SanDiegoPaul

We all have had a favorite car we sold at one time or another. Personally I very RARELY have ever seen a car again after I've sold it but there's a couple that I wonder about.

If you had to carefully think and decide which ONE CAR you either wish you'd never sold, or wonder how she's doing today, which one would it be?

My last hot rod was a very quick '70 Nova two door. I built an L-82 350 for it myself, had a friend piece together a short tailshaft Turbo 400 for it, and ran 4:11 gears in a 12-bolt Posi. Yea it ran great. Drove it for 5 years and then sold it. I ran into the guy I sold it to about three years later, and he said he's still driving it just the way I set it up! Only thing he's done is change the oil. ( he probably don't drive it as hard as I did, if that's true)

But that's not my "One that got away!" That honor would be '56 Bel Air two door. It was my first quick car, and I won a lot of races with it. All stock bodied and very VERY clean. I'd win races and guys would knock on the doors and hood with knuckles to see if I had glass panels or something they couldn't see.

It had a SBC powerplant running shaved 2.02 heads, 11.5 pistons and a solid cam. My shift points were 8,000 RPM with that cam. It ran a Muncie Four Speed and for gears, I alternated between 3:08 for the road, and 4:56 when I raced. Remember those pumpkin style rear ends, I think from about '55 to '64? Slide the axles out a few inches, pull the pumkin out, change it with another setup and slide the axles back in. It took longer to fill it with gear lube than it did to change gears! I've been told I was lucky it was a small block because those pumpkin style rear ends were not too stout. But that 4:56 Posi ran me a lot of races!

I'd be going thru the traps in the 1/4 mile at 7000 RPM with those gears but the car never broke!

Yea that was the one I let get away. Got married as a stupid 19 year old kid and sold the car. Priorities changed!

Wonder where she is NOW? (the CAR, not the EX! I know where she is!)

Fevre

Luckly my vette is my first hot rod but my dad did sell his 67 RS camaro vert from under me while I was at college, 67 was the year I was born, he would be sitting a nest egg if he still had it, body was mint but had a solid suspension F@rd 9", only bondo spot was over the antena hole. I wish I had that car.

rexx78

15 years old and looking for a project car to drive when I turned 16. Dad and I looked at a 64 Nova...

350 auto, red with original black leather (?) interior. From what I remember, it was in good shape and only $2000. Dad wouldn't let me get it because he said I would have wrapped it around a telephone pole. Maybe he was right, but HE should have bought it and sat on it until now.

Then there was the 72 Chevelle with a 307 and a rotten floor...

I ended up getting an 86 S15 that I turned into a lowrider.

The one I wish I hadn't sold was a different 86 S15 4x4 X-cab with 400,000 km's. I sold it to an autowrecker for $200.

Steve Straus

That would be my 67 Firebird that I sold when I was in high school. A girl I knew was moving along with her whole family to Colorado, so they were getting rid of everything, and it had been sitting behind their house for years. I got it for $1000 thinking that it was wasted, but the body had no dents, no bondo and no rust, thank god for AZ cars. It was perfect. What I thought was a trashed interior turned out to be trashed seat covers. The original gold interior was mostly perfect. The engine wasn't running, but I tore it down and rebuilt it only having to replace the bearings and usual stuff. The cylinders were fine. I had to replace the transmission case, which was a little difficult to findwith the BOP bolt pattern. I ended up having part of the driver seat recovered and re-dying the door and sail panels, but that's it. I had to rebuild the entire AC system, which was a bitch because it's all vacuum operated. I had to pretty much take half of the front end off to do it. I sold it for $13K, which wasn't bad considering I maybe put $3k into it total. Even though I got a good price for it, I wish I hadn't let it go. It had it's original 326, a ST200 (powerglide) and a 10 bolt rear. Things I probably would have replaced eventually.

Here's what the AC rebuild looked like (I was replacing the rear end in the Camaro with a Ford 9 inch at the same time).




Here are the pictures from the night I sold it.









Last I heard it was pulling plows and driving through snow in Northern AZ.

kdf1986

Mine was a 1964 Corvette Coupe. Not original motor 327 and a nice 4speed. I had it for 4 years, and redid a lot of the interior, but it needed a new paint job, and the rear end was starting to squeak a little bit.

So, instead of investing money that I did not have to fix it up, I sold it in 1987 for $5000 cash.

DOH!!!! Why didnt I just park it under a cover until I had the money to rebuild it.

kdf
Honarable Mentions.
1969 Corvette Convertible bought in 81 sold in 83 ($6k)
1969 Oldsmobile 442 bought in 76 sold in 78 ( trade in for a 74 Mustang II 4 cylinder due to gas mileage)

68435roadster

'69 Rambler "Scrambler", 390 w/police interceptor hears, factory hood mounted tach, factory hurst, red/white/blue SCREAMER!

Steve's74

I had a '57 that I had dropped a 396 with T-400 into back in 1972. I busted the rear three times before I gave up and moved to the next one; the one that got away.

And that's the one that I let get away. Bought it in 1973 with a broken monoleaf rear spring (remember those?), a 326 HO and Muncie. Drove it for 60 days, missed the 396. I pulled the 396 and T-400 from the '57 and installed it into the '67 'bird, added P/S and P/B (couldn't drive it otherwise). Talk about hauling butt. Sold if off about 5 years later. Sure do wish I'd kept it.

Steve

gliot1

1978 White Trans Am..............It was my first new car and they seem to be almost all rotted away at this point. There was a lot of good memories in that car. I was using my car for business at that time and the gas shot up from .75 a gallon to a $1.50, so I sold it to get a Honda Accord. It was a good move financially, but I still miss that TA.

SanDiegoPaul

Funny to mention AMC. One of my least favorite memories was racing a Gremlin at Beeline Dragway in Scottsdale. My '56 had of course open headers and was making lots of noise at the burnout pit. ... I had no idea what I was up against when the Gremlin pulled up to the Christmas Tree.

the Tree gave me a car length head start and I figured something was up. Turned out that the Gremlin had a 401 and beat my pants off. I turned a 13.20 - not bad for a stock bodied '56 Bel Air - but the darn Gremlin beat me by a full second.

Ahh, memories.

moosie982

The one that got away that I wish I still had has to be my first one, a new '67 Corvette Coupe that I bought from Hawthorne Auto Sales in Hawthorne New Jersey, it was a 300 horse 327 with a 4 speed, tinted glass, Lyndale Blue with a black interior, P/s, P/b, Am/Fm speedminder, 3:36 posi, They had others on the lot, a few B/B Converts and coupes also, but that little coupe that I chose looked the best to me at the time, they were dealing cause the '68's were soon to be released, man, that car was sweeet, I really miss it, I still have the paperwork for it from when I bought it, I think the guy I sold it to (Irwin Dillenberger ???)was going to export it to Puerto Rico, but dont know for sure. Peace,,, Craig

Eddie 70

Here is a pic of a similar car that I had. It was my first car. I moved from home and left it in my mothers driveway for a few years. A friend of mine in HS called me after a few years and hit me up for it. I finally caved in and told him to go get it. I now wish I had that car back in the worst way. Lots of good memories in that car. I borrowed this pic from someones webpage but mine looked exactly like this one.

ruby76

I just sold it this last summer, but am already wondering what happened so far to my old truck.

I bought a 1968 C10 stepside when I was 13 years old in 1990. It was a 250 Inline six cylinder with three speed on the tree. When I was done with it my Junior year in highschool, it had a rebuild 350 CID V8, 4 barrel, Hedman/or Hooker (can't remember) headers, dual exhaust, Hurst three speed shifter on the floor. When I got her she was grey primer, when I finished. her she was 1999 GMC Emerald Green, I made a custom made black vinyl tonneau cover with an embedded Chevrolet bowtie emblem in the middle outlined in matching emerald green vinyl.

In college the clutch went out and I had no money, so I swapped in a used TH350 that we had in my parents garage. Never should have done that... Had plans to change it back, that is until I saw Ruby, then I sold the truck and bought the 76 Vette in my avatar. It's almost been a year now, but Im sure the new owner is taking care of her. he was as excited to get the truck as I was sad about selling her.

Wrencher

That would be my '68 California Special (GT/CS Mustang), early production, Special ordered with a 289 "K" code engine and a top-loader. Tree fell on it in '79 and destroyed the roof. Local guy had a wrecked '68 'vert and offered to do the top swap for $1,000.00 with me re-inforcing the subframe. I passed...

What an idiot

Hans

robertmc48

For me it was a 1969 Chevelle SS396 Supersport. It had the 375 hp engine, four speed close ratio, 3:73 posi rear end. It was a real screamer. I had to sell it to go to college because the insurance rates for muscle cars were going through the roof and I couldn't afford to go to school and keep the car. I still think about that car often. I only owned it for about a year and it had about 5000 miles on it.

gearheadz

Hate to say it but it was a FORD .... an original 1968 Shelby GT500 .... 428 CobraJet, 4 speed. The only non-GM musclecar I've ever owned. Awesome screamer .... torque galore .... it's now worth about 15 times what I sold it for .... had to sell to pay for our first child on the way ....

robertmc48

Very cool car...I would estimate about 100K$ today ? Ford made some nice cars too....Cobras...Panteras...etc.

grayhook

mine was a 69 rs ss vert camero, man i wish i had it today!

jlsru

69 corvette L46 4 speed really wish I had this one back.

turtlevette

1986 Buick Grand National

I won every street race with that car.

fun fun fun

robertmc48

Those Grand Nationals were bad azz....I've always liked them...they still make me smile when I see one !