I'll be darned. Who knew?

[smhardesty]

I was just doing some general 1:1 car research for possible future use. For whatever reason I decided to look up a car I bought new back in the '70s. I bought a brand new, 1977 Olds Omega F85 Coupe with a 350 in it. The car generally gets slammed for being a stripper and a mistake by GM at the time. You could purchase a '77 Chevy Nova Concours coupe for a few bucks less. But who knew that at the time? The jet black F85 with a 350 in it and some extra trim looked awfully sharp to me. Anyway, while looking at all the data I turned up, I discovered that the production numbers for the '77 F85 were only 2241 TOTAL. And with a 350 and upgraded trim package there were only a couple hundred. If only I'd known. And to make matters worse, in late 1978 I traded the F85 in on a '78 AMC Gremlin X, with a 258 6 cyl in it. Yeah, the Gremlin was fun and funky, but sure not the car that F85 was. Being stateside military meant that all you had to do to buy a new car was sign an allotment and BANG, the car was yours. I owned a stable of cars while serving. Wish now that I had saved the $$$.

[Pete J.]

1972 240Z, 1974 Porsche 911.  Yup I had a couple of cars I regret leaving behind while in the military but then the fact that we left them is what makes them rare and desirable.

[smhardesty]

 the fact that we left them is what makes them rare and desirable.

Yep. Point well taken. It still hurts though.

[Arjay 396]

Yep. Point well taken. It still hurts though.

Indeed, Steve! 

Back then, I'd trade them in when the ashtray got full.

My '70½ Z28, my '72 Demon 340, my beloved '70 Challenger R/T, my '74 Roadrunner, my '67 Chevelle SS396......

If only there'd been an adult working at the base credit union to tell me, "Look pal, don't be a jerk".

[tbill]

Wow, I had a 77 F85 too! Mine had an odd fire 231 V6 with manual 3 on the tree. White with a black and white interior and funky Checker board seat inserts, also, was a radio delete car. About as plain Jane as you could get. 

[smhardesty]

 

If only there'd been an adult working at the base credit union to tell me, "Look pal, don't be a jerk".

If only there had been an adult there that said, "No." Would probably have helped me in the long run.

[Tom Geiger]

That adult would have been my father.   He was commanding officer of  his unit when we lived in Germany. A GI needed his COs signature to buy a car and he would refuse to sign off on stupid purchases. He wouldn't sign off on a motor cycle.  Kardon Motors was the company that had a kiosk in the PX lobby offering US cars shipped to Germany.  It would take six months to order a car.  Eventually they had brand new American cars on the lot there for sale. 

US muscle cars really weren't suited for Germany.  Aside from the winding roads, gas was stupid expensive once you blew through your gas ration. And the lower level personnel didn't have the rank to have Uncle ship the car back.  There were a lot of nice cars on post back then, some of them abandoned when the GI got shipped back.

He'd tell the GIs to buy a VW beater for Germany and to save their money in Soldiers Deposit for when they got home.  There were always cheap cars for sale on post since people were always leaving.