12-20-2007 Santa didn't come early

Right before Christmas, I came across another Cobra for sale locally; just a couple of miles from my house, in fact. The car was built by Todd Twillman--a beautiful, yellow FFR with black stripes. It was equipped with an AOD behind a stock 302, just about perfect for what I want. The asking price was $21,000--again, right in line.

Sue and I test rode it. It was fine. We both fit well, the noise was just right, impressive but you could converse. The ride was just right. Perky acceleration but not ridiculous. The paint and body was nice but not so perfect that you'd be afraid to drive it. There was plenty of information online about the car as it was being built and driven over the past several years.

Thousands of miles with fine reliability. Even a couple of videos of Todd's car at a dragstrip.

It had been listed on Craigslist for about 2 weeks after being for sale at a local car museum for several months. The day of my test ride, another person who had seen the online ad also took a test ride. He was from Springfield, MO and put an offer in on the car below the asking price. He was also quite anxious to buy it.

Todd was kind enough to call me back and let me get in on the bidding. It was a very tough decision for me and the hurried time pressure was uncomforting. Anyway, I swallowed hard and offered Todd his full asking price. An hour or so later, I heard from Todd that the other guy topped me by a grand. I really did not feel comfortable enough to go further, so I let him have it.

In hindsight, I kind of wish I had gone farther. Simply put, there was no way that another deal on a finished car could ever come along so good. I liked the car, the history of the build, the price, the location, the owner...almost everything. If the "buy and drive a pre-built one at an acceptibly low price" strategy was going to prevail, this was surely the car. And I missed out on it.