Thinking Out Loud: The Most Common Regret
We all think it...Damn I wish I hadn't sold that car!
Is there anyone reading this who can’t think of a car they wish they hadn’t sold? If you don’t have that regret, you’re a rarity! It’s almost universal that we all look back at the cars we’ve owned and can think of at least one or two we’d like to have back. So, this episode of Thinking Out Loud, is going to consist of me wading through a bunch of my personal automotive regrets. However, I’ll bet money I don’t get past the first car before you’re lost in a sea of your own regrets.
Considering I’m a gray dog and got my driver’s license in 1958, I’ve actually owned a small number of cars. Very few of them new. However, what follows is the list of cars I’d love to have back. Unfortunately, I don’t have a single photo of any of them. The photos that follow are all of the types of cars I’d like to have back and went up for sale on Bringatrailer.com (if you don’t know it, take a look. A lot of fun!). See what they sold for? That explains why I’m not about to buy another one.
The First “Normal” Car
I went to the University of Oklahoma in Norman (Aero Space and MBA). 470 miles lay between Norman, OK and Seward, NE and I’d routinely hitch hike it, guitar case in hand. As far as that goes, I hitch hiked to my first two EAA Conventions at Rockford ‘66/’67. I can’t imagine doing that today. To say it was a different world is an understatement.
Going into my junior year at OU and I was starting to do some guitar traveling so I decided it was time to get a real car. This was about 1962. All of those junkish cars I had in high school weren’t real transportation because I was a hardcore hotrod butcher. Not a craftsman. A butcher. I had a welding torch (that I barely knew how to use) and a workspace. I didn’t generate anything I could depend upon for transportation. Maybe one. Sort of. More on that later.
There were two well-known old Fords in our little town both owned by little old ladies. Both very low mileage. They were a ’40 Ford coupe, a hotrodding favorite but she gave it to her nephew rather than selling it to me. The other was a ’50 Ford club coupe with 25,000 miles. A customizer’s favorite. I paid $125 for that, which was an outlandish amount at the time, but it was a pristine, totally dependable car. I pulled it into my shop and did my customizer thing to it. By that time, as a body man I wasn’t embarrassing. I drove that old thing all over the US and not once had a problem.
The above is how they looked stock. Mine was not stock. It was nosed and decked, replaced the grill with a ‘51 straight bar, molded the surround in, tunneled and Frenched the head lights and put scoops above them like a ‘56 Pontiac. Interior was red and black Naugahyde and the car was a deep red. I often wonder if it’s still alive. This one sold for $34,000.
My First No-Sh*t Real Car.
My late kid brother, 22 months younger and a totally different species, was everything I wasn’t. 6’3”, looked so much like Tom Selleck that later in life people would regularly mis-identify him. More important to the conversation at hand, he also knew how to control money, so he was able to buy a new Pontiac Catalina hardtop in ’62. That was a very special car and when he bought the first ’64 GTO in Nebraska I bought the ‘62. See the caption for the specifics that made it special.
That was the quintessential road car. By that time, I was starting to run around the country doing guitar stuff in small clubs and bars including regular runs Oklahoma to SoCal. That car was a barge by modern standards, three full size people wide in the front seat, a picnic table for a hood. And he’d bought a Catalina (the low buck Pontiac option) because it was so much lighter than the Grand Prix, but it was still a heavy sucker. However, it could really move. I’d be cruising down I-10 headed for San Diego or LA at my usual 100 mph (I was young and invincible) and it felt like it was doing 65 mph.
In 1962 Grand National Stock Car (now NASCAR) races involved actual production cars that were heavily modified and many of the modification goodies could be bought over the parts counter at the dealers. My brother’s Catalina was sort of a candy apple red (a factory color) and we had heavy shocks and sway bars installed. It was a 389 with three-twos, 3-speed on the floor, heavy clutch. It was a hoss!! Common price is north of $35,000!
My First New Car – The One I’d REALLY Love to Have Back
I drove the Catalina boat for less than two years and was humming along on I-80 by Amana, Iowa when a semi ahead of me got crossed up with a car. I stood on the brakes, got down to about 50 before the truck behind me slammed me into the truck in front of me thoroughly stove piping my beloved Catalina. I had a stiff neck for a few days, but also had a fat insurance check in my hand. I had graduated college (under grad) the week before, a miracle that surprised Dad so much he fronted me the balance to buy the car I’d kill to have back
The Pontiac dealer in town was a family friend so I sat down with him, knowing what I wanted was going to be hard to find because it was late in the year. I wanted, and I got, a 1965 GTO, four-on-the-floor, three-twos, Positraction, etc.
The Goat wasn’t a highway cruiser like the ’62 was but it was okay. However, it would come out of the gate like a cat shot on a carrier. It was great in a straight line but didn’t corner at all so I put sway bars, stiff shocks and fat tires on it. Still wasn’t a sports car, but I loved it. I’ll never own a car with more performance. However, I’ll also never own a car that is that poorly protected from rust. Huge amounts of the sheet metal had zero primer or paint. So, it rusted like an early VW. It went into storage in NC after my divorce set in and I wound up selling it just to get it out of my best friend’s hangar.
Mine was gold which I wasn’t crazy about but was all the dealer could find. However, it turned out to be an extremely rare car as each dealer was only allowed one gold one and most were bought by a dealer in Michigan. Gold didn’t become a standard color until ’66 so mine came with a quart of gold paint. It was a fast mother goose and a huge amount of fun!! I remember telling a friend at the time that I wished I could buy two and keep one in storage because I knew I was going to miss it. And I do. It is so “American” and totally uncivilized without a hint of WOKE. Pure kick-a** motoring! These are all pushing $50,000!
And Then There Was the Shelby!!
Looking back at it, I can’t believe I actually bought a Shelby GT350 Mustang, SN5S195. This was about 1968 and Shelbys were sought after but were closer to being used cars versus the icons they are today. I paid $1700 for it and it had 20,000 miles on the speedo!! As one of the car magazines said reviewing it, when new, “This car comes off the showroom floor as a clapped-out race car.” And it was. Even though it was a street car it had been designed to qualify for racing so it’s suspension was rock hard, had no backseat as there was a fiberglass panel hold the spare tire. It had a Detroit-locker rear end so it would spin a tire slightly if turning tightly in parking lots. It was incredibly cool, but like a fool, I sold it ($2,200!) to help finance a house extension and give much-needed space for an airplane project.
I was the second owner. I needed the shop space for an airplane project (L-5 Stinson) so I sold it. A couple years ago the current owner contacted me as he was contacting all previous owners to make a complete history of his car. It turned out that two owners after me, Ford bought it back and had it restored to feature in an ad about high performance which included a Cobra, GT350, GT40. The last one I saw sold was $400,000!!!!
My Actual First Car is Still With me...so no regrets
The first time I saw the below, it was just the body sitting crosswise in a gulley preventing soil erosion in a field not far from my home in Nebraska. I was 15 and was determined to build a hotrod roadster like I’d seen in California on a trip with my parents. I was less than ten at the time but was determined to build one.
I got it running and driving (more or less) my senior year. Then it sat in the Quonset in Nebraska for 30+ years. It came out here, a lot of the butchery was corrected or replaced. Its licensed, insured but still not finished. Hey, it’s only been 66 years!! I never claimed to be fast!
Someday, I’ll tell it’s entire story. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from it.
This story brings back so many memories of the cars, trucks, and vans I have owned and loved. From the 1965 Ford Galaxy 500 that was my first car (my parents gave it to me while I was in high school, they used to store horse feed in it) to the 2014 Dodge Grand Caravan I now drive ( inherited it from my wife when I bought her a new truck). So thanks for bringing back all those great memories.
Great article, Budd! Sorry, this gets long...
The only car that I regret selling is a Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16. When Mercedes decided to build the 190E, the "Baby Benz," they wanted to make sure that buyers didn't think MB was going down-market. So, they built an "economy car" that was hell for stout, way, way over-engineered, one that really fit their motto "The best or nothing at all." To add to that cred, they wanted to go racing. Originally they wanted to rally a version of the 190, and had Cosworth (yep, THAT Cosworth) design heads that turned a 2.3L, 8 valve, 136 hp "economy" engine into a Cosworth with 16 valves (hence the car's name: 190E 2.3-16) putting out 320 hp! But, Audi came out with their Quattro that year, immediately killing off any competition that didn't have 4WD. So, MB asked Cosworth to detune the engine to 183 hp to go racing in the DTM (German Touring Car Championship series). The engine also had lots of trick parts (lighter but stronger pistons is one I recall) and a Getrag dogleg 5-speed manual transmission (back when 4 forward was considered a gracious plenty). They tweaked the aero, brakes, and suspension, too. Only problem was, DTM regs required homologation. So, MB made a bunch of these race cars and sold them for road use, just 5 in 1983, and about 2400 in 1984. It all evolved later into the Evo. Anyway, MB absolutely cleaned up in the DTM, and the road car was...something that could get you into a lot of trouble. I bought mine as a second owner. A buddy of mine is an MB mechanic who had tended to a 2.3L-16 until its original owner passed. The widow asked him to sell it to "an enthusiast" and so he did. Man, what a car - lots of power, flat torque curve, fantastic handling and brakes. Just my daily commute was fun, and weekends driving out to the airport, well, like I said, that car could get you into trouble. I finally had to sell it, though, as our circumstances changed and my wife just hated that Getrag tranny (even though she's a great stick driver). Admittedly, it could be a real slog in Atlanta traffic with the heavy clutch and stiff shifting. So, I sold it to another "enthusiast" who then restored it. Last I heard, it's living a pampered, weekends-only existence up north of the perimeter. Still, I wish it was in my driveway instead of his garage!