Three past daily drivers come to mind: a 56 Ford convertible, a 65 Buick Sportwagon and a 68 GTO convertible. They were really nice used cars when purchased, but there were reasons why they were sold---several years of on-street parking, city driving, salted roads, etc had not been kind. They were really tired used cars when they went to the next owner. When I think about getting them back I'm remembering them at their best, and all the good times associated with them. Yes I would like them back, but the way I choose to remember them, not as they really were when they left.
/\/\/\ John, I understand exactly what you mean. Living in Michigan, most of us drove whatever vehicle we owned year around. Back then, many of the cars we consider collectable were quite common and priced accordingly. The first car I stored every winter, back when I was 22 years old, was my '69 Z/28RS. I paid the 'princely sum' of $1550.00 for it in 1973 and you could buy as many as you wanted at, or near, that price. I took a bit of ribbing from some of my biker friends who thought that their motorcycles were the only vehicles to be winter stored. Still have the Z. I think I got the last laugh.
70 Cutlass Supreme Convertible, Viking Blue / White interior, sold in 1998 when I was laid off from a job, dumb. Starting to miss my 68 GS 3 Speed Convertible I sold a few years ago, sold it too cheap and it's been flipped a few times.
I'll put a twist on this response considering the question .... I grew up admiring Buicks because my Dad really loved cars and had a long line of Buicks since I was a newborn (early '70's). It wasn't until I was about 10 or so that my Mom told me about Dad's prior special cars he had owned well before the Buicks. I am the last of 5 kids and came along well after my siblings had grown up and one day I asked my Sister to take me to the Library. I checked out The Catalog of American Cars and brought it home to sit down with Dad and ask him to show me the older special cars he had owned. I learned about Hudson Hornets, Olds Rocket 88s, Buick Roadmaster and one particular car which I could tell Dad especially remembered and even commented about how lucky he would be to find one again ... a 1956 DeSoto Adventurer 2 door with the Fire Dome 330 Hemi in tu-tone baby blue and cream.
I named it TwoTee .. 1987 Buick Regal Limited Turbo (lowest production # of all 87 Turbo Regals @ 1035 not counting GNX's) Two Tone, T-Tops, T-Type, cornering lights, opera lights, chrome package, digital dash, Twilight Sentinel, Block heater, Posi .. and just about every option. Was ordered with Lier-Siegler seats but GM wrote the original owner stating there were no more center consoles specific to those seats so he ordered the pillow back bench seat. This car sticker'd for more than Ron Mooney's "Most Optioned Grand National" and had more options too. When I showed Kirban the window sticker and pics .. he was flabbergasted. Wife and I pull into a local restaurant parking lot going out to dinner .. I spot this two tone Regal and take notice. Walking closer, I see its a Limited .. then see the bulge on the hood and my jaw dropped !! As Im oogling over this rare beast an older couple come out and the guy says "You like my car ? do you know what it is ?" HellYeah I do !! We talk for a bit, he had an '86 GN and didn't like the flashyness of it and when he heard 87 was the last year, he went to the dealer and ordered this one "Basically checking off every option box there was". He also had a '89 Turbo TransAm. Fast forward about 2 years and I see an ad in the local trader for basically what could only be this car with a phone # local to me. Called, and bought it for 6.5K. Unfortunately shortly after I had met him in the parking lot he lost storage for it so it had sat outside (and under a tree ..) for the last 2 years. He also hadn't really used it and it needed quite a few things plus some rust repair .. so it sat in my driveway waiting its turn. That never came, as a 1969 GS400 Stage1 4speed with A/C aborted restoration project caught my interest .. so this one was sent down the road. The Stage1 was a deal gone bad with many promised yet missing parts never included. That was sent packing to make room for the '68 SportWagon 400 with 29,000(then) one-owner all-original everything that I now have owned and enjoyed for 10 years, so they all leave for a reason .. .. but this one was kinda special. I often wish I still had it and poured my resources and time into making it the beautiful rare car it once was.
My 396 SS RS 4 spd Camaro, or my dad's 396 SS Chevelle, or my brothers 69 427 Vette. They were all nice.
1973 Olds 88 455 Royale convertible I had the car 26 years it was the most dependable car I ever owned. It never failed to get me where I was going
It was no muscle car but the one I really wish I'd kept was a 1966 HR Holden Special wagon. 186 cubes three on the tree. One day I want to get two, one bone stock and one chopped, channeled, tubbed and all the fruit ( the blueprint has been in my head for around 30 years). Images not mine but color scheme is identical to the one I had, I owned three sedans as well but the wagon was the last and best
I believe so .. if you do a google search on "1987 Buick Turbo Limited" they appear on quite a few of the images.
I wish I didn’t sell both my 70 Bees. The purple one was a white interior White painted top console automatic air car. The sublime car was a bench seat 4speed ramcharger. I would’ve kept them if I had the room. Not a Mopar, but The only car I ever ordered was my 1991 Mustang LX hatchback. Took it to the track with just 47 miles on it. Had the 5.0 and my Bee for a while.
1970 AMX 390 auto, AC, PS, disc brakes, posi, picked it up in California, it was in boxes with everything already apart, did a color change from bittersweet mist to black and interior to black and grey, rebuilt the motor and chromed everything under the hood. Strong running and fun to drive.
Hands down, my 86 Big Comfy Couch. Bought it as a runner for $5k and built the engine,. added a bigger turbo, put her on meth, and a few other mods and she went low 10's all day on 32 pounds of boost. Lives in Isreal now as the guy made me a rediculous offer for the time ($18k in 2011) and I let her go. Big regrets on this one.
My first Riv, Found it again years ago but it was in such bad shape and what the seller was asking prevented me from getting it again. Originally Wedgwood blue.
'72 Luxury LeMans Coupe, slick top/skirts, Pontiac 350-2/THM350. An awesome DD, bought in good shape 1983 with 69k for $225.- (you read it right), drove about 4 yrs/40k, loved it the whole time, sold in '87 with flapping rear fenders for $750! That'll never happen again. No picture unfortunately. Dad had a new '52 Pontiac Super Deluxe Catalina Eight which was stolen and wrapped around a tree in '54. He pined for it for years. Miraculously was able to recreate in 2000 before he passed in 2002. Still have this one.