Ones that got away......

[Kevin68N71]

I'd be curious to know stories of others who lost out on something special because of the usual...didn't have cash at the moment, didn't have a place to store it, or just didn't follow up on something that you were made aware of.  I have three tales to share.

1) 1978, went to my sister's wedding in Boulder, CO.  Her husband's dad, a very nice gent, had a 1966 Dodge Coronet 426 Hemi sitting in his driveway, which he had bought new to, no kidding, tow a trailer.  He never got the trailer, and never put a hitch on it.  It had been their extra car for years.  No rust, but typical Colorado paint fade.  Not even any surface rust! 

The car had been sitting for quite a while and had not been started, so Mr. Priest invited me to help him start it.  We took off he big air cleaner and primed the two carbs. I had already purchased by 1968 Charger, so was shocked to see a similar console in his, but with a larger cut out and a big four speed gear lever coming out of it.  His interior was also white, with buckets, although different buckets than in my car

The car fired right up, and idled there with a perfect, unmodified Hemi sound.  It wasn't a rumpety rumpety cammed-engine sound, or uneven at all.  It was nice.

I knew that he would eventually sell it.  I was just 18 at the time, and had my Charger, living at my parents house.  Of course, in my thoughts I imagined he would always have it right to the time he wanted to sell it to me, and then of course, sell it, and I would somehow get it from Boulder to LA.  Suffice it to say my sister divorced his son a few years later, and contact was lost. 

In the 80s, I read a muscle car magazine in horror, about a guy who purchased what looked to me the exact car from a "man in Boulder" and drove it back home to Texas.  There couldn't be too many of those cars in Boulder, so I assumed that was "my" car.

2) 1980.  My good friend Dan was a "musician", in between jobs but flush with a little cash.  He wanted a muscle car after being captivated and getting the bug from my Charger.  So we went looking.  I was driving by myself one day and a guy in a black 440 Six Pack 'Cuda waved me over to look at my car.  We exchanged cards, he owned a little tire shop.  Very nice guy, and I think the tire shop is still there.  Anyways, he told me he had a Hemi-'Cuda for sale.  I told him I might have a buyer.

Now, bear in mind, this was a time when you could still get thrasher Road Runners for $500, and just two years before I had gotten my Charger for $750.  Hemi's were appreciated for being fast and cool, not for any "holy grail" type thing.

Anyways, he invited me and Dan to his house.  In the garage, he had a gorgeous, 1970 Hemi-'Cuda.  It was white, black hemi stripes, black roof, and blue interior.  It was an automatic.  He took us for a ride in it, and while he didn't terrify us, it was clear the car ran really strong.  The only thing I could see wrong with it was a chip out of his silver shaker scoop.

In his refrigerator, he had a box containing a whole new striping kit from some dealer.  He kept it there to supposedly keep it fresh.

Price for car, including extra stripes? $5,500.

But of course, as fate would have it, my friend thought it more important to smoke pot, drink, make bad recordings and goof off and went through his savings regardless of my "time running out" pleas.  The transaction never went anywhere, and as I was living with my parents going to local college and working part time, I could scrape maybe $500 together but not $5,500--I could not buy it either.

3)  1987.  I had not driven my Charger for a few years, several problems (which now I know what they were) plagued the car and I didn't want to keep driving it and risking breaking down on my now long commute.  I needed a better car.  I parked the non-running 1968, made do with an old Fiat, and then my Grandma's (no kidding) 1972 Maverick, which was so rusted it could no longer be aligned.

During all this time, I saw an ad for a 1970 Charger R/T 440 automatic.  It was in Long Beach, and "needed some work".  I went down there and found a greasy, interior thrashed, automatic 440 RT. The guy took me for a ride and the car really cranked.  He was only the 2nd owner of the car, and now had no place for it, and needed the money for a baby that was coming.  His wife and he were only a few years older than me, if that.  I bought it, $500.  The worst part is that the entire passenger's rear quarter was smashed all the way in, and someone had just fiberglassed a new fender right over it.  If you looked up in the wheel well you could still see the crushed fender up there.  The car was originally red or orange, with a horrible black paint over it, and any scratch in the car was orange from the paint underneathe.  BUT, it was a real R/T with all the emblems, original drive-train, etc.

I drove it home, and took it easy, as it was a rattletrap.  About a mile from my house it started tapping, kind of severe, as if the oil pump went.  I eased it home and never drove it again, just started it up occasionally, and there would be that light tapping.

SO now both my garage stalls in my townhouse were taken up with non running cars, and I had to do something for transportation.  I walked into a Ford dealership to buy maybe a 3 year old Mustang GT, and I ended up buying a NEW one.  There was no way I was parking a new car out on the street.  I had had the R/T for a year, and at that time in my life, could not see how or when I would do anything with it (I know, I know).  So I sold it, for $300 to a guy who wanted the motor.  I had never sat or driven in the car since I brought it home.  He towed it away, and it was like I had never had it.

Now, think of what any of us could have done with that car. For really next to nothing.  I sometimes even now forget that this even happened, as I never really did anything with the car.


So there are the three I think about from time to time!

[Ghoste]

Oh God, I couldn't even begin.  Day late and dollar short is the story of my life man.  If I had to pick just a couple they'd be a 69 Charger that I spotted at an auction.  I could have gotten it cheaply but there was some smoke and mirrors happening around the car and I didn't know about that part until later.  The bad part is that I was working the auction and I'm no rookie to them and how they operate so I should have spotted it.
There was a 69 500 many years ago in Ohio that I was "this close" to having the money for.  But the list goes on and on.

[Rolling_Thunder]

how about this one guys...

I went and looked at a 1970 Charger R/T SE when I was 15...      Car had a rebuilt engine, trans, rear-end...    nice interior but needed paint and bodywork

It was optioned as follows

440+6 4-speed  Dana 60  4:10SG    Black, Black top, Red BB stripe, Burnt orange interior....   

Asking price $8,000

# matching six pack car....   

reason i didnt get it ?   Parents wouldnt let me - thought i would kill myself....     probably right

[1969chargerrtse]

O.K, back in the late 70's when I was in school, I took a friend to go see a 62 Impala SS 409 conv for 300.00 It was Roman Red and in perfect condition.  It had 2x4 carbs and factory headers still in the trunk.  The next day my buddy bought it out from me without me knowing.  He talked about it to me in class like nothing was wrong?  I was just so shocked that I couldn't comment much.  He sold it 6 months later for the same 300.00 to a guy that was putting it in a glass case, as he put it.  He became a state police officer  and then did something stupid with his gun and they let him go.

[C_stripes]

When I was 16 I bought 5 66 chargers from one guy. I paid $2000 for all of the. He also had a few other cars I wish I would have bought. He had a factory HEMI orange 383 challenger R/T for $2500 that ran. A 70 charger R/T 440+6 4spd dana car that was Numbers matching factory White with black top and stripe for $6500 and a Numbers matching running/driving 70 T/A in burnt orange with burnt orange int. It was also a 4spd car. It was all orig except paint and wheels. He told me I could have it for $10K.  This was in 1999. I feel bad now.

[Kevin68N71]

Good tales...I forgot about another one, about 1985.

A friend of mine, younger than I, was going to go away to college.  He too wanted a muscle car, and as I did in the 80s and 90s, I implored all my friends to get these cars while they were cheap, as they are only going to go up in price (who knew how far).

So, being a good guy like I always am, I found a 1970 R/T Challenger in Venice.  The front fenders were primer, but it was not a rust bucket.  The interior was white and really only needed front seats.  It was the 440, 4 speed, single carb. It was that sub-lime green.

The car moved out quite well, and my friend Sam really wanted it.  Price was $3000.

His dad was OK with it, but his mom, a real b!tch (not for this reason but many others) said no way!  The car was a "gas guzzler" and she thought it was crazy to have a car like that.  Sam was to buy his cousin's car, according to his mom, and that was end of story.  It was a Camaro, and I asked Sam if I could check the car before I bought.  But it was then too late, the deal had been made at the parental level.

Sam brings the Camaro over, all I knew about it was that it had a T-top, so I am thinking, maybe he got a Z/28! I was a bit excited, as I was going to be the designated driver to take him, a friend of his and myself to a last pre-college harrah for him in Las Vegas.  But no, it was a lousy 1978 era stock Camaro. 

The dash was cracked and peeling.  The drivers armrest pad was gone, so when I drove it, I was constantly being stabbed by the sharp nubs that hold the pad in place, so Sam jammed an umbrella in there to help.  The seats were ripped.  There were Superman and Batman stickers on the dash that would not come off, as their colors had leached into the pad.  The car had no guts at all, even the paint was faded.  The T-top was not factory but some local body shop did it.  The cost for this wonderful machine? $3000.  Some family deal, huh.

As a funny side note, while he was at the university in Arizona, he was on the freeway and one of the T-tops blew off and smashed to bits.  Because it was custom, a local body shop had to fabricate another one...for $1000.

Yeah, but no R/T Challenger.  That would have been silly, right?

[rusty lee]

1994 I worked for a salvage yard full of mopars anyway they got a 1969 plum crazy purple white interor 383 pistol grip shifter 4 speed charger $1500. I was 20 always wanted a 69 charger  they were even gonna let me make payments. but one of the guys who worked there told me the frame was rotted beyond repair. being 20 I took his word for it now I have a 69 with no left frame rail and lots o rust that I paid alot more than $1500 for. oh well at 20 I woulda jumped a bridge Dukes style.

[NHCharger]

1977. I was 19, living at home, looking to upgrade from my 74 Chevelle Laguna S-3. A friends uncle had a white Superbird, think it had a 6 pac, my other friends bro had a 70 M 1 Mustang, with a 351. could have had either one for $ 2,500.00. my Dad said they were both rust buckets (he was right) and I should buy a new muscle car that would appreciate in value, not continue to decline like those two heaps. I ended up with a Datsun 280Z