The one that got away

Too many to mention in stereo gear, but i'll always regret that I did not have 500 bucks in the 1970's as I scouted through a junkyard for a water pump for my ford. 1957 ,cream colored, Jaguar 4 door sedan. Cool looking ,  bug eyed headlights, and hardly much rust to attend to. Junk yard owner says it needs a transmission., and I can have it for 
500 bucks. Lucky I had 50 bucks extra at that time. Said a mustang transmission will work in it. Would have been a great project.

Over the years, several women gave gotten away, but only 1 audio piece comes to memory that got away.  

About 10-12 years ago, I was bidding on a custom pair of SE 6V6 tube amps from Canada.  I never bought anything from Canada so I asked a ton of questions.  It was the coolest looking pair of monoblocks I'd ever seen and no one was bidding on them.  Having been in this hobby about 30 years and watching auctions and used pricing, I usually have a pretty good sixth sense about what things will sell for.  I put a final bid in at $200 at the end of the auction which was much higher than the previous bidding.  It sold in the last second for $204.  

I had such a crush on those amps evidenced by the fact that I'm still thinking about them all these years later.  

If its meant to be, it will be meant to be and if it's too good to be true, than it usually is.....

About 7 years ago a gentleman had listed a Denon DCD-3520 in excellent condition on the Tampa C-list for $45.00.  We spoke several times and agreed to meet halfway between Orlando and Tampa the next day.  He called me the next morning and told me his son sold it to one of his friends.  He apologized profusely for not telling his son it was sold.  Luckily I found one for $200.00 in Atlanta about two weeks later.  Still a good deal.

Bill

Wow, Love the cars thrown into the mix. For me it was a very solid and fully sorted 72 911S for a meager $15.5, from a very dedicated Porsche guy who had one too many. I dissed it when I stalled pulling up hill at a stop light and the guy behind me was disturbed .... the car was set up for the track and I was a bit nervous I suppose. Ended up with a 74 GTV instead . Not a bad choice for fun  but I would have had a $100K car now.

This question brings back painful memories. "The one that got away" in my case was one of the early Adcom 200 wpc amps (forget the model #). I purchased in ~1986 and liked it well enough. Then had it modified by some then well-regarded mod outfit, and it went way up in sound quality overall, especially the bass. Soon thereafter I bought a used pair of Vandersteen 4's (w/integral dual 12" subs), and put the Adcom to use powering those subs (w/all tube amps on mids/treble). The sound was truly spectacular. The bass shook small objects throughout the 1st floor.

Then I read that one of the Perreaux 200 wpc SS amps was the "bass king." I bought one, used--and here's the extremely foolish part--sold my Adcom to a friend for ~$350 w/o ever listening to Perreaux 1st. Bad mistake. I connected the Perreaux to the sub section of those speakers, turned it on--and it never sounded as good as the Adcom had, either in absolute low frequencies, or overall bass impact.

He's a good friend and still used my old Adcom amp in his home theater set-up. I see it in his living room now & then--and wince!