When an old car you drive by and admire suddenly disappears..

Don't you hate when that happens?

For several years I've been eyeing up an old, early 60's lincoln convertible in what appeared to be original condition a few miles away from my house. The thing was sitting in a driveway for years, in the same spot and I couldn't help but notice it when I was over in that part of town. A couple years ago, when I first noticed it I put my business card on it with a note asking the owner to call me sometime. I decided not to knock on his door and thought this approach would be better than bothering him.

To my surprise, he did call me but said it wasn't for sale.

I kept on seeing it of course and about a month ago I wrote the gentleman a letter and gave he him my new contact info.

Not only did he not call, but today, driving by with the wife and daughter, the dang thing was gone!!!! I'm heartbroken.

Felt the same way I did years ago.... a guy down the street from our high school had two, thats 2, convertible XKE Jags in his yard that he just allowed to rot. Sure was nice seeing them though until one day they were just gone.

I may have scared the lincoln guy off with my letter, probably he thought he had to hide the car from this crazy lincoln stalker!

I guess I shouldn't feel too bad about it, as my wife reminded me, we really don't have money for it anyway. Maybe Jay Leno will read this and take pity on me and buy me one lol!???

Don't feel too bad. An old friend of mine who restored cars had one of these come in that needed a new top and he absolutely hated the car. The owner had brought is a top kit to install. He said it would have been easier making a new top from scratch and it would have fit better.

I see an old g body cutlass by my MIL's house every week. One random day a few weeks ago, it was gone! I was heartbroken. But the next week it was back. I have the happy again.

I've had numerous situations like that. It sucks every time.

Ditto... I've got a long list of a similar situations from over the years. Some have sure hurt more than others, especially when the reason the car finally disappeared was only to show up in the local junkyard. Those are the real heartbreakers.

BTW, I drove by the house of one of those "sitting in a yard for years" cars that I had inquired about many times 20 years ago. The answer was always the same... "nope, gonna fix it up soon." When I drove by last month, the car was still there... or more accurately, what was left of the car was still there. Now it's the severely rusted remains of a pretty decent '71 Torino Cobra (351 4v, shaker, 4 speed) that's been robbed of parts. The house has received about as much attention as the car over these last 20 years too. I didn't even bother to stop and knock.

I often wonder when folks say this or that car isn't for sale anfter it has been sitting FOREVER in their driveway, are like those folks with CL ads who can't be bothered to answer back when you express an interest. I mean, maybe they MIGHT sell, but the "approach" to the idea of selling that someone makes, puts them off the idea. Sort of, I might have considered selling, but you are being so pushy about it...I might sell someday, but not to you.

BTW, never had anyone leave a note offering to buy any car of mine, but ANYTHING left on my car that isn't a traffic ticket or apology for bashing your bumper...gets tossed by me without a look. Wonder if other folks do that with offers to buy notes?

In reply to plance1:

That's happened to me several times. There's an old guy up the road that has a split window vette in his garage. It looks original and likely needing a restoration. About once a year I put a note in his mailbox asking him to contact me if he wants to sell. He's never replied. I fully expect that one of these days that car is going to be gone, and not to my house.

Down the road there was a Grand National sitting in someones back yard, looked like minus drivetrain. I kept seeing it and dreaming and trying to gather money. Never had the knutz to approach them about it. A month ago, the fence was down and the car was MIA. Dreams of a twin turbo LS swapped GN went flying out the window.

There is a beautiful 1969 Mustang Fastback driving around town, but rumors are, the lady is the first and only owner and has been offered rediculous sums of cash for the car and she just shoots people down.

When am I supposed to get that $250k a year job?

I was just reminded of a '60's Caddy hearse that was very clean (on top at least) for sale near me for $1500. I still wish I had bought it even if it was just for a quick flip.

integraguy wrote: BTW, never had anyone leave a note offering to buy any car of mine, but ANYTHING left on my car that isn't a traffic ticket or apology for bashing your bumper...gets tossed by me without a look. Wonder if other folks do that with offers to buy notes?

Not everyone does. A friend of mine had some money set aside for college, but he knew he wouldn't need it right away. So he bought a Bugeye with the money and proceeded to drive it. A couple of years down the road, he needed the cash so he opened up his collection of "offer to buy" notes and started making calls. Sold the car easily. Best use of savings ever.

As for cars sitting for a long time - a couple of mine haven't run for a while. But I'll get to them, and when I do it'll be because they're being resurrected and used. It's not always a sad story when a car is no longer sitting!

As far as why people sit on the car for years was well explained by Dr. Phil in 'Love the Beast'.

I have 2 situations with this topic.

My friend's father has 18 basket case Corvairs, all body styles. All well sorted, relatively clean, easy to reassemble. Sadly none of those cars will go anywhere till after he passes.

Another friend, in his grandfather's barn is his uncles E-body 'Cuda. It has been sitting there for over 20 years since the uncle moved to Colorado. All offers, and there have been many, have been turned down, even though there is no sign of him coming back to NY.

My great uncle has a farm not far from me. He's a collector of junk and random things, but has a dozen or so 60s American sedans and a few other random cars just sitting around in his field rusting away. I once went over (at request of his wife) and took alot of photos and got alot of interest in some of them (on here, especially). Then trying to figure out some prices (above scrap value) with my G/U, he's saying things like "$5k for the rusty old impala out there" when it's worth maybe $1k at best. He says things like "well, it has brand new brakes on it" - which is true, they have no miles on them. He replaced them 10 years ago and now the wheels are half sunken in mud and the brakes are rusted to E36 M3.

His wife once said that they're "like his children...ones that will never leave." He acts like he's willing to sell them, but the sentimental value of them is so great that he'll always find SOME excuse not to...."I'm getting that one back on the road soon" or "it's worth 10x what that guy is offering..."

There's really two topics here and I blurred the lines. One subject is the fact that some folks are car hoarders, and it should be pointed out that it only takes one car to be a hoarder or, in the case I pointed out earlier, two cars as was the case with the XKE's. Now don't get me wrong, storing a car for years for investment purposes (not my cup of tea, cars are meant to be driven right?) or for a future build is one thing, but only if you will eventually do that build. If you let a car just sit there and rot away, you're a hoarder and you need an intervention of some kind. I must admit, I've been guilty in the past, in my case it was my olds engine that I stored in my basement for years. Finally, I realized, this thing is taking up space, I don't have the funds to rebuild it and it could be used by someone else. Sure enough, a local drag racer bought it, rebuilt it and is having fun with it.

The second subject is the idea of finding a true "barn find" even if its not in a barn and how does one go about laying the ground work for buying it assuming the guy who owns it is not a hoarder. As we all know, some of the best barn finds are right out in the open. The idea that we will be first in line if a guy ever does sell has a certain appeal to all of us. The question is, whats the right way of approaching someone without bothering them, interrupting their dinner, their favorite TV show, etc. I'm definitely not shy, I've done a lot of door to door campaigning for political candidates but knocking on someone's door to discuss something that they own is a lot tougher and might get you shot if you're not careful. I guess its best to be prepared to encounter the kind of hostility that integraguy demonstrated above by saying he would throw anything away that wasn't a traffic ticket or apology for hitting his car. Whatever dude. Time to try some decaf. I think most folks would tend to be flattered or glad to meet a fellow enthusiast and it appears from the comments above that is true.

I own a 71 Challenger Convertible and get fairly regular offers to buy it. The best was a guy that drove by the house 3 times in a Mercedes 450 SEL and finally stopped. Out of the car emerges this older guy dressed in bib overalls and he saunters up to me. We exchange plesentries and he drawls..."You wouldn't want to sell that old Dodge, would you?" I replied..."Sure (his eyes lit up) In my Estate Sale.". I kind of felt bad.

Learn from the experience. You've got to stay in touch, and be there at that right moment. Years had passed, and you had long been forgotten.

And yes, it still stinks. BTDT, even recently. A decomposing old Vette I used to watch has recently disapeared.

I know how you feel. Right in front of my school there was an orange '71 Datsun 240z, and I really wanted it, but didn't have the khones to go up and ask if they wanted to sell it. Then a couple months later I decided to drive over and see if they would sell it. I show up and what do you know. It was gone

There's also a big difference between leaving a note and making friends with the owner. Maybe the person you lost it to was better at shmoozing and making the owner feel like they had a connection. I'm not going to feel very connected to someone that leaves a "I want this" note, but if they stop by, talk about their hobbies and mine, and express a genuine interest, I'll remember them later. The note feels more like a car flipper technique but it's probably the opposite!

dculberson wrote: There's also a big difference between leaving a note and making friends with the owner. Maybe the person you lost it to was better at shmoozing and making the owner feel like they had a connection. I'm not going to feel very connected to someone that leaves a "I want this" note, but if they stop by, talk about their hobbies and mine, and express a genuine interest, I'll remember them later. The note feels more like a car flipper technique but it's probably the opposite!

Take a trip up to mid ohio racetrack. Along the way, you will find a crappy old building with a black 1968 charger sitting a few feet off the highway. Go ahead and try to smooze with the owner and make a connection as you say and see where it gets you. I stopped and politely asked about the car only to have a bunch of punk thugs come out and threaten me. Not sure if the car is still there but that kind of thing happens. Bottomline is if you take either of the two approaches, sometimes you can't win.