I once looked at a 52 Singer sitting in a field, where it had been for several years, that they guy wanted $12,000 for. I thought I was being generous at $500. It was then "explained" to me that I knew nothing about rare european cars and that many prewar French and English ones brought 6 or 7 figures restored. Far as I know it may still be sitting there.
Here's my favorite true story in a similar vein as Mike's - it happened about 12 years ago but I'll never forget it.
When I was living in Richmond, VA. I went down to Petersburg to view a 1966 Sunbeam Minx. It was in fantastic shape, dark green with green interior, relatively rust free, everything worked, etc. - the perfect little old lady, one owner car. I was getting excited as I looked the car over from top to bottom.
Now most of you know that 4 door saloons don't go for much, especially nondescript Minxes, but it ran great and still had its original 1725 engine, and I felt it would make a really fun driver. I asked the price and it was something way off like $5,000. The shocked look on my face could not be hidden, and the owner went on to justify her price by pointing out to me that "they used to race these engines" to which I pointed out that was true, but not in Minxes, nor did this particular car have any ANY race history to justify such an outlandish asking price. I also politely pointed out that myself and maybe six other people in America would know what this car is, let alone be interested in actually tracking one down and purchasing it. Equate this to someone deliberately tracking down a Plymouth Cricket, then being asked to pay $5,000 for it. I think I went as high as $750 or $1,000 but she held fast to the fact that in her mind this was a "race car" and deserved the asking price.
A real shame, as I'm sure that car is either still sitting there or was scrapped, but all of us have similar stories of owners with stupid ideas in their head, usually from ill-advised friends who knew just enough to be dangerous.
