Whats the stupidest thing you let pass through your hands

My 51 Merc coupe that I bought when I was 16 and sold 32 years later. The good thing is that it went to a good home and the guy who has it has done a great but not HAMB friendly job on it. The car is slick, fast, has it's own garage space and gets to go and play with other cars on occasion. But I still miss it quite often as it was a part of me for a long time.

 

Let's see...I missed out on a 440-4-speed 1970 Superbird (in 1988) for $7,500, in damn-near showroom condition!...
- Missed a complete, ready-to-install 1968 Hemi engine with carbs, pullies, and mounts (in 1993) for $1,500
- Missed a '62 Chrysler 300-G for just $1,000 (in 2002!!!), running/driving/complete, needed paint, and that was about it!
- Definitely others.

Each time, I had the cash, too, but needed to pay life's obligations first. A roof over my head trumps ALL good deals.

BUT, my all-time giant fark-up was a mint, beautiful, gorgeous, and FAST 1969 Dodge Dart 440 GTS, that I bought as a restored car in 1988, for cheap! I got orders to Germany about nine months later, and I really wanted to keep the car, so I tried to arrange proper storage arrangements, to no avail. I ended up putting it in HMN and sold it to a guy in CT, and quadupled my money in the process...Now, that car is worth about 20 times what I sold it for. C'est la vie!

 

in '84 i sold a complete aar cuda six pack set up for 150.00. and the guy i got it from had the engine complete minus intake and hauled it for scrap, should have gotten that too.

 

56 corvette race car no engine bought it for 500 sold it a month later for 500
60 corvette 270 hp 4 speed bought it for 375 sold it 2 months later after repairing nose (light hit) for 1500
60 harley davidson pan head bought it for 900 sold it a year later for 1700 after putting in 2 grand ... shrewd ... Joe

 

'50 Merc 4 door- $1000 in 1990, interior was gone. 1966 Belvedere II with a 440 Commando and 4 speed car- $1100 in 1991, cherry condition. I passed on it 'cause I thought the Nova I was building would be cooler!

 

My 1959 Mercury Monterey Cruiser, twice!!!

 

not parts...but all the damn time I let slip through my hands as I type on this damn message board!

 

Well, here's a dumb one from me.

The one junkyard we were buying cars out of, a guy tells me there is a 46-7-8 Ford convertible in there. I couldn't find the damned thing, even though I thought I'd looked at everything in that one row, there was one little group of about 5 cars I never went through.

And so I run into another guy there later who shows it to me after he bought it.

Now it was just a body shell, but it was in one piece with floors, doors, top bows, etc - and not 500 feet away was a tudor that I could have robbed the chassis, nose, etc. from to make it a complete car.

I think he paid $200 or so for it. If that.

On the bright side, I did finally have to tie my boot walking down this same row and it was then that I noticed the upside down '53 Buick had a badge on it that said "Skylark" .... my $150 investment there turned into about 4 grand after I sold it twice in 3 years (I figured two was long enough for the first guy to come pick it up).


But some of the other cars that got scrapped would make you cry. '41 Pontiac coupe with a mint grille and steering wheel. '55 Ford - a 4-door, but the body was nice, the interior was nice, it looked like with a wash and detail it was ready for the used car lot. '48 Pontiac fastback. '29 Chevy pickup (I did get some of the tin off it). A '59 Buick 2dr hardtop with good floors and frame. '49 Chevy and '49 Olds coupes. '48 Desoto coupe. Could have bought any of them for $300 or so a shot, but right at the end there I couldn't sell anything fast enough to go back with the money.

 

Oh, yeah ... forget the 53 Studebaker V8 ... paid $15.00 ... Junked it for $10.00 ... that was in '63 ... ran rough, no rot3 speed on the column ... radio worked.

 

A69 or 70, 427-4-speed Nova built by Dick Harrell. I was young and had trouble keeping gas in it to cruise with my girl. so............

 

Ah we've all sold one we would like to get back, but you can't keep em all, atleast I can't. I like the thrill of the hunt too, each time you sell one, you get another chance to find the next diamond in the rough, maybe after reading these stories, we will have better judgement on which ones not to sell. Of course, today's cars are always boring today, who can hold on to a new car for 40 years?

 

A few of these are O/T oh well
All this was in the early eighties to early nineties. Stuff I owned and sold.
1971 SS454 Chevelle almost all original 4 speed two owner car with the build sheet still with it, bought for $2000 sold for $2200. 15X10 Halibrands, bought for $250, sold for $450, 16X10 ETIIs two piece bought for $25 sold for $350 and thought I was a genius, 16X10 magnesium Americans,I louvered a hood in trade for these and sold em for $150. All these wheels were in nice shape and considering there worth today OUCH!
Stuff I walked away from, NICE 1969 Z28 with a blown up 302 $2000.
1934 Ford three window solid body with the top sawed off, abandoned chop? maybe,$900, I thought the guy was nuts. Drove a hundred miles to look at a thrashed 69 Yenko Camaro, yes it was a real one, it was all there and in boxes and buckets, and cupboards, $2500, [you could buy a decent SS for just a little more money about the same time]. Whats that old cliche about hindsight? Later John

 

a 1960 falcon ranchero for 600 bucks a coulple of months ago or the 800 hp buick 455 for $700 a year ago.

 

Oh Ive sole steel bubble skirts for a 49-51 Merc, about 8 Kaiser guards and an accessory 49 merc steering wheel, about 2 really nice woman, and about 30 57 Caddy hubcaps and I could care less.

 

A 70 Challenger R/T B5/B5 blue, 440/4bbl auto for $600...this was about 1990 and I thought it had too much mud in the quarters.

A 68 Beaumont (Candian Chevelle) 396/4spd....$800

A complete 1924 Star for the sum of...Labour.... had to remove it from the basement...would have had to dig a ramp to the old door that had been back filled.

Any others...

 

I let a stadco life saver accessory auction on ebay end for $25 the first time with no bids and it sold for well over $100 the second time.

 

About 15 years ago,went to look at 50 Ford woody basket case--just the body and frame--no wood.Guy says $1000.00. I'm tight on money,so I tell him I'm gonna go get some lunch with my wife,how's with me,and come back.Well, you can guess what happened.I get back,and the car passes me on a trailer.I still cry at night,sometimes----------

 

38 Chev business coupe with no rust at all. Needed the interior and the drivetrain (which I had!). Sold it for $300.00.
20 years old and I needed drinkin money...

No, Please, let me say it. DUMB-ASS!

 

My ex wife, she's pretty stupid.

 

In the early '80's I passed up a 1963 Chev 2 door sedan with a 409 tripower and a 4 speed for $400. Ouch!

 

X2!!

 

I've had the chance to buy 3 1967 Z/28's in my life, never had enough cash, all were dirt cheap! Only one had the original 302!

 

My dad operated a car crusher at a junkyard in around '76.

His boss came in one day and told him to give him a $20 bill. My dad handed it to him, and the guy pointed outside and said he had just bought that car.

It was a baby blue with white top '57 Chevy Bel Air convertible. Continental kit too. Had a crunched fender but was driveable and everything worked.

He was excited about it but during his lunch break he saw one of the other operators pick it up with the big magnet and drop it in the shredder before he could get him to stop....

 

My 66 Mustang that only needed a new rear end, Which I had to sell for 1600 dollars because the city was hounding me to move it from my driveway. I had no where else to put it so I was forced to get rid of it by the city or they were going to fine me and possibly impound it.

 

AMEN to that.

 

I would kill for one of those...I robbed that whole tail light/fin thin that runs down the sides from a '59 4door gonna build a wild show rod some day...I think.

 

it all still hurts.. I've had too many cars...
68 GTO Conv, his & hers, AC, PW, PB sold in 1975 for $500
69 Mach 1, red, 351w, auto sold in 1976 for $200, 1 bad rear qtr
71 Camaro nuthin special but clean, traded for a mustang II
37 ford coupe basket case for $100 in '77
62 Impala SS, White / red for $75 in '77
32 5 window ford for $3500 in '81.. my first rod
64 Bonneville for a ford pu in '87
37 Chevy Coupe, basketcase #2, some guy picked it up in three pu loads $700 in '88
69 Camaro, 400/400 needed floors but had new paint $1200 in 92
70 Mach I, 351c, 4spd,shaker,slats $3500 in 1992
64 Comet Cyclone, built 302, toploader in '93 (fast , loud and nasty) for $2500 and body work on my Ex's TR6
64 Comet Caliente (have album pics here) just went to Ohio

I have pics of most all of this stuff that I'll post as soon as my son shows me how to scan faded old polaroids! And more stuff that was rare and nice but I don't miss (cougars, lancia, suicide lincoln etc)

Sometimes it's best to not look back, this is the stuff I had and let go, there was so much stuff in the late 70's and early 80's that could have been had around here for next to nothing. The 71 455ho trans am,4 spd for $750 hurts the most... But if you love cars you have these stories.. sometimes I think I'll learn.. but that next car is just around the corner, and sometimes to get that next one you just gottah have you have to give up one you got! That whole bird in the hand thing in reverse...

 

Most of this stuff is not HAMB-centric but......

1962 Ferrari 250GT Boano, complete running, $3500
2 Austin Healey 100-4s, one complete and running, one complete but disassembled engine, factory LeMans kit, $1500 for the pair.
1965 Mustang Fastback shell, stripped, dipped, seam welded and primed $300
1965 Shelby GT350, blown clutch, $3500
1973 Porsche Carrera RS $9500 (guy changed his mind on selling, still has it)

My Dad looked at a Mercedes 300SL Gullwing back about 1968 for $5500, but his practical mid-western upbringing won out and he passed.

Best one was probably the guy who lived down the street. He was a music arranger for the studios. He told me one day he used to own a Duesenberg Model J Town Car. Round about 1950 he was hit in an intersection. After it was repaired the left rear door would sometimes come open around turns. He figured that wasn't very safe because he often had his young daughter in the car so he sold it and bought a new Cadillac.

 

Just afew years ago i cut loose a set of front mag wheels, ancient ones. They had a phonelic pad where you bolted it to the front hub. I let em go for $100? Less? They were almost black they were so old.

 

Wait, I forgot my all-time dumbass car trade...a 1966 Bonneville ragtop with a 389 tri-power and air (yeah, they DO exist!) for a 1971 Datsun 510 4-dr sedan. I had just turned 17, and gas was a whopping 65 cents a gallon. Considering I was making a dollar fifty an hour then, and that Poncho sucked down the juice, it was a purely economic move to trade seven mpg to over 42 mpg. The Bonnie had the eight-lug wheels, power friggin' everything, and it was red with red interior and white top! Had to put the top down manually, since the hydraulics needed work. That was one BIG damn top! It had a slightly crunched left front fender, and that was all. This was 1977, BTW. I found the Datsun at the local Chevy dealer used-car lot. We traded straight-up, and now I could afford to actually GO somewhere, albeit at a significantly less rapid pace. Saw the Bonnie in a junkyard along US 50 near Grand Junction, CO a year later, still intact, but never saw the car again. Drove the Datsun for about six months, before I rear-ended a pickup with the damn thing!

These days, that Bonnie rag would bring around $50K - $70K, optioned as it was...the Datsun 510 has a very strong following, but it would bring somewhere between $2K and $8K these days. Both of these cars are among the top ten favorites of cars that I have owned, however!