Name the car you wished you had bought but didn't

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Originally Posted By: THafeez
1970 Mercury Cougar Convertible XR7 351 Windsor.
Guy was asking 7k for it. Didn't have the means to get to Cleveland at the time. I'll find another one someday!


I had a 1970 Mercury Cougar XR7 with the split vinyl top.

Mine came with the 351C/4V with the FMX trans. It was stock but it would scratch 2nd gear when shifting from 1-2. It even tore the rear shocks out of the upper shock mounts because it shifted so firm.

Ultimately I sold it for $600 because it was a fender bender magnet. Everybody wanted to run into it.
frown.gif
 
69 T-Bird for 700 bucks. Needed work, but I could have driven it home that day.
84 Toy PU diesel, lockers, full restore...would have cost me my marriage lol.
93 Vette with something like 60k on the odo, flood damage for 1300 bucks, didn't have the money
cry.gif
 
Originally Posted By: TinyVoices
2 years ago when I got out of college and started working I almost bought a used GTR but I bought a house instead (down payment) with the money.
The house was a smarter move. Get it paid off asap.
 
I passed on an 1988 M5 about 10 years ago, I had just gotten laid off at the beginning of the "recession" and had bught a B6 S4 a few months earlier. Was only going for 8k with 140 on it, now theyre worth 3xs that. I also had the opportunity to buy a mid 80s 911 a year later at the job I was at next, but they wanted 11k for one with only 80k on it. Couldve doubled my money there. And my biggest selling regret was an e30 M3, white on black with 130k on it. Sold it for 12 to my friend who promptly crashed it. Hoping the M3 will appreciate if I keep the miles down. Ive only done OE mods to it, competition wheels and brakes and a slight drop, so Im hoping it appeals to more people when its time to go. Im really on the lookout for another 80s 911, even a 993 would be nice but thyere getting expensive fast.
 
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I could have bought an AAR Cuda for $1800 when I was in the service. That was in 1981 when the Iran/Iraq crises was going on and gas prices were about $1.35 per gallon. Hindsight is 20/20.
 
Originally Posted By: Silverado12
I could have bought an AAR Cuda for $1800 when I was in the service. That was in 1981 when the Iran/Iraq crises was going on and gas prices were about $1.35 per gallon. Hindsight is 20/20.



BIL drove one for a while … he owned a dealership back then… sadly that’s not the stupidest car he let go of … he had a mint introduction year Chrysler 300 (331 Hemi?) that he lost gambling …
IIRC that Cuda was one of the few small block Mopar’s with four bolt mains?
 
Mini Marcos 1400 quid for sale around the corner. Always wanted one. Had a flat battery. Said I'd "think about it"

Gone the next day. Once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity.

STUPID

STUPID

STUPID

STUPID
 
In 1979 I had an opportunity to purchase a nice 289 AC Cobra for $8000. I passed on it because $8000 was a HUGE amount of money in 1979 for what amounted to a toy, and financing terms available at the time weren't exactly consumer friendly. BIG mistake!!! I don't think that the car was EVER worth less than $8000 and it just continued to go up in value from there. The actual car that I looked at recently sold for nearly $1,000,000. I can't say that I would have kept the car for 38 years, but it would have been a heck of a good investment.
 
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Originally Posted By: THafeez
1970 Mercury Cougar Convertible XR7 351 Windsor.
Guy was asking 7k for it. Didn't have the means to get to Cleveland at the time. I'll find another one someday!


My buddy in Calif had this nearly same car for sale back around 2002. He was the 2nd owner. It was a 1970, black/red interior 351C XR7 hardtop with 52K miles. Rust free Calif car from day 1. Nearly completely original including paint. He was asking $7500 as I recall. The problem was I couldn't afford to add another $1500 to the price of the car shipping it across the country. I considered it though. The one major flaw on the car was that some moron keyed the car during my buddy's ownership...nearly completely down one side of the car.
 
In the late 90's i passed on a clean 1993 1 ton centurion 4 door bronco conversion. It had around 40k miles, 460 v8, 4.10 gears and the interior was dressed with leather seats, real wood grain, rope lighting and a tv/vcr combo all for around 13k.
With the age of the truck, the bank would only let me go 36 months on the payments and progressive considered 1 tons as a commercial vehicle requiring special insurance topped with 4.10 gears and a big block ford there was no budget for fuel at my pay grade then.
 
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When I was 18 I had a 1938 Chev Coupe, it was 33 years old, and in NZ in those days they were still common on the road. I had some guy wanting to swap a MkVII Jaguar for it, the Jag was in really good condition and had a fresh repaint. I wanted the Jag, but was really suspicious why someone would want to swap something worth 3 times what my car was...and the new paint wasn't a good sign to me either. I passed, but always wonder about the Jag.
 
Not a specific car, but if I had it to do over again, I would have purchased a Corvette before the US Army sent me to Germany for three years.

I would have sold it to a German national for more than I paid for it, but less than he could have bought it and then done a Euro delivery on an M3 BMW to take back to the states.

But being 30 some years older now, I didn't recognize the opportunity I had back in the late 1980s.
 
Back in the late 80's I was making decent money right out of high school, and a girl I worked with also worked part time at a little mom and pop used car dealer. They took a black '69 427 Corvette in on trade. The lot owner didnt like Vettes and told her I could have it for $3500. The brakes were a little mushy, it needed a new master cylinder and a couple of calipers so I turned it down. Idiot.
 
Wished you didn't purchase but did. 66 V8 Dodge Dart special ordered with four speed, front disc brakes and blue streak tires. Hamtramck garbage. Replacement vehicle was a Toyota Corona.
 
Originally Posted By: PimTac
Back in the 80’s I was shopping for a small pickup. I test drove a Datsun with that two spark plugs per cylinder engine. It also had a turbo on it though I can’t remember if that was from factory or not. Great running truck and it drove well except for a noticeable pull to the left. I decided against it and went with the Ford Ranger. Horrible truck. Constantly going to the shop. I ended up trading that in for a Toyota Tacoma.

Anyone here familiar with that Datsun engine I speak of?


In the trucks it was the NAPS-Z engine, known as the Z20, Z22, and Z24 depending on displacement, which depended on model year and application. NAPS stands for Nissan Anti Pollution System.
 
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
I got two

A mid-70s Cadillac with the 500 cubic inch V8

A late 70s W116 S-Class



Had a 75 Caddy with the 500 cubic inch V8. Ran great. Dealer service at Potamkin Cadillac in Manhattan was awesome also.
 
Ferrari 308GTSi, back in '99-'01. Height of the tech boom, I was single and the v8 Ferrari's were still looked down upon by many of the aficionados, consequently they were dirt cheap to acquire.....maintain, not so much. Looked at a bunch, but never pulled the trigger.
 
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