Antique & Classic Cars Blog
One Through the Fingers: Kaiser-Darrin Roadster
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007Any gearhead, collector, or classics fan has a tale of the one that got away. I’ve always liked the Kaiser-Darrin roadster, a curious fiberglass creation often in an appealing light shade of green with doors that slide forward into the quarter panels.
My friend and former neighbor David A., from St. Louis, has a bloodhound’s nose for cool cars. I mentioned off-hand to him that I thought the K-D would be a fun car to restore because of its rarity–less than 500 produced.
Two days later he calls because it’s in his nature to start gumshoeing any classic that sparks his interest. A woman in his office had a relative with a long-untouched car in a barn (shed/garage) that she thought had that name. David follows up and sure enough it’s a Kaiser-Darrin roadster off the road since the 1970s.
While it may be hard to believe, many of us freelancers are not eye-high in cluttering drifts of cash. My brother, on the other hand–smarter than I am with only the portion of his brain necessary to blink–does have some disposable income, lives in car-friendly California where he could drive it year round, and has been making noise for years about buying a drop-top. I call, I email, I agitate; I send links to Kaiser-Darrins.
And when he finally gets back to me weeks later saying, yeah, he’d like to check out the car and can I meet him in St. Louis, I follow up to learn that it has been sold. My inquiry got the ball rolling and the owner decided to turn it into cash. It went for around 8 grand I think. I Googled around and found a restored one offered at ten times that shortly afterward.
We can summarize this once-in-a-lifetime miss with the wisdom of the American proto-male, Homer Simpson: Doh!!
2 Responses to "One Through the Fingers: Kaiser-Darrin Roadster"
One that I let slip through my fingers was a 1965 Olds 442 that I sold in 1979. I sold it because we were moving, and I didn’t think I would have enough space for it. It was reasonably rust free, if not a little rough. But it could easily have been restored. I sold it for a song, and as I watched the new owner drive it away, I immediately regretted selling it. I sure wish I had that back.
Funny how often we eye our cars with the notion of cutting them loose. You’ve hit on the circumstances that drive that notion–we feel that we need to free up a little cash or a little space.
What I always remind people when they talk about selling, particularly if they’re doing it for the money, is that money goes away fast. If you need it for something in particular–my high-school girlfriend’s father had sold his Austin Healey 3000 to buy a dining room set–that makes sense. Otherwise, in a very short while the money’s gone and the car’s gone and the car is much harder to replace.
I can see regretting a ‘65 442 sale. Beautiful cars. On my wish list for when 20,000 fresh buyers order Dream Garages. Heh.
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MotorMouth Kris Palmer, freelance auto writer and editor, blogs about vintage cars, the collectible auto scene and just about anything else that goes vroom.
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