This guy accidentally sold a rare XA GT for pennies!

As an 18 year old with my own set of wheels I was on the move looking to make a buck here and there. One glorious spring day, I stumbled across a Yellow Fire XA GT that happened to be for sale.

It was a little rough, missing the engine and transmission, and also had some rust. Back then it wasn't really worth fixing considering the car was worth about $4,000 once repaired. After some wheeling and dealing the owner sold me the GT for about $700.

I was smitten, as I had a few plans to make a couple bucks from this old girl.

After some wheeling and dealing the owner sold me the GT for about $700.

With the help of my mate's tow truck I got it home and placed it in my parent's front yard. Over the next couple of months I slowly stripped the car and sold off the parts. The guards, bonnet and grille were sold for around $300. Even then GT guards were in demand.

The complete interior including console, dash and steering wheel were sold for $150. Try buying just an XA GT steering wheel today and you're up for in excess of $500. The boot lid went for $30 and the wheels for $80. I sold the nine inch diff for the princely sum of $250.

The final pieces that went were the doors, which I sold for $200. I took the bumpers, headlights, spotlights, tail lights and other chrome pieces off and stored them in my garage slowly selling them off. The shell then went to the scrap metal merchant. Thus, in under four months a Yellow Fire XA GT was picked apart and gone.

these classic muscle cars continued to be cut up, scavenged for parts, or just ridden into the ground.

Looking back on my records I recently found out that it was 1 of 7 sold new through Eclipse Ford in Ballarat. It was built in March 1972, a factory 4-speed in the now much desired Yellow Fire (Q) with black trim. Its only options were delete wax and a Super Fringe radio.

I did also strip some plainer cars like an XB GS Fairmont and a solid EH Prem that I dumped in my mate's backyard and slowly picked apart.

You may argue that hindsight is a beautiful thing and that what I did to the XA was what many were doing to hundreds of Aussie muscle cars. Of course you wouldn't dare do this today to a car like that which could easily be restored.

That was what we did back in the day, but we really should've seen the writing on the wall as to how rare cars like this were. By 1979 the big three had stopped building muscle cars. The era of the chrome bumper hero cars was essentially over (apart from the VC-VH Brocks to come in the early 1980s).

Of course you wouldn't dare do this today to a car like that which could easily be restored.

Yet these classic muscle cars continued to be cut up, scavenged for parts, or just ridden into the ground. We knew we could just buy another one for a small out-lay once we had finished with what we had. Of course, the supply of these cars was not inexhaustible.

From the Ford stable XR-XB GTs, HK-HQ Monaros, LC-LX GTRs, XU-1s, A9Xs and SL/R 5000 Toranas, and E39 R/T and E48 R/T Chargers were all built in limited numbers. I guess the smarter guys saw the value in these cars and collected them whilst others hunted rare parts and stored them.

Today, these guys are sitting on a treasure trove and can pretty much demand what they want when they decide to sell. I guess sometimes making a quick buck is not the smart move.

Source: www.SurvivorCarAustraila.com.au

What's the hastiest decision you've come to regret when selling a car? Tell us in the comments.