[Russell Dawkins]

but didn't take the opportunity, or should never have sold!

Two come to mind for me.

One was a 1958 Mercedes 300 SEL (not SL - better!) gullwing that I could have bought for $4995 in 1965, but was talked out of it by the salesman who probably wanted it for himself, I now realize (I was only 20 at the time). The salesman said  "Oh, I know that car - it needs rear end work, probably cost you another $1500". Since then these have sold for as much as a cool million:

http://www.seriouswheels.com/cars/top-1954-1957-Mercedes-Benz-300SL-Gullwing-Coupe.htm


The other was an AC Ace with a Bristol engine (designed by BMW engineers, I just learned). Looked like this, although this is a '58 and the
one I saw was newer and red.

http://www.motorbase.com/profiles/vehicle/picture.ehtml?i=42;p=-1363069675

The day before I saw its nose peaking out from a basement garage I had sold my 1967 Rover 2000TC for $2000 cash and had the money in my pocket. When I made the sale I had made a solemn promise to myself never to buy an "exotic" car again, since the Rover had cost me so much in routine maintenance. From now on, it was Valiants with slant sixes.
Then I saw this and couldn't help but inquire. The owner was only too happy to explain how he rebuilt cars as a hobby, but never kept them. With this one, he had taken it down to the frame rails and rebuilt it - even going to the trouble of visiting the agency in England where he found the salesman who remembered selling it, just to find the original tread pattern for the "tyres".

You could have eaten off the engine or any other part of the car - it was beyond immaculate. Beyond the usual gauges it had oil temperature (the most important gauge of all, after tach) and fuel pressure, as well as the usual complement. The seat cushions had air bladders which could be varied in pressure to suit your needs and the most wonderful looking engine I had ever seen, with 6 header pipes that went as individual pipes all the way back to the firewall before they finally joined, 3 dual choke side draft Webers, wing nuts holding the valve covers on, and so on.

He wanted to sell it and was asking $2000, which I had in my back pocket. I had enjoyed the weight of responsibility of servicing the needs of my Rover being lifted off my shoulders for about 4 hours by this point. I seriously wondered afresh if there was a God since the whole event seemed beyond chance, what with having the exact amount in cash on me and his never advertising the thing and so on, not to speak of the fact that it was worth a whole lot more than 2k, even then (1970).

I decided to honor the pact I had made with myself and didn't buy it. One of the hardest calls I've ever made.

I later learned that the eventual buyer raced and wrecked it.

I have seen these sell for $40,000+ but they are very rare.

It was judged the quintessential sports car of the post - WWII era by a British enthusiasts magazine in about 1987.

[Russell Dawkins]

well. for some reason I don't seem to be able to post the images I was hoping to, but they are in "Russell Dawkins" gallery.

[TomS]

1991 Imola Red E34 BMW M5



Rip snortin' 300+hp straight 6, shooting star style wheels, deep comfy Recaro seats, and wicked fast on a track for a big 4-door in its time.  The big pistons, long stroke, and stock exhaust tuning made it sound like a muffled inline 6 Harley, such that the pulses could be heard clearly in the house as it pulled up the driveway.  Sold it when I moved north because of snow    Woulda, coulda, shoulda parked it in the garage and driven a beater daily.

Tom

[Scott F.]

Back in the late 70's I was into MG's. I drove a standard MGB and I had a MGB-GT (the hardtop fastback version of the B). As I was driving through a neighborhood here in St Louis, I noticed a car covered up by a tarp, sitting behind a house. It looked like some sort of sports car from the contour lines of the tarps. So I turned around and went back to talk to the homeowner hoping it might be something good, and for sale.

Come to find out, the homeowners son had bought it before he left for the Viet Nam war. Unfortunately, the son got killed during the war and the car had been sitting, covered with that same tarp. The lady said she would be willing to sell it if for no other reason that she didn't have to cut the grass around it. She had no idea what it was other than the fact that it was some 'small convertible'.

When I went back and pulled the tarp back, low and behold it was an Austin Healey 3000 MkIII bj8. The rag top was ate up and laying over the interior. When I went to pull it back to look at the dash and seats, there was a possum waiting to scare the shit out of me sitting on the passenger seat.



The lady wanted $400 for it. In hindsight shortly after turning her down, the 3000 wasn't in that bad of shape. The body was solid. The interior was trashed and the motor needed to be torn apart and rebuilt. All in all, well worth the $400 she wanted. Unfortunately I didn't want to take on another project. I wish I had, these sell regularly (in mint condition) for $75k.

There have been a few more over the years but that one was my fav.

[BobRex]

2 Porsche 356s.  The first one belonged to my high school girlfriend's father.  He knew I wanted it, but since I was only 18 at the time he didn't think it was a good idea - college costs and all.  The second belonged to a customer of our audio store.  He had done a ground up restoration a year ealier and has the itch to by a 911.  I had told him I was interested in the car, but he wanted the cash yesterday and sold it to someone else for - get this - 8 grand (in 1985!)  I wasn't too happy when I heard about THAT sale!

[Russell Dawkins]

I always liked the look (and sound) of the Austin Healeys, especially the 3000. Seems to me the 3000 looked even more appealing than the 100/4 that you show, Scott, but I can't remember in what way. I do know they sounded great in a way the 100/4 couldn't with only 4 cylinders.

I do remember driving a friend's 3000 and being somewhat appalled at the handling and ride after getting used to my Rover 2000TC.

As far as sound is concerned, some of the nicest sounding engines to me were sixes, especially with split exhaust manifolds and through a nice muffler like an Abarth. Jaguars, Aston Martins and Austin Healeys come to mind.

Another good sounding engine to me was the Oldsmobile V8s that Craig Breedlove used (X4) in one of his early "Spirit of America" land speed attempt cars. I used to have a recording of that going by at around 400 mph on the salt flats at a couple of miles distance that was almost otherworldly. Doppler shift approaching an octave!

This was on a vinyl record called "The Sounds of Speed" that I had in '64 and which has long vaporized (but would love to re-acquire).

[Abby356]

I'm with you on this one BobRex. I was fortunate enough to own Porsche #102541, a 1958 356 Super sunroof coupe. I bought it in 99' and sold it in 2001. I was 25ish at the time and people would do a double take when i slide my 6'3" frame out of the driver's seat. "Isn't that car older than you?" , was their usual question. The coupe's were numerous and affordable for a few years in the late 90's. Just out of curiosity the other day i did a quick search of the website where i found that particular car for sale and there were exactly 0 ...zero...356's listed for sale. I sold "Nikita" ,as i used to call her, when i moved to Texas as she would have been too impractical in this God-forsaken heat. That car looked like sex on wheels.

Daniel

[jon_010101]

These are of limited appeal (except to rally car nerds), but I passed on two beautiful white Toyota Celica All Tracs (GT4s).  One a 1988 in perfect condition with 77,000 miles, the other my father's 1990 in perfect condition at 130,000 miles.  No regrets anymore, since I put that money directly into AAPL at $16. 

[lonewolfny42]

This car will take you way far away.......

[drphoto]

And then there are all the ones you should have kept. Thinking of a 68 Firebird I had for a while......

[Russell Dawkins]

This car will take you way far away.......

that's a lot faster than the Amphicar my father had!

http://www.amphicars.com/

[Marbles]

And then there are all the ones you should have kept. Thinking of a 68 Firebird I had for a while......

I had to sell a 69 Camaro convertible RS, 350, Hurst 4 speed etc... (not pace car) 

Ellen brought a Ford Escort into the marriage and it wouldn't start when the weather got cold...didn't have enough money to buy a decent car without the Camaro trade in...I never let my wife forget it...

2 years ago when I told her I was buying a muscle car convertible, she didn't give me any problem with it at all, she just asked that it be big enough to take her and our 3 kids to get ice cream on Sundays.

I'm starting to worry about my daughter..she seems to be an adrenalin junkie and loves for me to squeal the tires and go fast...course I like doing that too 

If I had it to do over, I think a 69 or 70 Firebird convertible with a 400 would be awesome.

[Bob in St. Louis]

It's a sad day when a Ford Escort took presendence over a 69 Camaro RS convertable.

[mcgsxr]

OK, my example is not a car, but I am sure that y'all will get the idea.

When I went shopping for my first motorcycle 16 years ago, I stumbled across a local selling a then 2 year old Honda Hawk NT650.  It had about 20K miles, on it, and needed a rear tire and brakes.  I had never owned a bike before, and had never examined a bike that was not very close to new.  Not knowing the cost to replace the parts, and the minimal work required to perform it, I walked away.  I later bought a nice Suzuki GS500E, and loved it.

As I rode more and more (I sold the Suzi after 1 year), and eventually learned to work on bikes, I came to realize the opportunity I had passed up.  For $230 in parts, I could have owned one of the coolest, rarest Honda's going.  They are STILL worth more than I would have paid for that example.....

This liquid cooled V twin is a hoot in the corners, and spanked my air cooled Suzi, and likely would have kept me on it for 3+ seasons.

Ah well, the spoils of youth are squandered on them!

The Suzi I bought:



The Hawk that got away...

[Marbles]

It's a sad day when a Ford Escort took presendence over a 69 Camaro RS convertable.

Yeah, traded that POS Escort and the Camaro in and got a new '90 Honda Accord.  Sucked for me...

[TheChairGuy]

I have none that I shoulda' bought - or at least that I remember - but I had one that I shoulda' never sold.  My late, lamented 1991 Volkswagen GTI was in screaming red with (legal) tinted windows and added mods. 

That was the closest to a slot car that I've ever driven on the street....an uncanny ability to show up every undulation of the road, follow my every steering input and was fun on S curves or on the highway (up to 100 mph going up to Oswego, NY once long ago )

The balky shifter and hard clutch was slightly lousy for NY/LI traffic...but my heart melted each time I got into that car.  The Corrado, the even more sporty car that rode on the chassis from VW, was even better I hear.

I got a company car, a friggin' (also, marbles/Rob) '90 Honda Accord (auto!) and had to sell the VW as I couldn't afford to keep it.  I keep hoping my memories of it were actually better than the reality to make myself feel better over it even after all these years 

[lazydays]

been several for me
* the most recent was a 1964 Plymouth two door hardtop. Had the aluminum front end and factory hemi K-member (it was an extremely rare hardtop race car). Could have had the body for change, and race cars don't have numbers on the blocks or transmissions. With a 64 block this cars worth a million!!

* 1966 stage two Cobra that had both wire wheels and mags

* my old 1927 steel Model T that had a bored and stroked 48 Merc in it.

* anyone of a half dozen max wedge Mopars

* my old hemi Roadrunner

* a half dozen 50's Corvettes ( two were fuelies that had the aluminum heads)

gary

[lazydays]

And then there are all the ones you should have kept. Thinking of a 68 Firebird I had for a while......

I had to sell a 69 Camaro convertible RS, 350, Hurst 4 speed etc... (not pace car) 

Ellen brought a Ford Escort into the marriage and it wouldn't start when the weather got cold...didn't have enough money to buy a decent car without the Camaro trade in...I never let my wife forget it...

2 years ago when I told her I was buying a muscle car convertible, she didn't give me any problem with it at all, she just asked that it be big enough to take her and our 3 kids to get ice cream on Sundays.

I'm starting to worry about my daughter..she seems to be an adrenalin junkie and loves for me to squeal the tires and go fast...course I like doing that too 

If I had it to do over, I think a 69 or 70 Firebird convertible with a 400 would be awesome.

forgot about that one! In 1969 I ordered a new Z28 in orange with a black interior and a black rubber top. Also black annels on the hood and trunk. It had the cross ram intake and four wheel disc brakes, and the off road suspension and off road cam shaft (dealer installed). The car came with all the options, but with the hound's tooth interior and a white rubber top. I wouldn't accept it! Went up the street and bought the Hemi Roadrunner instead. I liked the hemi a hundred times better, but still longed for the Z28 even if it was slow compaired to the Roadrunner.
gary

[Marbles]

been several for me
* the most recent was a 1964 Plymouth two door hardtop. Had the aluminum front end and factory hemi K-member (it was an extremely rare hardtop race car). Could have had the body for change, and race cars don't have numbers on the blocks or transmissions. With a 64 block this cars worth a million!!

* 1966 stage two Cobra that had both wire wheels and mags

* my old 1927 steel Model T that had a bored and stroked 48 Merc in it.

* anyone of a half dozen max wedge Mopars

* my old hemi Roadrunner

* a half dozen 50's Corvettes ( two were fuelies that had the aluminum heads)

gary

DUDE!!!!!

Whatcha driving now???

[lazydays]

been several for me
* the most recent was a 1964 Plymouth two door hardtop. Had the aluminum front end and factory hemi K-member (it was an extremely rare hardtop race car). Could have had the body for change, and race cars don't have numbers on the blocks or transmissions. With a 64 block this cars worth a million!!

* 1966 stage two Cobra that had both wire wheels and mags

* my old 1927 steel Model T that had a bored and stroked 48 Merc in it.

* anyone of a half dozen max wedge Mopars

* my old hemi Roadrunner

* a half dozen 50's Corvettes ( two were fuelies that had the aluminum heads)

gary

DUDE!!!!!

Whatcha driving now???

just a red 2006 Monte Carlo and a four wheel drive Chevy truck. I am looking at a new Corvette sometime early next year (midlife crisis I guess), or building a Brookville 32 Ford with a 6.1 Hemi in it (or maybe a Motor City flathead).
gary