Sold: 1989. $7900. Once my wife realized that there was only 1/8" of fiberglass between me and the outside world, she was not pleased. She called it my cardboard car. We negotiated that if I would sell it I could by a Jaguar XJS. So I did.
Value Today: $45,000.
Lotus Elan
The 3 main cars I wish I had back.
70 Mach 1 Mustang
76 Datsun 260z
88 Pontiac Firebird GTA T top
A restored Mustang and GTA now would go for around $50000.
I illegally street-raced the thing. Drag raced it on Front Street in Philly,
(and consistently lost to the big block Mopars - 400/440 Charger,
Challenger, Baracuda, etc.). The small block 302 would lose
to a big block anything, basically. (Yes, illegal street racing is a sport
only for young crazy guys. Dangerous and reckless. A hazard to civilization.
At the time I fit that description.)
Truth be known - I had a heckuva lot of fun beating the living h@!l out
of that car. It would be worth a bit of money now, of course. (If I had
kept it in pristine condition - and not had all of the fun... )
The speedometer cable was broken for a long period of time -
so the odometer was totally inaccurate - but conservatively
that car had well over 300K miles on it when it gave up
ghost and I sold it for parts.
We won't talk about the 1980 Ford Thunderbird 'boat-mobile'
which came next - drove it for less than year. It had a soft,
comfortable ride is the best thing I can say about it.
Oh, and my car insurance bill was cut about in half.
In 1986 I bought a Ford Ranger pickup brand new. I now forget what I
paid for it. V6, 2-wheel drive, extended cab, two-tone blue.
Pretty reliable except the electrical system in that thing ate headlights -
consistently. I got 296,000 miles out of it before in 1996 I traded it in
for a new 1996 GMC Sierra pickup. 4WD, extended cab, short bed,
350 V8, burgundy with a silver pistripe. Now THAT is the one vehicle I
wish I had kept. I should have replaced the exhaust system and kept it.
I drove that thing through the majority of the lower 48 states.
Super-reliable truck.
The thing was an absolute billy goat in the snow and the mountains
of VA, NC, OR and NV. Hit two deer with that thing with minimal
damage. 185,000 miles it gave me before I sold it outright.
Then I bought a 2006 Hyundai Elantra. Drove it for 170,000 miles
before I sold it (years ago) to the college-age sons of a friend
of mine. Last I heard it is still going strong. That thing was even
more reliable that the GMC truck. Only bad thing I can say about
it was Hyundai at the time had a problem with one specific type of
black paint (in 2005/06). The problem affected several Hyundai models.
Paint would fade seriously after a few years. So the boys got
the thing a cheap paint job, which fixed that.
I also remember hearing that they replaced the exhaust system.
Hey, all exhaust systems rot out in time.
Now I just lease affordable, reliable (hopefully) transportation. The thrill is gone, really.
1973 Buick Centurion Convertible! Was my college car, had to sell when it broke down and I was too poor to fix!
55 Chevy 4-door wagon. Bought it for $400.00 and later handed the title over to my brother to clear a debt of about $2K. Still miss that car 30+ years later.
I’m in my fifties and would love to have the vehicles I had in the 1980s. 1973 Ford Bronco- top was off May through September! 1968 Barracuda with 383 and four speed— would get sideways year round! Sandbags in the back November through March…
bought 1969 datsun spl311 1600. bought $2000 in 1974.
traded in for 1975 chevy monza 2 plus 2.
present listed value between 7500 and 50000!!!
1966 Shelby. I fully restored and sold it in 1974 to get married. Sold for $12,500, now worth $125,000. Value of wife??????
Chevy Camaro LT 1976. Black vinyl top..red/orange paint. Clean..nice 305 v-8...voted worst Camaro ever by some car mag. Put out 160 horses...early smog control bs. Bought 4.5 k..sold 2.7 k....worth about 12k now. I would buy it again and trick it out nicely. If I could only get interior door handles that wouldn’t break!
No real regrets.
Had my grandparents 57 Ford Custom 2-door post in college. 223 6 with overdrive. Got 23 MPG in the early/mid 70s that was unheard of for a full size car. Was ugly ugly brown. Painted it black (like Milner’s 55 in AmGraf). A set of American chromes and 60 series tires and it looked great but still just a 223 six. Super reliable. Last year of college sold it to little brother and he still has it. But now with a 390 - so it now also GOES.
Moved to a 64 Custom. Ostensibly white with a red interior 4-door. My father bought it from a co-worker who was told the tranny was shot. Unfortunately it was stored under some cedar trees and the exterior was rusty - even the rust had rust. And the rubber seals on the windows on the doors were gone. A good ice storm and I could not hardly get the doors open. Then when I did, they would NOT latch closed again. So here’s me, driving back to college on I-80 with the passenger door held shut by twisting the seatbelt and running it through the door handle. Meanwhile I’m driving with one hand and holding the handle on the driver’s door with my other hand to sort of keep it closed. The weird thing was, the interior of the car was beautiful and immaculate. I would go somewhere with my buddies and park in the lot. I would always say “I’d trade my car sight-unseen with any other vehicle in the lot.” Then we’d walk out and I’d confirm that. I think once there was one that was pretty much a wash. Then one day it wouldn’t shift out of low. Called my father and he told me it was probably a vacuum hose on the side of the transmission. Sure enough, I crawled under and pulled it off-it was cracked. Walked down to the parts store and told the guy I need 4” of 1/2” vacuum hose. He said the minimum was a foot. He must have felt sorry for me because he just cut off 4” and gave it to me. Car was fine after that.
Eventually had a 65 Mustang convertible. Rangoon red with red interior. 20 years later it was time for someone else to enjoy it.
I did buy new special order an 89 Mustang 5.0 GT convertible. Red over argent with white leather interior and white top. There was a special at the time. Either upgrade to an automatic or get free A/C. That was a no-brainer. Gimme the A/C. Love the 5-speed. The happy ending is, I still have that car. About 38,000 miles. Sometimes I think about getting a newer one, then I just run through the gears on that and I get a huge smile. No, I think I’ll keep it...
Quite frankly, none. I’ve bought practical vehicles for most of my life. I did buy a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon when I retired, but almost seven years later, I sold it. More and more trails are being closed off to the public, so it was time. But no regrets about selling it.
67 Mercury Cougar converted to the XR-7 package
73 Gran Torino Sport Fastback
Don’t even want to know what they’re worth these dayz.
1970 Firebird Formula 400, RamAir III, 4 bolt main, Muncie M22 “Rock Crusher”.
Boot, Scoot and Boogie 😎
Miss my old Supra Turbo....And my 2 Z-28’s..
Drove the supra for ten years..got my money’s worth BUT the Z’s..
Sold them both almost mint for short money.
Now they are worth Thousands...
I drove a really mint low mile 93 Infiniti J-30 for a while.
That was kinda a weird car.
miss that one too...