To all the cars I've loved before.....

Back in the 1980's the unlikely duo of Country Music legend Willie Nelson and opera singer Placido Domingo had a huge hit with a duet of  " To All the girls I've loved before."  Gearheads sometimes think about cars we had and wish we hadn't sold or wrecked, or some that we wish we'd bought. Younger enthusiasts must really hate listening to guys like me who was a teenager and a young man when all these great musclecars were just gas-guzzlers that nobody but us wanted. Some of the cars we junked or passed up because they weren't good enough at the time would bring the price of a decent house now. And I'm not talking about split-window Stingrays, or Hemi Road Runners. I'm talking about base-models, or mid-level models that someone would sell their soul for now, but we turned our nose up at. Some examples of my stupidity-In one year-1980 I could have bought and passed up a pristine 1970 Malibu Convertible for $3000, a decent 400, 4-speed 1970 Formula 400 Firebird for $1,500, a decent 400, 4-speed, 1970 GTO for $1,700, and a 1972 351C, 4-speed, Gran Torino Sport for $900.  "What the hell was I thinking?" you ask. Having just moved across the country and sold my RAIII Judge, and my SS396 El Camino, I was looking for something "Really Cool."  I know, it's sounds dumb now. But that's all those cars were worth at the time. I didn't learn. In 1984 when I was selling cars at a Pontiac dealer I could have bought a nice, clean, 350, 4-speed 1969 Firebird with Center Line wheels and new tires on it for $700. Why didn't I buy it? "It wasn't a 400." Same year, I could have bought an immaculate one-owner, 69,000 mile original, one of 7,058 built-1974 Ventura GTO, for $1,700, and I could have bought a rough-but running 383 4-speed 1970 Challenger for $500. I still didn't learn, because in 1987 I passed up a nice, in need of a paint job, 1970 Monte Carlo with a 350 and the ultra-rare factory 4-speed, for $2,000. I also sold a 1973 Firebird Esprit with a perfect body that needed the seats redone for $500 to a friend. As late as 1992 I passed up a running, fairly straight, pretty much all there 1979 400, 4-speed 10th anniversary Trans-Am that needed restoration for $2,800, a 1973 Q-code 351CJ Mustang Mach 1 for $1700, and a 1978 Indy Pace Car Corvette for $5,500. I also passed up a 440, 4-speed 1972 Charger for $2500 that year. Even in 1992, the craziness hadn't started yet. I know a guy that bought a numbers-matching LS6 Chevelle for $12,000 that year, and another guy that bought a pristine 1969 Shelby GT350 with a 351 and a 4-speed for 19 grand. Another acquaintance bought a 440, 4-speed, Hemi Orange 1971 Road Runner for $2,800 off a used car lot!! Now, I watch the Barret-Jackson auction and I want to throw up. 80 grand for a 340 'Cuda? 200K for a 427 Corvette?  So, if your looking for a project, before you turn your nose up at something that you know is a screamin' deal, think twice before you brush it off because it's not a 4-speed, or doesn't have bucket seats or whatever. A few years from now when one sells for some astronomical sum-your going to beat your head against the wall,-saying "I could have bought one of those for a measly 5 grand!"  AAAuuugggghhhh!!  And your friends will want to slap you and say-"Why didn't you dumb ass?"  Mastermind