Hooniverse Asks: Have you ever “anger bought” a car after losing out on a different one?

Jeff Glucker

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The listing pictures were honest and clean. British Racing Green paintwork looking rather lovely under the California sun. But the shots weren’t from a pro, just a seller with a modern cameraphone. And it drew me in hard. I’ve been looking for old Jaguar XJs for months now, and I decided it’s been long enough. Time to act. I still had the ad up on a tab buried beneath 25 or so other tabs, and when I clicked into the older XJ with the perfect BRG paint and under 100,000 miles on its odometer, the page refreshed and the listing was pulled. I waited too long.

The one that got away…

Instead of getting frustrated with that seller, I was upset with myself for hesitating. So I did the irrational next step, which is to email a seller on a different vehicle and see it right away even though it wasn’t initially the one you wanted.

Thankfully, I dug a bit deeper into the second vehicle and it possess two crucial elements that will make it far more entertaining than the BRG that got away. The first is a V8 conversion done a few years back and to a high level. The second is a CARB sticker and recent smog cert. While the first item is great, it’s the second one that’s worth the asking price on its own.

I pick the car up today, and will report back more on it tomorrow after I wash it and snap some real photos. In the meantime, do you have any similar stories of anger buying something after missing out on a different vehicle?

About

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Hooniverse.com. He’s often seen getting passed as he hustles a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero up the 405 Freeway. IG: @HooniverseJeff

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12 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: Have you ever “anger bought” a car after losing out on a different one?”

  1. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    I wanted a Honda NC700X with a DCT transmission, but Honda never brought that many into California in 2017-19; after 2 years I’d saved up enough to buy the much more awesome Africa Twin. That’s about as close as spite-purchase as I can get.

    The semaphore flags on your Jaaag stand for L-W-P (Lima-Whiskey-Peru, in phonetic) but the meanings of each flag as flown individually are pretty entertaining. Which one will you keep on the car?

    L- “You should stop your vessel instantly.”
    W- “I require medical assistance.”
    P- “My nets have come fast upon an obstruction” while under way; when parked, “All persons should report on board as the vessel is about to proceed to sea.” (Known as The Blue Peter flag in that sense.)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_maritime_signal_flags

    Reply
    1. OA5599 Avatar
      OA5599

      Lima (beans), Whiskey, Peru(vian snow)

      I’ll take “things that can be snorted” for $100, Alex.

      Reply
    2. Jeff Glucker Avatar
      Jeff Glucker

      That’s hilarious, thank you – I was probably going to pull the flags off but they feel VERY 80’s Jag to me at the same time…

      Reply
      1. Batshitbox Avatar
        Batshitbox

        You could always replace them with Sierra Bravo Charlie, or SBC.

        https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-marine–international-code-flags-decals–11508397

        Reply
      2. Rover 1 Avatar
        Rover 1

        You bought the best looking Jaguar XJ. The Pininfarina restyle which gave us the Series 3 with the entirely new taller turret, (which, somehow, looks lower), regularly tops the lists of ‘Best Looking Sedan Ever’ of leading car designers.

        Reply
  2. OA5599 Avatar
    OA5599

    Not exactly the same thing, but I found a new listing on a Friday night for an out-of-town car on Craigslist. I called the seller right away, and after discussing the car in detail, agreed to buy it, sight unseen, at the asking price. I asked if I could Paypal a deposit to him, but he said he was an old guy who didn’t have an account. He said if I mailed him a check for $100, he would hold the car and take cash in person when I arrived for pickup in a week or two.

    The next morning, I went to the post office to overnight a check. I called the seller around 10 am to let him know it was on the way.

    “Oh. Someone just bought it.”

    Not horribly long afterwards, I did buy a similar vehicle on Ebay. I paid more than double what the Craigslist guy was asking (my car did have considerably fewer miles, though) and maybe 25% more than the maximum bid I set for myself. I probably would have walked away after that “maximum” bid if I wasn’t still feeling the sting of the Craigslist car.

    Reply
  3. GTXcellent Avatar
    GTXcellent

    Kind of, when we bought the Saab. This was back in my dealer days (late summer 2007). The MiSSus and I decided her Jeep Liberty was getting long in the tooth. I told her I didn’t care what she bought, but it HAD to be a GM product. Well, since her main requirement was to have a clutch pedal again, our choices were limited to a Vette, or a Saab. Our dealership didn’t carry either brand, so we had to go with finding used on the GM Smart Auction. Man, even on a GM dealer only auction site, I think there were only a handful of 9-3s, and only a quarter of those had a manual. So looking through the listings, we decided on a white, 2007 9-3 2.0t, and what we’d be willing to pay. Auction comes, bidding spikes, and I bailed. I was mad and disappointed, so I bought the next one through – (2006 Aero), even though it was black. And I HATE black cars. Turned out to be the right move as the Aero was much nicer than the base 2.0t, but still – I probably could have waited a week and a red or blue one would have gone through.

    Reply
  4. Neight428 Avatar
    Neight428

    I was all set to buy a 1985 Mustang GT as my first car from one of my brother’s friends, but apparently, he wasn’t exactly authorized to negotiate the sale because the friend’s dad put the kibosh on the transaction. I found my ’86 SVO Mustang in the classifieds before the conviction to make a purchase had left me and the appalling mechanical travesty of the next seven years was launched.

    Reply
  5. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    Well, I guess the Centennial is my #1 example. After almost a decade without a fun car, and 6-7 years saving for a Toyota Century (initially a GAZ 24, but they appreciate too much and I’m not that stupid), I was ready to buy last february. Found an agent in Japan. Watched our small country currency implode and lose 40% to the yen the week after. With the foul taste of apocalypse in my mouth, I found the Centennial online on a slow day at work. It’s a budget Century in so many ways, it has a great story, and I love the thing. But I totally set aside what makes the Century special to begin with: It’s the only representative sedan made to last more than five years. These days, my mechanic is finally on the car, tech inspection on monday and I’ll join him for plugs and cables and gaskets soon after. But I will spend my entire Century budget on something that can’t fill the Century’s shoes and I will never get my money back as hardly anyone sees the value of this car. But it’s not an investment, after all.

    Reply
  6. Fuhrman16 Avatar
    Fuhrman16

    Yes, I have, my 1985 Renault Encore. Back in the spring of 2015, someone posted a white ’87 Renault Alliance GTA for sale for a very reasonable price. It had a smaller 1.7 litre engine swapped into it at some point, but it came with a spare 2.0L. And it was a rust free car, a big plus for a Minnesotan. Unfortunately, it was located 1000 miles away in Pennsylvania. But I had a friend in the area to help look it over and everything. So a trip was planned to fly and drive it back. So I sent the seller a down payment through Paypal to hold onto the car and started making preparations.
    So imagine my surprise when they emailed me to say that they had sold the car to someone else. As it turns out, I misspelled the email address went I sent the down payment, so they never received it and just figured I didn’t want it. Major oof on my part there.
    So when a week later the Encore popped up on craigslist a couple of hours away for a similar price, I immediately went down and bought it. Now, I’m not all that mad about the whole situation, that little hatchback wound up being a brilliant little car, but there will always be the “what if” thoughts of GTA ownership.

    Renault-Alliance-GTA-700
    12

    Reply
  7. Scoutdude Avatar
    Scoutdude

    Well there was the one that almost got away, my blue Marauder. It had been on Craigslist and I once I had the time to go and take a look the ad had expired. But it came back a couple of days later with the price dropped $250. So I sent the email and made it happen.

    Reply
  8. Slow Joe Crow Avatar
    Slow Joe Crow

    I have 2 recollections of ones that got away, but worked out. A long time ago (1987) I almost bought a base Saab 900 hatchback, but the seller pulled out. I was slightly grumpy when he relisted at a higher price but I ended up with a VW Scirocco instead. Then last spring I was truck shopping and the interesting high spec 93 Ford F150 with an I6 and 5 speed owned by a pro bike racer was sold before I could view it, but my wife found Long Truck, which was a newer generation F150 with V8 and better suited for towing.

    Reply