Ever make stupid decisions?

Wonderful cars that I sold, and wish I had back:

1961 Ford Falcon fordor deluxe in perfect "little old lady" condition...paid $350, had it for a week and sold it for $350. Sold it because friends made fun of it at the time...late 80's.

1964 Thunderbird - a beauty.

1967 Country Squire - the most loaded one I have ever seen...I think it had every option possible...man, what a dummy I am! I will post some pics of her when I come across them...if I can stop crying.

1965 New Yorker Town & Country - this was a dual air rust-free all original, but it needed a complete resto...hung on to it for many years, but knew I would probably never get to it, so...

1974 Mark IV - silver and cranberry...absolutely immaculate and stunning...sold her for chump change.

Oh well, moving forward with no regrets, right? Yeah, right.

 

My 2 stupid sales were my 80 Colony and 67 VW Baja.

I regret selling my 80 Plymouth (badged Caravelle in Canada and Grand Fury in the States) 13-14 years ago but I was a single Dad and needed the $, so no stupid just regret

My Dad bout it new Nov 10 1980 in Winnipeg Manitoba during a "Cars War Sale" that 3 dealers were having to get rid of the 80's models. Window sticker was $14.500ish and Dad snagged it for $10.500, he bout it for my sister...Wha Da ? We moved to the wet coast and my sister followed ( Vancouver) in 1983 and got a job witch provided a company car so the Plymouth sat in our Victoria drive way for almost 2 years unused but insured all the time (go figure). Dad did drive it to work one day a month only to keep it going.

Sis came to town ( summer/fall 85) and we all met for luch some where...I was late because I test drove a 240Z and wanted to buy it. I asked my parents if they would co-sign a loan for $2000, they both agreed about the loan because it would start my credit rating but Mom said no about the car. She suggested the Plymouth because it's just sitting there. My Dad and Sister started talking dealership prices for big bucks (car still held a pricy resale value) and Mom said no, Tedy will buy it for $2000! My Dad and Sister were starting to blow a gasket witch made Mom blow a gasket, she told my Sister to shut up because she got it for free and glared at Dad...he had the "I'm shutin up now" look on his face ( did'nt see that to often in my life)
So for $2k I was stylin, Black Car, red velour power buckets, console, Factory T-Tops, air tilt, cruise, p-door locks, every thing, and I was 18! My favorite song was ZZ Top's "She don't like me she likes my aoutomobile"....but who cared!

I sold it to a friend who rebuilt/restored the car and dumped a pritty fast 360 in it. Sold it with all origonal dealer paper work, window sticker, origonal bill of sale, waranty papers, every thing.

Here is my old Plymouth visiting in my drive way this morning......

http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr307/dogsareus/stuff/?action=view&current=ply1.jpg

It's held up pritty good and has been for sale for a long, long time. Why am I not buying back what I want? My bud, first friend I made out here in 82, been to hell and back together and would do it again today if need be, best man at my wedding, is an idiot! He expects a "Bury It Jackstone" price for the car

He swapped an alternator at my house this morning and we got into the $$ rage again, I offered him $500 + my kids Mustang so he could get home!

 

Mother's do have that 'look' that trembles the bones.

 

Judging by what old cars are going for these days, just about everything I had 30 years ago and back, except for the Jap traps.

Excuse me, while I rub it in with a handful of coarse cooking salt:

 

Back one day when I was a 4 year old or so, I got out of Dad's Maroon/Woody 86-89 Caprice Estate Wagon and when my parents weren't looking I DASHED to the back of the wagon and STUCK MY FINGER IN THE PIPE! Does this count?

 

Not really...more of a learning lesson... you were only four or so. Stupid would have been, if you knew the out come and did it anyway.

 

What outcome? He only stuck his finger, in there, and nothing else, Ma'am. Or is there something he ain't telling us?
Back when I was a kid, there was no such thing as catalytic converters. So, one day, after watching one of my granddad's favorite silent films with him (the VCR was also not yet invented. He kept a watchful eye on the T.V. Guide), I went and snuck my mom's vanity mirror out of the house and went around the block raiding neighbors' driveways collecting tailpipe soot from any heap which wasn't in the garage. You should have seen the look on my mom's face, as soon as she saw what I did. I looked something like this, when I got home:

 

Ever make stupid decisions?

NO! Never.

 

I didnt buy my first car until I was 36 ( 8 yrs ago) and before that I either drove my old mans cars which were huge POS or people gave me cars. I never bought a car before that lol. My neighbors felt bad for me so they gave me a Chrysler New Yorker which was loaded with tons of electronics and then a POS Dodge Intrepid. I knew that I needed to get rid of both when the mechanic said to me "is there a reason you are keeping this car, the entire undercarriage is about to fall out of it" and another time he said you gotta have some money saved up because this car is worth nothing and its a deathtrap, lmao. I still have the 2 cars that I have only bought and I am keeping both, not making that mistake. I did however do something incredibly dumb that I still regret to this day. My best friend sold me his 1977 Gs 750 for $200, he was desperate and needed cash. I drove that thing in College and beyond. One Summer my parents go on vacation and I vet the bright idea to do donuts in my garage with the bike and also put bleach and dish soap down to do a big smoke show in the driveway to IMPRESS the parents. Well bikes back then didn't have rev limiters and I was in my 20s so neither did I. Blew the motor in it, burned up the pistons and rings. I was cash poor and couldnt to fix it, if I had I would of kept it. Dumb and young, my best friend also passed away which makes that decision even worse. Hey at least my bike now has a rev limiter and my 2 LS3 motors do also and I have hit all 3 limiters once or maybe twice?

 

That had more to do with cooling, since those engines depend on motion to cool them down. Once they started to water-cool them, they had the possibility of reducing clearance between piston and cylinder, assuring yet unsurpassed longevity

 

Heh, thanks.

Well, I neglected the obvious detail that I burned my finger but other than that, no. I did also (at about the same age,) stick a finger in the VCR while ejecting a tape once but that isn't car related.

Thanks for sharing the tailpipe soot mask story, I got a laugh.

 

Some of us get it and some of us don't want too. Good to hear you've made it this far.