Most Expensive Ride You Got to Drive

kirban 2 cents worth

Looking back into your past, what car or truck did you have an opportunity to drive years ago, that today is valued at a small fortune? Not one you owned, but rather one that belonged to your boss, friend, relative etc that you got to drive.

Here is my quick story.

I turned 16 in 1963....My best friend lived about 3 houses away and was 3-4 years older than me, (later was best man at my wedding). He had a real love for an unusual car that was produced for a very limited time in the late 1950s. It was a big buck car when it was new.

Around 1963-64 he was able to buy a used one for several thousand dollars! Keep mind back then new cars were $2500 or so.

Once in awhile he would let me borrow this unique car to go out on dates. It was a convertible with a manual shift.

Today these cars fetch nearly a 1/2 million dollars in near excellent condition. Even in parts expect to spend one hundred grand or better. This car in the marque is considered the Holy Grail.

So, readers....what is the car I got to drive as a 16-17 year old?

Meantime tell me your story.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

In 1972 my wife and I bought a brand new Hemi Cuda'. 4 speed no less. I don't remember exactly but around $45-4700.00. I remember almost begging to get the Hemi upgrade because it was something like $875.00, alot of money for us in 72. Or was it 73. Oh well!!!

 

so what was it????

mine was prob a genuine Shelby 350GT...a mate bought it and we had a week of fun in it before he broke it for the locker axle...
or the 246 Dino I went to look at, guy had 3 of them, 2 rusty sheds and a minter....got to drive the minter....
have also been in a genuine GT40 but didn't get to drive in and also a Jaguar 220.
Did drive a Jag concept car, only a very short way and not on the road a couple of years ago...prob cost Jag way over a £million ....

had my head in the drivers window of a 63 Ferrari 250GTO last year wouldn't have given it back if I had got a drive....the value is prob £8million

 

Doc let me drive one of his Vipers once.

 

I got out of tech school in 1965 and worked for a car dealer and we got in a 63 1/2 galaxie 427 2/4 barrels and 4 speed, i checked out the engine and they had the secondaries tied to the primarys and I cut the wires, i begged the foreman for a drive they said 4 min, I took it out about a mile and hammered it, that would be worth a mint now had buckets and consule, was tan in color kinda one of a kind now

 

I paid $25,000 for my '57 Nomad a couple of years ago.

 

It's 1963, just outta high school, workin @ the local Buick dealership in the body shop.
Owner of the company was a 40's cowboy movie star, Rex Reason.
Comes out to the shop 1 day and has me go get his "old car" from around front, he had driven it that day.
Tells me to bring it around to the back and clean it up.
Walk out front and there sits a 1932 Cadillac dual cowl Phaeton.
Even back then that car was probably worth 40 - 60 K

 

it was 03, I had to give my ex wife a ride to our divorce hearing...cost me almost half of what I had.. but ie was definatly the most pleasurable ride caus I knew I wouldn't have to see her again!

 

Mine was a 1964 Ford Thunderbolt. WOW very fast. I have no idea what yours was

 

I got to drive a 289 Cobra last year. I put a starter on it so the guy let me take it for a spin.

 

Kaiser Darin?

I race my Willys...all steel with 528 Hemi. I have $100K in it.

as seen in the avitar (mine, not the movie)

 

One of the first 100 GT 350s built. I didn't like it, too much of a sports car and I was into drag racing not sports car racing. On top of that Mustangs and Camaros were considered girlie cars by all of my friends, most of whom drove muscle cars with big blocks or barely street legal hotrods.

 

I don't think I've ever driven a "car in the marque"

 

I drove my buddies 67' rs/ss camaro once. Just down the road and back. Its kick ass. Its appraised at over 40,0000. He's got more than that into it. He's won numerous awards at car shows. Its also a part time weekend warrior. Its now got a 502 big block.

 

since i work at a Ford dealer, I have driven several Ford GT's and a couple shelby 500 mustangs.

 

Zach Reynolds' "Tobacco King" Galaxie.

 

My guess is you got to drive a Muntz Jet.

 

Back in 2002 I was working as a parts man at a Calgary rod shop. We were just finishing up a complete frame-off '57 Chevy 'vert show car for a customer. As I was the only clean guy there, I got the honours to take it for a test drive. The guy had invested close to $250K (Cdn $$) into the car. It was gorgeous!!
And yes...he actually DRIVES the car to events. His wife follows with their truck & trailer so it has a "garage" to park in overnight if they're out of town.

 

Nothing of tremendous value, back in 1980 I bought a low mileage 1972 Pontiac GTO for $1700. Bone stock, forest green, camel interior, 400ci, 4-speed, bucket seats. Mint condition. The only thing I changed was the manual steering, I upgraded it to power steering, it needed it! I sold it 3 years later for $3500 and thought I hit oil. Today, I see them going in the $20k range. Damn, wish I kept her, it was a beast.

 

Hmmm...2001 I drove a Ferrari Testarossa. 2004 a Hemi Charger. One of my former bosses had a huge collection of crazy high-hp cars. 750hp Z06, lots of really fast, really expensive Trans Ams and GTOs. It was a rough job.

 

When I lived in Phoenix I worked at a car detailing place (great job when it's 120 degrees out) and got to drive (at least on the lot) several high-end cars, Rolls Royces, very early Mercedes, Porsches and such. As much as I love cars, it just never thrilled me in the least because (A) none were mine and (B) it was just a job, same as when I worked as a cashier later on and handled thousands of dollars daily yet was always totally broke. I didn't think of the money at work as being money for the exact same reasons.

 

Did not get to drive them but got to ride in a 1932 v-12 Lincoln roadster originally owned by the J.C. Whitney. My pop got a ride in a 1932 Cadillac v-16 coupe . Both cars are in the wheels through time mueseum in maggie valley nc .

 

I've gotten some interesting test drive invitations by virtue of my zip code and mag subscriptions. Last year I got to stomp on a Bentley Continental GT and am getting a test drive in a Tesla roadster when the dealership opens in Chicago in a couple weeks.

 

this is the most expensive car i ever drove and did the body work on. its an arnolt bristol worth over a million. car was all hand made.

 

Maybe I'm just extra dumb this morning but I don't get your story. Do you not remember what the car was, are we supposed to guess what it is or what? If you want to know what it was it seems it would be much simpler to ask your best man if he's still around cause lets face it your description is somewhat vague at best.

As far as the most expensive I have driven was a Shelby Mustang that belonged to the boyfriend of one of my High School friend's sister. He let us take it up town and clean it up for him. That was back in 72.

48 Poncho

 

Armored Personal Carrier. Had two Chrysler V8's in it and you could get it up to about 40MPH but at that speed you were prone to throwing a track. Supposedly it floated too, but I never took it any deep water.

 

Got to drive one of the only 2 red on red Ferrari's ever made
doing some custom stereo and interior werk to it.

sad thing is about a month after I had werked on it the client took it in for service.
plugs, wires, all the fluids, and the tech didn't refill the trans!!
So the car owner is driving it home and the trans locks up on the freeway at speed.
Guy says he does 2 360's befor slamming the passenger side in to the wall!!
no one was hurt thankfully, however the entire passenger side of the car, and the transmission had to be replaced.
A few of the numbers I heard were
transmission $24k
this was an late 80's Ferrari, back when everything was still hand made, and there were no repair shops in the states at this time (early 90's).
to repair the vehicle, Ferrari shipped over all the tools and materials needed, rented a shop to werk out of, and sent a crew of 5 guys over to fix the car!!!

Almost $100k for the repair... all for $15 worth of fluids that didn't get put in the car

 

My friend has a 39 Packard Victoria, V12 and said one day that he was going to give the Packard a run, and did I want to go along. Well he got it out of the garage, got out and said lets go, you drive. OK. What a drive that was. The car was like a new one and only had 400 miles on it since the rebuild. A once in a life time thrill for me. About 5weeks ago he let me drive his R/Royce Cornish 3 Conv, and that was also quite a driver, but not to compair with the Packard. My greatest ride was in a Ford Tin Goose Tri Motor, at Put in Bay, Sandusky, Ohio. Nothing can compair with that, and since it was the morning mail run, we hit a 5 Islands in Lake Erie. Landing on Rattle Snake Island was a thrill beyond compair. Iceman

 

1927 Bugatti type 35b--to Blockbuster to return a video and through downtown milwaukee at speed.

1932 Alfa Romeo 6c--around west allis.

Some kinda weird 1955 alfa romeo 2 liter grand prix car back from road america.

oh and the 1932 roadster that is in the newest rodders journal ..drove that and broke the three speed toploader... well technically it was breaking and i just kinda helped it along.


Rome

 

Back in 1971 when I came home from the service I bought a 1967 435hp 427 corvette. But i think the best car I drove was a real 427 cobra that a friend of mine worked on for a car collector that he worked for.