Life is full of fun and weird coincidences that can change the course of your existence, or at least a hobby. One of those coincidences is the concept of the one that got away. It seems everyone has a story about the one that got away, regardless if it’s about a person, a job, an event, or a thing. The Autopian isn’t your therapist, so we won’t be talking about that person who got away. But what about a car? What is the dream car that got away? Is there a car you still search for to this day?
There is just one vehicle I consider to be the one that got away. I was so close to buying it in early 2018, but missed it by almost a week. It disappeared after and my search continues every day. Every day I hope to find that car and even ask people in my communities if they’ve seen it. Somehow, my dream car disappeared.
What is this car? Well, you know me, so of course it’s a Smart. But it’s no normal Smart. This one is legitimately one of the fastest Fortwos in the world:
That lovely car in the above video was built by a man the Smart community knows as Barney. Our friend Barney used to make the most thrilling tuned Smarts ever put on the road. Barney built a series of turbocharged Fortwos that more or less doubled power and were fast enough to leave European Brabus models in the rearview mirror. His turbo builds turned Smarts into the cars they could have been from the factory.
Yet, none of those builds could hold a candle to Barney’s magnum opus. During the 2010s, he lifted the Toyota 5E engine out of a Toyota Paseo, attached a Sprintex supercharger to it, and fitted it into the rear of a Smart Fortwo.
Of course, there was a whole lot more to it than that, but you get the idea. The best part about the engine swap was that the Smart was still a road-legal car. Barney kept the vehicle structure intact and mostly everything still worked from the lights to the central locking system. Sadly, it didn’t have anything in the way of HVAC anymore, but it was a car that you could drive down the road.
In fact, he road-tripped the car to a Smart rally out of state, where I got to see the masterpiece in person. Not noted in the above video is what happened after the car landed from its wheelie. The supercharger’s belt came off, so the Smart lost all its boost. Still, it did a decent time all things considered.
Barney eventually sold the car and it came up for sale near me in Illinois. The price was just $4,500, which I had in hand less than a week before it was posted. Unfortunately, I committed to buying another Smart less than a week before Barney’s was posted for sale. I wanted to cancel that sale so much, but didn’t want to burn the guy I was buying my car from. So, I watched as someone else bought Barney’s magical car. Had I waited just a few more days, I could have owned the dream.
The car I bought turned out to be a pile of junk, too, which seemingly added insult to injury. It remains the only Smart I have ever sold.
As I noted earlier, I’m still searching for that car. So, if you happen to know of a Smart out there with a supercharged Toyota engine, send me an email at mercedes@theautopian.com. Otherwise, tell me about the dream car that got away from you!
Story images: Author
Top graphic: screen grab via victoryredcolorado/YouTube
1947 Kaiser Custom Sedan. Grandpa’s classic that didn’t get used much and mostly sat outside, but I just liked to sit in it during visits to his place as a kid. It was old and comfortable and I could push the pedals on the floor without worrying about breaking something. He offered to give it to me for my first car when I was 14, however the Old Man thought it was an ugly duckling and came down with a hard no. Found it listed at a classic car dealership in the earlier days of the internet about a decade later, but it had been sold a few days before I called. Still a little salty about that one.
1959 Plymouth Savoy. Local trade-in. Perfect condition with only 20,000 miles – still had the original plastic seat covers. Offered to trade my ’68 Cadillac, and the dealer said yes plus $1500 cash and it could be mine. Had $500 and got a total wtf? from the parents when I inquired about a loan for the rest (I was 17 at the time).
1960 Cadillac Eldorado Seville Coupe. Perfect condition with just 19,000 miles for $19,000. Ran several versions of “the numbers” with my guy at the Credit Union but just couldn’t swing it as I had recently bought a house. Considering what that car would go for now, this one still stings a bit.
There have been several others, but these are always the first three that pop in my head whenever this subject comes up.
The list is long. Father was a CAR NUT and always had something interesting and special in the garage. Since he always had a company car, Mother got these for her daily driver:
After that he switched to Lincoln Town cars and let Mother pick her own “sensible” transportation. When he passed in the early 90’s my brothers and I agreed it was a good thing her got rid of them all as we’d have one hell of a fight to keep any one of them 🙂
Ten years ago, in BC, early model driver-spec C3 Corvettes regularly traded hands between $5-10k
Countachs we’re also $60-100k, but that’s not exactly something I could have stretched for
It didn’t get away from me, but it almost did. When I was 11 there was a 1972 Super Beetle being auctioned off for my boy scout troops annual fundraising event. My family happened to drive past it one day, on our way out to eat. We saw the for sale sign in the window and I begged my dad to turn around so we could go look at it, despite the fact that my mother wanted to keep going. I had wanted a car, so I could learn to work on them, and had wanted a Beetle since before I could remember thanks to the Herbie movies. Anyway, we saw where the car was being sold and that was it: I HAD to have it.
I love my mother dearly, but she absolutely did not want me getting my hopes up, and she didn’t want a rusty old car in the driveway. And she thought 11 was far too young to be getting a first car. Up until the day of the silent auction, she maintained it probably wouldn’t happen, especially if people started bidding against us and the price went up. I think she was a little surprised my dad actually went through with bidding on it, honestly. Well, no one bid against us, and the Beetle was mine for $825. I think what helped push my dad into my camp was that the money went to my boy scout troop, so I would directly benefit from it. Probably the best day of my life. There’s a picture of me that evening standing next to my new acquisition and I’m damn near glowing.
Twenty years later, mom and dad both are very proud of my Beetle. Mom is very excited to recreate the photos she took of me and my dad looking over the car the day we brought it home to commemorate 20 years, so she’s come full circle. It almost didn’t happen…but everything aligned in just the right way, and that’s how I got my dream car when I was 11.
Excellent story!
Once we decided to go for a Mondial, I started shopping and eventually found myself tracking three good candidates, which without warning all sold in the same week. I kicked myself for three dry months until another came on the market, and it happened to be one of the ones I had been tracking! So when lightning struck twice, you bet your sweet bippy I snapped it up immediately.
When I was living in Northern California, Eureka, I was bored and decided hey let’s buy an old car tofix up and learn mechanic skills. Always a fan of the LBSCs I was looking 2 seater British convertible. Now at the time I went in knowing nothing. Yeah yeah how is that different from me now? But Eureka is way isolated. I saw an ad for an old MGTD. I made a visit, the car was in pieces. Now I know don’t buy another guy’s project but the frame was rust free with a new paint job. All the body parts were there labeled and painted a British racing green/cream combo and looked brand new. Boxes and trays clearly labeled. The garage was impeccable, cleaner than my well anything. Turns out a Dr. with a car fetish bought it to do a project to do with his coming of age son and he wasn’t much of a fan. So kept in storage until he decided sell it. Now this thing was way worth more than the ask, I mentioned hey great deal let me go to the bank and before I got back Dr. researched it and added a zero and doubled that. Probably still worth it but I didn’t have the coin. I wished him luck apologized for not having the new ask, from the look of the house he didn’t need the money and I was hoping he would say I rather it go to a good place. Well he didn’t and I always regret that I didn’t bring cash with me.
Mazda R100. I answered an ad for one advertised for $600 back in the 90s, and went to look at it, expecting for that price to find a rusty wreck with parts missing. Instead I found a complete and near mint original condition car being sold by the original owner because it had a misfire and ran rough, which I immediately diagnosed as a failing coil on he leading spark plugs. At that moment I only had $200 to my name, and being before everyone had mobile phones, couldn’t ring any of my car-obsessed mates to borrow the remainder before someone else grabbed the car. While I was trying to figure out which of my mates was closest to drive round and beg for a loan, another guy turned up with cash and bought it – turns out he just wanted it for parts for his other cars, and it was going to be mostly stripped, despite being way too good to be a parts car.
To run salt into the wound, I then drove around to a mate’s place to find a bunch of my friends working on a car – when I told them what had happened they said if I had been able to contact them, they would have burned rubber to get there with cash, since they all knew how rare a decent original R100 was even back then.
In 2017 I was looking at the Chevy SS. They were literally 20% off as it was their last model year. I got spousal permission, despite having a perfectly capable car already. But being as I didn’t “need” it and I was a little worried about RWD in the snow I didn’t pull the trigger before the last one left the local dealership. Fast forward a year and I’m having a second kid and I need to get a bigger car. I ended up buying a 2015 SS for a little less… but not much. I could have had a newer car with fewer miles/scratches but I was nervous about a little snow. Turns out with snow tires it’s a lot of fun to have a 400hp RWD big-ass sedan.
I nearly bought a 2005 Ford GT in absurdly good condition, in 2014, for ~$170K. What primarily ruled it out is the 05-06 Ford GT is 77” wide before the mirrors, which was about normal for “super cars” but for someone who prefers backroad bombing, is too wide for old New England backroads. Narrower cars have options to take other lines while staying in their lane, whereas modern supercars do not: there’s only one line you can take. Moreover, I’ve dealt with old garages, where ingress-egress would be a problem with the width.
Though I look at values and… kind of don’t care? If I bought it, I’d still have it. I don’t buy to flip. So all it would do is increase my insurance rates and anxiety.
Good call even regular new England roads aren’t a place for anything but F150s and Suburus.
It’s not road condition that’s the problem (as someone who has no problem taking pricey metal in light off-road conditions), it’s WIDTH. Your line is pre-determined by the car if you want to drive during daylight, as otherwise you need to cross into the other lane, which is twenty kinds of a no-no.
77” isn’t so bad, but stuff like new Ferraris are as wide as a TAHOE. Even modern 911 GT3s have gotten too wide. For old New England backroads, I’d say 72” width is about the upper limit for backroads. For comparison, something like a Mk1 Volkswagen GTI is only about 64” wide.
Sorry the mud roads around Vermont are not accessible for man nor beast.
I just wish I hadn’t had to sell my Miata. I know selling it was the right thing to do, I had neither the time nor the money to rebuild the engine, and it didn’t have the utility I needed for college, but everything after it has been somehow lacking. The good news is, in my pursuit of that Miata feeling, I got the Boxster that’s currently inching its way deeper into my heart with every drive. Maybe I’ll finally stop missing the Miata soon.
I still regret selling my Miata as it was about as carefree as things got. They’re basically the Toyota Corolla of sports cars. Cheap to run, cheap to insure, and you never have to worry about it. I wouldn’t want to figure out where to put it, but perhaps I should’ve just kept it as a carefree runabout to do normal-ish stuff in.
Such good cars. Even the “bad” ones are the definition of “cheap and cheerful.”
the same applies to the Honda CRX-SI I had. Cheap and cheerful, but a blast to drive. Every now and then I think about looking for another onr.
It really is a magical little car in its ability to let you live in the moment wherever you are. Where I live now, I wouldn’t be able to be as carefree with a Miata, though. Michigan is infested with road salt and full-size SUV’s, so a galvanized shell, factory roll hoops and side-impact airbags give me more peace of mind than the Miata’s sturdy little engine and cheap replacement parts.
Eh, some amazing looking conversion vans come and go on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist all the time.
The flying unicorns though are the maybe 2-3 times I’ve seen ones that were high roof and extended bodies, with 6 captain’s chairs plus the bench seat folding into a bed. And I’ve been watching for nearly a decade now.
I only one time I saw one that was high roof, extended body, with a roof-mounted A/C unit sticking up above. Whether or not that would be desirable is another matter, but it was definitely unique. (That one would’ve need a replacement rear door though, so it’s not necessarily a big loss to have missed.)
510 Datsun which had been modified by a professor at an engineering college up the road. Guy had it for sale cheap cause he couldn’t get it running. I got it running, and he said I could come back next day with the cash…
When I came back, car was gone and he wouldn’t answer the door. Found out later he sold it later the same day for 3x what we had agreed on.
Never made that particular kind of mistake again: I always have cash for earnest money—and I either fix & take or then re-disable the vehicle if I can’t take it right then.
I would have ding dong ditched that guy sporadically for years after that
Allegedly his car was egged a couple weeks later.
I had a solid alibi for that night: I made sure of it
As it should be. I bought a Miata once that I was confident of the fix to the issue. Bought it, and repaired it in the guys driveway then drove it home. He asked to go for one last ride in it after I repaired it and once we got back just sort of distantly said “I think I messed up this one” before going back inside.
I was flipping the flat windshield Super Beetles for a few years. Asked about one in a backyard, and guy said I could have it for $50 if I would just haul it away: his Dad had given up fixing it and wanted it gone. All it was was the VW solenoid issue: I ‘fixed’ it with a <$10 generic solenoid. I gave them $75 cause it was a pretty solid car under the years of backyard grime and I felt bad for them when I fired it up after futzing with it for an hour or less.
If I treat people the way I’d like to be treated, I generally sleep pretty well
Well the funny thing with this one is I knew the guy fairly well. I was confident it was a fuel pump issue and had even given him a fuel pump to put in it that was my old stock one. It sat on the shelf for 6 months and then he called one day and was like “I am done with this car come buy it”. So I had tried to help him but he didn’t do it. And yes, the fuel pump I installed at his house to fix the issue was the one I had given him months ago that was sitting on his shelf.
Absolutely no guilt there: you tried to help him out with it first
I’ve owned my dream cars/bike. Of all the cars that I’ve owned the one that will still stop my heart every time I see one is the Chrysler Conquest / Mitsubishi Starion. I would love another one but at the same time I don’t want to put up with the maintenance. I also had a 1G AWD DSM with the popup headlights and automatic seatbelts (the best version DSM) and I still miss that car. It was an absolutely bucket of crap in terms of reliability but when it was running it was easily the most fun you could have on 4 wheels. And lastly it’s in pieces but I still own my ’84 CB700SC. It took on water in Harvey and then the starter chain broke. I got as far as pulling the motor from the frame and ran out of confidence to go further. I really miss riding that bike and some day I might get my shit together enough to get it back together.
Pinzgauer 718k. I’ve lusted after first and recently 2nd gen pinz’s for a long time and only recently started inquiring for prices. Turns out they are all a bit out of reach financially except for one really nice example that was my preferred body style too. However it had sold the week before.
Probably for the best.
Good god, where would you park it?!
Had to google it, but 100% agree. Not only where do you park it, but where do you drive it?
Well, that’s the easy part: ANYWHERE YOU WANT TO!
Closest one to a dream car was probably the PT Cruiser that was on the same lot as the ’06 Dakota I ended up with. Seat folded flat, and it was a GT with a 5 speed. I could’ve learned stick sooner AND had a far more economical car compared to the gas guzzling 3.7. Sadly, being on my parents’ insurance, they wanted me to have something my stepdad wanted me to have.
You could also say the ’18 Compass that just so happened to be at my dealership when I bought my ’14. 6 speed manual AND it had heated seats + wheel.
It’s probably the vehicle I kick myself in the butt over the most for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtcqlNC2894
….did you really want a Compass? (First ~ 1 minute 45 seconds. Shared for humor only; not a Jeep person and I don’t actually have a strong opinion)
I’d only have 2 concerns with it: the PTU and RDM. The 2.4L Multi-Air may consume oil and the original T-Stats are absolutely trash (replacements seem to be fine), but those aren’t massive concerns, especially if the Compass got the W84 recall done. Fiat PTU’s/RDM’s (Renegades, new Compass, and Cherokee), on the other hand, were and still kinda are sub-par in terms of quality, so I’d get a service contract ASAP, if not right from the jump.
Honestly, outside of a Yugo & 99% of H/K, I’ve wanted a stick for so long I’d take just about anything that has one.
I don’t think I’ve had a dream car get away. There was a really nice-looking Mustang for sale near me when I started driving, but I ended up with a Citation from my great grandpa (for free/helping him out with a bunch of things, so it’s hard to complain).
More recently, I had a really good deal lined up on the limited edition green EV6 twice, once new and once used. The first, I had to think about it. The second, I was trying to line up shipping and they wanted to deal over the phone, so the phone tag delayed it. I’ve kind of regretted missing out on it. But warranty work went poorly on my Niro, so I’m not entirely sold on sticking with Kia (there’s a better dealership a little farther down the road, so I’m not completely against Kia, either).
When I was 16, I was a gnat’s hair away from getting a 1996 Impala SS. It was from my great uncle’s estate. If it had come up for sale a week or two sooner, I would have had it, instead of the Chrysler Cirrus I ended up with.
1972 Cadillac hearse. I actually owned it in college (when it was called the “Doom Buggy”) and law school (when it was called “The Ambulance Chaser”), and had to sell it when the neighbors complained, circa 1994. Fast forward about 4-5 years, and I’m driving up Maple road, and I literally had cash in pocket, having been paid for some work, and I see it coming the other way. No mistaking that car. I had to have it back.
There’s no way to do a U turn at the intersection of Southfield and Maple roads, so I turned around as quickly as I could, but lost him. He literally got away from me…
….”neighbors complained”….like HOA? Or just “eh, they’re asking nicely”?
I have to stress that the car was primer grey and looked like hell. If you touched it, you got grey chalk on your hands.
The car was so heavy that it had commercial plates on it. I got a call from the police, saying I cannot park a commercial vehicle in the driveway. It probably didn’t help that I had it on jack stands for a few days. But I suspect I know which neighbor called the police to complain.
I argued to the officer, in my best halfway through law school manner, that “This isn’t a commercial vehicle. It is a Cadillac, the rollers have been removed, the curtains had been removed, so really, apart from the landau bars on the back, it’s simply a station wagon.”
The Response:
“Son, that vehicle is a hearse. You either put it in the garage, or you get rid of it.”
Rather than engage in a pissing contest with the neighbors, I sold it to a guy who did drywall. He wanted to know if I had the rollers still, and I did. When you think about it, it’s a perfect vehicle for drywallers…
I really hope you get that dream Smart car or one similar. I don’t really have any dream cars that got away since most of my cars have been shitboxes (I finally have one w/ working A/C so that’s a dream!) and not dream cars yet. Just haven’t had that situation where I found a dream car I wanted and it got away. The closest was that my brother used to have a 68 Superbee that he got for $5K years ago and fixed it up some, had it for years and eventually sold it. I would have bought it but couldn’t at the time. I would have loved to have that car and definitely plan on getting a 68 or 69 Bee in the future…basically my favorite car
1955 robin egg blue 2 door Chevrolet Handyman wagon. I think they wanted just 8,500. It had a running 283 SBC but was pretty much stock. I went to the bank, asked for a loan and they said no because I had recently purchased a daily driver. Credit was good though, so no other good reason. a few weeks later when the same bank, but the home credit line group called to offer a line of credit on my house, the car was gone and I went through the trouble of dropping the bank altogether through a refinance with a better lender.
When I was buying my first car, I was looking at a 1986 Ford Mustang SVO, black with a 5-speed. Someone got to it before me.
I recently lost an absolutely perfect RS7. The deal was amazing. Excellent service history, one owner, low miles, all the options I wanted and a price almost too good to be true. I didn’t want to rush in. Slept on it, and when I woke up the next morning the first thing I did was text the sales guy. It was gone. This was after it had been at the dealer for like 2 months. What are the odds someone decided to buy it right then…
I gave up after that. That was my dream car and I lost it. Deleted all of my AutoTrader alerts and stopped looking.
Should try again whenever the seasonality moves pricing in your favor! There will be more solid deals in the future. Plus you have more time to save more money up.
It would have to be a Chevy SS manual. In 2018 I had got my first “Real Job” out of college and wanted to celebrate finally making a decent salary and not being a broke college student. I had budgeted about 30k to buy a nice sport sedan daily driver. Atthe time the SS had just ended production and GM just couldn’t move them and was offering stupid discounts. If I recall correctly I could’ve had a new one for about 40k maybe a bit less. Even at the time I knew there wouldn’t be another car like it and it was special, but 40k was greater than 30k and I was still in the mindset of having no money so I bought something else. If I had made that decision I would’ve had a fantastic car been able to rack up miles and still have it be worth what I had payed for it new all the years and miles later.
There were at least two separate 20% off MSRP sales!
The first time I almost thought GM had included it in the 20% list by accident alongside Malibus, Equinoxes, etc.
The second time I knew better. Still blows my mind that a performance car was eligible for top incentives.
In truth the only one I can truly say got away from me is the last generation of BEV Smart Car sold in the US.
I was too young to buy a new car when they stopped selling the manual Smart Car, and while I was debating whether to get a BEV Smart Car (considering the nearest Smart Dealership was further than the range of said BEV Smart Car) one day it was announced out of the blue that Smart USA would no longer be importing Smart Cars into the US. That same day I frantically called the nearest Smart Car Dealership to try to get an order in before they closed the order books, sure enough they already closed the books.
They gave no warning and likely missed out on a ton of orders from people who wanted to buy a new Smart Car.
With mandatory self driving tech kicking in as soon as 2026 I very well may never buy a new car, not out of a lack of funds, rather a lack of cars I actually want to buy. For most of the cars I wanted to buy new I either wasn’t alive or wasn’t old enough to buy them, now that I could buy them they’re no longer sold new in the US.
If something I want does come out before 2026 I’m buying 3 of them minimum and putting 2 in those car bubbles, as I need them to last the rest of my life.
Sadly, there wasn’t a long line of people waiting to buy the electric Fortwo in America. The electric version was roughly 10 percent of U.S. sales and orders didn’t increase much when they stopped selling the gas model here.
I reckon they could have sold better, but the dealership network was terrible. Also, MB voluntarily rated the range as worse than actual, so that probably didn’t help.
Long enough of a line that it would be worth saying ‘Get your orders in by X date before we stop selling them’. Instead they gave no notice that they were stopping US sales until the day they stopped sales.
Yeah, that was weird and it caught the rest of us by surprise, too. They could have made some final sales before bowing out. I suppose it was par for the course of how poorly MB USA ran Smart USA.
It wouldn’t even be the first time they kept owners in the dark. Back when 2G sunsetted MB USA gave no warning at all to owners. They learned only when their BEV’s app stopped responding to the car. Look, I love the car, not how the American arm was run. lol
I have always wanted a square body stepside pickup. I have had two opportunities to buy one, one was 2WD, the other 4WD, but oddly, they were both the same color. Both times, I passed because even though they were decent deals, I needed something with a back seat.
One of these days…