bought for $60, sold for $200
1974 - 67 mustang fastback, 390/auto, ex wally lynn former SS/FA nat. record holder
bought for $750, sold for $2500 (thought i made a killin!)
1974 - 60 vette - 327/4 spd. - both tops - bought for $400, sold for $2500

can i get ANY of them back? please!!!!

 

that was 1997
red 1970 Camaro Z28(real one) first owner, survivor car all original with original paint (red with black stripes) in mint condition for 2800 German marks. Thats´s about 1900$

 

Two Shelby Cobras in great shape. Sold at auction for $32k and $30k each. This was around 1984. That was so far out of reach for me back then that I could only dream of bidding on them.

dka

 

found i bought a 64 with a hit 1/4 pass. side in 1974 in irvington nj car was green at one time took motor out of it junk car wonder if same car?

 

I could have bought this a number of years ago, before it was restored.

 

In '94 or '95 traded my '40 Packard conv.(needed a total redo) for a running '84 mustang conv. because I didn't think I would get around to fixing it up.

 

My two biggest? (out of many)

1932 Phaeton in middle Georgia. Took too long to get down there to see it so it got sold for $2,500 in about 1985 to a relative of the owner. But he was telling me $4,500.

around the same time frame.... a 6,000 original mile red over black 1969 Dodge 440 4spd Daytona for $6,000. Took a week to come up with the $$ and the owner would not take a deposit no matter how hard I pleaded. Sold two days before I got over there with the $$ and it wasn't even advertised.

 

I personally don't care much for '57 Chevys, but that is one of the prettiest color combinations on those cars... If you go to a show today, you'd think they were only available in red or black. And no disrespect to anyone who doesn't fit into this narrow-minded observation, but quite a few of the '57 Chevy owners I've met have been jerkoffs.

Now for the on topic part. Bought an original '69 Falcon, stripper 2door, 302/C4 and a Traction-Lok 8", no power anything and rubber carpet for $200 in 1990 when I was 15 and gave it away two years later when I got my first Dodge Dart (which was stolen in 1995). My sister gave me her '65 Tempest Custom in 2000 and I traded it off (wasn't worth it) in 2005.

 

This hurts just to remember these mistakes.

In the mid-eighties I traded a running 56 Belaire 4 door hardtop with candy red paint and diamond tuck interior for a 72 ford van in order to get my ass outta Denver in a hurry.

About 3 years ago I found a running 50 chevy 2 door sedan (all original but rough) on the local craigslist for 900.00. I kept it stored for about 6 months then let it go to buy a 51 coupe that has been quite the money pit (although I DO love it).
Ed

 

I sold my 61 Falcon 2 door with under 15000 original miles to buy a new 86 Nissan pickup. Still hate myself for it.

 

1955 Dodge Coronet. No rust anywhere!

Could have made a real nice car....

 

There have been so many, most I've tried to forget...The XKE roadster with Ford six cyl. I should have just hauled off..the 54 Chrysler New Yorker stationwagon with wood interior that I traded off, turns out there were only 400 of them..the 70 Buick 455 GS convertable with qtr. panel damage for $1000..That Indian girl in N. Calif..I can't go on its too painful, Yes, yes be happy with what you do have, yes....

 

I worked for a private collection of classic cars, when the owner died sotheby's auctioned the cars off and wanted nothing to do with the parts unless they we worth $5000 or more... Owner of the building the cars were in was a dick. Wanted us out in 3 days... Most small parts were sold, given away ot thrashed, but I remember throwing 200-300 new in the paper white walls in the back of a trailer to take to the dump... We had to pay $3 tire to get rid of them... Now I look back at what we did and could cry...

 

the led zep records are only worth about 3$ a piece not scratched lol if you want some i have stacks of them

 

The thing I let slip through my hands was my dads Bantam Roadster that he raced at El Mirage. It had a modified Ford-60,La Salle trans and it was on modified A frame rails. After I found out he got rid of it I tried for along time to find the guy that bought it, his Name was Ernie and he was a Sgt. in the Air Force out in Mohave - Never heard a thing, I even ran ads in the local newspaper.

 

8-9 years ago a centre door t body and fenders, no rust, straight, blasted and primed for $4300.....didnt have anywhere close to the cash for it but god damn I would have loved to have that one

 

My $$$$$$.

 

1974, Dover AFB seeing a friend, he pointed out a 68 KR 500 convert w/ bad engine
for $1000.00
6 hrs from home, young, no money

 

I was a kid at the time,there was a store called Great eastern mills it was like a wall-mart kinda deal,but they closed down around 1970,and the auto section had a clearance rack of cheater slicks for $5 each (atlas bucrons i think) i was there with my parents and they thought i was nuts for wanting a set (i had no car or license) but i knew all the bad ass cars in my neighborhood had em so i knew i had to have them!

 

In 1975 I was a high school sophomore. My classmate Tom Crawford knew I played guitar, and asked if I might be interested in buying an old electric guitar he had sitting at his house. He explained that his dad bought the guitar new the same year he was born (1959), and his mom won it in the divorce settlement when he was 3. Neither of them played so it had sat languishing in a closet ever since then. "It says 'Gibson' on it," he said.

Containing my hard-on, we went over to his house and he opened the closet revealing a case marked 'Gibson', next to a little '50s Silvertone amp. I opened the case. It was a 1959 Les Paul Custom, Ebony, 3 gold pickups, abso-fucking-lutely MINT. Original bill of sale (if I recall, $360), Gibson catalog. The very Stradivarius of electric guitars. Even then, I knew it was worth at least $1500, maybe $2000. I didn't have that kind of scratch, so I decided to to lowball him.

"Nice axe," I said. "I could probably give you 250 bucks for it." (pretty much all the money I had)

"REALLY?" he said, excited. "Let's go talk to my mom."

His mom was a little skittish, and said that maybe she should put an ad in the paper or something first. "But we're not using it, so why don't you just borrow it for a while Mike?"

I happily obliged. I had that Les Paul in my bedroom for 2 months or so, but didn't play it much. I was afraid to touch the damn thing, so holy and sacred was this collection of wood and wire. I mostly bowed to it and lit votive candles, while trying to save the extra $100 or $200 that I knew would clinch a final sale.

Anyway, Tom drops by my house one day after school with a stranger, another guitar player that he mentioned the guitar to. The guy took one look at it and said, "I'll give you $1000 for it right now."

Tom shoots me the stinkeye, because he realized then my original offer was pretty much a joke.

Fast forward 30 years to our high school reunion. I saw Tom and asked him about the Les Paul. His wife chimes in.

"You wouldn't believe it," she said. "He kept that thing all those years, stored it under the bed. I almost gave it to Goodwill two times because I was tired of vacuuming around it. Tom stopped me, because he said it was worth a lot of money. I asked him how much, and he didn't know. So I started to check on the internet."

Long story short, Tom sold that '59 Les Paul to a vintage guitar dealer in Wisconsin in 2007 for $100,000. Within a week, the dealer resold it to a collector in Philadelphia for $150,000. The same friggin' guitar I nearly had for $250.

Excuse me while I go slash my wrists.

 

in 1974 I owned a real 1966 SS396 Chevelle numbers matching 4 speed . I had the engine out doing a ring and rebearing job when I found a sweet 70 1/2 Camaro with a 4 speed . I sold the Chevelle body for $75.00....yeah I said $75.00. For a 12 bolt 373 posi , real SS 4 speed body. I kept the Muncie and the engine...but gave the body away for $75.00 freeking dollars. Oh well .

 

In 1984 I could have traded EVEN my Pinto Station wagon for a '57 MG! Shoot me now!

 

Early days of E-bay.....

I watched an old F.E.D., w/ blown 392, complete, running, sell for I think it was something like $ 5000.00!

I tryed to get everyone I knew to contribute, but...well, no one had the same enthusiasm as I did, I suppose!

 

1979: 1950 Ford Woodie $100, bought a '69 Mach 1 from the guy for $75!
1981: 1970 GT500 $2500
It hurts when you kick yourself. tnrotter

 

I had cash in hand, but passed up a 440 6bbl Super Bee with 4-speed.
This was in 1976, and I even test drove it. It had custom paint, and it was falling off in chunks so I passed on it for a grand.
In 1978, after just getting married, my neighbor put his 70 Fury GT 440 6bbl car for $700.........I had no cash!
I passed up a 70 Torino GT convertible too..........
So many opportunities, makes me sick.
But in 1973, I dragged a 66 Coronet 500 convertible 383 4-speed home.
still got it too........................

 

Well there's a few for me.

69 Boss 429. I passed on it in the mid 80s for $5K because the top end of the motor was off of it, all there and re-done but apart. I was intimidated.

2yrs later a 66 Ferarri 330GT 2+2, 2 headlight, new light blue metallic paint, needed a complete interior resto, $18K. It was May. At the Kruse Auburn sale a similar 4 headlight example in silver brought $87K.

In the early 90s a 63 1/2 Galaxie 427 fastback was brought up. I was told $20K. I had most of the $$$$ needed and could get the rest. I was also told it was a drag car by 'somebody that everybody knows of' and that it was most likely a lightweight. My mind said bullshit, I'll believe it when I see it. The guy fucked with me for a few weeks to the point I told him he was full of shit and get lost...for good! 2 months later I heard that someone extracted a lightweight Galaxie out of garage nearby and paid "a lil over 20K" for it. If I ever see the asshole again that dicked me around I might kick him in the balls. That car coulda paid for all the cars I got now.

4yrs ago I looked at a 30-31 Model A coupe body with no decklid and no firewall for $400. The rest was actually really solid but life was tough takin care of Dad. I hesitated. Looked at it everyday as a drive-by to and from work for almost 2 months. One morning I said to myself, 'fuck it, I'm buyin it.' On the way home from work it was gone. I knocked on the door and he'd sold it that day. WTF...