Cars you regret not buying

[falcongtho3]

69 Trans Am for $5000
71 SS 454 Monte Carlo for 800
70 Mach 1 Cleveland 4 speed for 850
71 Torino Cobra 429 CJ for 900
Long time ago, and still kicking myself...especially the Trans Am

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[jamus34]

Chevy SS / Mercury Maurader - completely different vehicles but i lump them together as performance sedans. wasn’t anywhere near my budget when released but these cars were me all the way.

2018 WRX STI - I played it conservative and got a standard WRX. Before I got the M1 was thinking about looking at them again but to lo and behold Subbie killed them.

 

[mindo389]

Many moons ago, I missed out on a ‘68 GT 500. The car was a convertible with a manual transmission. The asking price: $7,500… Someone slipped in with cash before I could secure a bank loan and return.

 

[RagmopInKona]

Chevy SS / Mercury Maurader - completely different vehicles but i lump them together as performance sedans. wasn’t anywhere near my budget when released but these cars were me all the way.

2018 WRX STI - I played it conservative and got a standard WRX. Before I got the M1 was thinking about looking at them again but to lo and behold Subbie killed them.

The G8/SS is a nice car shame it wasG8 v8 38-45k SS 50-55k but a 365-400hp real full sized car with a manual 6 speed. I am old enough that it being a 4 door would not make a difference.

 

[Bobn57]

69 Trans Am for $5000
71 SS 454 Monte Carlo for 800
70 Mach 1 Cleveland 4 speed for 850
71 Torino Cobra 429 CJ for 900
Long time ago, and still kicking myself...especially the Trans Am

Had a few from your list......I bought my 70 Torino Cobra 429SCJ in 1978-79 for $600! It was in pieces and took 9 solid months to restore...sold it in 1990.....that is my biggest regret My best friend had his brother in laws 70 Monty SS with the 454 and 4 speed. Also long gone
Not a Mach 1 but had a 71 Cougar with 4bbl 351C, 4 speed top loader, dual exh etc. Long gone

 

[tobaccokid]

Don't regret much thankfully.

Bought a new 1969 Z28 in 1968 - did fine. Only sold because I moved to Europe for a new job.

Bought a black/black 1967 435 hp, side pipe, fully documented all original Corvette roadster in 1989 - paid five figures, sold for substantial six figures a few years ago. Many are faked, not fully documented, etc. Very few were bought in black.

Bought a black/black 1969 Corvette Coupe L89 (aluminum head 427/435 hp, sidepipe car w/6,800 miles, perfect condition and never restored - recently sold for substantial six figures.

Tried in 1972 (I was 25) to get my parents/in laws to assist me in buying a Cobra Daytona Coupe (1 of 6) for $26K - told them "it would be worth a fortune in the future". They all thought I was in dreamland. Could sell it now with no trouble for at least $35,000,000.

Now have two 1965 Shelby GT350's, #'s 028 and 383. Both now concours. 028 is one of the first 35 that were produced in Venice, CA, as opposed to LAX. Both deemed amongst the best restorations that Pete Brock has ever seen (have that in writing from Pete). 383 was selected by Koni for their 2019 SEMA booth. Also have a 2019 GT50, and 2016 Corvette C7 Z06 - great cars.

Thankfull for a great life.

 

[derklink]

Don't regret much thankfully.

Bought a new 1969 Z28 in 1968 - did fine. Only sold because I moved to Europe for a new job.

Bought a black/black 1967 435 hp, side pipe, fully documented all original Corvette roadster in 1989 - paid five figures, sold for substantial six figures a few years ago. Many are faked, not fully documented, etc. Very few were bought in black.

Bought a black/black 1969 Corvette Coupe L89 (aluminum head 427/435 hp, sidepipe car w/6,800 miles, perfect condition and never restored - recently sold for substantial six figures.

Tried in 1972 (I was 25) to get my parents/in laws to assist me in buying a Cobra Daytona Coupe (1 of 6) for $26K - told them "it would be worth a fortune in the future". They all thought I was in dreamland. Could sell it now with no trouble for at least $35,000,000.

Now have two 1965 Shelby GT350's, #'s 028 and 383. Both now concours. 028 is one of the first 35 that were produced in Venice, CA, as opposed to LAX. Both deemed amongst the best restorations that Pete Brock has ever seen (have that in writing from Pete). 383 was selected by Koni for their 2019 SEMA booth. Also have a 2019 GT50, and 2016 Corvette C7 Z06 - great cars.

Thankfull for a great life.

I'm drooling over this post. If you don't mind, could you please share some pics? Also, the "2019 GT50"' is a GT350, right?

 

[Redbaron289]

There are two that haunt me.

1999 Mustang GT 35th Anniversary Special Edition - I thought it was so cool at the time, with the new edge styling and the honeycomb rear and other styling cues.

2003 Mustang Mach 1 - I kept going to look at it, but just never could spend the money on it.

Thiose are the two I still think about the most. I'm sure there are others, but those two stick out.

 

[Bobn57]

I regret not buying an 08 Bullitt. I had an 06GT at the time and was on the fence about trading it in..

 

[BigD94]

Heard about that but wasn’t sure how widespread the issue was but also some of these cars with the rarer engines like the ls7 can turn into money pits if engine replacement is needed, which is why the GT350 scares me down the road since it’s not like a 5.0 where you can go to any junkyard and get one.

The LS7 is a legendary engine. Simple and very powerful. And once the valve issue is fixed, they're quite reliable too.

The valve issue is unfortunately pretty widespread though. It's not like the M3 rod bearings where it might be 1% of all cars. You really do need to fix the heads on these engines and it'll run you a few G's depending on how crazy you get with the head upgrades. You could spend a shitload and upgrade every part on the head or just fix the valve issue and get it done for less.

Either way the C6Z is an insane car. Fix the heads, throw in a cam, intake manifold, full exhaust system, tune and you're into the high 500's whp.

 

[stang1087]

2004 Mach 1 w with 45k miles. My brother worked at Autonation at the time. The car was heavily modified trade in and wasn't going to be sold to the general public. He convinced a sales guy to buy but he traded it back in a couple of months later. My brother now owns it.

The original owner claims to have run high 9's with it and launching at 6k rpm lol.

The car now has a terminator swap and makes 30 lbs of boost.

 

[BlackandBlue]

2001 Saturn Aztec

Salesman was even going to throw in the tent package. Still have the poster on my wall. Couldn’t get financing.

Sometimes I cry a little before bed about that one.

 

[Strokerswild]

The list is long, but one stands out....my former M-code '70 Cougar.

Back in the late '80s and early '90s, my buddies and I basically lived at the dragstrip. My ride of choice for the strip was said Cougar, extremely solid and straight. The 351C-4V was highly modified, and ran high 11s. I had pulled the engine with plans to drop in a built 460, and sold the Cleveland to my brother who still has it in his '70 Fairlane in the same state of tune. The Cougar sat in my shop for a while as a roller until sometime in the late '90s before a friend offered me a deal I couldn't refuse, and he set out to restore it.

It ended up a beauty (302 powered), and in either 2021 or 2022 he decided to sell it. I had no room for it at the time so I declined, not even knowing the price (or wanting to), and it ended up heading out of state. Since then I've had the occasional twinge of regret of not getting it back, as my brother has plans of dropping something bigger and more streetable into his Fairlane, so the 351C could have been reunited with the car. It sure would have looked nice in my shop sitting next to my '67 Cougar for sure.

Such is life.

 

[MAGS1]

Had an opportunity to snag a Foxbody a handful of years ago before prices started running up. Still kicking myself for not jumping on it. Also passed on a 2002 Firebird WS6 about 10 years ago that I should’ve taken. I still might grab one at some point, I love those last gen Firebirds.

 

[Johnnybee]

1982, could have bought a ‘70 Torino 428SCJ 4 speed. Bought a ‘75 Austin Mini instead. Not enough power to pull the skin off of rice pudding but go kart handling. When I bought my first new car out of university I bought a ‘87 Tempo 2 door. My dad loaned me the money for it…should have spent a bit more and got an LX Mustang.

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