Your "Too Good To Be True" Stories

[Topcat]

Stories on cars, parts, deals, where you were: "Hot on the trail."

You either...Scored, Snoozed; or it was all Bull Sh!t to begin with. 

[three two barrels]

It was a cold January day in 1985, my buddy said he saw a purple Challenger T/A in a neighbor hood across town, he takes me over there and sure enough there it was parked on the street. It's a real T/A, four speed, black interior, aweful aluminum turbine wheels but all complete. Ring the door bell, a woman answers and says its a relatives car that was just visiting from out of town, engine is knocking so that is why it is parked there. I get the guys phone number and we agree on a price and he would come back on the weekend and do the deal.........Friday he calls back and says he sold to someone else......for less money?????
It took me months to get over that one.

[1 Wild R/T]

Panther Pink AAR, sat in the next town over for years... This was in the early-mid 90's... Guy sez he'll sell it but wants 18K.... It sits in his driveway slowly decaying... Then it's gone... Maybe he put it in the garage... Knock on door & talk to him... Nope, my Chevys in the garage, AAR is in the back yard.... Yeah I still need 18K...  Turns out his Chevy is a wrecked 57.... Drive down the alley, AAR is sitting there surrounded by weeds as tall as the car... Couple years go by... Knock occasionally, guy looks like death warmed over but not gonna change his price...  A buddy of mine lives less than a half mile from him... Calls me up to let me know a neighbor kid bought the car.... Guy needed money for dope.. Sold it for $50.... Kid sold it the same day to another neighbor for $500...  I go talk to him, nope gonna restore it.... A month later he sells it to a flipper for $5000....  Two months later it's listed in Hemmings for...... $18K.... How did he arrive at the same number the first guy wanted???

[1 Wild R/T]

Back around 1974 driving a back country road cruising along at 60 MPH & a Petty Blue Superbird flys by.....   A few weeks later I see it parked in a shopping center in the town I live in...  Don't see it again for years... Then purely by chance wind up on a street in a small community just outside city limits... There's the Superbird sitting in a driveway, and a red Daytona too....  Gotta knock on the door...  Guy isn't real friendly but lets me look over both cars, the Superbird is a 440-6/4 Spd... Beautiful survivor... Daytona is a 440-4/727..... Rough but cool as hell....  Nope not for sale....  Okay...

I knock on the guys door every few months, sometimes more often, sometimes less... Not for sale, not gonna be for sale....

Then one day in 1995 I'm at a Chevy Repo Parts guys place with a friend & the owner "Jim" tells me he knows a guy who just bought a couple wing cars......   

Turns out the guy had gotten caught with another women & as part of the divorce his wife insisted on taking his cars cause she knew he cared about them....  And as soon as the divorce was finalized she sold them....  15K for the pair....

The Petty Blue Superbird eventually wound up in the Tim Wellborn collection....  And in a strange twist he sold it off, it sold again after that & the new buyer lives just outside Modesto & didn't know of the cars previous local history...

[TheAutoArchaeologist]

Hm.... I might have a few of each.

[JH27N0B]

Back in my teen years, late 70s early 80s I watched local paper car ads religiously.  In the Chicago Tribune I'd noted that cars listed in the antique and classic category usually started on Thursday or Fridays probably in anticipation for the weekend.  So I thought it odd on a Monday morning when I was looking at my parents Tribune and noticed a new ad appeared for a '69 Trans Am convertible for $2000 with a phone number in the suburb just north of mine, it wasn't listed in the paper over the weekend. Even though I'm a Mopar guy, I knew '69 Trans Ams were rare, so called and got an answering service (service, not a machine).  I gave the lady my name and number and said I was really interested in the car for sale.
Never heard back.  I've wondered ever since if it was real?  All the '69 Trans Am verts are alive and well, so maybe I'll hear someday if one had a history of being sold used in '80 or '81 time period in the Chicago north suburbs.

[benlavigne]

Early 80's, someone who knows my weird taste for Wing cars tells me about a Daytona that has been sitting by a Body Shop about 45 minutes out of town... car is ok other than the smashed nose, Body Shop owner tells me the lady owner has left it there, might just want to get rid of it cheap... since he only has an address, in an apartment in Montreal, I go knock on the door, no answer, I don't think about leaving a note, thinking I'll come back later... same week, I score two NOS 1970 Charger fenders in the Auto Trader, and do the rookie mistake of opening my mouth and talk about it to a local flipper.. next day, car is gone, and I am stuck with the fenders, which the guy graciously buys off me after...

Ben

[71vert340]

 In 1973, I was serving on a US Navy ship on the west coast out of Long Beach, CA. A friend ask me to go with him to work on another ship mate's 1970 Challenger as he's having problems tuning the 2 barrel carb. I go and I find out it's a Challenger T/A and the center carb has problems. It did not have the T/A stripes and the owner, John, bought it new in Sept 1969. It was yellow with a black vinyl top. I lost contact with John after I got out of the Navy. Forward to around 1982. I'm working at PSNS in Bremerton Wa. on an aircraft carrier. I run into John who happens to be stationed on the carrier. We shoot the breeze and I ask him about the T/A. He laughs and tells me he sold the old Dodge car 3 days before for $1000. He says the guy has called him back and wants his money back because the car runs like crap due to a bad center carb. I tell John to give the guy back his money and I'll buy the T/A for $2000. He calls the guy and eventually gets to talk to him offering to give him back his money. It turns out the buyer talked to a friend and found out what the car was really worth and decided to keep it. I was so close.
Terry W.

[js27]

Back in the 80's I heard a stories of a 1966 Dodge Coronet Convertible Hemi -4 speed that was local. Over the years the story would pop up ever now and then with different info. In a garage-in a back yard--up on blocks in a driveway--in this part of town then in that part of town. Finally one day while at a show I was at with my 67 GTX a guy that was admiring my car started to tell me about this 67 Dodge Coronet R/T with a Hemi in it and it was a convertible. We talked cars a bit and I said do you know where this Hemi car was and he actually did but he said he won't sell it but gave me directions anyway. Turns out it was only a few miles from my house. So the next day I took a ride in the area he described and sure enough on this back street sat a red Coronet, Nobody was around so I just did a drive by. The next weekend I went back and took my camera and there was a guy in the yard cutting his grass. I stopped and got out and talked to him and asked if I could check out the car and he said sure. Spent about  a hour with him and he was the second owner of the car he bought it in 1967. He had added a 67 grille and hood and taillights to make it look like a R/T. It was one of 12 4-speed built and was all there. He said he was offered $50,000.00 for the car and turned it down. I told him I could go no more than $25,000.00. At that time those cars were selling form $75,000.00 to $100,000 completely restored. I figured it would cost at least $ 50,000.00 to restore it. Then I went back another day with my 70 A66 Challenger I just finished restoring  and he really like the car so I threw him the keys and said it is yours if you want to trade. He thought for a bit and then said no that his wife would kill him if he sold it. Well I tried and when I moved out of state in  2002 he still had the car. I tried--here are some shots of the one that got away...
JS27

[indytomVcuda]

Hi guys. My story does have a great ending! At least for me!  I was at work at my desk in 1982 when one of my coworkers (John) comes in to talk about work issues. He knew I was a Mopar guy (had pics of my 340 Duster drag car on my desk) so we eventually start talking cars. John mentions a farmer in his town (about 8 miles from my home) that had a Hemi Road Runner he bought nearly new. John said the fellow used it to haul hog feed sacks in the trunk during the day, then street raced the locals kids at night.  John says lots of guys tried but he heard of no one that ever beat it.  John thought it was a '68 or '69. He said it quit running after a few years so was parked in the farmer's barn lot.  He said lots of guys asked at the time to buy it but the farmer wouldn't sell it.  You know the feeling when your heart immediately starts racing & pounding? That's me as I asked "does he still have it?" And then "Would he sell it?".  John answered he didn't know because it's been years since he saw it. The farm is out in the country and you can't see the barn lot from the road. He said he'd check with him for me & let me know. The next week was agony but John pops in and said "yeah, still has it and would consider selling  it". He said it was an original '68 Hemi, automatic car. I couldn't believe my ears! Got the owner's name & number got nothing done the rest of the day! I called that evening.  The first thing he wanted to know was what I planned to do with it.  I said I'd put it back to the way it was when brand new. That was exactly what he wanted to hear. He said for years guys wanted to buy it to pull the Hemi engine for tractor pullers or hot rods & he wouldn't sell it for that. He also knew where I lived & had seen my stock bodied Duster so believed me & my intent. He told me what he wanted for it ($2500 and no negotiation! Remember this was '82 so prices hadn't started up just yet!). We set a time to see it. It still had the original engine & drivetrain. He thought the fuel pump had quit in '74 when he parked it. Since gas prices had started to climb, he bought a truck & let the car set. He had intentions to fix it some day but as always life & work got in the way. As I walked up to it from the rear, I saw the small Hemi emblem on the deck lid. We stomped down weeds to walk around it. I finally popped the hood and though covered in critter debris the big chrome air cleaner was still in place. We shook hands immediately & I bought it.  Over the course of 5 years, I disassembled it and took a week of vacation to scrape & sandblast the shell up on jack stands. My brothers and I did the metal work (pre AMD!) for rusted panel replacement, body & paint (PP1 Red) and engine rebuild & assembly.  Though the car took much longer to complete than anticipated, reading about the new Pure Stock Drag Race craze in Muscle Car Review really fired me up the last year to get it done. My brother Dan and I fired it the first time the evening before the 1987 Quaker City Pure Stock race. I drove it down the highway in front of my house to break it in. Immediately it went on my trailer and we drove most of the night to the track in northern Ohio from my home west of Indy.  We had a few adjustment & tuning issues but tweaked it until we got a 13.03 @ 105 mph out of it that first weekend on the required treaded DOT tires.  It's since gone 12.72@ 112 on red wall G70-15s.  It has been over 38 years now since dragging it out of the barn lot, but I'm still enjoying it today as much as I ever did!  Now I guess I better get to work on my V-code '70 Cuda project (purchased in '89) or someone else will be writing a story like this about dragging it home from my estate sale!
Everyone stay healthy! Tom

[Topcat]

Hi guys. My story does have a great ending! At least for me!  I was at work at my desk in 1982 when one of my coworkers (John) comes in to talk about work issues. He knew I was a Mopar guy (had pics of my 340 Duster drag car on my desk) so we eventually start talking cars. John mentions a farmer in his town (about 8 miles from my home) that had a Hemi Road Runner he bought nearly new. John said the fellow used it to haul hog feed sacks in the trunk during the day, then street raced the locals kids at night.  John says lots of guys tried but he heard of no one that ever beat it.  John thought it was a '68 or '69. He said it quit running after a few years so was parked in the farmer's barn lot.  He said lots of guys asked at the time to buy it but the farmer wouldn't sell it.  You know the feeling when your heart immediately starts racing & pounding? That's me as I asked "does he still have it?" And then "Would he sell it?".  John answered he didn't know because it's been years since he saw it. The farm is out in the country and you can't see the barn lot from the road. He said he'd check with him for me & let me know. The next week was agony but John pops in and said "yeah, still has it and would consider selling  it". He said it was an original '68 Hemi, automatic car. I couldn't believe my ears! Got the owner's name & number got nothing done the rest of the day! I called that evening.  The first thing he wanted to know was what I planned to do with it.  I said I'd put it back to the way it was when brand new. That was exactly what he wanted to hear. He said for years guys wanted to buy it to pull the Hemi engine for tractor pullers or hot rods & he wouldn't sell it for that. He also knew where I lived & had seen my stock bodied Duster so believed me & my intent. He told me what he wanted for it ($2500 and no negotiation! Remember this was '82 so prices hadn't started up just yet!). We set a time to see it. It still had the original engine & drivetrain. He thought the fuel pump had quit in '74 when he parked it. Since gas prices had started to climb, he bought a truck & let the car set. He had intentions to fix it some day but as always life & work got in the way. As I walked up to it from the rear, I saw the small Hemi emblem on the deck lid. We stomped down weeds to walk around it. I finally popped the hood and though covered in critter debris the big chrome air cleaner was still in place. We shook hands immediately & I bought it.  Over the course of 5 years, I disassembled it and took a week of vacation to scrape & sandblast the shell up on jack stands. My brothers and I did the metal work (pre AMD!) for rusted panel replacement, body & paint (PP1 Red) and engine rebuild & assembly.  Though the car took much longer to complete than anticipated, reading about the new Pure Stock Drag Race craze in Muscle Car Review really fired me up the last year to get it done. My brother Dan and I fired it the first time the evening before the 1987 Quaker City Pure Stock race. I drove it down the highway in front of my house to break it in. Immediately it went on my trailer and we drove most of the night to the track in northern Ohio from my home west of Indy.  We had a few adjustment & tuning issues but tweaked it until we got a 13.03 @ 105 mph out of it that first weekend on the required treaded DOT tires.  It's since gone 12.72@ 112 on red wall G70-15s.  It has been over 38 years now since dragging it out of the barn lot, but I'm still enjoying it today as much as I ever did!  Now I guess I better get to work on my V-code '70 Cuda project (purchased in '89) or someone else will be writing a story like this about dragging it home from my estate sale!
Everyone stay healthy! Tom

That's Freakin' Cool Tom. Any pics?

[indytomVcuda]

Thanks @Topcat . Here are few pics of it when found, as I restored it & when done in '87. Hopefully they post right side up!

[Timmy2Tires]

Back in the early eighties my roomate told me about a Charger sitting near where he worked. It was an orange 71 with a tarp over it.I said "no, i dont like that body style". About a week later a friend of mine went to look at it. Of course it was an original complete hemi car. He bought it for $4000 and sold it a week later $9000. I told myself then,,, go look next time. So last year  a friend tellls me he has a friend with a 74 Cuda. Thinks it is a 318. I balked, then thinking back to that Charger, I had to go look. Turns out it is a Barracuda with numbers matching 360 and a bunch of extra parts. bought it for $3500. Sure am glad I followed my own advice and went and looked.

[RUNCHARGER]

Too many to mention. Lots of Hemi that aren't stories. I remember one in 1983, #'s matching 1968 R/T Charger, original owner, "original" light green paint. I drove up and right away seen there wasn't a panel on it that didn't have a bad bondo job, that one was an easy pass, maybe he meant original paint colour.
Then there was a local guy that had mounted a Superbird wing on a 74 Road Runner along with an off-center, fibreglass nose cone. That one generated lots of bad "leads".