The $100 car
- Thread starter LDB
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I recall many runners, some of them in decent condition, trading hands for $15 to $200. That was essentially the end of the 1960's to about late 1970's.
Some common prices were:
Early Corvairs, post Nader book, $25-$50. Endless offerings.
Renault Dauphines. $15-$40. Plan to replace regularly. Simca's, same deal.
Mid 1950's to 1962 Fords. $25 to $100. Good junkyard 292's for $15.
Very poorly maintained VW Beetles. Common as dirt, but somehow still running. $100-$250.
Earlier Studebaker Larks. A friend paid $15 for a 1960 with one cracked piston. He replaced just one piston and honed. Found an OD unit and installed. Drove it for years. It had already been brush painted orange.
I bought a '67 Ford Cortina GT with a warmed over Kent engine for $150 in 1979. A pretty valuable car today.
In the early or mid 80's, a coworker bought a very early Pinto, with 1.6 Kent engine and the big bang gas tank. Everyone was dumping them. I believe he paid $125. Lower mileage and he drove it for many years.
In about 2008, my stepson bought a 1992 (I think) Saturn SL2 with 245k mi. for $100. The seller's father had rebuilt the engine, top to bottom. After replacing struts and some brakes, it was a very good running and driving car. Somehow, it used very little oil.
Some common prices were:
Early Corvairs, post Nader book, $25-$50. Endless offerings.
Renault Dauphines. $15-$40. Plan to replace regularly. Simca's, same deal.
Mid 1950's to 1962 Fords. $25 to $100. Good junkyard 292's for $15.
Very poorly maintained VW Beetles. Common as dirt, but somehow still running. $100-$250.
Earlier Studebaker Larks. A friend paid $15 for a 1960 with one cracked piston. He replaced just one piston and honed. Found an OD unit and installed. Drove it for years. It had already been brush painted orange.
I bought a '67 Ford Cortina GT with a warmed over Kent engine for $150 in 1979. A pretty valuable car today.
In the early or mid 80's, a coworker bought a very early Pinto, with 1.6 Kent engine and the big bang gas tank. Everyone was dumping them. I believe he paid $125. Lower mileage and he drove it for many years.
In about 2008, my stepson bought a 1992 (I think) Saturn SL2 with 245k mi. for $100. The seller's father had rebuilt the engine, top to bottom. After replacing struts and some brakes, it was a very good running and driving car. Somehow, it used very little oil.
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Free 1974 Opel Manta. A good rubbing compound and wax along with a full fluid service and tune up made for a great daily driver. My first Opel was a free but well worn 69 Kadett wagon. Same service as the Manta. First car was a free 66 Bel Air. 250 inline 6 sludge monster. No oil to the top end as every pushrod tube was plugged. I traded that one off after a year or so.
First car was a seven year old 1963 Ford Fairlane that burned oil. $130. Sold it at the end of the summer for $135.
In 74 bought a 1966 Ford Falcon that needed tires, tuneup and windshield. $80.
In 74 bought a 1966 Ford Falcon that needed tires, tuneup and windshield. $80.
This thread reminds me of this guy.
And more recent:
And more recent:
A couple of years ago my brother sold our parent's(deceased) 2000 Mercury Marquis to neighbor across the street from our parent's house for $250! The car had only 135,000 miles on it with a nice interior, OK paint. It had NO mechanical issues, except it needed front brake pads. You should have seen the smile
on that neighbors face!
on that neighbors face!I wrote about this a few moons ago. I have bought probably a dozen or so that were in that range.
Here's three articles. I turmed one $100 car into a $5000 donation not too long ago.
Here's three articles. I turmed one $100 car into a $5000 donation not too long ago.
In 1989 or 90 my dad went to an auction and bought two Southern bell telephone vans for $104. Then he sold the long wheelbase HD van for $100. Still have the other one he calls the $4 van. I want to swap an isuzu diesel into it and use it as a tow rig for my racecar. My first car a 1981 Honda Accord 2 door notchback cost me two winters of snow shoveling the neighbors driveway and patio behind me.
I bought a ‘68 in ‘70. Loved that car. Great memories.
The 1971 Dodge D200 crew cab in my sig was a freebie too. I worked on it over the years for the previous owners and also went against my core values and helped them with an air-cooled VW bus. Truck barely ran when they were done with it but I did drive it home. A valve job solved most of it. An Edelbrock intake and carb really improved driveability. Someday it will get a more aggressive cam and much higher compression heads.
Dad had a couple of $100 VW bugs. $100 also meant something different back then. His first house was like $35k or something like that. I recall seeing adds for $16 car batteries.
The bugs barely ran. Bug people always had 6 in their front yard for parts interchange. Nobody owned just one bug.
So if we do the math. 16 goes into 200 like 18 times. So 18 times 200 is nearly 4k. So todays equivalent would be a 4k car.
The bugs barely ran. Bug people always had 6 in their front yard for parts interchange. Nobody owned just one bug.
So if we do the math. 16 goes into 200 like 18 times. So 18 times 200 is nearly 4k. So todays equivalent would be a 4k car.
I bought a VW Type 3 fastback in 1978 for $100. I bought all the bits and put together a 2180 engine for it. Learned a lot doing that. Wish I still remembered even half of it.
91 Lincoln Town Car. $150 w/ title.
I got 6 winters out of it. Was rotted when I bought it. It was rotted even more when I sold it.
Was like driving on a cloud of air. Wish I would have saved it for a summer only car.
I got 6 winters out of it. Was rotted when I bought it. It was rotted even more when I sold it.
Was like driving on a cloud of air. Wish I would have saved it for a summer only car.
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My first car was $700 or $2015 today (not nothing, not $100). I might say today you can get a better car for $2015 than you could for $700 back then. It did last me 2 years. My next car in 2024 dollars was $92,212--just shows at 19, how important it was to me to keep up appearances. Next car was FREE--here's the Pontiac LeMans Sport. This is the spirit of $100. It drove fine--it just could not pass a NYS state inspection when it came due. The next car I spent $2000--that's $4,900 today. It lasted 8 years.
Think about it, can any of the above, today, last multi year, other than the $92k 2024 dollars? I think the problem is that one can buy a $2000 or a $4000 car, and a simple repair is $4000.
Think about it, can any of the above, today, last multi year, other than the $92k 2024 dollars? I think the problem is that one can buy a $2000 or a $4000 car, and a simple repair is $4000.
I would not want to die on the highway just to "save money" on a $100 car.
I would much rather spend $2000 and get something maybe high mileage and/or cosmetically poor but mechanically roadworthy.
I would much rather spend $2000 and get something maybe high mileage and/or cosmetically poor but mechanically roadworthy.
$100 then is $850 now, still not enough for a tolerable car but not quite as bad as $100. And back in 1970 the $100 cars were often "tolerable good" as they say back home to the country.
