Missed opportunities (cool cars)

[Deschodt]

We've all had cars we should not have sold... I'm still kicking myself - I had 2x 356s at some point. I sold both... Idiot...

This is about opportunities today you must pass on because the timing is not right...

Here is mine (not a FS deal, I'll help put it on BAT later probably). My Brother in law (among many other things) makes show cars for his Drifting sponsors... One of them is a Japanese oil brand so they make "non japanese cars with japanese drivetrain" for shock value. This 1is a "Show M3" made from a 318, real M3 parts, and a S2000 motor +tranny etc.... that was quite a hit at SEMA, in magazines, Larry Chen even did a piece on it. I have first dibs on it, at a great price, race car potential galore...

Problem is space/$.... a) just paid my property tax in full - like the day before b) Kids start college this coming year c) This is a very long term project to make into a track car and I do not have a warehouse nor space d) the work required is > my skill level and would cost e) SMOG Referee as long as I live in Cali if I want it streetable. I'd go back to a full BMW harness, dash, motor and tranny, to begin with. I KNOW I will regret not buying this just like I regret selling each 356, but DAMN!!! isn't it sexy ? It's killing me

What's your missed opportunity right now ?

[1990C4S]

I don't buy project cars that I can't fix/rebuild on my own. Way too expensive.

That's an interesting car, I don't think it's a good fit for you.

[Evans, Marv]

I've mentioned this before. About 30 years ago I was looking for a 356 project car. I saw an ad in the paper for two 356's a guy wanted to sell together. I thought I'd look at them & try to get one for a project. I went there and one was a '63 B coup without an engine & trans. I thought that was perfect. The other car was a '59 356 convertible in running order with a replacement engine and the original engine on a shelf. The guy was asking 20K for both. Since I just wanted the '63, I tried to talk him into selling it separately, which he wasn't interested in doing. Since I didn't want two cars & didn't have a handy storage place for them, I ended up passing on them. I still regret that.

[rwest]

I don’t think you missed out on that BMW. swapping all the mechanicals back in seems like a ton of work and money. I would believe that buying another BMW and doing cool body mods would be much quicker, easier and cheaper.

[speeder]

I'd be surprised if that car does better than parts value on BaT. It is a real oddball....BMW 318i with Honda S2000 drivetrain and some e30 M3 parts? Don't get me wrong, the parts are worth something for sure but the package is strange as-is. What racing class would this fall into with a BMW drivetrain?

[unclebilly]

When I was 18, I tried to buy a 944 Turbo. It just didn’t work out for me. About the same time, my dad forgot to bid on a 66 Mercury Cyclone GT for me. I still think about that car. It went cheaper than my max bid.

[KNS]

I just didn't have a quite enough money at the time... This when people still parked old 911s, even longhoods, on the street (around 1999, I think). There was a 1973.5 911T for sale, I test drove it and wanted to do a deal. 63,000 original miles, original paint and interior. Beautiful, clean Arizona car. $14,000.

[wdfifteen]

A few months after I paid $3000 for my Speedsters (2 of them) a college kid in town trashed the engine in his 289 Cobra. He was a real dilettante- only had the car because it was cool. I could have bought it from him for a couple thousand dollars, but I had spent every cent I had on the Speedsters. I put a junkyard 260 in it for him for a few hundred dollars and sent him on his way.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Always grabbed most opportunities with both hands but had more than my fair share of missed opportunities of working on cool cars because I said thanks but no thanks or was too busy

Porsche Le Mans LMP2000 race car
Mercedes SLR
Ferrari La Ferrari
Singer DLS
Williams F1
Aston Martin Valkyri
Lotus Evija
Honda IMSA race car

Single biggest missed opportunity I'll regret for the rest of my working life is Aston Martin's return to Le Mans next year with the Valkyri hypercar

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

I've mentioned this before. About 30 years ago I was looking for a 356 project car. I saw an ad in the paper for two 356's a guy wanted to sell together. I thought I'd look at them & try to get one for a project. I went there and one was a '63 B coup without an engine & trans. I thought that was perfect. The other car was a '59 356 convertible in running order with a replacement engine and the original engine on a shelf. The guy was asking 20K for both. Since I just wanted the '63, I tried to talk him into selling it separately, which he wasn't interested in doing. Since I didn't want two cars & didn't have a handy storage place for them, I ended up passing on them. I still regret that.

I've also mentioned this before; Early 90s I passed on a complete, running but untidy Aston Martin DB5 (Silver on red)... No rust in the chassis or serious issues. The guy was asking $12,000. I passed because there was a lot happening in my life at this time.

An Australian delivered DB5 - $1,695,000! (Currently residing in the UK)

https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/details/1963-aston-martin-db5-manual/SSE-AD-6030285/

[thingmon]

I missed out on an 80 Monte Carlo with a 327 swap… don’t pity me. Ha

Did miss out on a cream puff 76 Teans Am 454SD for $3500. Too young for my parents to take me seriously…. That hurt.

[Noah930]

E30 M3. It was offered for $17.5K. But I can't feel too bad about missing out on it, because instead I bought the 930.

Onewhippedpuppy had an FD RX-7 for sale several years ago. Kinda wish I took him up on it, but we were just wrapping up an addition to the house, so the timing just wasn't right.

Not a major "loss", but still one I think about. A few years ago I took a look at an early Boxster S. Yeah, they're dime-a-dozen, but this was a clean example, and it had sat on Craigslist at $6500. Would have made a cool first car for my 16-year-old daughter.

[techman1]

Think it was an 88 anniversary 911.
Was for sale locally. Mint condition for 24k. This was in 95, we had a baby on the way, so passed on it.

Wife still says sorry.

[HobieMarty]

1957 Cadillac Eldorado for 1500 bucks. It didn't run at the time I looked at it, but it was all there and was in decent shape. I was 16 at the time. Lol.

1973 Monte Carlo, 454, center console shift with a velvet wrapped Hurst shifter, swivel seats, Crager SS wheels. It was a hot rod.

1964 Chevy II Nova that was built like a gasser. It was candy apple red metal flake and had a 350 in it. It was also 1500 bucks. No way my parents would let me buy that thing, but I thought it was cool as anything

Mustang Cobra II, I'm not sure of the year. It had a 302 with headers and a 4 speed, and it shook and rattled like crap when I test drove it. It was white with red stripes. I walked away from that one.

I looked at those cars when I was looking for my first car and wound up getting the 1976 TR6.
Later on, I looked at a 1980 TR8 that was gold and was really nice. I also looked at a Thunderbird Turbo Coupe that had a 5 speed and the turbo 4 cylinder like they used in the SVO Mustang. That T-bird was quick!!!


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[SpyderMike]

Red Jag Etype convertible, great condition, $10k. It was the early 1980s. I still think of it occasionally...

[billybek]

I had missed the opportunity to buy a mint condition Karmann Ghia hard top when I was about 19 or 20 years old.
My dad and I had spent way too much time putting together and finishing a 73 standard Beetle when the Ghia came available. I was hesitant to accept the financing (from my parents) that would have been necessary until the Beetle was sold.

[creaturecat]

maritime blue low mileage 964 RS.
a Japanese import, in perfect condition. 125k Canadian pesos.

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by speeder

I'd be surprised if that car does better than parts value on BaT. It is a real oddball....BMW 318i with Honda S2000 drivetrain and some e30 M3 parts? Don't get me wrong, the parts are worth something for sure but the package is strange as-is. What racing class would this fall into with a BMW drivetrain?

I have no idea.. There's a lot of stuff out there, taste-wise, that I do not understand at all, there seems to be an a$$ for every seat.. I advised him to spend some time sorting the car out for BaT - then I'll help, we shall see. I even discussed a 50-50 buy with a friend as a track only car (no issues there, +/- $12K each) but we both came to our senses - we don't track that often, still no storage, would need a trailer, etc. I just always loved the looks of that car and the race car body in white interior, super clean. If I had a warehouse at my disposal I probably would have caved..

My previous episode was an alpine A110 about 7y ago, in the high 40s.. I figured despite it being my dream car, it was too tiny and fiberglassy to be worth that much. At the time I did not see myself selling the 911T for this" french tupperware". Well it went up, way higher than my 911T, and I am still jonesing for one... Oops, another miss..

Most recent: good friend disposed of his rain damaged Boxster S. Seats were ballooning from mushrooms inside and on them, ECU flooded (rip in the top), not CATs... I did quick math and figured more hassle than value there. He ended up letting it go to someone $3000, I had no idea he would go that low (didn't wanna lowball a friend). 2 sparco seats and some ECU cleanup later, car is fine (the damn cats passed smog somehow).. I'd be really annoyed but the new owner left it in his driveway and tree fell on it. Just bad karma overall for that ppor car.

[911 Rod]

964 RSA about 20 years ago for $30 grand.

[Paul T]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

964 RSA about 20 years ago for $30 grand.

Same car for me and similar price….didn’t have space for it at the time