Some years ago, I used to travel past a farm house with a car I was interested in (before my Porsche years) parked in the back yard. Months went by and it had never moved and appeared to have been there for quite awhile - believe me, nothing special and certainly not collectable then or now. I stopped on day and knocked on the back door. A lady I'd estimate to be in her fifties ambled to the door and demanded, "Whaddaya want?" I explained seeing the car and wondering if she might be interested in selling it - and proposed a price that was fair for the car in it's obvious condition and not knowing whether it even ran - and no, not an insulting low-ball, either. She looked at the car and you could practically hear the gears spinning in her head. She replied, "Well, I could sell it for......." which was an amount 8 times what I offered and way, way more than it would be worth if in perfect low mile condition. Think the scene in Planes, Trains..... when Steve Martin offers the businessman money for the cab that had just been hailed. I politely thanked her for her time and went on down the road.

Good luck with your find!

 

In the mid-seventies a friend wanted me to take a Ford off his hands for $2k. It was a GT500 428 Mustang Cobra. I didn't particularly like Mustangs and I was a poor college student, so I passed.

 

I think back on some similar instances..most when I didn't have money-on-the-spot, or a place to park a new acquisition.
Several years ago, a woman that I worked with was divorcing her husband and cleaning out his stuff. In their garage was an early '70's E-Type roadster (one of my dream cars from childhood) with the original engine out & in need of a rebuild. Her husband had gotten a Chevy V8 to put in it. She offered to give it & all parts to me for nothing, if I got it out of her garage within the week. I couldn't get my act together and someone else beat me to the punch.
Some years later, an original BRG '71 or '72 12 cyl E-Type roadster (had been sitting for years) in a field next to a modest little house in rural MD. I tried like hell to catch the owner at home to no avail. One day it was gone. My understanding is that a more persistent neighbor hounded the widow of the original owner and towed it off her lot in trade for cutting her lawn for the rest of her life (which probably wasn't much longer).
Before Mopars got really desirable, I was a Mopar hunter.
In PA, my brother turned me on to the chance to buy a pair of complete restorable Plymouth Superbirds with consecutive serial numbers. $2,500 for the pair. I was in college at the time and didn't have a pot to **** in.
Next was a Challenger T/A, also in PA. A 100% complete original that only needed tires, brakes and a driver's seat reupholster. The owner loved the car but needed money badly and quickly. He sold it for $1,700. I was in college at the time....see above.
The last was a complete AAR 'Cuda that sat in the driveway of a very modest house in Ft. Washington MD. I did have the chance to talk to the woman at the house. It was her son's car and he was in the service. She said that he'd been meaning to sell it, and she'd give him my number when she talked to him next. Never heard from him, but I don't think that car went for much. What really depresses me is that I did have a pot to **** in at the time, but the opportunity never presented itself
What got me started on the Mopar thing was that I talked my brother into buying a ratty looking AAR 'Cuda at a Wash. DC police auction. He was in need of wheels and was hesitant because this thing didn't look like it would run. He got it for $375 and we opened the hood and realized that he'd gotten something. The engine had apparently been freshly rebuilt. We got a jumper box and hotwired it. It cranked and fired up. If you've ever heard a nice 340 sixpack, you know the sound. Almost as nice as a GT w/RMB A crowd gathered around this car, and my brother kept a grin on his face for the next week.
OK, this one's easy. If she's as nutty as you say, she has no less than 5 cats living with her, and can't say no to another - particularly if it's pitiful.
Show up with an old 3 legged cat under one arm in need of adoption, and you're in the door.

 

it sounds to me like she may have already tried to get rid of it. How would she know about the import issue? Not something many people would even realize or think about. They would just think they lost the title

 

Kiesan's barn find reminds me of this one. Do we have an update?

 

It went nowhere, I kept trying to contact her and she seemed to be avoiding me so I haven't pushed it.
Mike

 

Well, its 13.50 here in the UK and I just got a phone call. My brother in law who works with this woman just rang. She has just managed to move her caravan and can get to the car. Am I still interested. I said yes so we are back to waiting but at least it isnt dead yet.
Mike

 

Good luck, keep us posted.

 

Can't wait to see how this one turns out... Might just be warming up again! Hope it is a good one!

Jim's story about the TR4/Spit is funny. I have owned a Spit and our family has had many Spits as well as TR4's/250's/6's, etc... The strange part about that is that I can't imagine a single INCH of a Spitfire that would look ANYTHING like a TR4... Maybe window frame??? That would be about it though. I could look at any curve on a TR4 or a Spit and rule the other car out...

 

I agree, they don't even look like they were made on the same continent!!!!!!!!

I want to know how this Euro adventure turned out........ how about an update?????????

 

An update.
Had a call off my sister yesterday with the ladies number. She works nights so I have to call her this Friday. I also have more info, its rolling in now. Its green and an auto.

 

Oh sounds good cant wait to see how this turns out

 

As long as we're revisiting old "bargains that got away", here's one that didn't....with a cautionary note.

In 1987 my wife's professional associate kept a 1959 MGA in (of course) his barn. The car hadn't been driven in years. The body and all exterior components were without fault. The drive train was complete and unmolested. The interior was also complete but asked for upholstery refresh. It was all mine for $1k and a tow. My cheap restoration concept had become reality. During the trip home, I road with the tow driver and my wife drove behind us. Upon arriving at our house, she excitedly described that a rat of considerable size had leaped from the trunk of the car, when we were driving down the highway. Once home, the first thing I did was to clear out the old carpet/rats nest in the trunk. The next day, I came down with malaria like fever and uncontrollable shakes. This produced a scare in everyone and I was taken to an internal specialist. Liver pathology showed up, and I was prescribed a regimen of high dosage antibiotics, with more blood tests. After about 3 days, the worst subsided, and it was a while before I felt comfortable revisiting the car project, albeit with safety precautions. So...tread carefully out there when retrieving lost treasures, as rodents can be deadly, even after they've departed.

 

DAMN !!

 

Ah well, been to see it and quack, quack, oops. Its a 1982 silver 944 auto showing 25k miles but judging by the upholstery its a lot more than that.
Still there we go I can move on now. Chinese whispers hey!
Mike