Cars you should have bought...

Numbers matching, big block Nova SS with high-rise manifold, Holleys, big slicks out back, for $1000.

I'd been scoping this 85 white on black 944 right near where I lived. Low mileage, good interior, good paint, the works. Watched it for over a month on autotrader before I finally emailed the guy. It was gone.

And before I bought the first 944, I had a line on a R33 Skyline that a guy was selling in Florida. I forget which model, I think the one with the larger engine, turbo, and RWD. I could only get a personal loan with %8.5 interest, which I couldn't afford as private. I could have appeased my inner fanboy and moved on with my life.

When I got my license we looked at a 2002 on a used car lot for $1500. While we were thinking about it someone else went in and paid for it.

I've more had issues with putting good faith deposits down, and going back to pick up the car a few hours later, and the shiny happy people sold it someone else in the interim (not days or weeks later, but hours!) I always got my deposit back,with some effort.

1. a 68 mustang coupe with a 302 @ $800 , needed a few interior bits and some trim and exhaust work, but ran excellent and was drivable. left a $100 deposit, went to the bank, went back with a friend to pick it up less than two hours later, car was gone... dude tells me hell give me deposit back "next week" but later apologized and "found" the money after Eric lost his temper and threatened to remove certain vital organs from sellers person and feed them to him via his rectum.

2. 72 Mustang @ $500- 351 Cleveland transplant, bad paint and some rust, excellent interior, light hit front - $50 deposit, with agreement id pick up the next evening. Again, go to pick up as scheduled, car was gone, seller was "not home." seller was again "not home" the following day. on the third night I caught him at the 7-11 buying beer, havoc ensued after he denied ever taking my deposit... ill just say he ended up paying it back, plus an additional $50 for my inconvenience,plus the six pack.

3. 72 (might of been a 74) Javelin (@ $1400) with a fresh 401 transplant, updated suspension and new (at the time ) paint. $200 deposit. arranged pick up would be a week later (car was two hours away and the seller was going away for a few days.) Arrive on the agreed date , balance of cash in hand, and the dude started crying. I got my deposit back and let him keep his car. Apparently it was his wife pushing him to sell it, and she left him the day before. no way i could do that to him, even though he was willing to live up to his word. i went home disappointed, but with a clear conscious and no Javelin, it would of been tainted, but oh my it was a hot car....

all of these were ofcourse a very long time ago(late 80's/early 90's,) things were different then, at least in the area where i lived in NY. Calling the police for these types of issues just wasnt done, and when it was, they'd give you a hard time for "wasting " theirs. not so today, and probably a good thing...

I never did get an early stang or a Javelin....

cars i should have bought but didnt?

maybe the nearly mint Jag XJS i saw a few years back in running condition for $600, but the rear brake set up on those still give me night mares from changing rotors on my old xj6.

In high school I had a chance to buy a rust free 1968 red on black GTO 4 speed ragtop for $250. Had a small dent in the drivers door and a rod knock...but was really solid.

Still kick myself over that one...and that was 1982!

Chris

about 7 years ago.....65 Riviera GS all original running and driving for 5900 buy it now. I was trying to decide whether or not to hit buy it now and poof....it was gone. Someone beat me to it. That is probably the worst one....I still think about it all the time. Earlier this year I paid 3k for a non running, but restorable, 65 Riviera non GS.

Also a clean 72 Camaro with a tunnel ram, 4 speed etc for 2500. It was in the paper, so no picture, and I saw it and thought it was a basket case because of the price. Found out later it was a very clean car. That one hurt, but not as bad as the Riviera.

That Isuzu I Mark for $600, this real clean E30 325is for $1500, there are tons of cars i should have bought, but didnt...

Last week I talked myself out of a '99 F-250 Powerstroke 6-spd crew cab long bed. $2000. Needed a clutch slave.

Argh.

i know my dad was offered a '68 GT500KR in the early 90's for $50,000. he said "i already have a mustang in much better condition (1965 GT) and that shelby is all beat up" if only he could peer into the future...could've made a small fortune there. same thing my mom decided to keep her MKIII supra and not trade it in for a MKIV. now she has a super low milage, mint condition MKIII which is incredibly rare (though rust buckets are a plenty) but still worthless!

i think a few years later that GT500KR ended up hitting a garbage truck killing the son of the guy who owned it (who was away on business and appearantly didn't hide the key well enough). sad story... could've made some cash, saved a car and a kid.

all i regret is selling my jetta. nothing makes you appreciate a small car like a 1987 van.

Grandma-owned, low-mileage 1974 Buick GSX with the 455 for $1400. I passed it up because I was afraid of smogging it.

kb58 wrote: A buddy said he was driving out of Laguna Seca Raceway after an event, and there on a trailer was a real, honest-to-God Ford GT-40 sitting on a trailer with a for-sale sign: $15,000. This was back in the late 1960's or early 70's. It still bugs him...

It shouldn't. In the late 60's, $15000 would have bought a small house. The car definitely appreciated substantially more than the dollars have been inflated, but $15000 was still a ton back then.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, $15000 in 1970 had the same buying power as $83573 does in 2009 dollars.

http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

88(?) CSX. One owner. Driven only to and from the school where the guy taught, 2 miles from his house. 30 something thousand miles. 2500 bucks. By the time I convinced myself that it was worth it (DUH!) some guy had driven down from Ohio and scooped it up.

Oh jesus. The other one was a pristine Cobra Torino. I was 12 or 13. Guy had it parked in his driveway with "$1,000 OBO" shoe-polished on the windshield. I can't remember the whole story, but the guy was either on his way to jail, or running from the law. I begged my dad and brother to spot me the cash. No dice.

The Fiero was in Hamilton, not Cincy (!). It was also the cleanest Fiero I'd ever seen (looking at the interior and under the trunk carpet -I couldn't see the cradle). High mileage (162, 000+), but there were only 436 of them made.

My friend had a chance to buy a real AC Cobra for about $6000 back in the 60s, but his parents wouldn't let him empty his bank account to do it....

when i was in HS ('82-ish) Hemmings Motor News was full of AC Cobras for $7500-ish. five years later there was another zero.

In 1992, i passed on a '67 gto, numbers matching 400 with 4-speed, white with black interior, manual steer, manual brake, no AC, a little rust in the quarters and trunk floor. dude wanted $1300, i offered $900 figuring we'd meet at $1100. he held firm and so did i, so the deal was not done. a few months later, i had $1300 but the car was gone.

MiatarPowar wrote: Last week I talked myself out of a '99 F-250 Powerstroke 6-spd crew cab long bed. $2000. Needed a clutch slave. Argh.

Last year I sold a 99 4x4 Powerstroke that was wrecked HARD for 3500. It ran and drove, but needed a cab and bed.

A 1973 BMW 2002, Sahara, with a full Korman suspension. I think it was $1500 or something like that. A friend and I drove out to Lime Rock, CT to meet him and test drive it (no, not on the track, unfortunately). I liked it, but I had to sell my '83 320i to come up with the money for it, which I really didn't mind doing. '73 is a good year - last of the small bumpers and round tail lights, and also the year I was born.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of taking the 320i to the meet. It got jealous. It suffered multiple simultaneous failures, starting on the way home from the meet, which made it impossible for me to sell it for the money I needed to get the 2002. He even dropped his price to $1200 or so, but I still couldn't swing it. So it got away.

The only other one was an '87 RX-7 2+2. It was owned by an engineer for Bose who created his own sound system for the car. The head unit said Oldsmobile on it. He had speakers not in the stock locations, but in locations of his choosing. You know the subwoofer from an Escalade? He had TWO in the rear hatch area. It was by far the absolute best car audio setup I have ever heard. It seemed a shame to have to alter that for the autocross use I had in mind. I can't remember how much he wanted for it, but it was super cheap because he was from Ireland and had to leave the U.S. very very quickly for undisclosed reasons. But after careful consideration, my wife at the time vetoed the idea because the exterior paint was in rough shape.

On the other hand, if I'd gotten this RX-7, I wouldn't have gotten my first Miata a few months later...

Cotton wrote: about 7 years ago.....65 Riviera GS all original running and driving for 5900 buy it now. I was trying to decide whether or not to hit buy it now and poof....it was gone. Someone beat me to it. That is probably the worst one....I still think about it all the time. Earlier this year I paid 3k for a non running, but restorable, 65 Riviera non GS.

Be very glad you didn't. Almost every rare car on evilBay with a BIN of $5900 is a scam. It's more than likely that the seller didn't really have the car and was using pics found on the intarwebz.

The two convertible E-Type (?,not sure, don't know much about jags) that sat in a guys yard near where I grew up. The guy just let them sit there and rust away. If I had mowed more lawns maybe I could have bought them seeing as how I was about 14 at the time. Finally when I got older they were suddenly gone.

1 adult-owner '90 Talon TSI AWD Turbo for 1400 bucks....so pretty. So stock , so cheap. '83 RX7 that had 80k on it, and was stored every winter by an enthusiast in MA, had everything, evne down to a 2nd smoked glass sunroof panel.

Ohhh...and a MKIII Supra turbo that had a fried standalone engine management system for a few k..had over 10k into the motor, along with recaros, rollbar, 3 piece wheels, and upgraded suspension. I even found a replacement setup for it.

Only 3 problems 1. it was in cali, I was in boston, 2. I was a broke college student, and 3. oh yeah...I was broke.

Geez I dunno. I had just graduated from high school and was looking for a project car. Serious contenders were 944s (yeah, a bit of a stretch for the cash I had), Mk3 Supras and 3rd-gen F-bodies. I found a 25th Anniversary '92 Camaro for a little less than 3k. It wasn't too bad as far as mileage goes. It was a black on black, 305 5-speed car. Mechanically it was fine, cosmetically it was great. Clean CarFax report, no accidents. Really nice southeastern car. I was very, very close to it.

Whatever Camaro/Firebird I got, I was planning on a 350 swap (bore/stroke to 383 or 388 a strong possibility later on) and a junkyard T-56. I was even planning on driving down there to see the car, with money at the ready. The engine/tranny was doable. Some budget suspension and braking system improvements were doable. But the thing that threw a wrench into the gears was the rear diff. I had forgotten about that relatively weak link. After I realized that I would likely take a while to raise the money to finish the whole build, I decided to hold off.

I still have a soft spot for 3rd-gen F-bodies and would love to have one, but in the end I don't regret the decision. If I'd have gone for that car and built it up, no way I would have had the money to buy a dedicated racing car several years later. Maybe that wouldn't fit in under "should" have bought, but rather "wanted to, but glad I didn't"

$500 Honda wagon. 2wd and with 230k on it but it would've been good on gas...as compared to my 240SX

MiatarPowar wrote: Last week I talked myself out of a '99 F-250 Powerstroke 6-spd crew cab long bed. $2000. Needed a clutch slave. Argh.

Talked yourself out of it?!?!? I would be talking myself into holding up a Liquor store for $2000 to buy one!!!

My wife was going to order a 1986 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS. (Dad = GM Retiree)

Since she drove a 1979 Chevrolet Camaro, she was sick of RWD and Chicago winters and ordered a 1986 Pontiac Grand Am SE.

I ended up with the Grand Am as a beater in 1994 and always wished it was that Monte Carlo SS instead.

mid 90s full size bronco on big 20+ inch tires, manual trans and removable top. Great price and in my old neighborhood. I was in high school and intimidated by the sight of a clutch pedal and passed. I still see that truck kickin around...sometimes muddy and sometimes not. Its a beauty of a brute.

Also passed on a clean one owner 150k S13 for 2 grand about a year before the drift craze hit. Just couldnt justify getting rid of my sedan for a coupe. Someone probably hot a nice drift project out of that one.

I've had a few good ones slip through my hands over the years.

-1991 Mustang GT Convertible It was a one owner car with a 5-speed, silver with a gray interior, and low miles. Everything was perfect on it. I couldn't afford the $5000 asking price, but I'm sure the car was worth it. This was back in 2001, and I'm sure one this nice goes for way more now.

-1968 Buick Sportwagon I had just bought a 1964 Skylark off the guy selling this one for only $400, and he rolled this out of his garage a few months later. It has a fresh rebuilt Buick 350 and was all original and in great shape. He only wanted $800. I didn't buy it because it was a green/gold color.

-1992 Nissan Sentra SE-R My sister worked at a Nissan dealership and I needed to buy a new car after my 1989 Maxima SE got totalled (about 8 years ago). This rolled in on trade. It was a one-owner car driven by a lady schoolteacher. She ordered it with leather (dealer installed?) and a sunroof. It had pretty much every option you could get. The only problem is it had clearcoat problems. I could have gotten it, with the paint fixed, for $1200. I wish I bought it!

-1986 Honda CRX SI This could have been my first car. It was two-tone gray and had a red stripe down the side. It was in good shape too, and only $500. I didn't get it because my parents just bought me a lame-o 1985 gold on gold Civic Hatchwagon off my neighbor.

-1979 Olds Cutlass coupe I really should have bought this one. It was mint! Red with a red and white interior, with a bench seat and column shift. It was in a junkyard, and owned by a little old lady (paperwork was in the car!!!) It had 85,000 miles on it, and the only problem it had was the interior needed a good cleaning. It ran and drove great, even had the Olds Ralleye III's on it, with red colormatched centers. It was $400. I didn't buy it because it had a bench seat. What was I thinking!!!!!!!!

I eventually learned my lesson, and didn't pass up on my two rare 1979 Trans Ams that I have in addition to my WRX, but now I can't fit any more cool cars in the yard!