What’s Your “One That Got Away” Story?
This week we need you, valued member of the Hagerty Community, to open up a little. But not too much, as we aren’t talking about someone that could have been special to you. No missed connections or broken hearts—we just want to know a story of a car or truck that you coveted and lost.
So please tell us about The One That Got Away (TOTGA), and how it all went down. Did someone buy the vehicle from underneath you? Did they pay more than you could? Did the car quit working and you didn’t have the time/money to repair it?
While I usually get the ball rolling with a personal choice, I am not sure if it truly “got away,” simply because I was too preoccupied to deal with the loss. I was just a kid heading off to college, and my parents selling my car wasn’t necessarily that bad for someone pulled in many directions and given many opportunities.
It’s certainly easier when your car’s next owner is a truly wonderful human being. But he did paint my Galaxie red instead of giving it a fresh coat of black. It doesn’t necessarily feel like the same car anymore, and to be honest, I’ve almost forgotten about my time with this big Ford.
But memories do not fully disappear, especially when you’re asked to write a Hagerty Insider piece about this vintage of Ford Galaxie. Doing so let me get those TOTGA feelings all out as a middle aged adult looking back at his life. In a perfect world, it sure would be nice to get another Galaxie again, but I am a bit busy right now with other projects.
So anyway, back to brass tacks: Hagerty wants to hear your TOTGA story. What vehicle was the one that got away for you?
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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, and by the time I could talk to my bank about getting the money it was in the wind
1985 Monte Carlo T-Top. White over black. Not an SS but that didn’t matter. $3,000…
1982 El Camino with new engine overhaul. Again, $3,000.
Bodies on both in good shape with decent interiors. Probably #3-#4 Hagerty rating. 4 years ago on both. By the time I decided to pull the trigger, both were gone.
I’ve had several. Something always prevented the purchase, something which seemed huge at the time, but which in retrospect was not that big a deal.
Two of the biggest. Both involve Superbirds:
1. The time in college when I hit a car cruise in my ’70 Challenger, and pulled up next to a ’70 Hemi Superbird in great shape. Asked if the owner might want to sell it, he said it might be worth $9000 and trade my Challenger. I passed.
2. My buddies and I read about “Car Village ” in Pennsylvania, one of the first used car lots to specialize in Muscle Cars, in Hot Rod Magazine, and decided to drive up to see what they had. We drove up in “Fast Eddie’s” brand new Camaro, which cost him $6000 or so (this was around 1980). Eddie drove a 440 Superbird in nice shape, and Car Village offered it in even trade for the Camaro, plus tags & title. Eddie said no, “it’s too big to fit in my parent’s garage “, “plus, my mom would kill me”, as the Camaro had been his high school graduation present.
I’ve got other stories!
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.
Last year. 1971 Volvo 1800E in Turquoise with black interior manual. I believe GAA Classics had it from an estate. They were asking $32,000 U.S. and said $29,000 U.S. was turned down. Beyond this Canadian means.
Beautiful car in beautiful shape. Probably think about it almost every day. Had a 1971 1800E, yellow with black interior in the 70’s and drive a 1973 1800ES now but that turquoise one is gorgeous. Dreaming still.
in 1966, my buddy’s older brother was drafted and sent to Vietnam, unfortunately he never returned, in his parent’s garage sat his black 40 ford two door sedan with a corvette 327, the interior was tuck and rolled white with red piping, it was for sale, four hundred bucks, I was fourteen with empty pockets.
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.
A coworker came in one Monday and said he was going to call me but didn’t have my personal number. He was clearing out a farmer friends’ estate which had a model A I could have had. Instead it was auctioned the day before.
Back in about 1980, I passed on a nice $3800 ’62 Corvette.
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!
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.
Of course, before that I had a chance to buy a 1-year-old split-window Corvette for $3200, but got talked into a ’64 Corvair Spyer convertible. Oh well, in 2003 I was able to buy a 1961 Alvis DHC (convertible), Alice Blue with Navy Blue top -kept that one until 2008. Now that was one I really should have kept.
Got away, as in stolen, in San Diego out of the college parking lot. Beautiful aqua blue 57 Belair convertible, with 327 and Super T-10 4 speed. Last time I saw it was in Tijuana being driven by a Mexican cop. Followed him to his home and was trying to find away to steal it back, but I probably would of ended in Mex jail for life. Wasn’t worth it.
Hmmm. The restored Bugatti T43A in my neighborhood for $20k in 1971? ( later bought by Dick Teague of AMC) or the 1965 Porsche 356C cabriolet in 99 point condition for $10k in 1987? The ATS 2500 at Royal Toyota for $3k in the early 70s? The suburban Detroit area had many such opportunities when I was a kid- although I was broke at the time.
Car folks are just like fishermen–we too have The Ones That Got Away. Here are three–all from awhile ago: two from 1963 in Ft Lauderdale, one from 1970 in Dayton.
1963 #1. Sitting on the used car lot of the local VW dealership was a Porsche like I’d not seen before: two piece windshield and a fabric sunroof. Had to stop and look. Turned out to be a ’51, used but not abused or rusty, complete with the big round Grundig radio in the dash. Only drawback–a non original 40hp VW engine. But it was $300–money I didn’t have as a college student making $1 an hour in a summer job. Sigh…
1963 #2. Also on a (different) used car lot–an enormous 1941 Buick series 90 Limited Town Car! Hadn’t seen one of those either, so (again) had to stop and look. Odometer showed a bit over 9k miles and it was in great shape, padded top, tiny rear window and real wood trim in the passenger compartment. Also had a discreet Brunn body badge on the front fender. Then I found a letter in the glovebox. Seems the owner (originally from Palm Beach) had loaned the car to his friend, the Duke of Windsor, to use as his official car while he was Governor of the Bahamas during WW II. Years later I saw a picture of the Duke and Duchess emerging from the car in front of Government House in Nassau. Asking price? $300. Same dollar an hour job. Sigh (again). I’ve often wondered what became of the car–it was one of 4 or 5 ’41 Buicks so converted before Harlow Curtice put the kibosh on custom(ized) Buicks; that was Cadillac territory.
1970: sitting in a driveway, a four tail light 1955 Porsche convertible (not a Speedster, though)–kinda raggedy but all there, running, not terribly rusty. $1100. I was two weeks away from an all-expenses paid “vacation” to Vietnam, was nearly finished with a ’48 Fiat restoration and had just bought a 49 Fiat woody wagon, so no spare $$ or storage space. A third sigh,,,
On the other hand, I bought the 48 Fiat for $50 in 1969, and the 49 woody for $150 (running and intact) in 1970. Still have both.
Two for me. (1) In ’79, I lived in London and was looking for “something fun.” Pared it down to a ’69 280SL with 9,800 miles on it, and a ’73 Dino, in yellow. Both were $20,000.00. Was working offshore North Sea and could afford one. The SL was originally from Hanover, Germany, so LHD. The Dino was RHD, so I opted for the SL, which I did take back to the U.S. Not really sure how much the RHD Dino’s price would have suffered because of the steering, anyway. (2) In 1972, a “used car” lot in Oklahoma City had a ’62 300SL roadster for $8,200. It was a runner but, rough. I couldn’t afford it so, truly, it didn’t “get away.”