Be your own chauffeur for 10 cents on the dollar

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OneEyeJack

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This guy did what someone here at work did. Our coworker purchased a non-running V12 Mercedes for under 10 grand with perfect cosmetics and just under 100K on the clock, fixed it up for another 10 grand and drove it for 5 years with zero problems and sold it for more than his overall expenses including the purchase, fix up costs, maintenance, fuel and insurance. A brand new replacement from the dealer would be, with a big discount just over $200K.

To prove he isn't a chicken he's now looking for a V12 BMW to repeat the process.

Have you ever thought of such an adventure like the guy in this attached video?
 
Some of these prices seem hard to believe... only $4500 for a new engine like this? I realize it wasn't new, but still... And only $1450 to have it put in?

Cool story though.
 
I buy, fix and resell cars as a hobby. I Love cars and enjoy working on them, especially restoring a neglected vehicle back to its showroom condition or better. I can easily do the same as these guys if you magically come across a deal like it but the reality is, stumbling upon a deal like the story above (or something similar like the $10,000 Dodge Viper, Trashed Lambo, etc) is like winning the Lotto... there's technically a chance you can win, so step right up and buy a ticket. Lol. O

Get real. Stories like this are rare.

Now the Art of taking your average older daily driver with a blown engine, for example, and properly repair it to save it from going to the junk yard and end up with a fully functional vehicle for cheap is definitely possible if you DIY, otherwise paying someone else to do it for you can get expensive, especially when working with high end cars.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Some of these prices seem hard to believe... only $4500 for a new engine like this? I realize it wasn't new, but still... And only $1450 to have it put in?

Cool story though.


I also am scriptical about the prices but technically anything is possible. High end cars like this have 10k+ engine blocks. V12s ain't a joke.
 
Here's some more adventures with V12's. Interesting, to say the least.

Watch the whole video and tell me if you see these cars in a different light, now.
 
I would like to find one and drop a GM LS motor/trans in it. I found a fairly clean NA S600 (2003?) for cheap, like $3500. Ran fine but needed a bunch of dumb work, like that hydraulic suspension nonsense.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Some of these prices seem hard to believe... only $4500 for a new engine like this? I realize it wasn't new, but still... And only $1450 to have it put in?

Cool story though.


The motor was used. If you find a lower per hour mechanic like mine ($65/hr Subaru expert) $1450 labor for remove and replace is correct. It's 20ish hours to remove and replace.

He downside of my mechanic a one man show with 3 bays is a one day job typically flips to 2-3 days if something comes up requiring (more) parts etc
 
Originally Posted By: madRiver
If you find a lower per hour mechanic like mine ($65/hr Subaru expert) $1450 labor for remove and replace is correct. It's 20ish hours to remove and replace.

Yeah, around me all the reputable German indy shops charge quite a bit more per hour than this. Sure, you can ask Mario Brother down the alley to do it, but you're taking a huge gamble, IMO, that you'll have a bunch of parts leftover and mystery error codes.

Out here, labor to replace rear main seal on my lowly 530i will cost about as much as he paid to have that V12 engine removed and replaced.
 
Freddy "Tavarish" Hernandez on Jalopnik does this all the time. It's kind of a meme over there.

This is actually fairly possible because (nuveau) rich people are fickle idiots who buy fashionable baubles but have no street sense. So get an in with them as pool boys or car detailers or whatever so you can swoop in for the kill when they move on to the next fad.
 
I did that with a 1998 BMW 750iL. Bought it for $500 with an extra set of rims. I had to put a new battery in it, new shocks, fix an O-ring oil leak, and some exhaust work. Probably put less than $500 additional into it. Drove it for a couple years and sold for $3k. It was fun to drive around, and got a lot of attention. Sucked fuel as bad as my truck, but a much nicer ride.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Freddy "Tavarish" Hernandez on Jalopnik does this all the time. It's kind of a meme over there.

This is actually fairly possible because (nuveau) rich people are fickle idiots who buy fashionable baubles but have no street sense. So get an in with them as pool boys or car detailers or whatever so you can swoop in for the kill when they move on to the next fad.


My pop used to buy cars from his boss when they were a year or two old...this was back just before and after WWII, he got to know the guy doing odd jobs around his mansion while his mom worked for him as a housekeeper. The guy took a shine to my dad and offered him a job at his machinery company in Chicago when my dad told him he had graduated HS and was going to work for A&P as a driver with his brother. So, dad got to drive some pretty nice vehicles that weren't far from new at a discount price.

The boss bought a new car once and then offered it to my dad after a very short time, maybe a month or two...dad did not think hard enough about why the guy was getting rid of the car and immediately snapped it up. It was a beautiful car and dad took it for a pleasure cruise on what Lake Shore Drive turns into in Evanston, and then hit a right angle turn at speed and found that the car had massive torque steer. Dad went careening across some lawns until he got things under control and car back on the road. It was an early FWD car and, of course, there was no power steering back then...dad had to dump the car himself at a loss.

Doing a little research, I think this must have been a Cord...this was supposed to have been the last American FWD car until the Olds Toronado. I do remember dad talking about owning a Cord...
 
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My neighbor picked up an excellent condition 2000 BMW 750il for $1000 running barely in need of work. He has done about $2000 DIY and it's a daily driver.

$10k is a lot of coin to lose on this s600 vehicle if something major comes up.
 
Well it is a 10 year old car. There's lots other things that can go wrong with it. Not sure if he had active body control, but that's worse than airmatic which can cost 1k per corner. He might have had SBC brakes too, that one is just a matter of time before the pump goes, used to be around 2k to fix, but they have reman units now for under 1k. I see 2006 E-350's for sale cheap all the time, they have balance shaft problems which require taking the engine out to replace the balance shafts. About a 5-6k job at the dealer, but someone doing a DIY could do it for a few hundred in parts. I like the ads that claim it has a CEL on, but it drives fine. It's just a matter of time til the balance shaft goes and the car doesn't run anymore.
 
Originally Posted By: DrRoughneck
This all goes to prove that even though the car costs $200k, it is not worth $200k.


I think currently if you are spending north of $30k you expect the least back in terms of recovery/resale at 10 year mark. Anything north of $35k in cost new is a lifestyle choice. There are no economics to spending more and ton of great choices below that mark.
 
Originally Posted By: madRiver
Originally Posted By: DrRoughneck
This all goes to prove that even though the car costs $200k, it is not worth $200k.


I think currently if you are spending north of $30k you expect the least back in terms of recovery/resale at 10 year mark. Anything north of $35k in cost new is a lifestyle choice. There are no economics to spending more and ton of great choices below that mark.


Things are always worth whatever someone is willing to pay. The issue with a 200k car is that those with that kind of money get tired of it and then move on to the next 200k car. So depreciation is massive. Eventually it reaches a point where someone is willing to buy it.
 
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: madRiver
Originally Posted By: DrRoughneck
This all goes to prove that even though the car costs $200k, it is not worth $200k.


I think currently if you are spending north of $30k you expect the least back in terms of recovery/resale at 10 year mark. Anything north of $35k in cost new is a lifestyle choice. There are no economics to spending more and ton of great choices below that mark.


Things are always worth whatever someone is willing to pay. The issue with a 200k car is that those with that kind of money get tired of it and then move on to the next 200k car. So depreciation is massive. Eventually it reaches a point where someone is willing to buy it.

Yet in the eyes of the dealership service department, parts and service for it cost the same as for the 200k version of it. You're still in for at least $1k each time you roll into their service department parking lot.
Taking the above in consideration (potential moneypit) hurts resale value.
 
Originally Posted By: DrRoughneck
Yet in the eyes of the dealership service department, parts and service for it cost the same as for the 200k version of it. You're still in for at least $1k each time you roll into their service department parking lot. Taking the above in consideration (potential moneypit) hurts resale value.


When deprecation gets that big, you don't take it to the dealership anymore. For MB like many other makes, there are dealerships online that will sell OEM parts for about 30% off list price. Then there's aftermarket parts and junkyard parts like the junkyard engine the guy got. The first one mentioned was a 2007 so if he had it a year, the car was 9 to 10 years old at the time. That's about the time you start finding parts at the junkyard. The whole money pit angle is just a reflection of demand. It's supply and demand, no demand, lower price.
 
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: DrRoughneck
Yet in the eyes of the dealership service department, parts and service for it cost the same as for the 200k version of it. You're still in for at least $1k each time you roll into their service department parking lot. Taking the above in consideration (potential moneypit) hurts resale value.


When deprecation gets that big, you don't take it to the dealership anymore. For MB like many other makes, there are dealerships online that will sell OEM parts for about 30% off list price. Then there's aftermarket parts and junkyard parts like the junkyard engine the guy got. The first one mentioned was a 2007 so if he had it a year, the car was 9 to 10 years old at the time. That's about the time you start finding parts at the junkyard. The whole money pit angle is just a reflection of demand. It's supply and demand, no demand, lower price.

The whole money angle also encompasses how troublesome Mercedes engines have become compared to their Asian counterparts. It may have been different 20 years ago but for the last 10 years, Mercedes has been lagging in quality behind Lexus, Acura and Infiniti (Quality as in inverse of number of breakdowns)
 
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