The Ones that got away, and you regret later you didn't buy............

Oh, I thought of another one!

Back in high school, I was a part of the concert band, jazz band, and orchestra. We used to do these big trips to other states and countries every year. In my junior year (1999), we went to Montreal. On the way there (we went by bus), we were slowly loafing through the Quebecois countryside when I spotted a nice, complete olive green with black stripes 1969 Chevelle SS 396 sitting in front of a barn with a sign saying $500. There was no rust on it anywhere I could see as we rolled by; it was like they had just rolled it out of the barn to the side of the road.

Even better, it was $500 CAD, which at the time, was like $350 USD or something, and I had the cash on me!

I couldn't convince anyone to stop the bus or let me go back later and secure a deal for it. The chaperones were all like "what do you want that old heap for?"

Someone scored a hell of a deal, because a few days later on the way home, it was gone.

Way too many! I actually bought my first one, but my Dad made me take it back because I was only 14, had a big gas guzzling engine and was way too fast and I was going to kill myself in it...1969 Shelby Mustang 428 for $485. I bet he was right on the kill myself part as i wrecked my next 4 cars.

Since then I rarely pass on a car I really want but I have missed a few. Pantera for $1200, a couple of E Types.

Worst mistake was when I once was standing in front of a rough car, mostly disassembled with boxes of parts for $32,000! I thought it was some sort of kit car but it turned out to be the 1954 Olds F-88 concept car.

Bruce

Back in the mid-2000s, (even more) broke-ass teenage me could only sit and watch helplessly as a minty AW11 MR2 with a ton of spares was sold for $5.5k.

A few years later, I had to pass on an SW20 MR2 going for $4k, mostly due to the fact that insuring it would've cost at least $2500 per year.

Last year I could only sit and watch helplessly as a running Samurai went for $1k...it could've easily paid for itself three times over in parts. I might've bought that one if I had the money.

(These prices are in USD but are not US prices. A new Swift costs about $30k here, to give you an idea).

Missed out on this over the winter because I couldn't get the WRX fixed and sold on time. I've had a number of VW's but never a Mk2:

It's okay though, I managed to track down this!

There was a 86 Pontiac aerocoupe 2+2 running around Upson County Georgia a while back.

Nice driving shape for asking $2,000.00? Original nice paint, low miles, had paperwork, sucky V8 305, etc.

Yea, I know it is ugly, but more influential, It did not fit my buying strategy at the time of more than I could afford?, get excited!, and find a way to buy high. It actually made sense, and was too easy. I passed, but was thinking the other day an LS turbo swap it was made for. I regret.

Thought I needed a winter car, wanted to sell the 2006 Scion xB. On a whim I found a 1986 MR2 that had been completely redone, black-top engine, 6 sp swap with real short shift, HID headlights, even the the seats had been redone with extra padding (interior looked brand new). Only wanted $5400, I test drove it anyway, loved it immensely. I thought about it on the way home, and while talking with SWMBO and realizing I could winter the xB and summer this, he texted to say it was sold...

During the great economic meltdown of '08/'09, had a nearly new supercharged exige offered to me for $22,000. Clean title, less than half of what it cost brand new, just the year before.

I was six months out of college, crushed with debt, and on the verge of proposing to my girlfriend...timing absolutely sucked. I still regret not taking on more debt to buy it.

Gasoline wrote: There was a 86 Pontiac aerocoupe 2+2 running around Upson County Georgia a while back. Nice driving shape for asking $2,000.00? Original nice paint, low miles, had paperwork, sucky V8 305, etc. Yea, I know it is ugly, but more influential, It did not fit my buying strategy at the time of more than I could afford?, get excited!, and find a way to buy high. It actually made sense, and was too easy. I passed, but was thinking the other day an LS turbo swap it was made for. I regret.

A guy I knew in high school bought one of those pretty cheap. It was a little rough but all there and original. He was hooked up with a guy that did demolition derbies pretty seriously. That guy bought all the cheap early 70's full size GM cars he could lay his hands on. He always pulled the engines out and replaced them with small block chevys. He had amassed a collection of 455 B.O.P engines. Anyway, I stopped by his place to see what was up with the 2+2 one evening and much to my dismay he had it completely gutted, poorly swapped in an Olds 455 and was intent on making it a bracket car. I could have strangled him with the chain he had wrapped around the engine and was in the process of welding to the frame rail.

I've never missed out on a really killer deal, but I have missed out on two cars I really wanted to own. Craigslist and enthusiast forums have really enabled people to find whatever they are looking for and kind of ended the days of finding a real diamond in the rough unless you get really lucky.

From about 2001 to 2004, I asked about once a week to buy a one owner '92 VW GTI 16v that belonged to a co-worker who wouldn't sell it to me because it needed a lot of work. He wound up trading it for some roofing work he needed to get done. A short time after that happened, I missed out on a Syclone that was for sale down the road for $1500. I saw it on the way to work with a sign on it, and by the time I got off of work and swung by, it was already gone.

Buddy and I went to a place called Mopar Heaven looking for trim parts for his '67 Belvedere. There was a '69 Charger 500 Hemi / 4spd car minus the driveline for $1500. Tried to raise the money but couldn't at the time and it went to someone else. Still grind my teeth over that one.

Not me, but my dad. I was six or seven - would have been about 1988. A friend of my dad's had an old car in his driveway that he had bought on a whim and offered to my dad for $100.00. It needed a windshield, but ran and drove well, and the body was straight and paint was good. We were cash poor at the time and dad couldn't even scrape up the $100.00.

It was a '71 Challenger, Plum Crazy with a white interior and white vinyl top. Just a 318/automatic but it had a console, rallye wheels, and rallye dash. Dad still kicks himself over that one.

As for me, the one that got away was one I owned that I shouldn't have sold. '91 Spirit R/T with 75k miles that I sold in 2002 for $2750. It had blown a headgasket on me and I convinced myself that I didn't need to drive something that was hard to get parts for. In retrospect, I was probably right but should have just parked the damn thing in the barn.

A few that I have owned and sold too soon: Series III Land Rover, 68 GTO convertible, 69 MGBGT, VW Thing, 65&66 Stingrays, 68 Camaro SS, At least I drove and enjoyed them all while I had them.

Nick (picaso) Comstock wrote:

Gasoline wrote: There was a 86 Pontiac aerocoupe 2+2 running around Upson County Georgia a while back. Nice driving shape for asking $2,000.00? Original nice paint, low miles, had paperwork, sucky V8 305, etc. Yea, I know it is ugly, but more influential, It did not fit my buying strategy at the time of more than I could afford?, get excited!, and find a way to buy high. It actually made sense, and was too easy. I passed, but was thinking the other day an LS turbo swap it was made for. I regret.

A guy I knew in high school bought one of those pretty cheap. It was a little rough but all there and original. He was hooked up with a guy that did demolition derbies pretty seriously. That guy bought all the cheap early 70's full size GM cars he could lay his hands on. He always pulled the engines out and replaced them with small block chevys. He had amassed a collection of 455 B.O.P engines. Anyway, I stopped by his place to see what was up with the 2+2 one evening and much to my dismay he had it completely gutted, poorly swapped in an Olds 455 and was intent on making it a bracket car. I could have strangled him with the chain he had wrapped around the engine and was in the process of welding to the frame rail.

There was a really ratty one of these for sale locally when I was in high school. My dad and I stopped and looked at it once, and it was a mess: interior was shredded, there was a random 350 installed (not necessarily a bad thing), and it had a detachable Grant wheel which was missing. The price was $5500, and my dad and I laughed all the way home.

Not 2 years later, I bought my Trans Am from a guy up the street from the 2+2. The 2+2 was still sitting there for sale.

My first car out of college and in my new job, I found a sweet WRX wagon but I didn't know anything about them back then instead of that I bought a 350Z. Eventually sold that for a WRX lol. Liked that car way more.

For me it was slightly different. I built this Daytona Spyder replica in '85 to advertise my custom fabrication and paint shop, had it through '88, then sold it.

Fast forward to last year, and on ebay it pops up for sale in Pennsylvania. This is the ebay pic for it:

It had lost the plexiglass across the headlights, and someone had put in tan Daytona style seats in it, but other than that, it was as I built it and the VIN matched my old registration from the '80s. Held up amazingly well. But I couldn't get the scratch to buy it fast enough and it sold to someone in the UK.

Just had to pass on a 95 Integra GSR for $500 cause I couldn't make the 7 hour one way trip to get it. 2 door, nice leather, some nice mods and some ricer mods.

A couple of weeks ago I was working and went into a cul-de-sac to turn around. At the end of the cul-de-sac a house had a mid eighties Suburban sitting kind of in back. I made a note to come back later to check it out. Finally got back today and find it gone. I knocked on the door and asked. The lady said that the city had been giving her a hard time on cars and if I had stop by when I saw it she would have just given it to me. Instead she junked it.

I didnt buy a realtime type r for obscenely cheap, and it came with a spare. Just couldn't swing it at the time.

Years ago, I worked a deal to buy this....

This was Del Long's SCCA D-Modified 1923 Model-T. It was a 3-way trade and one of the trades fell through. I had the opportunity to buy it out-right but I decided to back out. I've always regretted not following through on it.