According To You: The One That Got Away
Hagerty loves stories about cars almost as much as they love the actual cars and trucks themselves. From a member story of a vehicle passed down from generation to generation, to the famous Ford-powered race car that beat Ferrari, there are fantastic stories in every corner of our hobby.
Recently, though, we wondered about the tales that could have been, particularly in the form of cars that got away. We asked members of the Hagerty Community for their thoughts on the matter. And yet again, you folks did not disappoint.
Hertz, don’t it?
@JJC: Early 1967, local Ford dealer had five Hertz GT350’s for sale $3500.00 each. I was in the process of buying a new Camaro L30/M21 at the time for a few hundred bucks less. I couldn’t see the logic in paying more money for a “used” car. Bad investment decision, but I did love the Camaro, wish I still had it. Ah well…
@Squier: In the late 60’s one of my salesmen was driving a Hertz Shelby 350H, black with gold stripes, stick (one of about 90 sticks—before they switched to automatics) as his daily driver. He grew tired of the stick and decided to sell it. I had driven it several times so he offered it to me for $2,500. I had a young family and no place to park it so I reluctantly decided to pass. I kick myself regularly and have a picture of that car as my screen saver on my phone.
No Slacking at Swap Meets?
@Mike: A 1972 Karmann Ghia Convertible at the opening of the Iola Old Car weekend in WI about six years ago. Just entered the swap area and this very nice car was up for $6500. I had the cash on me. I walked past after inspecting it and went to the loo telling the owner I would return. When I came back he just took a fat stack from the lucky buyer. Car was worth at least double…
Take Action at the Impound Auction
@David: Had a tip on a ’69 Camaro Z/28 at a city impound auction back around 1985. It was a mess; heads and intake were missing too. It was winter; cold and muddy but I brought a stack of bills. When the auction came to the car the auctioneer passed on to the next vehicle. I interrupted to ask about the Z and the auctioneer said it was already sold. Guess I never really had a chance!
Passed On Perfection?
@Wade: While renting a house and already having too many non-essential vehicles almost 11 years ago, I picked up my still-going commuter car (2005 Civic EX) for $5300. Approximately one week after that purchase, I found in my town a solid blue 1976 Chevy K5 Blazer, on the front lawn of the original owner.
Asking price was $6500 OBO and it checked every box of desirability for me: original condition (zero visible modifications), single ownership, “never seen snow, always garaged” (this was in Maine), 4×4, 350, 4-speed, white removable top, etc. Everything I could lay eyes on was legitimately near-perfect (…or perfect), down to the USA-1 plate on the front bumper. For many reasons, this truck was not an option for me at the time. Yes, I took pictures and yes, I review them occasionally and of course, I hate myself a little more every time. Still the most ridiculously clean K5 Blazer I’ve seen, for sale or otherwise.
I called the land line number scrawled on the cardboard in the window a little over a year later while in a better position but ignoring the impossibility of this thing not having sold in 2013. It was gone, naturally, and I’ve never seen it around.
Appreciate Before It Appreciated
@MtnCamantalope: During my first year of community college, strolling across the parking lot at the end of the day I saw a beautiful red NSX parked crooked all by itself in the back of the lot. I’d never seen one in person before and man, that thing was awesome. I went home and started searching for one of my own. Decent shape they were running $10-12k, $15k for a really nice one. I could have made it work, but it would have been my daily driver. I decided it would be irresponsible and I’d probably crash it anyway (definitely true). I said to myself “wait a few years so you can more comfortably afford one.” Yeah…
Intercepted By Your Bank Account
@TG: A Jensen Interceptor III. My local fairgrounds holds an annual swap meet, and I saw it there—running but not perfect—for 10K. I had never seen one or heard of them before, but I loved it… the ultimate sleeper car. Unfortunately I did not have 10K in discretionary capital at the time and had to pass. I have seen very few since, and none in running condition anywhere close to that price.
Don’t Judge Me
@MeJ: I guess mine was a ’69 GTO Judge. It was the 1990s and I owned an ’80 Corvette. I saw the Judge and inquired about a trade. The guy said the car had been there for a while and said it was doable. I thought, “Okay, I’ll be smart and think it through the weekend.” Sure enough, I decided it was a good deal, and a much more collectable car. I drove out ready to make the deal and—drum roll please—of course, it was sold.
@James: While traveling as an auditor in the late 90’s for a major bank that financed car dealerships, I would always drive by this body shop that had a 1971 Pontiac GTO convertible for sale in their lot for a few thousand dollars. I said, one day I’ll stop in and buy that vehicle. Then the department was sold and so went my job. I never saw that vehicle again. I also never knew that GM only made 17 of that model. Dohhhhh!
Don’t Check Facebook on Vacation?
@Bernard: This one wasn’t too long ago, on FB marketplace a few hundred miles from me, a pristine 2002 Miata with the LSD and the bigger of the available bodykits, unfortunately I only saw it due to being on vacation. By the time I could talk to my bank about getting the money it was in the wind.
The $5,100 AC Cobra
@Danny: It was 1987 I was coming home from a golf tournament through Pine Hurst N.C. I saw a sign for 1966 Cobra for sale for $5000. I stopped, looked, and it was an AC Cobra. The man would not take a deposit. I was an hour away from home had to get a trailer and come back to get it, and he said that would be ok.
When I pulled back into his driveway another person was loading it up on another trailer. He had offered him $100 more. I was mad and disappointed but what can you do? He showed me another car he had beside his garage he said he would take $500 for it. It had a rusty floor board and I had no desire for that rust bucket. Would love to have it now because it was a 1955 Porsche 356. Live and learn.
But They’d Rather Crush It
@BMD4800: Mid-1996, I was a poor college kid in Phoenix. Desert Valley Auto Parts was clearing out their less popular inventory and had them in line for the crusher. I spotted a ’63 Wildcat coupe with right quarter damage behind the door. I asked about it, the counter guy said it ran and drove, but no one wanted it so they were going to crush it. I asked the price, $2,200. All the cash I had to my name was $1,900. I offered $1,800. They said no. I offered $1,900 cash, they said no. I said I’ll go apply for a credit card and pay $2,200. Nope. Cash, or it was crushed. I watched them crush that car and swore I would tell everyone I could about that day: Desert Valley Auto Parts in Phoenix.
A “Minor” Problem With A Unimog
@Jeff: Around 20 years ago I had a handshake deal on a 1961 Unimog 404 Swiss Troop Carrier with only 14,000 KM. It was in excellent condition, including all the canvas. It even had the original tool kit with it (tools as in shovel, axe, etc). I was soon to purchase a 40 acre parcel of land where it would have been very handy. The seller had it priced at $7500. I told him I wanted it, but needed to arrange financing. We shook on it and a deposit was not needed (my mistake).
A few days later when I had the money and I contacted the seller, he told me that he had someone come by with cash and due to the urging of his wife, he sold it to that guy instead of waiting for me. I saw the same Unimog listed at a dealership a few weeks later for $17,500. So what did I do with the cash earmarked for the Unimog, I bought another vehicle of the same vintage but of the opposite variety, a 1961 Morris Minor.
“No Way”
@Brett: I know most will say “no way”, but when I was 12-13 and visiting my uncle outside Cleveland, my dad and uncle would go golfing. My cousin and I would go along and search for lost golf balls to sell later. On the ride to the golf course, I saw a car in a field on a trailer and I told my dad that it was Ferrari. My dad and uncle blew me off but on the drive back I made them stop.
I waded back through the weeds and there was a ratty looking faded red car on trailer with a roll cage an grooves cut in the hood that you could see the velocity stacks sticking up from the V-12. I was now convinced it was a Ferrari. My cousin and I knocked on the door to the house closest to it, and a lady came to the door with a couple small kids around her, we asked if the car was for sale. She said her husband generally never sells anything, and that was it.
About 10 years ago I saw an article about Innes Ireland being reunited with the Ferrari 250 GTO he raced back in the day with pictures of a faded red car, in a field, on a trailer, in a field of weeds, in a rural area outside Cleveland. Needless to say, the memories all rushed back, as there was the car. The one that got away. Go Google the article for Innes Ireland 250 GTO, it is a great read and some of the ones that come up have old pictures of the car.
@Gary: In 1984, I was offered a very nice Ferrari 250 convertible (I don’t recall which version) for $25,000. I had just started working full time and had just bought a house and it didn’t seem to be a prudent decision to buy a Ferrari. The seller was even willing to take monthly payments over three or four years with no interest added. By 1989, that car was worth more than $500,000 (to my recollection). Clearly I didn’t make the right decision. Nowadays it would probably cost nearly $25,000 to rent one of these for a day!
@Harry: Early ’70s, needed a car to drive 35 miles to work and back. Wound up in a Renault agency in West Chester PA, looking at R5 Le Cars. The manager had a car on consignment for $10K—a Ferrari Fantuzzi Special, V-12 red, beautiful, but it had no top—built as a spyder. I couldn’t see parking it in the street at work every day, rain or shine, so wound up with new Le Car. It was a bunch of fun to drive, but it certainly wasn’t a Ferrari.
Come Back, ‘Cuda!
@Ed: It hurts just to think about this car even today, though I lost it back in the mid 80s. It was a crushing blow that just gets deeper each year I see prices for just a rolling chassis of this car continue to climb.
I bought mine from the original owner for about $600. It was dark blue in and out, a 318 2 bbl auto, bucket seats with console, and only 1 dent under the driver’s side rear frame channel. It drove fine for about 3 yrs, then wouldn’t start and I couldn’t get inspection to renew plates. Then my apartment complex made me move it, I so moved it to my dad’s house. Then a neighbor called local city on it for not being currently licensed. There was no place found to store it, it was almost impounded, so I had to let it go to a junk yard for $50!
Now the kicker: it was a base example of my dream car…. a ’71 Barracuda with a perfect grille & straight sheet metal. Still got the production code sheet from the back seat. I need a stiff drink and tissue paper now.
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-Yes, we’ve all made some bad mistakes, too – like (stupidly) selling several great cars way back in Boston’s North Shore + then in CT – a beautiful Brit racing green 66 Mustang GT conv 289 4spd, and then 3 blue Shelby Mustang GT500’s (ouch), – including father’s very mint 68 KR, a 68 with a very wornout 390 (that got 6 mpg, <100mi/tank, + was sold to a local police chief's son – won't be going near that town anymore), and a very well-beaten daily driver original Eleanor 67 GT500 (its 428 c 2-4V Holleys fit so tight `had to cold-chisel holes in the fender walls just to change the plugs, and to quote the Cambridge cops "we don't drive like that in Harvard Sq" – sold that beast in `74 when the gas crisis hit, to slow down a little + please my girl friend MA's family + to go back to school – where it turned out everybody was still commuting in similar style). Also, later failed to buy several other GT500s (even got buyer's remorse once and begged my deposit back), and worst of all – passed on $1950 for a very nearly new '65 GT350 setup to drag by its original owner (only to refer the car to the president of the NE Corvette Club who honked while following behind my `67 GT500 one day – and inspite of being a Chevy guy he quickly bought that 65 GT350 up). All went for less tha $2500 each, back in the early 70's. Also, while in back high school had lusted after a brand new ~66-67 GT40 for $16.5k at Wilmington Ford and in the Shell gas ads on TV, just like Jay Leno, and then years later failed to buy a '05 Ford GT when they first came out for ~$150k and were so pretty that one car was even put on display in a Harvard school of design museum just like fine modern art.
-And then there were numerous family oldies but goody treasures which came and went one after another – too many to mention them all – like my grandmother's 67 Fairlane 289, a little ~62 Olds Cutlass with a mini V8, 2 61-61 Pontiac Tempest 4's, 2 ~62 Ford Falcons (1 came free but without a key – ran it with a homemade hotwire switchbox), 2 Mustang II's driven til they dropped including a 77 hatchback and a 74 hardtop (my only new car ever); and wife's `77 Chevy Nova 305 and early Pinto 4; and father's pristine Olds starfire and 66 Toronado, plus numerous 65 to 68 Mustangs – some fixed up from wrecks, an old Jag sedan with toadstool tail lights, a early 60s F150 with a camper top that my mother drove daily to high school to teach, and a Ford woodie (given to me but I was too afraid to drive because it had a motor rap), and a ~60 Convair bought with 2 friends from gym class but never registered, and my high school 66 Honda CL-77 Scrambler 305 bike (sold cause both it + I just wanted to go too fast, and a car was needed instead to go on to college). Later got a 1 year newer Scrambler basket case for nostalgia, only to discover it was now an antique!
Still got a 67 F250 Camper Special, an anniversay model 84 Mustang GT350, several retired daily driver Corsica and Blazers, and not nearly enuf garages, and have now finally joined the Hagerty Drivers Club after my restoring my remaining 77 Mustang II for my young daughter – who loves it!
Its been quite a while – but each + every car that's gone is still sorely missed, even today – just like an old flame, gone but not forgotten… and how bout you, what's your story?… Keep on driving. + cheers / sn
I SEEN A 1970 SUPERBIRD IN A USED CAR IN QUEENS NY DID NOT BUY BECAUSE THERE WAS MUCH WIRING HANGING DOWN FROM UNDER THE DASH WHAT A MISTAKE THAT WAS
Mine wasn’t one that “got away” it was one that I gave away. 1969 383 Dodge Dart GTS Convertible. Bought it for one hundred dollars, a transmission fluid filter and new fluid. The guy sold it because it wouldn’t move. Clogged trans filter . . . very common. Sold it because the wife got pregers again and I wasn’t gonna let her do what she did the first time. Sold all of my toys, just to show her what I was willing to do to be a parent. The kid was worth it, she wasn’t . . . STILL . . . wish I had that one back.
I actually had 2 of them . My first was my first car – a 1973 Gold Duster, 318 2v. Had everything on it including the Gold Snakeskin Vinyl Top.
The second was a 1974 Super Duty Trans Am. Bought it when I was 19 and in the USN. Way too much motor for a 19 year old, but I kept it for 14 years. Then the child came, and car seats don’t fit well in the back seat of a Trans Am. Not much else does either, other than a tooth brush.
i don’t know where to start. passing on the ex dick brannan thunderbolt as a roller for $1000 is a biggie (who knew it was the #1 Tbolt). Selling my 68 500KR Shelby convertible & 67 435 horse side exhaust Corvette convertible for $3000 each during the 1973 gas fiasco still haunts me. luckily for me i have forgotten at least 50 other opportunities. I console myself that i would have sold any one of them for a $500 profit back then & laughed all the way to the bank.. Who knew?
When I was 17 and wrenching for a buddy who was racing a Mini-Cooper S with another pal, we heard of a guy that had an old Cobra for sale. Of course a high-school kid with no money could never afford this thing, but I did know someone else who had seen the car and said it was probably going for a few hundred bucks as it was in really rough shape. Intrigued, I decided to go have a look anyway, just in case. The car was in a gas station shop near where we kept the race car, so we popped in to check it out. The owner had no idea what he had, He said it was a “real early Shelby Cobra” and he was turning it into a dragster. He’d ripped out the original engine and rear suspension and fitted a LaSalle rear with big, goofy tires and cut a huge hole in the alloy hood to fit a very ugly hood scoop. The bumpers were not on it and the front end was replaced with an I-beam abomination from an early Econoline van. I stood back and looked at the front grill and realized what it was… an AC Bristol roadster. It was rough, but the guy said he had “that six-banger engine” and all the other parts he’d taken off it, ’cause they weren’t the proper “Shelby-stuff”. I asked what he wanted for it, he said $500. I said I’d give him $300. He said OK. I didn’t have the cash on me and when I returned, he said he couldn’t wait for me so the car had been sold for $275 to a guy that was going to make it into a dune buggy. Lord have mercy!
MB 300SL Gull Wing. In 1980 I was on my way to bid on a gull wing that had been severely damaged in a garage fire when a piece of blue form-a-gasket that some idiot had used to seal the fuel tank level sensor in my BMW 2800CS came loose and plugged my fuel line, stopping me dead about 20 miles away from the auction. Epilogue 2017 – I never knew who bought it and how high they might have bid (I had planned to go as high as twice the $7500 it gaveled for). In 2017, while working on my ’67 912 restoration, I ran into the person who brokered a sale from the estate of the purchaser to a European customer. He confided in me that, knowing the buyer, he doubted that he would have continued bidding up to my limit! Ah, fate! P.S. – for 20+ years the buyer never did anything with it and it was sold at a considerable profit to the European buyer in the same condition as it was auctioned.
I’ve always wanted a Ferrari, but when I came face to face with the reality of buying one in 2012, I chickened out. I found what was, in my opinion, the perfect Ferrari. It was a 1986 Ferrari 328 GTS in a beautiful dark-ish blue over a tan interior. With only 35,000 miles on the car, the seller was seeking $35,000. I remember it well as I found it amusing it was only $1 a mile! But, I didn’t know anything about the reality of maintenance and upkeep on a Ferrari, and I fell victim to the whole “unreliable Italian car” myth and ultimately didn’t buy it. I guess I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to afford the maintenance. Now that I’m older and wiser I know that would have been the best “first” Ferrari anyone could buy. Today, it’s hard to touch a Ferrari 328 for under six figures.
Back in the mid 90s I had a choice between a 1979 TA black on black with TTops or a 1989 GTA for the same money as I had just rolled my 19931/2 Formula Firebird. I bought the GTA and still have it to this day. Think we all know what car would have been more valuable. The odd deciding factor was the TA was nearly mint other than what appeared to be a .22 bullet hole in the side panel. I asked the dealer said it was a former police officers car so I passed. Just one of the many from Cudas, Convertible 1st Gen Firebird, StepDads 1972 Nova SS, 1st Gen Camaros, the list goes on. I miss my 1966 Chevelle the most though.
In 1969, I read an ad in the back of Road&Track magazine. A Ferrari 250 GTO, my dream car. At the time I was a first year law student. I could not purchase it. In 1985, at Road America Vintage race, I actully recieved a ride in that very car. Oh yea the asking price in the ad, $8,500.
My father worked at a import car dealership in the 60s. We had a 1938 Talbot Lago outside we used as a paint desk to paint car parts on the hood! Also a friend of his offered me either one of two cars owned by a deceased friends wife. One was a Ferrari 365 and the other was a Gulwing Mercedes. Either one for $3500. My father called every bank in town and asked not to give me a lone. He thought I would kill myself in wither one.
My father worked at a import car dealership in the 60s. We had a 1938 Talbot Lago outside we used as a paint desk to paint car parts on the hood! Also a friend of his offered me either one of two cars owned by a deceased friends wife. One was a Ferrari 365 and the other was a Gulwing Mercedes. Either one for $3500. My father called every bank in town and asked not to give me a lone. He thought I would kill myself in either one.
In the early 70s I had a right of first refusal on my friends 904 GTS. He called me in 1975 to let me know that he had an offer from a guy in California of $12,500. I asked him to give me 24 hours. Next day I went to my banker to borrow $6500 to add to the $6,000 I already had. He said it was too old and he could not finance it. Several years ago I saw an article about 904s that said that Robert Redford bought his in florida in 1975 for $12,000. Had to be the one that got away.
Here’s mine…. I was 19 in 1983. Grew up in Seattle. A friend of mine and I used to drive around down alleys all over looking for cars that were just sitting to see what we could find.
In Auburn we came across a Chevelle sitting in a vacant lot between 2 apartment buildings and checked it out. It was wrecked. LF fender was stuffed but looked like the frame was ok. Had all the Z/16 trim and 160MPH speedometer. Interior was swapped from an Oldsmobile and it had an Oldsmobile engine. It was rough. I knew what it was because I still have my first car which I bought in 1981 which is a ‘65 Super Sport and I’ve always been a Z/16 fan. I kick myself for not knocking on every door to inquire about it. A few years later I was at Pike’s Place Market looking down over the street below and saw a red Z/16 parked on the street. I’ve always wondered if there was any chance of it being the same car.
At the time I came across the one in the vacant lot I had no place to put it if I could have gotten it anyway. Not realizing the potential value, I never pursued it. Knowing what I know now I wish I would have! If this car rings a bell in the Z/16 crowd, I’d sure like to know what ever happened with it if it didn’t get crushed.
The Ferrari in the field was near Nelson Ledges Raceway. I used to drive by it all the time. I always assumed it was some kind of body kit on a VW chassis because who in their right mind would leave a Ferrari, on a trailer, in their yard, in NE Ohio, for years. I wonder what it took to buy it.
Different car from the GTO. Your car belonged to Homer Hood and was on Limeridge road. Homer was a Ferrari mechanic.