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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Ah, several cars fit that category, but the one I regret letting go the most was a 1970 Mark Donohue Javelin, a very rare car. This one was almost perfect, too. It was offered at an insanely low price, as it was a must-sell-quick for the owner. I had the cash but did not have a job at the time, and had two young kids to care for. I did the responsible thing and let it go. Darn!
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 chasis of this car continue to climb. I bought if from the original owner for about $600. Dark blue in and out, 318 2 bbl auto, bucket seats with console, only 1 dent under the driver’s side rear frame channel. Drove fine for about 3 yrs, then wouldn’t start & couldn’t get inspection to renew plates. Then apt complex made me move it, so moved it to my dad’s house. Then a neighbor called local city on it for not being currently licensed. No place found to store it, almost impounded, 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….
Why didn’t you just get plates for it?
When I was 16 living in SE Kansas I was looking for a cool car. It was somewhere around 1973. I test-drove a first-gen GTO. It was a nice car in my price range. While taking it out on the highway the owner told me to floor it. I depressed the accelerator but he said, “No, really floor it.” The other two carbs in that tri-power kicked in and it scared me so bad I didn’t buy it.
Back in the mid-70’s, Mercedes was taking their C111 around to dealers to show it off (and get some floor traffic). It came to Milwaukee and was displayed at a dealer in one of the tonier areas of the city. I was working 2nd shift, so I had some time off during an afternoon and went out to see it.
Of course I was jumped on by a salesman trying to find out what I wanted (and could afford, I had driven in with my ’56 Starfire). During the conversation I mentioned I always had a soft spot for either a 300SL Gullwing or a Mark II Continental.
Well his eyes lit up and said the had a Gullwing I might be interested in.
He took me in the service department and there was a red Gullwing. It looked great, but the entire top of the engine was piled up in the cargo area behind the front seat. He said the “motor had failed” and the owner could not afford the repairs. They were allowed to accept offers for it that he could apply to something new. At that point it had been there for a while and he said,”the 1st $1000 would take it”, with no speculation what the estimate was to repair the engine.
I had just bought a house, but even with my zero-down GI Loan, my checkbook and I were not the best of friends at that time, so I just had to walk away. That one hurt.
Some years after that, my buddy Tom and I went to look at a Studebaker that was at an estate sale of a high-end restorer/body shop in Milwaukee. In the basement of the main body shop there was a 300SL Gullwing NOS body shell, complete with all NOS doors/decklid/hood, etc.. The guy who was showing us the cars said they had every part of the car NOS and a letter from Mercedes that stated when the car was finished, they would inspect it and if it met their standards they would issue it a serial number as the last official Gullwing.
No clue whatever became of it.
They say that the third time is a charm, so I keep expecting a 3rd Gullwing to sometime show up in my life.
A few years ago, at the House on the Rock (a fabulous tourist attraction in western Wisconsin), there are some cars that are part of the attraction, and in there is a Gulling fiberglass recreation. I didn’t ask!
I have two that got away.
1.) The one I didn’t buy. In 2005, I was looking to buy my first new car, “Adult Car,” on my own. At the local premium used car dealer, they had a 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata in Red Mica. Gosh, that car was gorgeous; it had 4,700 miles on it. I wanted it so badly, but when your first “adult” job pays you about $7,000 more a year than the purchase price of a used Miata. Well, that didn’t happen. Now you can’t find nice ones, it’s true you really can’t go home again.
2.) The one I let go of. When I was 16, I was fortunate enough to have my grandparents give me a brand-new Mazda pickup. That truck was a lot of “first” for me. It went through High School, College, my First “Adult” job, My Second Adult Job, Love, Loss, and all the above. I moved myself and countless friends one bedload at a time. It was the one I vowed was my ride or die and would never be sold. Every mile on it was a mile I drove it. To this day I know what road I was on when the odometer rolled 100k. I bought and sold three other cars while I had it. 15 years on, on a literal dark and stormy night. I went around a curve that I drove 1,000 times, which was the end. Luckily I wasn’t hurt, and nobody else was either. Morose while sitting on the side of the road feeling like I lost my best friend. As my Truck was pulled up on the rollback, I went over, patted the bumper, and said, “Thank you for saving me. I’m sorry I did this to you.” I knew I was never going to see it again.
The Highway Patrolman who came out to write me a ticket looked at me and said, “Sir, I’m sorry I have to write you a ticket. However, I will ask the DA to drop the charges. I know what it is like to be attached to something and lose it in the blink of an eye, especially on Christmas.”
It still stings when I think about it.
The one that stands out for me was about 1983, I had an chance at a 1969 Camaro rs for 1500. The car was decent but had no engine or transmission, between college, and lack of funds, I passed. I’m not sure it was a good decision, probably would have been a fun car.
In 2010, shortly after taking delivery of my 997.2 GT3, I was offered a slot to order a 997.2 GT3 RS 4.0. At the time, I wasn’t really thinking straight as my grandmother was very ill (and ended up passing away). By the time my head had cleared, I called my dealer and asked if the car was still available. He said it was not but there was a Porsche rep at the dealership that day and asked him if they could get one more order slot for me. Unfortunately, Porsche said “no”.
I still have my 993 C2S, my 997.2 GT3 and my 991.1 GT3 RS, all of which I bought new so I’ve been very fortunate but I missed on the 997.2 GT3 RS 4.0. I still think about it sometimes but at that time, I was more focused on my grandmother. Sometimes life happens and you miss out.
I know most will say “no way” but when I was 12/13 visiting my uncle outside Cleveland my dad an uncle would go golfing and 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 (a car guy) that it was Ferrari. My dad and uncle blew me off but on the drive back I made then stop. I waded back through the weeds in the field was a ratty looking faded red paint car on trailer with a roll cage an grooves cut in the hood that you could see the velocity stacks sticking up from the V12. I was now convinced it was. Ferrari. My cousin an I went over and knocked on the door to the house closest 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. I’m thinking about 10 years ago or so I see 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.
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. 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…
Summer 1997 we had just hired a new deck-hand onboard the yacht on which I was working as engineer. He took an interest in my Cordoba which I was using to commute between thunderbolt marine in Savannah, ga and my home in Eustis,Fl. Will was curious about the pentastar markings on my direct connection valve covers and ignition components. The conversations slowly revealed he had a charger sitting behind his mom’s garage that had been left there under cover by a family friend who had gone off to war in Vietnam and never returned.There had been a tall spoiler on the back of the car which was now broken off and laying behind the car on the ground. Some of the glass had been shot out by will and his friends when they were young and playing around the car.other than that, the car was complete, including an odd engine with spark plug wires sticking out of the valve covers. One Friday afternoon in August, Will stated his mom was trying to clean up the property, and asked if I would like to have the car for only the cost and bother of removing it. Realizing what it was, I instantly agreed. I went home that weekend grabbed my pickup, chainsaws, winch, and other recovery tools. after returning to savannah, over the next week I secured a trailer, and finalized plans to travel with will to his family home in Wilmington, NC the following Friday to extract the hemi charger daytona from its overgrown resting place. friday comes, and will tells me we don’t need to go, as one of his childhood buddies is going to take care of it. Years later I heard the car was in pieces in his buddies garage.
Summer 1997 we had just hired a new deck-hand onboard the yacht on which I was working as engineer. He took an interest in my Cordoba which I was using to commute between thunderbolt marine in Savannah, ga and my home in Eustis,Fl. Will was curious about the pentastar markings on my direct connection valve covers and ignition components. The conversations slowly revealed he had a charger sitting behind his mom’s garage that had been left there under cover by a family friend who had gone off to war in Vietnam and never returned.There had been a tall spoiler on the back of the car which was now broken off and laying behind the car on the ground. Some of the glass had been shot out by will and his friends when they were young and playing around the car.other than that, the car was complete, including an odd engine with spark plug wires sticking out of the valve covers. One Friday afternoon in August, Will stated his mom was trying to clean up the property, and asked if I would like to have the car for only the cost and bother of removing it. Realizing what it was, I instantly agreed. I went home that weekend grabbed my pickup, chainsaws, winch, and other recovery tools. Upon returning to savannah, over the next week I secured a trailer, and finalized plans to to travel with will to his family home in Wilmington, NC the following Friday to extract the hemi charger daytona from its overgrown resting place. friday comes, and will tells me we don’t need to go, as one of his childhood buddies is going to take care of it. Years later I heard the car was in pieces in his buddies garage.
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!
It was the summer of 87 and I had just bought my first new car a Chevy Z24 coupe. I also always look through the newspaper want ads (yes that’s how we did it back then) and saw a 69 Firebird convertible for sale. Guy wanted $4500. I went and looked at it as a potential toy/summer car. Test drove it. Had a 400 4sp and hauled butt! It was white with a black top. Guy had ordered a new 87 Formula and he was selling this one. I passed on it. Kept seeing the ad every week except the price was dropping. $3500, $2500. Then finally at $1500 I called him back. He had just sold it. Needed that money for the down payment. I always think about that car still to this day.
In 1976 a friend wanted my ’71 Camaro very badly, and offered me more and more cash along with his ’69 Rally Sport Camaro in trade. His was a nice car with a cowl hood, 4 speed, and strong small block, and I knew it was originally a big block car. I had previously owned a few 1st Gen Camaros, but resisted all his attempts at a deal. Years later when documentation became available I found out that his ’69 was a rare COPO RS, and the subsequent owner was able to reunite it with the original 427 which had been removed and sold when it spun a rod bearing. The nicely restored car sold at one of the big auctions not long ago for very good money, and for me that COPO will always be “The One That Got Away”.
I have two. One was my great-aunt’s 1957 Chevy pickup. It was a 6-cylinder, 3-on-the-tree, and I wanted it so badly I could taste it in high school. I had no money, she didn’t have enough to replace it if I’d paid her what it was worth at the time (it was a 20-year-old basic truck at the time). After she passed away it went to a family member who was in a wreck that damaged it severely.
The second was just a few years later when I was in college. A faculty member was selling a 1950 Mercury in superb condition with not many miles on it. He had found it at an estate sale; the original purchaser (a doctor) passed away soon after the purchase, the widow didn’t drive but had it stored in a closed garage by a mechanic who knew what he was doing. Had the money to buy it, but the car I was driving was failing and I had to have something to drive. At the time I didn’t have enough money to have two cars (barely had enough to afford one!), and was afraid to have to depend on a then-27 year old car, plus I was worried about finding repair/maintenance parts. Still kick myself over that one.