the one that got away.....

[Jeff Johnston]

I have two.

One was the 69 Mustang Mach 1 that the guy across the street wanted to sell me for 2300 bucks in 1984. I passed on it and bought a 76 Camaro LT because it had a 4 speed. Stupid kid.

Then I grew up and was looking for a Mustang...found a 68 GT. 4-speed 302 4 barrel. Descent driver. The guy wanted 7800 for it. I passed because he would not let me drive it because it wasn't registered. He told me it had a clutch chatter and that at it probably needed a clutch. I passed not knowing what else it might need. It idles and revved fine. That car would be worth a lot more than 7800 now... and this was only in 1999 !

JJ

Edited August 19, 2012 by Jeff Johnston

[FASTBACK340]

Mine I let go too.....

When I was 17 I bought my first second generation Barracuda, a white '69 Notchbach 318/auto w/Cragars. Lasted 5 weeks before it was stolen from in front of our house. My second Barracuda I bought the following summer for $600 with a blown motor. It was a 383/4spd. '68 Fastback, green w/ blk bucket seat interior. It was over-revved and some pushrods jumped and jammed in the lifter gallery. Fixed it for cheap and proceeded to scare the heck out of myself every time I drove it. HUGE handful for an 18 yr old! I advertised it for $1,200 and eventually traded it for a '70 Cadillac. My gas mileage almost doubled, from 6mpg to 10......

Did I mention it was a factory big-block / 4spd barracuda Fastback?

[Tom Setzer]

When I went home to Lenoir on Leave in 1967, I saw a Beautiful Black on Black Bubble Top 409 ! When I went check it out and buy it, it was gone! The Salesman told me that it only had 8000 miles on it which ment that they had priced it a little hi at $1,600! I would have a lot more for it!

Edited August 19, 2012 by Tom Setzer

[Ace-Garageguy]

Speaking of 409s, an acquaintence of mine found a '62 Impala dual-quad, 4-speed 409, red on red, in 2005. The car had about 60.000 miles on it. It was sitting in a carport, outside, covered, on 4 flat redline Polyglas tires. Seems the car's owner was killed in Viet Nam, and his mother could never bring herself to part with it. She finally decided to let it go, and having no clue what it was actually worth, sold it to my guy for $2500.

[Tom Setzer]

Speaking of 409s, an acquaintence of mine found a '62 Impala dual-quad, 4-speed 409, red on red, in 2005. The car had about 60.000 miles on it. It was sitting in a carport, outside, covered, on 4 flat redline Polyglas tires. Seems the car's owner was killed in Viet Nam, and his mother could never bring herself to part with it. She finally decided to let it go, and having no clue what it was actually worth, sold it to my guy for $2500.

In 2005 that SS in good running condition, with nice clean paint and interior, was worth between $10,000 and $12,000! If it was a Belair Bubble top 409, Duel Quad,Four speed, it woulb have been worth over $20,000!

[tubbs]

I have two.

One was the 69 Mustang Mach 1 that the guy across the street wanted to sell me for 2300 bucks in 1984. I passed on it and bought a 76 Camaro LT because it had a 4 speed. Stupid kid.

JJ

my long time friend called me in the early 80's, said he located 2 superbirds. one was 440 4bbl, yellow/white interor auto, the other was 440+6, 4 speed, white/black int. $6,000 each. he kicks himself cause he took the 4 bbl auto car and i passed cause i DIDN'T want the 4 speed car........ he still has the yellow bird.......

[The70judgeman]

This one was a car that belonged to my dads best friend. When he bought it, the story was the original owner bought it for his wife. It was a Brands Hatch Green with a saddle interior '71 Corvette. She drove it for a year or two and then decided she wanted a red Vette with a black interior. Well, the husband took the Vette in and had it painted red and dyed the interior black, and then gave her the car back. My dads friend eventually bought the Vette in the '80's. Drove it in the fair weather only. He discovered the front sub-frame was completely rotted out and the restoration began over the next 10+ years back to original colors. He worked on it in his spare time in his shop that also housed his business. He finally finished it a couple of years before he retired. He moved up north after retirement and drove it a lot during the summer. I was at my dads cabin for a long weekend a few years ago and my dads friend rolled up in the Vette. All he said to me was "get in". We rolled out to the road and he stopped, dropped it into 1st gear(it's an automatic) leaned into the pedal and accelerated through the gears. That was the first time I experienced tunnel vision. A few miles down the road he pulled over and jumped out..."you drive" was all he said. Not my car...I had to take it easy for the drive back. Got back to the cabin and grabbed the camera for some pics. My dads friend asked how the ride/drive was. "Awesome" was all I could say and "thanks" for letting me drive it. He said "good....wanna buy it? I'm selling it and I'm offering it to you first." Stunned...I didn't know what to say. I was already in the middle of making car payments, so the unfortunate answer at the end of the weekend was no...I can't and thanks for the offer. He sold it a few months later. I'm also not a fan of green cars of any shade. Now it's a few years later and I found this picture of the Vette. Regret, regret, regret....what a bad feeling it is. Here's the pic...

Edited August 24, 2012 by The70judgeman

[Junkman]

I did not buy the Greenwood Widebody Corvette #2 when I had the chance.

It's this car:

Read its history here:

http://www.greenwoodcorvettes.com/C02.html#

Later I got so annoyed by my mistake, that I buit my own racing Corvette, which racked up more victories and better results than any Greenwood Corvette ever did, without becoming nearways as famous.

It then resided in the Motorsport Museum in Hockenheim for over 20 years, and got recently destroyed in a classic event.

Edited August 23, 2012 by Junkman

[Modelmartin]

Let's see. All of this is from 73-76 time period.

Cars I had:

63 Impala SS w/ 283 4 speed, bucket seats. Traded for beat up 66 Chevelle SS 327 4 speed.

63 Riviera $175. w/two smashed quarter panels but only 60K on it. Put on a 65 clip! traded for my....

..33 Plymouth 4 Dr w 289 Ford. I chopped the top 4 inches. Never finished it. Someone else did and I do see it once in a while nearly 40 years later on the streets of the Twin Cities.

64 T-Bird Landau missing seats and carbeurater for a pair of chrome reverse rims...sold it for $40.00

47 Chrysler 4-dr and 40 Plymouth 4-dr got both for free from local farmers and sold each one for $40.00!

Ones I didn't get:

60 Caddy Convert driver in good shape at a local gas station $200.

62 Plymouth 2 dr with 413 and torqueflite for $225.00

31 Model A coupe hi-boy with a chopped top and full house 300" Merc flathead for $150.00

The kicker - My best friend at the time bought a Boss 429 Mustang for $2000. and offered it to me a year later for the same. DOH!

There were more but I was in High School and only making about $2.75 an hour.

[Rob Hall]

I still miss my '96 BMW M3 that I had from '98-07. Wouldn't mind having another M3, but probably a later E46 version. As far as cars I didn't buy but regretted not buying, I looked at a very clean '93 Mustang Cobra back in '98 and passed on it, then got the BMW.

I've had an interesting past w/ Mustangs...I still have my '87 Mustang GT that I got new in high school (though it's in storage now), I had an '86 Mustang LX 2.3 in college (quite a slug w/ a 4cyl), and inherited my Dad's '69 Mustang Sportsroof (351W 4bbl, auto)..it's in storage w/ the '87 in Ohio. I'd like to have a '08 Bullitt and a '12 Boss 302 eventually.

[uncle potts]

In '74 I found a '56 Chevy Belair 2door hardtop with a 409 under the hood , for $75. Dad said I couldn't have it, cause I would kill myself(i was only 16 at the time). I convenced him to let me have the 265 v-8 out of his '55 4door sedan and he could have the 409. Went back the next day and the car was gone, I was just sick. That was my first missed car.