Cars We Wish We Hadn’t Sold

The following column, which I wrote, originally appeared in the June 2007 issue of Blue Mountain News under the heading "One More Thing." In honor of All Wheels Weekend and the 50th anniversary of the Ford Mustang, (and to save me from having to write something fresh) we bring it to you again: O n a snowy afternoon in December of 1975 I was driving my Volkswagen Beetle on a country road near Woodland, Wash., when I lost control and flipped it on its top. I was wearing my seatbelt and was uninjured, except for a couple of cuts on my hand I received while crawling on broken glass on the ceiling to get out.

But this isn't a story about how I crashed the Volkswagen. It's a story about the car I bought to replace it. I began shopping for something that would be fun and affordable for a 20-year-old of modest means, and also have a lower center of gravity than the bug. In my search I came across a box-stock oneowner low-mileage lime-green 289-V8 3-on-the-floor 1968 Mustang fastback. It was in pristine condition and I gave about $1,800 for it. It looked a lot like the car Steve McQueen drove in Bullitt, only it was a little more "civilized".

I drove the Mustang for about two years. During most of that time I was finishing college in Seattle at the University of you-know-what. To me the Mustang was the perfect car to impress the sophisticated college girls in the big city. I didn't put mag wheels or a glass-pack muffler on it, or jack up the rear end. I was trying to appear more mature than I actually was.

Speaking of maturity, one warm summer evening one of my college buddies was riding with me in the Mustang along Alki Beach in Seattle (yes, we were 'cruising') when he spotted a couple of girls he wanted to get to know better. So he climbed out the open passenger window - while I was driving - almost stood on the door, leaned over the roof, and tried to start a conversation with them. I, of course, was the one who got the ticket - for carrying a passenger on the outside of my car (and yes, that's illegal). I went to court and the judge let me off with a warning. He told me I should be more careful in the friends I chose. A good lesson for anyone.

About the time I was leaving college the Mustang got sold. I was starting a new job at Boeing and I thought that owning a brand new car with much heftier car payments would make me seem even more mature than the Mustang did. I've owned at least a dozen more cars since I sold that Mustang, and if I had it to do over again . . . well, you know.

Most men who are close to my age (and many of the women), have a story about a car they wish they hadn't sold. It could be a Camaro or a Galaxie or a Barracuda or an Impala. It might have been an old Chevy or Ford pickup. If you were a little richer, you might have had a Corvette. If you're a bit older than me you might have had an old '30s or '40s hot rod. Even cars that were considered cheap compacts in the '60s, like Falcons and Corvairs, are collector's items now.

We don't just dream about those old cars because of what they'd be worth now - although that's part of it. That Mustang, in the same condition as when I had it would probably be worth over $20,000 now. '60s Corvettes sometimes sell for $100,000. And if you sold a nice '71 Hemi 'Cuda convertible 25 years ago you're probably close to suicide by now. Can you say "seven figures?"

The reason these cars are in such demand by us middle-aged men is because they represent our youth. Driving a cool car was fun, and more importantly it impressed the girls. Nowadays we don't have much left to impress the girls with, but we can still drive the same kind of car we did then.

There's plenty of irony in all of this. All the time I was driving the Mustang I was dreaming of the day when I graduated from college, got a job and didn't have to own a used car anymore. Now all I can think about is how great that Mustang would look parked on Main Street in front of the Court House on Father's Day weekend. I suppose I could go out and buy another one, but I don't think I could handle the payments.