Ones that got away...

[wings&wheels]

How about a thread for vehicles that you had an opportunity to own, but didn't at the time, and now regret it for whatever reason...

Me, a late 60's Daimler Ferret Scout Car

Totally impractical as a toy, but it was my Uncle's prized possession. He was a huge part of who I am and responsible for most of my vices hobbies; flying, crappy British cars, etc. and for instilling on me the idea that you can do almost anything you set your mind and efforts to. He was a dirt poor city kid who at 17 didn't know what he wanted aside from escaping a dead mill city. Joined the military and did 3 tours in Viet Nam, returned and started his own business. A few of the like minded cousins and I became his posse, riding dirt bikes, plinking.

He had the British car bug and bought the Ferret as a project. He restored it in the markings of a Brit friend's unit and had it for years. He really enjoyed it and it was a blast to drive. As his health declined, he offered it to me at silly price, I would have offered more though he didn't need it, but I declined out of practicality. What would I do with it? Sunday coffee drives in something with a turret?

He passed way too early and I kick myself most days for letting it go...

 

[bubbatime]

A mint condition, 1968 SS/RS 396 Camaro. For $1000. Guy pulled the engine, did all the paint and body work ($10,000 worth), died, and family was selling it off to get rid of it. I pulled up, $1000 in hand, truck and trailer, son shows up and cancels the sale. If he showed up 15 minutes later, that baby would have been loaded on my trailer and mine. I stopped at Taco Bell for lunch on the way. That taco cost me $25,000.

 

[krismoriah72]

I wish i would have bought a couple of Suzuki Samurais. When they came out i hated them.. now when i see one i want it.


Also I wish I had a Honda CRX HF 50mpg with 90s technology.

 

[sasilverbullet]

My dad, could have bought a Mercedes 300SL gull-wing brand new, decided on a Lincoln Capri instead...

 

[billt460]

When I bought my first new car, (1970 Chevy Nova SS 396-375 H.P.), there was a brand new Chevy Chevelle convertible SS 454-460 H.P. LS-6 parked right next to it. Both were 4-Speed sticks. The Nova cost $3,200.00. The Chevelle was $4,400.00. All I had was $3,800.00 to my name. So the Nova it was. I have no idea what that Chevelle would be worth today. And I'm not sure I want to know. From what I've heard convertible 4-Speed 454 LS-6 Chevelle's were among the rarest.

 

[RooflessVW]

I met an old lady at Home Depot, she got out of a MINT B5.5 Passat TDI Wagon with a manual transmission. We got to talking, said her husband recently passed and she was going to let his cars go "cheap."

Forgot to call, forgot to call.

A week later a buddy of mine sends me a message saying he picked up a 2005 Touareg V10 TDI - fully loaded - for $1500. I'll never forgive myself.

 

[quint]

For me it was a 1969 Corvette 427. In the early 90's, a few years out of high school and before I decided to get back to college to do something with my life, a girl I worked with moonlighted at a local mom and pop car lot on the side and mentioned they had just acquired this Vette. I went down there after work one day to take a look, as I loved Vettes and had thought about picking one up on the side as a project (I was pretty young and still single and working a lot of hours, making decent money for my age, and was driving a near new Rx7 at the time).

The Vette body was so-so, the greyish black paint needed some cleanup but was in fair shape. The interior needed to be cleaned up and needed a few knobs and buttons and some stereo wires sorted out but was doable. No brakes whatsoever, as the car had been sitting a few years. Popped the hood, and depression set it. A plain Jane 350 with a 2 bbl carb yanked out of some generic GM whatever. Even with no brakes the owner threw young me the keys and said "Go ahead and take it for a spin, be careful, no brakes at all". It was a 4-speed and I dont think I took it out of 1st gear in the mortal fear that gripped me as I drove it around the local neighborhood at about 5-10 mph, dragging the clutch and fiddling with the parking brake to keep from rolling through stop lights. Got back to the lot and the owner said "I have four grand in it, and I dont feel like spending $300 on calipers and a master cylinder. Offer me anything over four and I'll take it. In a few years that 427 hood by itself will be worth some money". I snickered and said "yea sure" and told him I'd think about it and be back. It was gone a few days later. I still beat myself up 25+ years later over that bad decision.

Another girl I worked with around the same time at the same place had a super nice red '72 Mustang parked in the side yard she was wanting to get rid of. It was in fairly decent shape but it had a 351 Cleveland that had a knock and needed a rebuild. She was asking a few grand for it. Seemed high at the time, maybe it wasn't. Or maybe it was, I dont know. I said no out of spite just for her not being willing to negotiate, thinking she'd give in if I stonewalled long enough. She won, I lost. She sold it. Ouch... that would have been a nice car to have.

Oh to go back in time.....

 

[diyjake]

Originally Posted by krismoriah72
I wish i would have bought a couple of Suzuki Samurais. When they came out i hated them.. now when i see one i want it.


Also I wish I had a Honda CRX HF 50mpg with 90s technology.



CRX - that was a pretty sweet little car, I still wouldn't mind having one but impossible in find in good shape.

 

[wings&wheels]

Originally Posted by sasilverbullet
My dad, could have bought a Mercedes 300SL gull-wing brand new, decided on a Lincoln Capri instead...


Ouch....

 

[gman2304]

Originally Posted by billt460
When I bought my first new car, (1970 Chevy Nova SS 396-375 H.P.), there was a brand new Chevy Chevelle convertible SS 454-460 H.P. LS-6 parked right next to it. Both were 4-Speed sticks. The Nova cost $3,200.00. The Chevelle was $4,400.00. All I had was $3,800.00 to my name. So the Nova it was. I have no idea what that Chevelle would be worth today. And I'm not sure I want to know. From what I've heard convertible 4-Speed 454 LS-6 Chevelle's were among the rarest.

I hope you haven't beaten yourself up too badly over not buying the LS6. The L89 Nova Is a rare car and is most likely a low 6 figure car in mint condition today. But yes, the LS6 convertible would be a Saturday night headliner at Mecum or Barrett and Jackson.

 

[rat]

71 Road Runner 340. Red with black interior and air grabber hood. Had him talked down to $3200 but hesitated too long and he sold it.
67 Camaro RS 327 auto. Rather plain looking. Fresh paint (off white almost beige color) and white wall tires. Friend of my dad was offering it to us first. I was 16 at the time and didn't like the color so I told dad we don't want it.
71 Olds 442 W30. Silver with black guts, strong 455 automatic with dual gate shifter. Guy wanted to trade me even up for my 70 442 convertible that had the wrong engine and was starting to rust.
69 Mach 1, silver jade color? 351W auto. Beautiful condition. Was a bank repo, wife worked at the bank at the time so I heard about it first. Could have had that for $4000 but we were young and just had our son and no extra money for a toy for me.
Thanks for bringing all that pain back up to the surface....

 

[Silverado12]

Mine was a 1970 Plymouth AAR 'Cuda with 90K or so miles on it. No rust, all original with a couple of dents that weren't very bad. Could have bought it for $1,800 back in 1980 but everyone at the time was selling cars with big engines for little money. A friend of mine bought a 1969 SS-396 Chevelle for $500 back in 1979.

 

[Railrust]

My dad sold his 1970 GTO Judge convertible back in 1974 for $3,000...they needed money to purchase a dinning room set for their first house. Every year my dad and I have a beer at that ugly, tired, couldn't even give it away for free at a yard sale, dinning room table and talk about that car...orange, mint, purchased new, less than 5,00 miles on it...and one of the rarest muscle cars you'll find nowadays (and I shouldn't say find, because you can't find them). Last I checked that car was worth $135,000 dollars - and that was over ten years ago - Imagine it's much more now.

edit -- now this really makes me depressed...just checked the value of that car now...it's between $180,000-$220,000.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

One I wish had gotten away: 1966 Dodge Dart special ordered with V8, 4 speed and disc brakes. A Hamtramck *&^%%$&*. Fifty five years have passed and Hosteen still has hang up about , of all the other choices available that year, I ordered that Dart

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Originally Posted by krismoriah72
I wish i would have bought a couple of Suzuki Samurais. When they came out i hated them.. now when i see one i want it.

Same here. Same with the later Sidekick.

Probably not the intent of the thread but close: When I was a kid, my neighbor had an all-white '78 Mustang II Cobra that he ordered without the gaudy graphics or rear spoiler. It had a 302, manual, T-tops, etc. For some reason he never drove it. He let it sit outside, sometimes covered, sometimes not, until I think he eventually made enough space in his garage for it. I kept telling him I'd love to buy it but he insisted 'it made too much power' for me and he didn't want to sell it anyway. We moved a few years later and last I saw it it was sitting outside in the grass in his back yard, covered in mold and starting to rust. It seemed like such a waste.

 

[PandaBear]

Minor regrets but not a big deal:
Scion xA when they were still around used (seems like the inventories are all gone or ridiculously priced now), and Mazda2 when they were sold by Hertz used cars at a cheap price.

Moderate regrets but didn't have money anyways:
2nd gen MR2 NA automatic, it was around $7k used back then and not yet beaten to death.
3rd gen Integra GS instead of RS, I really wanted that spoiler and nicer interiors, but I wasn't paying for the car (my dad was) so I can't be picky.

My serious regret is some preemptive replacement on my OEM radiator with a CSF all-metal junk, that leaked and overheat my engine -> warp the head -> blown the head gasket. I shouldn't have fixed what isn't broken yet.


Seller remorse but only for a week:
Sold my FIL's Camry the first time, coworker told me it was leaking when it rain and the door locks went crazy, CEL came back on after 1 week without driving highway, traction control light went on and off randomly, etc.
Sold the Camry again the 2nd time when my coworker got a Tesla model 3. This time got the smog checked marginally passing after some seriously long freeway driving with windows open and AC on. Told buyer the condition and nothing to hide, and 10 other people waiting in line to buy it (it was the cheapest "reliable" car on craigslist for $1500 around here). He bought it for his mom's grocery store runs only, so that'll be a perfect car for that.

 

[FT92]

68 Camaro..ground up restoration...immaculate car , have to say looked better than show room..still kick myself for passing on that one

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

'57 Corvette
The owner put it in the local classified publication for $900. I showed up that evening and asked what he would take cash. He said $850. Shook on it, deal done, he would find the title that evening, I'd pick up cash from the bank the next day and we'd complete the transaction. Asked him how much deposit he wanted, he said none (we had a mutual friend he worked with and he knew I was good for it). The car would be mine the next day.
Showed up at the agreed upon time with cash in hand. Somebody else got to him earlier in the day and he sold it out from under me. As he told me this, I flushed, turned around and walked off without a word. Really glad I was able to leave before I lost it and ended up in jail. Came pretty close.

 

[Bud]

Had a chance to buy a 67 AH 3000 in the early 70's for a great price. Regret not buying it to this day.

 

[Andrew1972]

Pure regret skipping a mid 90's Acura NSX used with 45k and getting a more "practical" 2004 Subaru WRX wagon brand new.