Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Good, The Bad...and the Ugly

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • The Good, The Bad...and the Ugly

    Ok...here goes...being a car guy for longer then some of you have been alive I may have more stories then some...but being a poor boy all my life I might have less...I wanna here about the cars you almost bought but didn't, the cars you did buy and shouldn't have, and the ones you bought and then sold because life kicked you in the balls and you had too...I'll go first with three different cars...first a little history...I grew up in the 70's...muscle cars were pretty much the norm in my life and I learned alot about them even before I could buy my own...the first car my dad bought me was a 1969 Camaro convertible...it was a beater with a 6 banger and stick...but the girls liked it cuz it was a drop top...I hated it because it wouldn't go FAST...but pops wouldn't let me modify it because he bought it...so I drove it for awhile until I found my first GTO...it was a starlight black 1970 GTO with the factory 350 horse 400 and a 4-speed...it was alright but of course I had to mess with it...being stupid I ditched the original 400 (sold it to a friend for his 67 Firebird)...and built a 428+30 to put in front of the 4 gear and put 4.56 gears in a 12 bolt...I thought it was fast...of course it was never fast enough and I kept messing with it (and a new rage at the time NOS) until I kicked the rods out of it...I drug it around after I got married and decided to buy a house...then poof it was gone...I owned every year GTO except 64 and 74 over a five year period but never got over my 70...during that time of buying and selling GTO's I bought a 69 Camaro race car...it had one of those cheesy fiberglass front ends on it and no engine...it was a stripper car though and had a bunch of gear and an automatic...well I should have never bought that car because I lost my ass on it and ended up selling it for alot less then I gave for it...later I had the chance to buy a couple different cars that I should have pulled the trigger on because they were steals at the time...one was a 1969 Plymouth Road Runner with the 440 pistol grip and Dana 60 rear...it could have been had in 1982 for 4000.00...think what that puppy would be worth now...the second was a 1965 Chevy Impala SS with the 327 and a 4-speed...it was my father in laws and he wanted 800.00 for it...thats right 800.00!!!...I passed because I was raising a family and didn't have the cash in front of me...he sold it to a 16 year old who totaled less then two weeks later...so thoughs are my tales of woah...lets hear em...oh...and I got into AMC Rebel Machines quite by accident...but I have owned four of them and am kind of looked up too in the AMC community as being somewhat an expert on them

  • #2
    Re: The Good, The Bad...and the Ugly

    This should be a very interesting thread. I don't have any really great stories. I once passed up a '71 Satellite when I was looking for a Firebird because it had a 400 and not a 440, d'oh! It was before I really had any automotive knowledge outside my Skylark and it's 231 V6. My old man convinced me that the 400 is prone to overheating because the Chevy 400 stigma and he one time owned an old Bonneville with a Pontiac 400 that liked to overheat. Of course he grumbled when I bought the '69 Firebird with a Pontiac 400 :P But the car was the right price and what I wanted ;D
    Escaped on a technicality.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: The Good, The Bad...and the Ugly

      In '75, I got my first job at 15 yrs old and within a month bought my first car, a '68 Pontiac Bonneville in mint condition for 40.00. Dad's boss was going through a divorce and sold it to me to keep the ex from getting it. I never did get to drive it on the streets, no drivers license yet. I sold the car for a couple hundred a few months later and bought a '62 Chevy II 6 banger 3 on the tree for 50.00 bucks from my uncle. Him and dad got drunk one night and painted a Starsky and Hutch stripe on it. ;D It took me two weeks to sand and primer the car. I hotrodded it up and down the alley for another month before it went bye-bye. I owned 8-10 cars and trucks before I even got my drivers license, all bought and paid for with my own money, dad did help finding them, then helped me get them running mostly by showing how to do it. I was changing A-frame bushing before I was driving, legally that is. My first real muscle car was a '66 LeMans with a 400 from a wrecked '69 Judge. It still had the Powerglide from the LeMans but that car was amazingly fast. It ended up totaled in a rainstorm. I went through quite a few, including a '64 Chrysler K with a 383, typewriter shift, loved that one, a '68 Chevelle, '68 Cutlass, '72 Pontiac Ventura with a 327, a '68 Ford XL Convertible with a 428. Then came the '70 Dart Swinger GT. That car was the only one I cried over. A drunk ran a stop sign and I t-boned him totaling the car in the front. I gave a hundred dollar bill for this car in 1980 from my first wifes uncle. He couldn't get it running right and gave up and sold it to me. I took it home, replaced both sets of points, and tuned the carb. It ran perfect. I sold the car for 300.00 and bought a station wagon, the wife had just popped the second kid. : I guess you could say this is my second life I'm in now. Different wife and the same car for the last 9 years. I've got a sentimental attachment (sort of) to the car. It was bought with some of my inheritance from my mothers passing. She'd told me to spend it on something I could enjoy and work on. She knew I loved old cars and she would have loved a '55. And the wife, 18 years last month. I keep her because she doesn't care if I work on the car and spend a little on it occasionally. ;D

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: The Good, The Bad...and the Ugly

        67 with a 327.. 800 bucks.

        damn your evil ww2 spoiled brat children stories. :

        my dads are even worse.He was 17 in 1968...
        holy crap. I ponder if he is truly mentally challenged.



        he even inherited a dodge hemi.. for free.. with some green emerald something, factory a/c...for free. old person owned, never four barreled.. while it had a four barrel...
        he got a beetle for nothing.. this beetle beat GTOs.. concept of gasser on a boxer.(I still think that one is prophetic)

        a ford pickup, brand new, some crazy engine called a "390".. 1700 bucks.

        he said he used to get alot of them with four barrel not working. "The cars were so powerful no one used it, they got dirty".
        he still claims the dodge as his favorite.

        I am a teen in 1985... I don't even like talking what I could not get, because even that was junk.
        Previously boxer3main
        the death rate and fairy tales cannot kill the nature left behind.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: The Good, The Bad...and the Ugly

          Missed a 69 Judge RA IV 4 speed, rough but all there and running, for $1200 in 1985. Dad said it would never be worth more than $2500 so he wouldnt loan me the money. I was 16 and had bought my 67 Cougar three years before. That one still hurts to think about. While looking before I bought the Cougar I found a 68 GTO 400 Th400 for $800 that had backed into a pole and crunched the trunk/rear bumper. Easy fix for me now but impossible for me back then.

          Two years later I was looking for another car because the 400 chucked a rod in my 72 LeMans with the T41 endura front end (got it from a junkyard hit in the front). Found a 71 GTO, 455 HO, 4 speed, just painted and only missing a couple pieces for $4000. I could have bought it but instead got a 79 10th Anniversary Trans Am with a 403 and howling rear end for $2000.

          A friend of mine had a 67 GTO for $1800 in 86, once again dad thought it wouldnt be worth anything so I couldnt get a loan. Before I got the Cougar at 13, dad drove a 64 Barracuda home, it has a 318, 3 speed, 3.23 gears and in that light car it moved pretty good. He said no way because it was too much like it was. It was his one and only chance to get me into a Mopar. All the GM stuff in his yard is payback for not keeping the ugly fishbowl with a stick. I liked it because it was different.

          Now to keep this in perspective, my older brother had dad buy him a green 70 Charger, 383 2 barrel auto for $800. Then dad proceeded to get it painted, buy him a set of wheels and tires, then my idiot brother wrecked it and customized my face with its dash in the process. Dad rebuilt it for him again and bought him a 69 Charger with a 318 so he had something to drive while they looked for fenders, hood, grille etc. My idiot brother beat the hell out of that car, screwed up the drum brakes, slid it into trees, ditches, and a gas meeter outside someones house.

          All the while I worked my ass off for neighbors on their farms, sold sweet corn I planted and picked, and did whatever I could to scrounge up cash, and my brother had everything handed to him. Turns out I took care of what I earned, he beat the snot out of everything he was given. I appreciated what I had and the hard work that went into getting it, he didnt since it was ask dad and he got it. I'm not bitter, I have a bunch of cars that are actually worth something, my brother has a beat up 03 Ford van, he has wrecked everything he has ever driven and that van is rough already. I have been around the world, been part of history, traveled to exotic places, and done things he cant imagine doing with his 6 kids in tow. If I had gotten that Judge, I wouldnt have a huge collection of old cars. That would have been my baby.

          Cars I let go and shouldnt have. Well there was a 72 Cutlass Supreme, silver with black gut, 350 auto, nicest car I owned when I was a teenager. Traded it for a 56 Buick Special 2 dr hdtp. The Buick sat around until 98 when I needed some cash and I sold it for $600, its a guys parts car now. I sold my 65 Galaxie, the 72 Mustang I wish I had for parts I need on the 71 Mustang, and I am thinking of selling some other stuff but not to someone who will let it sit, it has to be a project that goes somewhere.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: The Good, The Bad...and the Ugly

            The one that got away:

            A '67 Impala SS 427. At the time I didn't know rare they were. This particular car was for sale for $400 in '86. It's 427 was gone and it had a 454 in it, but it had a rod knock pretty bad. It still fired up and ran. It was a 4 speed car with all the gauges and the rare linear type tach in the dash. The car was red with white top and interior. The top showed rust under it and the quarters and rockers needed help. It also had new 3" exhaust on it. I wanted to buy it, so off to the bank I went. The owner knew he was giving it away and kept saying the first guy with $400 in hand got it. I raced off to the bank and on the way back to his house, I saw heading the other way on a trailer.

            Another I should've bought, but didn't:
            While looking for a replacement for the rusted bucket '69 Impala I was driving back in '88, I looked a '66 Impala SS. It was a 396, 4 spd car, but had a 400 abc 2 bbl in it. The 396 was available. It was complete and I even drove it. It also had the console gauge panel and a functioning reverb radio. The car was white with the aqua blue interior. It was a bit rough, but wasn't bad. The guy was asking $2000 and I should've bought it, but I honestly can't remember why I didn't. Probably couldn't get the cash together in time.

            The one I never should've bought:
            As a senior in HS I was driving a fairly nice '71 Impala sedan, but I had to have a coupe. A friend, a term I use loosely, sold me a '69 Impala custom coupe for $50 that he yanked the 350/th350. I removed the 400 sbc from my '71 and shoved it in there. Everyone told me I was stupid, but I didn't listen. I drove the car for two years then drove it to Cali in '88. On the way to Cali, I stopped at Wendover and blasted down Bonneville speedway that night. After getting to Cali and washing the salt off the car, I discovered why Stacey sold it to me for nothing. It's frame was rusted away on both sides. It was missing about 30 inches over the rear differential. I went looking for a replacement.
            BS'er formally known as Rebeldryver

            Resident Instigator

            sigpic

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: The Good, The Bad...and the Ugly

              4 grand was huge money in 1982 . there was a white 70 w30 442 around here for sale for 3800 and that was big
              there was a rotted out 68 hemi charger for sale complete in the pennysaver for 3800 in 82

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: The Good, The Bad...and the Ugly

                every car I ever bought cost too much
                I only accept donations or dead cars from customers

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: The Good, The Bad...and the Ugly

                  god, I think about a number of cars I missed over the years becasue of no space or skills, or a dad who thought he was doing me a favor...it pisses me off sometimes

                  I missed my chance at an AMAZING 72 Olds 442 with a 4spd for 5K becasue dad and I were fighting and I could not get the number of the guy who owned it...he was my only link to him.

                  Dad made me miss out on a 68 Chevy II for 200 bucks, a 65 Malibu 350/350 hugger orange with a nice black interior for 400 bucks, a nice74 Caddy coupe deville for 400, a 440 powered 70 New Yorker, green on green...for 450! I missed a 51 Chevy truck for 300 bucks....

                  man, of all of these the nicest was the 70 NY'r....it belong to an old man up the street from me who never drove it and kept it in the garage all the time...no rust...and it hauled ass...but dad was mad at me becasue purchased school clothes (somethign he never got me..I had to buy)

                  I did score a 76 Starsky and Hutch torino back in 94 for 400 bucks..1100 off the asking price...It was awesome! I loved that car, it was a blast to drive and own,,,

                  the ugly...LMAO...it is sitting in my driveway
                  If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: The Good, The Bad...and the Ugly

                    I didn't have a job until senior year , after football
                    my brother bought his own school clothes , all of my pants had the singer sewing machine treatment

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: The Good, The Bad...and the Ugly

                      THE GOOD...bought a 1969 Road Runner basket case for 100.00 in 1998.....yes...100.00....it's a B5 blue 383 4 speed car...VIN is good ....it's minus engine/trans....was being gutted for a stock car when I rescued it.In that same year I bought a straight 1953 Ford 2 dr Ranch Wagon for 400.00 and drove it home.

                      THE BAD....in 1991 I wanted to go faster drag racing......so I sold my 1965 Dodge Coronet 2dr Hardtop for 600.00 ...bought a 1968 Dodge Dart Sport Special then cut it up.....DOH !

                      THE UGLY.....was offer a 1968 Mustang Fastback for 2500.00 in 1995.....passed on it......buddy of mine bought it....turned out to be a GT500KR.....just sold it for 215,000.00
                      The Beatings will continue until MORALE IMPROVES !!!!

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      X