The Car That Got Away

nobody@pseudo.borked.net says...

I know where my 74 Roadrunner is today. I couldn't possibly afford it
now...It's probably worth more than the new Charger sitting in my
garage.

BDK

Well, if anyone sees a bright purple 1972 Pinto hatchback with wide white
racing stripes down each side, let me know!

I don't want it back, just curious.

dwight

on my 60 chevy, 6 banger, last seen in Jacksonville Fla in 1974 with a coat
of green house paint, I bought it that way for $100, put 10k on it then it
blew a ring (looked like a fogger of blue smoke going down the road), sold
it for $50 to two guys for their weekend, they sold it for $25, then someone
fixed it up, saw it on the beach, no blue smoke, a real pos, but wheels. Had
lites in the grill. Floorboards were rusted out big holes, had screens over
them covered with carpet, but good car for drinking beer and not stopping.

Well, I know where my '57 Fargo is - it's been turned into a pro
street truck - totally ruined, but what the heck, it's HIS money.
Still, I almost cry when I see it.
I'm told my 1953 Coronet Sierra is back in Van Nuys California where
it originally came from. I suspect it is the original owner, or his
family, that tracked it down - apparently paid 100G US for it 3 years
ago, more or less.
I know my 61mini, '63 valiant and '69 dart are scrap. Suspect the 37
Terraplane, 35 Chevy and 28 Chevy are also scrap. Might be some parts
still around on other cars. I hope the '76 Ramcharger is scrap, along
with the '72 Colt wagon. The 1972 Vauxhaul is also scrap( was scrapped
15 years after I sold it)The '76 Dart Sport is almost certainly scrap,
as are both the '80 corolla and the '81 Tercel
The '49 VW was still running around Victoria Falls Zimbabwe 10 years
ago. The '67 Peugot likely died long before that, but over there?
Well, you just never know.
I know where a few others are, and where a few were as little as 2
years ago, but other than the Mini, the VW, and the 53 Dodge and '57
fargo, none of them would warrant much  effort to find and recover.And
the Fargo in it's current condition would not even tempt me.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

@gEEmail.com says...

 My friend saw it a couple of years ago in pretty wiped out shape. The
original 360 was in it and it ran, but it was pretty tired out. He tried
to buy it, but some guy kept offering more than he did, so it was bought
and carted off somewhere for two years, and then when my friend and his
wife were looking at houses due to the wife popping up pregnant at 48,
and the older kid didn't want to share her room with the baby. When they
were leaving, here comes my car, all restored, with "440" on the hood,
past them, looking like it was built a couple days before.

After following the driver to some car club meeting, he confirmed it's
my old car, the owner found a check deposit slip with my name on it
under the rotten carpet when he took the old interior out. It's got a
stroker 440 in it now, with a TQ and an aluminum intake, big cam, alum
heads, etc. The rebuilt original 360 is in the guys other car, a Duster.
It's somewhere in the Chicago area, but I don't know exactly where. If I
hit the lottery, I'm going to find it one way or another.

BDK

My 74 Road Runner, forest green, white vinyl top w/sunroof, white interior,
was stolen off the dealers lot two days after I traded it in, and totaled.
MEEP MEEP!!

D

spam@starband.net> says...

That's sad. I saw my old T/A rot into a beater from 1987 until about
1995 or so, on an almost daily basis. That guy loved that car, but he
didn't seem to fix the dings it got, and that's mostly where the rot
started. Last time I saw it, it was sitting with a for sale sign, and it
said "Runs" on it. Pretty pitiful. I would have rather it died a quick
death, like yours did.

The Iroc Camaro that replaced it is alive and well, with a 383 stroker
in it. I sold it to a friend, who traded it in for an insanely low price
after I told him I wanted it back. It was 6 years old, and had 15k on
it. One of the service writers grabbed it up, and as of a year ago, he
still had it. Last time I saw it, a kid was driving it, and I think it
might have been the writer's kid.

My RR was if not THE last one, it was like on the last day they built
the 74 body style. It was dark silver with red stripe, 360 Hipo engine,
3.55 posi (The tiny one they put under Dusters, it broke very quickly),
I replaced it with a 8+3/4" from a freshly wrecked 72 400 Charger, and
solved the problem forever. A bonus was a huge increase in rear brake
size.

Your RR sounds a lot like the one that was sent to the dealer with my
order number in July, but that one was a Satellite Sebring, Frosty green
(Damn, I hate that frosty green) with a white vinyl top, a 440 and white
and green checked interior! Even after repeated pleading and discounting
to try to get me to take it. The order was placed again, and after a 3
month wait, it finally showed up. The dealer had started to look for a
car to swap for by the time it showed up. Chrysler kept sending sheets
saying the car was built from Labor Day on, but it never showed up, and
the dealer promised they would get me a 74 with a 360, 400, or 440 with
no extra charge if they never sent it, or sent a 75 instead. He found a
white 440 about 100 miles away, that I almost took instead, but I didn't
want a white, green (sorry, not my color), brown, tan, or beige car. It
was a very cold rainy Nov morning when I picked it up. I think it came
in on like Friday afternoon, and I had to wait all weekend to get it at
about 10 Monday morning. I put 400+ miles on it the first day, and it
was in the shop by Friday for wheel bearings, and a spindle. The factory
had installed the wrong bearings and I drove around with the wheels in
danger of flying off, until the bearing stunk so bad it was obvious
there was a problem. The left wheel bearings had eaten up the spindle,
and they took a spindle off a new Sebring to get me back on the road
that day. I had very few problems with it after that, except the window
cranks broke in a matter of days, again and again. I finally put bolts
and nuts on them instead of the "breakaway" rivet they originally had.
A year later, I saw some neat looking ones on a 71, and the guy who made
them made me a set out of aluminum bar stock, and anodized them a silver
color. They were on the car when I traded it in, on April 77. I was an
idiot for trading it on the POS Power Wagon..



BDK

Ed wrote:

last seen in 1981

a 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle 2-door

blue cloth interior.... painted 1976 Cadillac Georgian Silver Metallic (
$800 paint job in 1980)

307, automatic, NO factory radio, or air conditioning

I added an AM/FM 8 track, and a CB radio, a set of 205 7014 radials ( one
size bigger and wider)

50,000 miles

one I SHOULD have kept.... traded it for a 77 Chevrolet Impala with Air

the ones around now are either clapped out, or being turned into SS 454
clones

Mark wrote:

    So what all you losers are trying to say is that if I sell my 89
Mustang, ten years from now I'm going to be crying sorry?

--
"Yah know I hate it when forces gather in ma' fringe..." - Sheogorath

"Daytime television sucked 20 years ago,
    and it still sucks today!"  -   Marc Bissonette

says...

I don't know if Fords count..;)

BDK

Yes. That's the reason I still have the '93.

Of course, you may also be crying sorry when gas hits $5.00 a gallon.

:()

dwight wrote:

    Probably not, the Mustang gets better mileage than the Titan does.

--
"Yah know I hate it when forces gather in ma' fringe..." - Sheogorath

"Daytime television sucked 20 years ago,
    and it still sucks today!"  -   Marc Bissonette

The one that got away from me was a yellow 1970 Dodge Challenger
convertible with 47,000 miles in 1980. This was in April of 1980. I
graduated high school in June. Dad wouldn't let me buy a car till after
I was out of school. The owner - who lived 1 block south wouldn't hold
the car till June. Asking price was only $1400.00 and the body, top &
interior were in excelent condition. I think it had a 318V8

The car did winters in Florida and summers in Chicago.


harryface  

Can I have one of my sister's boyfriends car?
White 59 Chevy Impala convertible, with A/C, ice blue interior.  My folks
were driving a 56 Chevy at the time, and it impressed them so much they
bought a "cats-eye" 59 Chevy too, but it wasn't a convertible.  Thats the
car I learned how to drive in, 6 years later.

first generation to come of age with their own cars, and

My first car was a '66 Corvette, burgundy w/black interior, 4-spd,
factory side pipes, and a big block hood and the telltale stress
cracks on the front fenders, which together suggest it was an original
big block car.  (No way to tell for sure, without paperwork, on mid-
year Vettes.)  It had a '70 402 (aka "SS 396") when I bought it, $1700
in 1973.  I did my best to total it, but I sold it to a guy who
indicated he wanted to bring it back.  If it was a factory big block
car, particularly a 427/425 hp L72, a resto would be worth some major
bucks today, like north of $100,000.

Sorry I hurt you, old Vette. I was young and so were you.

180 Out

Two short stories.  Best friend through high-school and now (he is 50
this year)  still drives the first car he ever rode in.  His dad's
(RIP) 1960 Plymoth Savoy.  Its been restored and runs around Metchen
NJ.  My friend Ben here is teaching his son to drive it now.  How is
that, three generations driving the same car.  Ben also has a restored
1976 Trans Am I helped him get from another buddy of mine in the early
80's.  Also restored and well known in Metchen.  The buddy who sold it
though he was pulling a fast one by selling a junker to Ben.  The last
laugh has been 25 years of show winning awards!

My other story.  First Trans Am, a plain 1975 Ben found for me at a
dealership in Metchen NJ was used lovingly then sold to a father who
gave it to his sun when he turned 17.  17 year old put it into a tree
when it slid on snow.  Driver error, that 75 was the best in snow with
the locking rear.  Next Trans Am, 1978 was perfect.  But lost job,
sold it a collector and used funds to either pay for computer
programming school if a new job didn't come along or as nest egg for
my soon to be bride (got new job, used nest egg to buy house.)
Never sow the 78 again.  Jump ahead 10 years and purchase a 1979 Trans
Am (baby V-8, 4 speed, t-top with no air and 135K miles).  Drive for a
few years, started family, restoration and graduate school.  TA sat
for 6 years in garage.  Jump into the 21th Century.  After evauating
cost of restoring the 79. it was cheaper to buy something else (2001
estimate over $ 16K and still would have a plain jane TA with no AC.)

So, picked up a nice 1995 Trans Am 6 speed, T-Top in red.  Sold 79 to
a 20 something with a brother who owns a body shop (that's what she
needed).  In Janauary 2008 had that Trans Am pass me by, guy who sold
it to was driving and it was repainted in same dark blue paint.  Good
to see it alive and kicking!   Still have 95 Trans Am, own daughter is
growing up with it.  Loves the car and going to car shows.

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