The Ultimate "One That Got Away" Thread

[jkarolyi]

I love hearing stories about rare cars that were sold for a bargain and you JUST missed being there in time to grab them! Here's mine:

Does anybody remember about two years ago when Chequered flag was selling a GORGEOUS dark blue '73 RS Carrera replica on ebay? That midnight blue paint (looked like a $5000 paint job) with the white Carerra script was drop-dead amazing. Appeared to be a top quality conversion. Had newer sport seats in it and a beautiful interior...I think it was based on a '71 T.

They had it for $14,000 buy-it-now on ebay and somebody snatched it MINUTES before I did! Or should I say stole it.

Anybody know who owns this car or has anybody seen it around? I would love to see a picture of that car again.

Here's a beauty that got away from fellow Pelican ubiquity0:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2483598315&category=10156&sspagename=WDVW

Anyone else?

[Jgordon]

My father sold a 1956 Jaguar XK 140 roadster for something like $500 6 years before I was born.

[nostatic]

Originally posted by jkarolyi
Does anybody remember about two years ago when Chequered flag was selling a GORGEOUS dark blue '73 RS Carrera replica on ebay?

dude, you lucked out. Had you bought it odds are you'd be wishing it "got away."

[ubiquity0]

Originally posted by nostatic
dude, you lucked out. Had you bought it odds are you'd be wishing it "got away."

Do you know something we don't?

[jmz]

Dad sold a project 1959 356 Roadster I think. ...could have been just a cab. It was brought over here by some Military Service guy and had been sitting for a number of years. It wasn't too rusty, had a nice hard-top and had cibie racing stickers on the hood and maybe the door. He bought it for ~$800.00 and sold it for ~$900.00 I think he sold it around 1981 or so. He had already done some body work including repairing the rust on the doors and taking it down and priming it.

Rats!

[jkarolyi]

>dude, you lucked out. Had you bought it odds are you'd be wishing it "got away."

Unless you've seen the car, I doubt it. I've seen cobbled together Carerra replicas...and trust me, this was a class act. They had two dozen high-res pictures to prove it. As the saying goes...you'd have to be there to understand.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

My grandfather had a car he was "saving" for me when i turned 16.

1967 Mercury Cougar XR7. This car was beautiful. Perfect shape, perfect paint, 302 with the 4 barrel. He bought it brand new and kept it as a second car. everything in it worked.

He sold it back to the dealership he bought it from as a down payment on a new truck. That car sat on the showroom floor as some sort of promotion for a couple of years.

still pissed...

[JTO]

I was 15 and considering buying a car. My dad worked with a guy that collected early Mustangs. He had a red 1968 fastback, four speed, 302 V8, etc. with only 35,000 original miles on it! It was so cherry. Well, he wanted $3500 for it so I asked to buy it at the end of the summer, by then I'd have the money. He agreed to hold it for me.
Well, a few weeks later he called to say that his wife had taken the car after they had a fight and had destroyed the thing in her anger. Pretty lame, eh?
Troy

[Zeke]

The one that got away? 1953 Ferrari Mexico. While still in high school here in SoCal, I found a 1953 Ferrari Mexico Coupe built for the Pan American Road Race. Had plexiglass side and rear windows. Parked on the street near the beach w/ a for sale sign on it. I got ahold of the guy and it had a small block chevy bolted up to the 5-speed Ferrari tranny via a custom adaptor plate. The guy wanted $2000 for it. The year? 1963. Supposedly, there were 6 of these made and 2 or 3 crashed in the race. If someone found that cars' engine, what could it be worth today? Yes, it was red, on 16" skinny Borani's, if I remember, and a spare tire under the rear glass strapped down w/ leather straps. I wanted that car. My dad said no. End of story. I wouldn't have kept it long anyway, I was 16. But, what if....................?

[cowtown]

There was a '91 C2 Turbo (964) for sale here for $30K that I walked away from because I was scared of the emissions test. It had a modded fuel distributor, no cat, and cams. 1Bar, upgraded turbo and intercooler, ABS, Airbags, and a clean title. It was about as fast as my '75 but had the perfect colors White/Tan, RUF wheels, AC, and sound insulation.

The guy just got sick of it, I think, and wanted out. I walked away because I wasn't confident that it would be easy to smog on the rolling dyno, and it probably would not have been.

But looking at what I'm doing to my '75 to get it to be a fun car to use, I could easily have gotten that C2T up to speed, even if it meant swapping back to stock cams and FD and finding a cat for it, and it would have been one heck of a car.

The one that got away. I talked myself out of it.

[Pete000]

My dad gave me his 56 Speedster when I was 17 and I spent the summer cleaning it up and grinding rust from the floor boards. I put on a new set of Koni's and shot some primer on it. Here is the kicker I sold it for 10 grand and purchased a one owner a low milage 924. Yes thats right a 78 924. I guess this brings new meaning to the phrase "stupid kid!" This is a true story and I have hated my self ever since. Oh well...The one thing was my dad raced the Speedster in SCCA and the motor was bumped up a bit. I got really tired of grinding rust and trying to get the carbs right. Back then a restoration would have cost 10 grand!

[ubiquity0]

Originally posted by Pete000
My dad gave me his 56 Speedster when I was 17 …I sold it for 10 grand and purchased a one owner a low milage 924

You win!

[CJFusco]

Her name was Tina, and she was gorgeous.

[Zeke]

That was more of a "he let it go" than the one that got away.

[cowtown]

Originally posted by Pete000
My dad gave me his 56 Speedster when I was 17 and
...
I sold it for 10 grand and purchased a one owner a low milage 924. Yes thats right a 78 924.

Oh...man that must hurt. It hurts to read it.

I've got to go lie down.

[Westy]

64 1/2 Mustang. No the title didn't say 64 1/2, that's an urban legend. 289, three speed, bucket seats, two tone, straight as an arrow. Wanted to give it to me when I turned 16, but I had to have his beat up 64 El Camino. So,,,he gave it to mom's daughter (not my sister, I don't care what the DNA tests said), and she fried it. Said the red lights in the dash had been on so long she thought they were just bad lights. He actually gave the car away and bought a 68 Fairlane fastback. I liked that one too, but she wrecked it in a parking lot. Did I mention she "borrowed" my El Camino and wrecked that one, too, on some girls camping trip? Mom's daughter,,,,Mom's daughter!!!!

[johnsjmc]

I 've sold so many I should have kept a 1964 Lotus elan for$1700 in 1968, a rusty 1967 real 911S for $1200 in 1972,a 1969 sandcast 750 Honda (#154) for $500 in the early 80s, a 1965 Mustang fastback for $6500 in 1995.To make matters worse These are Canadian $.

[nostatic]

Originally posted by jkarolyi
>dude, you lucked out. Had you bought it odds are you'd be wishing it "got away."

Unless you've seen the car, I doubt it. I've seen cobbled together Carerra replicas...and trust me, this was a class act. They had two dozen high-res pictures to prove it. As the saying goes...you'd have to be there to understand.

Did you see the car in person and have a PPI? If you only saw pictures, then I'd say you really don't know if it was a "class act" or not. Chequered flag has a history of cobbling together cars and giving them a shiny paint job and once over so they look great in pics. Then when you look deeper you find all sorts of "interesting" things.

[zotman72]

My brother in San Diego had this original, euro '69S in very good condition (2L MFI, etc). He bought it in '79 and drove it as daily driver until '91. He had fought the rust and won a bit but he lives in Pacific Beach, --where the salt air was playing havoc constantly on the panels. Though he promised me first refusal if he ever sold it, he decided that at 140K, it was time to sell. He listed it in the local Autotrader for $5900. Recall that in 1991, there were all sorts of car speculators hovering about So. California. Within in a hour of Autotrader being released, he gets two callers, a german and a japanese. They both arrived within minutes of each other, with Porsche 911 spec books in hand. The German foolishly tries to haggle but the Japanese fellow just opens his briefcase and counts out 100s. The car was shipped to Japan the next day. My brother (the fool that he was) said he felt like an idiot. I gave him a royal ration once he told he sold it too. Now he comes up here to Colorado regularly to drive my 911s. His daily driver is Prius!

[CarreraS2]

Back in the early 80's, I loved the Dino 246 ("Ferrari"). They were fairly unloved at the time - I remember seeing them in the LA Times and on lots on Lincoln Blvd in Marina del Rey in the $9,000 to $15,000 range.

I couldn't get my parents to spring for that for me, though. I can't blame them, though. Even when I tried to convince them that it was "just a Fiat." They didn't know much about cars, but just from looking at it, they could tell it wasn't "just a Fiat" and it wasn't something a 16 year old should be driving!

I did convince them to get me a really nice Zambezi Green 914, though. I was able to convince them that "it's just a VW!"