[njsteve]

The following was just posted over on the Yenko.net site:

"I have a dealer invoice for a 1971 vega. The trade in car is listed as a white 1969 Trans Am vin 223379N105257. If this car is still around I can give current owner the original owners name and address from 1971."

Here is the link to his posting:

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbt..._Am#Post505340

[400 4spd.]

I've done some stupid things before, but that's not one I would ever admit to. Someone will take that mistake to the grave.

[Cammer-6]

I have an even better one for you
1972
my cousin lived in Iowa,just got married and they decide to move to Florida as Disney was almost finished and he knew he could get a job. Tried to sell the singlewide trailer he had and couldnt so moved it to Fla,paying more than it was worth to have moved.
The only car they had was a 1969 Corvette 427 tripower 4 speed side pipes T tops.
They both took entry level jobs at Disney at different shifts so the car pulled double duty going back and forth. Oil embargo hits and gas doubles,its a strain to keep a 427 fed,and it was no A/C so was killer in summer. Jim(my cousin) calls me and says he traded the Vette in on a new little sports car at the Chevy dealer that was better on gas. I almost puked when I saw it. A 73 Vega GT. I asked how much they gave him in trade.......$500. Six months later his dad gave him a boat that the Vega wouldnt pull so he traded it in on a 74 Nova hatchback.
I still to this day remind him that the vette would easily fetch $80K.

[Bet Winner]

These 2 stories sound like cruelty jokes, but this kind of thing was common then.

[Cammer-6]

I remember a co worker had a real nice 71 455 HO TA.
When the oil embargo hit he wanted to find something
easier on gas and was offered $1200 on a new car trade in.
In retrospect I wish I had ponied up the $1200 and bought it from him.

[poncho-mike]

I turned 16 just months before the Arab Oil Embargo hit. I remember only being able to buy gas on certain days based on your license plate.

My dad had his dealer's license, and bought/sold cars at auto auctions. My 68 Torino GT convertible w/390 4-spd cost $265 (with under 100K miles), but an early Ford Falcon with a 6-cylinder 3-spd tranny cost several times that much.

People were trading in anything big block for whatever they could get for it, and paying over list price for Vegas and Pintos. I tried to get my dad to buy a 65 Corvette 4-spd for $1000 with less than 50K miles.

I hope it was a once in a lifetime thing.

Mike

[njsteve]

At least the original owner of my Canadian 455HO Formula had the sense to do the opposite. (He leased it from '72 to '75 and then bought it outright).

[1970TA]

I know a guy that ordered a new 69 Z/28 and traded it back in on a new 73 GT Vega!

[Alvin]

Only way this could be worse is if they had traded them in for a new "Ash-Tray" (Astre)!!!!

[cambirdracing]

Bought my first car for $500, a 73 Olds Cutlass with a 455. Sold it for $900 and a Vega a few years later. I guess this is backwards from you guys stories.

[FunctionalShaker]

The guys over on the Vega forum will be happy to know how much their cars are worth.

[Cammer-6]

theres more than one left?

[fiedlerh]

I bought a 66 Chevelle ss396 convertible 4spd bench seat car for $40 in 1977 and paid my friend 6 months later because I didn't have the money at the time. Back then it was just another used car. No idea they only made a few thousand of them.

[71GP76TA]

In the early 90's I had a customer that wanted to sell me his '72 Vega GT that he'd bought new. I went and looked at the car(oil burner so I passed) and got to talking to him.... He said that he traded in a '63 Vette Fuelie coupe in on it when his wife had their 1st baby... he almost started crying when he told me... He was selling the Vega for $500..... OUCH!

[trailwing]

A buddy of mine traded a 396 Chevelle four speed for a new Chevette.

[Unclesamscandy]

In 1984, my pals told me of a 69 ragtop Goat sitting in the back lot of DePaula Chevrolet in Albany, NY. I was 19 and scurried over to see my (future) Expresso Brown GTO vert sitting looking tired backed up against a chain link fence all the way in the back. I inquired with the salesman and sure enough a nice gent from downstate had traded it for a Chevette. I bought her from the dealer and was lucky enough to reach the original owner by looking him up in the phone book. He was a nice guy and told me he had enjoyed the car for 15 years but now needed better gas mileage! He gave me the hubcaps he used in the winter on his snowtires too! The car had rally wheels but he ordered a set of caps at the dealer for his snows a few months after buying her.

I still have my matching number ragtop, after having sold her once and tracked her down to re-purchase her. The $$ I sold her for in 1992 helped finance my current business, and later I was able to get her back when that owner tired of her, which makes me a lucky guy.

[71GP76TA]

My dad traded in his '57 Chieftan 2 dr hardtop with a flame job and a 389 on an '84 T-1000.... We were moving to California and he needed a "commuter" car. He actually got good $$$$ for the '57......I think $2500..... He paid $750 for it in '82....

[stags]

That's how I got my first GTO - buddy wanted to trade it in for a new Vega. He wanted a car with air and quiet and better on gas ... I bought it instead. '69 4spd. vert, Liberty blue/ white top, blk gut. For years I harassed the s out of him whenever I caught him on the street.

[Bet Winner]

Originally Posted by Unclesamscandy

In 1984, my pals told me of a 69 ragtop Goat sitting in the back lot of DePaula Chevrolet in Albany, NY. I was 19 and scurried over to see my (future) Expresso Brown GTO vert sitting looking tired backed up against a chain link fence all the way in the back. I inquired with the salesman and sure enough a nice gent from downstate had traded it for a Chevette. I bought her from the dealer and was lucky enough to reach the original owner by looking him up in the phone book. He was a nice guy and told me he had enjoyed the car for 15 years but now needed better gas mileage! He gave me the hubcaps he used in the winter on his snowtires too! The car had rally wheels but he ordered a set of caps at the dealer for his snows a few months after buying her.

I still have my matching number ragtop, after having sold her once and tracked her down to re-purchase her. The $$ I sold her for in 1992 helped finance my current business, and later I was able to get her back when that owner tired of her, which makes me a lucky guy.

I like your story since it is similar to mine. I got my 69 Judge in 1979 when I was 19 and still have it. I was so excited to get it--would not want to sell it. I found the original owner. I should ask him what he got when he sold the Judge in 1977.

[Ron Landis]

Dad came home driving a black/white '56 Nomad...265 Power Pack three-on-the-tree...dual exhaust. Guy at work wanted $50 for it. Next day I asked my Dad"Where's the car?". "Aw, I didn't want a station wagon." Went to Florida in '72 and could buy Corvettes all day, every day for @ $500...because they "didn't have air conditioning". Never mind that the tops came off! Just sayin'. Crazy days!