In 1970 One of my college roommates had a Shelby 500 GT (probably a
68?) he was behind in the payments and it was going to be repoed. I should have bought it but wasn't impressed at the time. He wound up in a 58 Galaxy.
In early 80's my Grandmother had a 64 Plymouth convertible I could have bought for $800 but would have needed to drive from AZ to CA to pick it up so passed on it.
Saw an Amphicar on the side of the road at a shop in mid 70's for $1000.
In 68 could have bought a sweet used 64 impala SS 327 but due to insurance concerns over the V8 bought a 6-cyl 62 Nova instead.
around 1978, got lost in rural Northwest Ohio, pulled into a combination farmyard/repair garage/junkyard.....was busy oggling an abandoned '53 Packard Caribbean...at the time thinking it was too far gone to restore, but now would be a real find. was more attracted by a Jag XK150 convert...story was it was the owner's son but he had lost interest in it.....very nice rust-free car. I left before I could do anythng foolish, but a couple weeks later decided to go back.....and couldn't find the place.
a couple years ago I'm at the BMV to renew my plates when a puff of a Shelby Mustang convert drives in (I don't know Shelby years: it had the long,extended snout on it with all kinds of scoops on top and sides & the sequential tail lights) pretty car and looked like new. young kid driving it - had just bought it at a farm auction.....paid $300 - he was the only one who bid on it.....everyone else had come for the farm implements.
last summer, at a swap meet near Dayton.....one of the vendors had a pile of parts and a '55 Fleetwood Sixty Special.....sign on car was for $500....but it was light mint green (original paint and nice).....it was late in the day and I was tired and I just thought "Too bad it's that ugly green".......about half-way home it dawned on me that I just passed on The Deal.
Yeah, me too. Only one I'll mention really, really made me want to cry on the spot, not in retrospect, as did the many others:
Spring of 1956, nineteen years old, never failed at anything, but in jeopardy of closing out a fairly intense but fruiless search for an "interesting" car to mess with. Chose against a 1938 LaSalle convertible (Carson top, rumble seat welded shut and leaded-in, stacked slices of colored plastic for dash knobs, leopard skin seat covers - and it turned right by itself and sent out a blue smokescreen when I let off the gas), and a late 20s Packard phaeton whose wheels were rusted to the axles (bring your trailer and some extra hands, he said), among others.
Found the perfect car in a dismantler along South Vermont: 1938 Buick
2-door convertible, red, ran quiet and smokeless when the yard man drove it over and parked it by an earth-backed concrete block wall. It had new tires, top and interior, current tags, a dream creamfuff come true. Red, it was. I was eager, would make any sacrifice, I said.
Yard guy said I could have it for fifty dollars, in about ten minutes; first, he had to destroy it.
And he did: pushed it up against that wall with a sturdy front-loader, six, eight, a dozen times, until it was no longer recognizable.
It had been the principle haggle-point between a divorcing couple, each of whom apparently felt the same way about it as I did. The quixotic judicial order to crunch it taught them a lesson, I'm sure, and I learned one, too: The Law Is A Ass, sometimes.
Frank: your Buick story is a heart-breaker........and yes, my misspent youth included a lot of visits to junkyards......not so much for needing something, but just to look around. Even then (back in the 60s & 70s) you'd see cars that you just couldn't believe deserved to be there. Can remember: an early 50s Imperial limo: bent but went to the junkyard with factory seatcovers...what a waste! In the 70s I had a favorite country yard I'd visit every summer: once there was a '53 Hornet coupe (the long deck, not 2dr sedan) and it was so pretty I couldn't believe it was there......got in, turned the keys and it started right up! Or a brand-new '64 Stude Hawk (had 300 miles on it) that had been wrapped around a tree: what that interior, trunk lid, grill, engine, etc would be worth today!
As I think about all the cars that got away, it helps to remember what it would have cost to maintain & insure them to keep the present value in perspective.
And, anybuddy else remember going to a Demolition Derby and seeing one of their "dream cars" getting destroyed? Lordie: used to break my heart to see Packards, Lincolns & Caddies being bashed to bits.......but part of what makes them scarce - and valuable - today.
I spent many a Sunday in the 1970-1973 timeframe shopping used special interest cars listed in the classifieds. Regarding new cars: the DeTomaso Pantera and the Porsche 911S sold for $10,000, Ferrari Daytonas were $16,000, and Corvettes were in the 5's and 6's. I took my test drives in many interesting used cars. 35 or more years later I don't have total recall, but my best recollections of some special ones were:
$3,500 -- '70 Hemi Cuda, red w/black top, auto $3,500 -- '69 "Dickie Harrell" 427 COPO Camaro, bright yellow, 4-spd, fire extinguisher standard equipment $3,000 -- '63 Maserati 3500GT (meaning a 6-cyl), white, red leather, 4- spd, mint Shelby Mustangs were also in this price range.
$2,500-$3,000 -- '69 427-435 tri-power Corvettes (two of them), T- tops, both 4-spds Other cars I checked out in this price range included some very nice Jaguar XKE's and Porsche 911T's. I also remember a '66 327-350 Corvette coupe, two owners, first owner was Len Dawson of the KC Chiefs (one of the great teams back then).
I personally owned a a '67 SS 396 4-spd Chevelle and a '66 big block 4- spd Corvette coupe, factory side pipes. The Vette cost $1,700 (kinda ratty) and the Chevelle was $250 (it smoked). You could pick up tons of six or seven or eight year old beaters for $200 or less. The rule on the used car lots was, if it starts and runs, 50 bucks, and you went up from there.
Back in the 60s there were lots of car dealers on Lake Street, a popular "cruising" route in Minneapolis. My father and I had both purchased new Chevs from Grossman, a new car dealer. Around 1970, my wife and I visited Grossman's used car lot and found a beautiful 1968 Nova SS396. We took it for an exhilarating test drive and decided to buy it. As we were pulling back into the the car lot, 2 men came running to us - one was a salesman, and the other was the fellow who had just purchased the car! Would have, could have, but just a little too late.
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