I went to my first FHP auction in 1990...to buy a Mustang to drive. I loved the 5.0s, and I figured it would be a cheap way to get into one. All of the cars I saw sold that day (Bartow, FL) went for more than what I had to spend, so I left without one. Hindsight being 20/20, I kick myself for not buying the lone '86 there...it was in my price range, but I was young and had to have the new "aero" car. I took the money and put myself through the police academy, instead.
I went to many other auctions from then on looking, but I didn't buy 1187 until Dec. of '97. I originally bought it to drive, in order to keep the miles off of the '93 silver coupe I bought new, but after talking to and getting an education from Jim D. at PPI on how rare the car was, I figured I'd keep it and NOT MOD it (or drive it too much....I did put 6k miles on it).
I've had a take-home since 1994, so it wasn't that big of a deal to park both '93s, either.