Around the same time of my German Silver Olympic Coin debacle (late July of 1977), I made more screw ups which I wish I could go back and change at least one. Just before we (myself, wife and daughter) left West Germany, I sold my' 1969 Ford Fairlane 500. The Fairlane 500 which was a Banana Yellow with a Black Vinyl Top, had Black Rolled Interior, a 429 Cu. Inch Engine with a Holley Dual Line 4-Barrel Carburetor, a 4 Speed in the floor with Hurst Shifter, L-60 14 Inch Tires and Deep-well Rims on the Back, regular 14s on the front and had Air Shocks on the Back. I was clocked in the car at well over 200 mph on the Karlsruhe Autobahn by a U.S. Army CW2 Helicopter Pilot who was driving one of the last 15 (either late 1974 or early 1975) Ford De Tomaso Pantera GT or GTS cars ever built for Ford. I could have driven the 1969 Fairlane 500 to Bremerhaven, West Germany and placed it on a ship for transport back to the States but since I drove so much for my Unit, 70th Transportation Company of the 106th Transportation Battalion of the 37th Transportation Group, I saw no way to get the car there. Instead, I ordered a 1977 Ford F-150 Pickup Truck which I was supposed to pick up in Dearborn, Michigan. Well, Ford canceled the order on me, so I had to order a 1978 Ford F-150 and put my' Fairlane 500 up for sale. The Warrant Officer who clocked my' Fairlane 500 at over 200 mph on the Karlsruhe Autobahn just happened to also be stationed in Giessen, heard that I was selling the Fairlane and wanted to do a trade. He would take my' Fairlane 500 in on trade for the Ford De Tomaso Pantera, giving me a really good trade and I would make payments on the $9,000 balance to him. I asked why he would want to trade such a nice Sports Car and he stated that he could not afford the Automobile Insurance on the car since the German Insurance Companies really took Sports Car Owners to the Cleaners while they were really cheap on my' car because they had no idea how to rate it insurance-wise. I told the Warrant Officer that it was a great deal but I had already ordered a 1978 Ford F-150 from Ford. In after thought, I could have canceled the order for the Pickup, taken the deal with the Warrant Officer and ended up with a car that is worth over $100,000 today or could have had my' 1969 Ford Fairlane 500 shipped to the States where my cousin could have helped me beef it up for it to win many Drag Race Heats and Races since Ed builds and has built many winning Drag Strip Cars. As luck has it, Ford never built the 1978 Ford F-150 that I had ordered due to the gear ratio I wanted in the 5 Speed Transmission and gear ratio I wanted in the Rear-end.