A Car Sold You Wish You Would Have Kept

Hello Everyone

I'm new to the forum and have enjoyed reading thru the posts. I grew up with cars of the 60s and 70s, now mostly considered classics. I liked the muscle cars but could only afford the used beat up 10-12 yr low to the ground sports cars. and learned to lone them. I had a few along the way, but raising a family eventually sidelined the interest.

I've been thru econo boxes, soccer vans, braces and college(s). Now, I'm at a point where I can maybe look back and dream of putting those cars back in the driveway again.

I often find myself thinking back to the cars I wish I had never sold, quite a few.

What are some of the cars you wished you had kept over the years?

'59 Corvette

'67 SS396 Chevelle

'71 Fiat 850 Spider

In reply to VClassics:

Heart of the beasts, but love the 850 Spider!

Not really any I wish I kept. I sold them for a reason. Thought this about a 63 Rambler my ex-wife & I had when we were young (mid 70's by the way) but then she reminded me that we got rid of it because you could see the road from the inside the car looking down.
There are a few I turned down that I regret not getting it later. One that comes to mind is an Opel Manta that had a blown torque converter in the A/T, price was FREE come and get it. Didn't have a way to get it home nor room at the house at the time. Besides, I already had an Opel GT why would I want another Opel? Regret not dragging that home now. Especially since I now have 2 classics in the garage, the Opel GT completely restored and a 63 MG Midget project.

LOL

I wish I never sold my '72 850 Spider.

In high school, I drove the '67 Plymouth Belvedere II hard top that my grandparents had bought new. I sold it for $300 because the the gas tank leaked and I liked Mustangs better.

I've bought and sold two '65 Mustangs since, but I spent more than decade looking for that old Plymouth. I don't want one just like it, I want that one. I'm pretty sure it gave it's life to help someone restore a GTX.

My '91 Acura Integra (was actually traded in on a used Audi A4 Avant that I sold a few months later).

I loved that car to death, but various bits and pieces were starting to fail and I needed a new DD. Regardless, if kept it would have made for a great track-rat and auto-x car and would have saved me a whole heap of buying and selling stupidity I've done since.

I've regretted selling most of my cars and trucks over the years, but the Acura really stands out when I look at the pile of cars currently in my garage and driveway (and back yard) that I probably wouldn't have bought had I kept the Integra and just bought another DD (like I eventually did anyway to replace the Audi).

The only car I sold that I honestly wish I still had was my 1968 Aston Martin DBS. I had bought it for $23,000 and sold it for $30,000. I knew they would increase in price above that but not to the extent that they have. I was not at all done with the car but needed to make space for a herd of Alfas that I had purchased.

My DB7 did not hold a candle to the DBS.

My '53 TD. Though being a Marine in S. Cal. in the '60s & the TD being my only 4-wheel ride, I had little choice.

You didn't even want to drive a TD on freeways at the speeds they traveled back then! Especially at night when your tail light, not tail lights probably was too dim to be seen if it was on at all!

shoulda kept:

73 240z-- rusty but save-able

81 Scirocco-- lots of great parts I could use now!

66 Rambler American-- dead nuts simple, a little rough but would have made a great around town machine

In reply to toff:

I traded my '68 Volvo 1800S back in '76 for a new Buick Skyhawk. A few months later I started wishing I'd kept the 1800 as a 2nd car, especially since the trade-in value wasn't that great, and the Skyhawk turned out to be a POS (70's era GM quality at it's worst). Anyway for the past 35 years I've always lamented the loss of the 1800 and thought I'd have another one some day when the time was right. Well, the time is right, but you know what? I recently test drove a couple of them for sale locally and was totally disappointed. They were in relatively good shape, and maybe another $15-20K in engine and suspenion upgrades would have improved things a little. But the experience just didn't do it for me and I no longer have a desire to own a vintage 1800.

My 60 and 61 Porsche 356's. Not that I shouldn't have sold them, but I should have waited until now. I would have got more than the $6000 each that I received back then.

The salvageable and running Bugeye I sold for $60

The Volvo P1800 "hot rod special" with a 289 Ford V8 and 4-speed that I sold for $200 to buy a Mini. The Volvo was far from perfect, but it ran and was in fair shape. Later on, I found out it was one of a limited number of factory specials built in Englewood Cliffs NJ by Volvo-USA (as a test to see how a V8 P1800 would perform and sell).

I sold these cars 35-40 years ago.

The top one, but non-classic - my Lotus Elise S1. Very early one, IIRC it's one of the first hundred made. No way to get it into the US for road use, so it went to a good home in Germany instead.

Classic car wise, the Rover P6 3500 that I sold when I bought my house, and a late X1/9 that was in really good shape for a UK car[1].

And the one I'm regretting having to sell, my 911. Still own it, but it'll have to go on the market in the next few weeks. OTOH that'll free up some money so I should be able to start looking for one here.

[1] Ie, you couldn't see through areas that you weren't supposed to see through.

In college I worked in a restoration shop in Kansas and had a bunch of interesting tin pass through my hands like a 1954 sunbeam alpine, a jag xk 120 fhc, a 64 triumph TR4 and a big healey. It was the early 80s - didn't pay more than 2500 for any of them - all driver condition. I bonded with the TR4. This last December I bought a 63 TR4 to play with.

SFM6S1299.......

my 1966 Shelby GT-350-H

Most departed for good reason. Some weren't bad cars, just my interest in them was fulfilled and I desired a change. A couple I do wish I still had: And yes, this is a weird one. This little car had so much spirit it would just have been fun to keep around, even though it was just a beat up old reject:

Studebaker Golden Hawk - used as a daily drive and never got more than 12mpg.

MK2 Jaguar - perfect body, wires, and interior wood, but tired.

But the classic I most regret selling had 2 wheels, not 4: '72 Norton Commando w/ Combat engine. Sold it for $800!

At 17 I bought a 1963 Galaxie 500 convertible, 352 4-speed.

The list of regrets continues .......

Wish I'd kept: - My '73 3.2 914/6 hotrod. Totally uncivilized and hardly streetable with Webers and no heater boxes. But what a blast. - My 1990 Honda Civic Si. An amazing combination of engineering integrity, great driving manners, and 90 mph comfort. - My 1985 V6/4-speed Fiero. I bought it new; not as good as the final-model '88, but a great long distance touring car. - My 1979 Honda 750F with Rickman fairing and switchgear. A jewel, and I was too dumb to know it. - All of our Volvo's. A 544 and two 122 wagons.

...And now I'm thinking about selling either the Miata turbo or the 993/C4 - I know I'll kick myself over either of those, but I just bought an '84 BMW R100RS and something has to go...

In reply to impster:

That Commando was a great ride! My personal favorite was the Royal Enfield Interceptor but they were both too good for their time. I wish either of them were in my garage today!

Speaking of Studs, I would love to find a nice Golden Hawk or a '53 Starliner Coupe that I could afford.

An '86 Corvette that just had too many gremlins to use as a daily driver, and I didn't have a place for it in another function (either physically or financially).

In reply to ddavidv:

Those old Ford Fiesta's were amazingly fun cars. I was looking to buy one for a while. Not too many around any more as they always pull the 1.6 Kent motors out of them for Formula Ford racing.

What Subaru model is that? You never see those around anymore.

Great drive down memory everyone. There's many cars here I wish I would have owned. Who knows, maybe one day.