Painful stories of missed buying opportunities in twenty-twenty automotive hindsight

by Sam Barer

A member of the CorvetteForum.com discussion group recently posed a question regarding when the price of a 2002 Corvette Z06 would hit rock bottom. While he couldn’t afford this assured future classic new, he did not want to miss the opportunity to buy a car at its lowest value before collectors inevitably drive the price back up.

Adding my two cents, I explained that markets are unpredictable. Fuel prices, horsepower wars and government regulations have at times in history significantly altered valuations of seemingly certain collector vehicles. I noted my rule of thumb, however: it’s never wise to pass-up an opportunity to buy a great car at a low price, assuming you can afford it. After all, the last thing you want to do is have a “would-a, should-a, could-a, but didn’t” story to follow you to the grave.

Probably the two best stories of missed opportunities come courtesy of my two favorite car collectors, my father and my father-in-law.

Back in 1961, my father was a young car-crazy attorney. His 1956 Buick Special hardtop coupe just didn’t fulfill his sports car desire or bachelor image. My father approached his client Jerry Flemming, a Fiat and Citroen dealer, to order a new Fiat 1200 Cabriolet through his dealership. Flemming took the opportunity to proposition my father on a car from his personal collection, a special lightweight-bodied 1955 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing originally owned by Grand Prix driver and Scarab President Lance Reventlow. Asking only $4,400 for the car, and owing $500 for legal services, cash out of my father’s pocket would have been just $3,900. Too cost conscience, my father stuck with buying a red Fiat for $2,400.

Flemming later offered his Gullwing to local Volkswagen dealer Wade Carter for two new Beetles, then worth about $1,500 each. Carter declined. A couple years ago, not long before his tragic death in a helicopter accident, Carter reminisced with my father about their mutual missed opportunity. Carter actually wound up purchasing a regular bodied 300SL in the 1990s, shelling-out roughly $250,000 for it.

Nine years later, the young dentist who would become my father-in-law strolled into the Ralph Williams Plymouth dealership in Seattle. Looking to upgrade his 1965 Chevy Impala SuperSport Convertible, he talked to the salesman about the 1970 ‘Cuda convertible that had been sitting on the floor with no takers for almost an entire year. Offering my father-in-law top dollar for his Impala, the salesman dropped the asking price of the new car to near cost. The dealership was desperate to sell the car, because as it turned out, not many people were interested in a ‘Cuda convertible with the expensive and maintenance-heavy 426 Hemi under the hood.

My future mother-in-law, pointing to their graduate school debt and business loans, requested to delay buying a car. Reluctantly, my father-in-law agreed.

For those not familiar with Mopar history, there were only fourteen Hemi ‘Cuda convertibles made in 1970. The next time one of these trophy muscle cars comes to auction, expect a sale price in excess of $225,000.

Reading through old magazines, missed opportunities are everywhere. At the same time my father was placing his order for a Fiat, a reader of the May 1961 issue of Road & Track could have responded to the classified ad for a Ferrari 166MM coupe for $2,950. Had you come to terms with then owner Robert Booher of Dayton, OH, and kept it, you could have sold it at auction this year for a mere couple million dollars.

In December 1970, while there were no Hemi ‘Cudas in the Road & Track classifieds, Duncan Stewart was selling his Bugatti T-57 Ventoux Coupe show car for just $10,000. Quite a bit of money in 1970, it still was a good investment to its buyer, since T-57 coupes sell regularly in the half-million dollar range now.

At the end of the day, you should never second-guess yourself any more than you would for not buying Microsoft stock in 1986. A new Fiat for less money than a used Mercedes seemed right at the time. And my mother-in-law was right, paying off loans is always more important that buying a new car. The fact that my father-in-law still has his ’65 Impala after all these years is just icing on the cake.

Hindsight is twenty-twenty, and there’s still no way to predict the volatile car market, but new opportunities arise each day. You’ll just have to stay tuned for which future classics we at Sound Classics think are about to take-off.

Sam Barer writes for Apex, an Olympia, WA based freelance writing company. To submit a car for a future “Sound Classics” story, email soundclassics@apexstrategy.com

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