I had a 40$ '53 Packard.
What is the cheapest car you've ever bought?
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I bought a 1969 Toyota Corona from a dealership for $1000 cash. It had quite a few problems I began to fix. It was hard to start, barely ran, and almost didn't want to stop when the brakes were applied. I got to work and made it a DIY fix it car. Got it so it started fine, ran great, and stopped on a dime. That same week my ex wife totaled it by doing a head on into a telephone pole. Dang her. I really liked that car. Proud that I had paid cash and fixed it for so cheap. Then wham, she destroyed it.
Wow some great stories.
My second car was $100, a 1977 Plymouth Volare station wagon, bought from a high school auto shop; the $100 covered the new brake parts they'd just put on. Engine developed a bearing knock within a few hundred miles....but wait there's more.
My first car had just been totaled when a lady pulled out in front of me, and both cars had the same engine.....one weekend of work in the driveway and the '74 engine was installed....drove 80,000 miles over the next two years with only one issue - a failed brake line.
OCI? 2500-3000 miles with Castrol 10w40.
My second car was $100, a 1977 Plymouth Volare station wagon, bought from a high school auto shop; the $100 covered the new brake parts they'd just put on. Engine developed a bearing knock within a few hundred miles....but wait there's more.
My first car had just been totaled when a lady pulled out in front of me, and both cars had the same engine.....one weekend of work in the driveway and the '74 engine was installed....drove 80,000 miles over the next two years with only one issue - a failed brake line.
OCI? 2500-3000 miles with Castrol 10w40.
Cheapest fun car was a Nissan NX2000 purchased from a new dealership for $800 with blown head gasket. Towing, plus $350 for a JDM SR20DE, plus a clutch and some other parts, was about $1500 and super fun. Should have kept it.
I got an Infiniti G20 for about $800 as well, it made it halfway home before the engine let go, swapped in a Euro high comp SR20DE and and SR16VE LSD transmission. That was a really fast car for the era, i dunno 2005. Sold to a friend who ended up crashing it.
Absolute cheapest probably a 1986 or so Toyota carb'd 2wd truck in okay shape for $650. This was my ride for a long time after i blew the engine in my SR20DET 240sx (lost compression in 2 cyl) and my 300k TDI (turbo blew up bigly) inside of the same month.
I used to go through a lot of cars and engine swaps. Now i'm just complacent with newer stuff.
I got an Infiniti G20 for about $800 as well, it made it halfway home before the engine let go, swapped in a Euro high comp SR20DE and and SR16VE LSD transmission. That was a really fast car for the era, i dunno 2005. Sold to a friend who ended up crashing it.
Absolute cheapest probably a 1986 or so Toyota carb'd 2wd truck in okay shape for $650. This was my ride for a long time after i blew the engine in my SR20DET 240sx (lost compression in 2 cyl) and my 300k TDI (turbo blew up bigly) inside of the same month.
I used to go through a lot of cars and engine swaps. Now i'm just complacent with newer stuff.
I think some of these stories need to use an inflation calculator to understand! I mean, $100 back in 1970 was worth way more than $100 today. No offense meant, just that inflation ought to be taken into account.
When I was a teen I worked 40 hours for a buddy's dad so I could "buy" his truck. I then worked the summer for him so I could pay for gas and whatnot. I worked for $5/hour so you could say that truck was $200. At that time it ran but didn't move (repair was free but the owner didn't know what was wrong).
About 5 years later I bought another truck for $150. It was a complete heap but after fixing the rear main seal (did that in a buddies garage) I drove it for the summer and then sold it for $250--this would have been about 1998--and my goal had been 6,000 miles, 6 months, all for $600, all costs considered. I recall hitting that goal.
When I was a teen I worked 40 hours for a buddy's dad so I could "buy" his truck. I then worked the summer for him so I could pay for gas and whatnot. I worked for $5/hour so you could say that truck was $200. At that time it ran but didn't move (repair was free but the owner didn't know what was wrong).
About 5 years later I bought another truck for $150. It was a complete heap but after fixing the rear main seal (did that in a buddies garage) I drove it for the summer and then sold it for $250--this would have been about 1998--and my goal had been 6,000 miles, 6 months, all for $600, all costs considered. I recall hitting that goal.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
My cheapest cars were free
1986 Olds Custom Cruiser wagon (my mom's car)
1989 Lincoln Town Car Cartier (my dad's car)
Both hand-me-downs. The wagon was a steaming pile, the Lincoln was excellent.
1986 Olds Custom Cruiser wagon (my mom's car)
1989 Lincoln Town Car Cartier (my dad's car)
Both hand-me-downs. The wagon was a steaming pile, the Lincoln was excellent.
Other can a couple freebies over the years, the 240sx I'm still driving has been the cheapest car I have ever bought and kept. In 2001 right after 9/11 happened, I saw it sitting in the back at a mom and pop dealer lot near my house. It sat for about two months with 72,000 on the odometer and a $6995 price tag. I walked in after seeing it sitting there for weeks on end and asked him how much he had in it. He said $3400, give me $3500 and tax and get it out of here, its stale so he was going to take it to auction. It was an absolute garage queen cream puff, not a scratch on it so I couldnt turn it down. Had the wife drop me off, I wrote a check and took it home. Drove it for a few years and one afternoon got rear ended. Insurance adjuster came out and wrote me a $2000 check on the spot. New rear bumper support, taillights, and some paint on the rear bumper cover (total less than $50 at the junkyard) and it was back on the road. Been driving it for 18 years now and it has over 300,000 miles on it, and if it goes another 100,000 it would neither bother nor surprise me, I'll keep it until it dies. So $3500 paid minus the $2000 I got for the accident, is $1500 for 18 years of a daily driver convertible and still going strong, 76 miles a day to/from work and lots more on the weekends. I think rust will eventually end this fairy tale, as its starting to poke through in important places.
ls1mike
$50 Site Donor 2025
20ish years ago I picked up a 1987 Dodge Lancer Turbo, fully loaded, sunroof, "leather", Infinity sound system, all the power options. 2.2 turbo and 5 speed at a local auction. I paid 125.00 dollars for it.
It had 72,000 miles on it. I paid 20 dollars for a key and had to replace an axle. I drove it for 50,000 mles as a winter beater and to keep the miles off my Z28 and Corvette.
I added some modifications and had it running 14lbs of boost. It was a good little car. Gave it to a lady who needed it when her car was stolen. She had it for something like 5 or 6 years. It was such a clean little car. I got it so cheap because they pushed it in. Figured it was the transmission...just an axle.
There was the 71 K-5 Blazer I got for free, but I put about a thousand dollars into to get it running. I miss that one the most of all the cars I have sold.
It had 72,000 miles on it. I paid 20 dollars for a key and had to replace an axle. I drove it for 50,000 mles as a winter beater and to keep the miles off my Z28 and Corvette.
I added some modifications and had it running 14lbs of boost. It was a good little car. Gave it to a lady who needed it when her car was stolen. She had it for something like 5 or 6 years. It was such a clean little car. I got it so cheap because they pushed it in. Figured it was the transmission...just an axle.
There was the 71 K-5 Blazer I got for free, but I put about a thousand dollars into to get it running. I miss that one the most of all the cars I have sold.
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1986 Caprice for $200 as a winter beater when I was 19 or 20. Drove it a few winters until I feel asleep driving and wrecked it.
My current 2009 G5 was free; had to put about $1k into it to get it on the road, and have put about another $1k into repairs to keep it going safety.
Still way cheaper than a newer car, and not bad for the amount I drive it (75-mile a day round trip work commute).
Still way cheaper than a newer car, and not bad for the amount I drive it (75-mile a day round trip work commute).
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Those are SWEET cars!! I had almost bought my gf one years ago, but the dealer that had it were douches and thought it was made of gold or something. I would still love to have that car.
My first car was a 1953 Pontiac Chieftan sedan in dark green. I paid $25.00 for it from my friend Frank Puglisi's uncle. It was a straight eight with three on the tree. Soon after that, I bought a 1954 Pontiac convertible for $35.00 (it came with a full tank of gas). It was a great, fun car for the summer except that when the headlights were turned on the engine would die. I only used it during daylight hours.
It is good timing that this thread just popped back up. We just added our “cheapest car” to the family last week. It’s a 2000 Ford Taurus SE with 207,000 miles. Got it for $500. It will be interesting to see how long she goes! My wife named her “Sandy”.
My cheapest are a $600 Saturn and a $900 Dodge Ram.. I bought both to sell and made the same profit on both although I did WAY more work on the ram. Granted it had 275k miles on it..
$1,100. '78 Monza 2.5 in 1986. A ripoff at half the price.
I had a friend in college that traded his microwave oven for a "5 cylinder" Chevrolet Nova. He drove it that way for a couple of years.
This '71 Toyota back in 1995 for $25 from an auction. The fees were more than the car itself. It was an automatic and ran great. Especially after I advanced the timing a few degrees. Got $500 for it a few months later.
My cheapest car was an '88 Ford Escort. I bought it in '93 for $500. All it needed when I bought it was 2 tires. It had 146K miles at time of purchase. I finally retired it in 2011 or 2012 with 518K miles. I collected money 2 times on it for accidents. One time was over $700 the other time was over $200. On the first accident I knew where there was a junk Escort so stopped by and asked them about buying parts off of it. They said they were getting ready to tow it off to the crusher and to get whatever I wanted for free. Second accident was a dent in the rear bumper. I just left it there.
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