The one that got away

[rohrt]

My wife said something to me about my firebird not being able to hold all 6 of our family. She was almost 9 months pregnant at the time and informed me she was OK if I looked for a larger bench seat car.

Being a Pontiac guy I was looking at the GTOs and Tempests mostly on Search Tempest for Craigslist. I always loved the 63 Tempest with the IRS. I researched the car to death and for my needs it didn't make the cut. Just too small. Next cam the GTOs. They just didn't make the cut either. I'm just not in love with the 65-67 body style, I like the 68-69 but my brother has one not mention to darn expensive for my budget. They either come in fully restored or complete junk.

Then I found it. A 64 tempest convertible. I never really thought that much of them before. I liked the front end. I have always liked convertibles. It wasn't the original paint color any more but that was OK. The original color was aqua marina and that color really grew on me, and the interior was also aqua marina. It had a bench seat and a fender mount side mirror that I thought was really cool. Low miles driver condition car 6 hours away.

So in the beginning I was in the infatuation stage, thus I was researching it out. It was a bigger car then the 63 so a little more comfortable. I researched the A-body frame, made sure the starter wasn't part of the transmission, wheel options for that year, etc...

The more I thought about it the more I liked it. The price was very close to my budget. I wanted to make the trip up to see it. Then the perfect storm of events hit. Mostly schedule conflicts with a weekend trip, the baby being born and at one point I freaked out at the day care cost and made a firm decision to give up on it. Then some unexpected money fell in my lap then the decision to try and make it up to look at it again. More schedule conflicts. All over the course of about 3 months.

Then it sold. I didn't expect how emotionally attached I was. It was like working up the courage to ask that one girl to prom then watch her go with someone else. I know that I only have myself to blame.

So now I'm trying to figure out where to go from here. I could use some of the money I saved up to do some mods to my firebird that I have wanted to do for a long time or just hold onto it and keep looking for that next 64 car I fall in love with, but for what I want it won't be easy to find.

Just needed to vent.

[ehummelman]

If that's what your heart is set on, I'd wait. I try to never settle for less than what I want, you'll just end up selling it in a year or two because it's ultimately not what you wanted.

[surnufz]

My wife said something to me about my firebird not being able to hold all 6 of our family. She was almost 9 months pregnant at the time and informed me she was OK if I looked for a larger bench seat car.

Being a Pontiac guy I was looking at the GTOs and Tempests mostly on Search Tempest for Craigslist. I always loved the 63 Tempest with the IRS. I researched the car to death and for my needs it didn't make the cut. Just too small. Next cam the GTOs. They just didn't make the cut either. I'm just not in love with the 65-67 body style, I like the 68-69 but my brother has one not mention to darn expensive for my budget. They either come in fully restored or complete junk.

Then I found it. A 64 tempest convertible. I never really thought that much of them before. I liked the front end. I have always liked convertibles. It wasn't the original paint color any more but that was OK. The original color was aqua marina and that color really grew on me, and the interior was also aqua marina. It had a bench seat and a fender mount side mirror that I thought was really cool. Low miles driver condition car 6 hours away.

So in the beginning I was in the infatuation stage, thus I was researching it out. It was a bigger car then the 63 so a little more comfortable. I researched the A-body frame, made sure the starter wasn't part of the transmission, wheel options for that year, etc...

The more I thought about it the more I liked it. The price was very close to my budget. I wanted to make the trip up to see it. Then the perfect storm of events hit. Mostly schedule conflicts with a weekend trip, the baby being born and at one point I freaked out at the day care cost and made a firm decision to give up on it. Then some unexpected money fell in my lap then the decision to try and make it up to look at it again. More schedule conflicts. All over the course of about 3 months.

Then it sold. I didn't expect how emotionally attached I was. It was like working up the courage to ask that one girl to prom then watch her go with someone else. I know that I only have myself to blame.

So now I'm trying to figure out where to go from here. I could use some of the money I saved up to do some mods to my firebird that I have wanted to do for a long time or just hold onto it and keep looking for that next 64 car I fall in love with, but for what I want it won't be easy to find.

Just needed to vent.

Contact Mike Holleman on here. He has an awesome 64 Tempest convertible. It's just sitting in his garage not getting much love since he spends most of his time with his race car and his PT El Camino. He might even sell it, but it wouldn't be cheap!

[rohrt]

If that's what your heart is set on, I'd wait. I try to never settle for less than what I want, you'll just end up selling it in a year or two because it's ultimately not what you wanted.

I'm sure your right on that.


Contact Mike Holleman on here. He has an awesome 64 Tempest convertible. It's just sitting in his garage not getting much love since he spends most of his time with his race car and his PT El Camino. He might even sell it, but it wouldn't be cheap!

I'm only looking for a mostly solid strait driver where I don't have to worry about where I park. The wife doesn't want me to get a project though I do like to work on cars I don't want something that would take me a year to get it rode worthy.

I did get some encouragment today as I signed up for Craigslist alerts and have seen a few alerts come up. So at least I know they out there.
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/3011655871.html

This one looked interesting but again more work then I think I was looking for.

[Tony_SS]

Cars and family are a tough mix sometimes....

I've been through stages and missed this and that, but in the end, I'm glad I've only got one car. Anything else always leads to more hot rodding and projects to the 'driver'.

[rohrt]

I did a ground up on my FB and it took 5 years of work. I don't plan to do it that way again until I retire. I would rather have a driver and do weekend jobs on the car.

[Tony_SS]

I did a ground up on my FB and it took 5 years of work. I don't plan to do it that way again until I retire. I would rather have a driver and do weekend jobs on the car.

One of the best thing I've done is buy a truck with a huge dent in the cab and a less than perfect interior. As a family we love it. We can trash it, take it on gravel roads for biking trails, anything. There's a freedom with it that you don't get when you have a car that you actually care about.

I like the one you posted in the link above. It's something you can just drive and not worry about dents, paint or carpet stains. You could still do projects on it without worrying about a nice appearance.