January, 2010

Featured Article

"The Ones That Got Away"

Presented by Don Sevall

Have you ever thought about the ones that got away?  Don't!  It'll make you sick.

If you are anything like me, I've thrown enough car opportunities away to have financed my retirement.

It started when I was about thirteen, of course at that age I could not have acted upon my desires, but as I look back, that was the beginning of my being "Car Crazy".

My grandfather was on the phone with the local salvage yard, due to my grandmother dialing the phone and strongly urging my grandfather to give up one of his three cars.  I still remember what grandma told grandpa, "John, you have three cars, and you must get rid of one of them, because it's killing the grass under the maple tree", thus the conversation with the local salvage yard, which went like this . . . "you say you'll give me $17 if I drive it there, and $15 if you have to pick it up, well I'll just drive it down to you for the extra two dollars".

The car in question was a 1933 La Salle Luxury sedan, with jump seats and duel side mount spare tires.  This was my grandpa's, "Sunday take to meeting" car, that we all would pile into for our Sunday afternoon drive to Chicago.  Most people have never seen one much less ridden in one.

Well, that was just the first missed opportunity of many more to come.

Two houses down from my grandparents, was a late twenties or early thirties, Franklin, air cooled sedan, garaged for many years.  I had wanted it for many years, and was told that he would never sell it.  So I told my girlfriends dad about it, and next thing I knew, he bought it, resold it and made a killing on it.

Missed again!

The same guy I bought my first car from, which was a 1930 Model A coupe, for $125, took me for a ride in his 1932 Chevy pick up, that he wanted to sell me for $175.   My parents said NO!!

Another missed opportunity . . . all that before I was twenty years old.

Then there was the guy I had gone to school with, that wanted me to buy his 1953 Corvette, after all, who wanted a 6 cylinder Corvette, and another guy, that saw me in my Jaguar 140 coupe, wanted me to buy his Cobra, because the gravel dented his aluminum fenders, but it didn't have roll up windows or a radio.  That was just too rustic for me.

Of course I've already told you about the thirties Packard Opera Coupe for $75, when I was in college and broke.  And their was a couple more after I was married, of course, they were one of a kind finds, that my wife said, save up your money and I'm sure there will ALWAYS be another one.  But, dear, they only made a limited number of 1936 Ford four door convertibles, and 1931 Ford Victoria's, which I still have a picture of.

But in conclusion, their were a couple I did buy, with the threat of divorce.   One was a 1961 XK150s Jaguar, roadster for $250, that I sold many years later for $5,000, and found out 6 months later, that it was worth $25,000, because they only made 851 of them.  Oh well!

And the last one, which almost caused a double divorce.  I put up the money for my son in law to purchase one of those, one of a kind cars, because you know that being "Car Crazy" is catching, and he got the bug, only twelve known in existence, a 1941 Hollywood Graham.

It's our "future project" when he SAVES enough money to work on it . . . .  I hope I'm still alive.

At least it's ONE that didn't get away . . .

Don't let opportunities pass you by,

Submitted by, Don Sevall