Things We Wish We Had Bought and/or Kept

[SAJohn]

I have a long sad list:

I bought a Jaguar XK-120 for $400 and sold it a year later for the same price, today they are worth a million plus.

I passed on a Gullwing Mercedes 300SL for $3500.

I ignored a new Hawkeye at list price while it gathered dust for several years at a gun shop.

At three different shops, I looked at and held original NIB .44 automags. The handles were just a bit to big.

Any number of NIB Ruger brass framed Ruger single actions. Who wanted a cheap and heavy chunk of brass?

A bit later, yet another cherry Gullwing with custom luggage for $10K.

My first (and only) new car purchase of a Fiat 124 Sports Coupe when I could have bought a Shelby Cobra for not much more.

In 1975, I passed on an Aston Martin DB5 for $8K.

Sigh.

What are your sad stories?

John

 

[427mach1]

A 1970 Boss 302 with 40,000 original miles for $4500 in 1983...

A 427 Cobra for $7500 in 1979 (only saw the advertisement, never actually saw the car).

 

[Don Lovel]

1963 Gibson 335 Dot neck, I sold for $500, current value between $9000-$12500 for that low serial number
1965 Fender Blackface Twin Reverb with JBL speakers, I sold for $500, current value probably around $1800+
1959 Les Paul Jr, I old for $1000, current value, makes me sick to think about it, $15000-18,000, once again low serial number.
Ruger 5 1/2" Redhawk 41Mag, 1st year production, sold for $400, current worth over $1100 even here on RF classifieds
4 5/8 41mag Blackhawk Bisley conversion
5 1/2" High polish Vaquero 45 Colt with custom round butt and grips and internal and external polish and fitting, hell of a good shooter for as fancy as it looked
Ruger red pad #1A in ,243. I killed a bunch of deer and coyotes with that rifle
2002 Buell X1W White Lightning motorcycle, basically a one off factory track bike making `105hp in a 400lb chassis, yeehaw factor 100+ when you twisted the throttle on it.

 

[1911fan]

Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most--at least, I like to think I do...

ed

 

[JFB]

'70 Plymouth Superbird for $4500 as it rolled off the carrier

(but I probably would be here now)

 

[contender]

I don't like to go there,,, it pizzes me off too much.

 

[wheelgun1958]

1964 VW microbus. Had lotsa fun with that thing.

 

[Cholo]

A '66 427/390 4 speed Corvette fastback back in '85. Marlboro maroon with black interior and NOS red outlined tires. I was a judge in the show and it was the only car I gave a perfect 10 to. It was a frame off restoration with 3 miles on the clock. The guy was Q-tipping the engine for crying out loud! He wanted $19k. I had 2 kids I could sell for X, my Vette for X more. Couldn't come up with the $ with a young family and all. A year later I ran into a member of the Mtn. City Vette Club. I asked him about that car, and he told me:

He sold it to a guy from Athens, TN for $16k. The guy showed up with the $ and no trailer. The current owned was dumbfounded. The guy asked why, did it not run or something??? He proceeded to rev it, dumped the clutch, and smoked those NOS tires off the thing :shock: I was told the now former owner literally cried. I could have gotten the $16k for the car, after a divorce. I'd still have it, the X long gone.

Not me, but a friend: We used to meet at the NHRA drag races in Indy every year from the late 70's thru the 80's. One day he shows up with this 2.2 banger Chrysler somethingorother with a new fangled computer screen in the dash. I'm like, WTF? He told me that he'd sold his, bought new, '70 Hemi 'Cuda convertible for this. His next words have been burned in my mind since way back then. "I hope I didn't make a mistake." Better him than me...

Let's not talk about the guns I've let go...

 

[Robb Barnes]

Dan Wesson SS pistol pack in 41 mag and my 1956 Chevy Nomad with the 'vette small block are about the only things for me.

 

[bogus bill]

I already feel bad. I believe I could type all night on this. I am 74 years old so obviously seniority is a big leg up to you younger guys. I bought a fine Parker shotgun when I was 12 at a auction for $21. Would be worth maybe $5,000s today but I traded it off. I have owned a lot of fine motorcycles, (three old Harley`s, 3 Royal Enfields, one was a 1958 that was built for Indian and the last year one of eleven imported, a triumph etc. I owned a Piper tri pacer that was metalized, never seen or heard of another and I crashed it! I owned a Colt New Frontier that was one of a consecutively numbered pair that Audie Murphy had owned. He willed them to his two sons and it was later stolen from me. I had a old girl friend that wanted to give me a 1950 something Jaguar but it needed work and I turned her down! I had a nice 1862 Sharps carbine, a 50 caliber Whitneyville Armory large buffalo rifle, and I have a list of old western guns that were stolen out of my house years ago. Depressing. Probably one of the biggest thing`s I missed out on was a drugger Beach C-45 I found on the desert in Nevada back in 1977. I was flying over a remote unused strip and spotted it in the middle of nowhere. It was quite a adventure. I landed by it knowing it had to be a drug smugglers. He had ground looped it. I was going to salvage it with friends but they wussed out on me. I wrote a story on another site about it. I may dig it out and repost it here if there is intrest shown.

 

[graygun]

My first car:'71 Dodge Demon 340 which I sold in late '78 for $200. :roll:

 

[lipofsky]

a 60 Vette with no seats, my buddy was getting a divorce and he did not want his wife to get it, he even offered a semi auto Thompson to sweeten the deal. could not convince wife that it was a good deal.

 

[smoke-eater]

My little yellow '71 VW Beetle

Oh…and then there was the Ruger Red Label with the 3-digit s/n.,
Browning BSS Sporter, also in 20 ga.,
Sako Finnbear in 7mmRM,
Pre-'64 M70 in .30/06,
etc.,
etc.,
etc.

We all can relate to this topic, as we cry in our morning coffee.

 

[gramps]

I don't like to go there,,, it pizzes me off too much.

This list could be painful to remember. I am not going to sort through all the boxes, and keys in my mind for someone else's enjoyment.
gramps

 

[TinkerDave]

'72 Opel GT that I drove from Miami, Fl to Valdez, AK in 1979. 1st car I bought with my own money and I still miss it. My 1986 Ford T-bird - 1st car loan sold it when we had our first baby & needed car seat room. Remington Rand 1911 that I bought for $100 back in the late 70s. Ruger #1 in 375 H&H. two sako magnum length actions (LH) that I bought hoping to build rifles in 375 H&H & 35 G&H. Dan Wesson 44 Mag w 4" & 8" HB. + a few other thingss of lesser importance. TD

 

[jack]

Me too .... most of the above! :mrgreen: And the worst part is ..... You can't get em' back !!

 

[Fox Mike]

My '49 Ford two door sedan. I have, in my rather lengthy life, had a wad of cars but that one was the first.

 

[rugerguy211]

Gold, at $35/ounce in 1970.

 

[Bob Wright]

I've parted with a lot of guns over the years, probably miss my 6" Colt Python, but wouldn't want it back if I had to give up the gun I traded it for.

I've gone off on a lot of tangents in my life, and each new path has been so much fun and of so much interest, I wouldn't trade it for the one I left behind.

Bob Wright

 

[bogus bill]

I thought I have led a boring life. Then I got to thinking of all the stuff I had due to this thread jogging my memory. The old cars, motorcycles, ATV`s, guns and a couple airplanes. I just wish I had used all of them more while I had them than I did. I had a Ruger Hawkeye once too. I still own a S&W model 53 .22 jet and haven't shot it in many years. I just dont see modern guns and cars out there that qualify someday being sought after classic`s like the old ones we had.