Hot Rods What was the craziest car deal you made?

a business partner of mine , walked up to a guy who was lying in the road after hitting a dog,, offered him $100.00 for his harley,,, guy said he would take $200.00.. we pushed the bike to our shop..

 

$15

 

In 1970 I worked with a guy who had a 1965 Impala SS, 300 hp, 4-speed convertible that had a bad valve, or so he says. The car had a terrible miss and would barely run; he was offered $350 as a trade for a new VW. I bought it instead for the $350, installed a new set of plug wire and a tune up. Buffed out the paint and sold it for $850 about a month later.

 

still looking for those nice deals a lil O/T bought a 1955 caddilac air cleaner for 50.00 last month perfect condition

 

I traded a bottle of whisky for a 38 Chevy Sedan. Should have kept the whisky, would have been cheaper.

 

In the 70's, I had a very clean 74 Z-28/4 speed that I was asking $3300 for. A guy drives up from San Diego (120 miles?) in a nice 69 Vette convertible to look at it. He doesn't say yes or no, and leaves. A few minutes later it starts raining. A few minutes after that, the guy comes back. His wipers don't work and asks if I'll trade (his Vette's worth about $5000 then).

 

well this one is way off topic but here we go i bought a 1998 mercury tracer with a full fiberglass ground effect package with 4 new tires and a new bat.was told motor was probably gone as it missed horribly.and flooded.i boosted it for giggles after it was paid for and it started so i said screw it and headed for home with my buddy following me.made the 40km drive no prob but promptly stalled once home and would not go.took the new bat out and toook it back as it was under warranty exchanged it. put the new one in and drove that car without putting a single cent in in for 6 months.ended up tearing out the tranny one night and sold the car for 150 sold the batt for 50 and still have the full body kit siting here and it is in the midle of a sale for 100.so i will have -100 in a car that gave me 6 months faithfully.and looked real good doin it to.made all the honda civic boys jealous around here.and still have left over parts from the car for sale like aluyminum wheels and other odds and ends lol

 

its not that odd but its wheelin and dealin at its finest. bought a 97 dodge ram at auction. got it home and found out someone wheeled the crap out of it and cracked the transsmission all the way arround the transfercase extension. drove it for 4 months hoping it wouldn't gernade. then traded it for a 95 dodge dakota (dont worry the guy knew about the transmission) drove that for over a year till it started falling apart. then i traded the dakota (and some work fixing a motorhome) for a 79 jaguar v8 conversion (thats for sale now if anyone is interested) which ive been driving for over a year and a half. so. in the end i originally spent 4k on the ram and got 3 vehicles allong the way to drive. now im trading a quad for a suzuki samurai. lol to think i haven't bought a car in over 3 years lol I LOVE TO TRADE!!! anyone want to trade for the jag? lol

 

In the mid-'70s, a neighbor had a really sharp '50 Ford Club Coupe for sale. It was a V-8 car with 3-speed and OD. Looked a LOT like my Dad's '50 that he had in 1953 - baby blue with dual exhaust and glasspacks. The one I bought could've been the very same car, for all I knew, but doubtful. I drove by it several times over a few days, and finally stopped to ask about it. I figured I wouldn't be able to afford it, since I was a senior in high school then, and didn't have a bunch of cash. Guy says "I'll take three hundred for it!"...SOLD!

Drove back home, jumped on my bicycle with some cash in my pocket, and went back for it. Tossed the bike in the trunk. and drove home in my new prize! Had it parked in the driveway for maybe 15 minutes, with the "For Sale" sign still on it, when a guy drives up and asks if the Ford is for sale...my answer is "What'll you give me for it?" He drives it around the block, comes back, and says "How's $1,500 sound?"...SOLD!

Unfortunately, I never got a chance to show my Dad the Ford, as he was at work when all this happened! The buyer drove that car for at least two more years afterward. Shoulda kept that car! Had not owned another Shoebox Ford since, to my detriment.

 

Bought a new (used) truck a couple of years ago from a private party so i could not trade off my old 95 dodge Ram. Gas was about $5 / gal, so I couldnt even get anyone out to look at it.

Modified my Craigslist ad that I would trade for an abandoned rod project.

Had everybody and their neighbor with a 4 door skylark contact me until one guy call and says he would trade me for his 69 chevelle project with a fresh 350. I gave the guy my truck and $1000.

I didnt want a 69 chevelle much more than I wanted a 95 dodge, so back on on CL with an ad that I would trade for anything from the 20's-40's. 20 mins later a guy emails me that he want a chevelle and will trade me a running 1929 chevy. I gave him the Chevelle and $500.

So I guess not too crazy, but I the 29 in my avatar (which is rock solid, btw) for my old truck and $1500. I drove it last summer stock and just started pulling it apart for the new drivetrain.

 

Not "HAMB friendly" but I once traded a cheapo small B&W TV and a motorcycle helmet for a Plymouth "Gold Duster". It was originally an old lady's car that a buddy got when she couldn't drive anymore. Had 38K miles on it. 225 slant 6 and auto and had some dents but no rust. I drove that car for 3 yrs.

 

Deal 1

Bought a 76 6cyl Camaro for $250 to drop in a 350. It ran sporadicaly the guy says it has a bad timing chain. Aint no timing chain in a inline 250, turned out to be the coil wire was shot grabbed one out of the junk box and drove it for 6 months, sold it for $800.

Deal 2.

Worked at a body shop and drove a 66 skylark at the time. Guy I worked with said his budy had a skylark in the barn and wanted to sell it. Ok I call go look at it and it is a 70 GS 455 Stage 1. Got it for $500, it needed work. Never finished it and sold it off. Shoudl have kept that one.

 

A 55 Chevy 2dr 150 series- FREE
Paid $40.00 to tow it home
Sold the narrowed Pontiac rearend out of it,
to the friend who towed the car for me- $20.00
I was happy- High point definetily

 

I've done deals like that for ages. Once sold a '58 Dodge ragtop I paid $300 for, based on photos of it covered in 2 feet of snow, for $2000, in less than 48 hours. The worst part is if I'd waited and put it on eBay when the snow was gone, I probably would have gotten more - it was much better than I expected it was going to be.

Had an '89 Dodge Ramcharger - was out for sale for $100, guy said someone bought it and brought it back because it wouldn't go, and it needed a water pump too. I offered him $50 to have it gone that night. Turned out the trans was way low and when it got warm it would quit, did a fluid and filter and drove it about 1000 miles. Then I went to an auction to look at a "37 Chevy parts car" for a buddy, that turned out to be a '41 4-door stripped of most anything worth a crap, and here's a 1989 Suburban I didn't even look at because it was billed as low miles and I figured it would sell for more than I would have spent. Well, no, no one even bid until the auctioneer got down to $200.. so I ended up with that for $525. Then I put the Ram in the paper and sold it for $400 a couple weeks later.

So for all of $175 I had a 57,000 mile 350-700R4 Suburban that still runs and goes, but is rusted so bad it won't pass inspection anymore. Had that thing all the way to New Jersey and back. In fact used it to flat tow home the '91 Suburban I replaced it with.

I also picked up an '85 Diesel Suburban for $170 through an online auction, with a bad trans. Solid otherwise, a 3/4 ton, 98,000 miles on it. So I hit eBay and found an '86, bad motor, rebuilt trans, came with a replacement motor, for $500. Gave the guy $300 and let him keep the motor. Towed it back, stripped it, used the fenders/doors/hood/front seat on the '89 Suburban, saved all kinds of parts for the diesel, filled the shell with a bunch of scrap, and got $425 for it in the spring when scrap was high. So I have the diesel Sub with all the parts to convert to 700R4, tons of spares, and have all of $50 tied up in it.

 

In the early 90s a co-worker had an 85 Chevy Impala wagon, low miles, V8, O-drive, AC, loaded and everything worked but it smoked. I took a chance and I bought it for $300 which was the price of the new radiator he had just put in. I dropped the oil - black but no grittiness - and after putting in the pre-req 5 quarts very little was registering on the dip stick. A light bulb went off in my head and I let it sit o-night and the next day I check the dipstick and most all the oil registered. I pulled the valve covers and the whole thing was covered in old oil and such to the point that the weep holes to drain the oil back in to the pan were all clogged. I cleaned out both heads - never even removed them from the car - and changed the oil again and frequently for the next couple months and it never smoked again in the nearly 10 years we drove it, all over, up and down the east coast, helped us move, kids learned to drive on it, and it did damn well everything for us. I even found over $75.00 in coins in the car when I cleaned it all out! Not a hot rod vehicle but that car saved me enough money to build 2 hot rods while I owned it!

 

Traded a old Mosberg shotgun for 47 Ford coup.

 

I sold a MB 560SL for 8k over blue book

 

I wanted another old car but was broke... What to do. I found a 2003 Durango for $2500 that I washed and sold for $6500 the next week. Then I found a 2001 chev crew-cab for $1600 and sold two weeks later for $3200. Then I found a 2001 GMC for $750 and sold it the next day for $2150. Then I found the 53 Chev for $6000 from a buddy, I drove it for a year and sold it for $9250. Then I bought the go kart for my son, the ranchero and the roadster pick up all with money that I made from the equivilent of 1 weeks worth of work. Now I have a driver, a project and a car for my son.

 

Oh, I also got that restored 72 Gmc for $980 and pulled the fresh 400/th400 and sold the rest for $1250.

 

Ahhhhh! I have been jonesing for a 58 Laurentian. What are you doing with the rest of it? It would go very nicely next to my 57' Laurentian.

 

At the time it didn't seem crazy (1967), but I bought a '55 Chevy BelAir Sport Coupe off a dealers lot for $35. It was a 6 cylinder with an automatic transmission and I had to go to the junkyard to get front brake drums and two tires and wheels, but we drove it home and only had $50 in everything. No rust and someone gave me a front fender.

I wish I had it now.

 

This is O/T but I bought a 68 javelin for $2200 and sold it for $6500 After a wash and vacume and 12 hours on Craigslist

 

Back about 1985 , I was driving a real beater- a nasty, clapped out '75 Chrysler station wagon - complete with terminal rust, lifter noise, and about 210,000- plus miles on the clock. I had gotten that car about a year and half earlier by trading a guy 4 decent but unrestored model A Ford wheels , that'd I'd
found for $5 in a scrap yard, .The car was definitely on it's last legs, but being a wagon, and since it was already junk and I wasn't worried about hurting in more than it already was, it was great for picking up and hauling all kinds parts and other assorted junk around to swap meets. I was in a scrap yard - a straight metal recycling yard - not even an auto wreckers , one day, picking over their scrap metal piles, looking for more swap meet fodder. While I was in the yard, a tow truck came in and dropped off a really decent looking '72 Ford LTD. After driving over the scales and getting a weight ticket for it , he drove over and stopped next to the crusher and started unhooking the car. I was sorting through a pile of mosstly automotive junk, right nextto where he was dropping the car so I went over to check it out. The car looked really clean , with half decent paint and no visible rust or body damage . I looked inside and the interior was clean and nearly spotless. It was loaded too, with buckets, console, power windows, AC, remote mirrors etc, etc and only 90,000 miles showing on the odomiter. In addition all 4 tires were nearly new too - Firstone 721 radials, with the the nubs still showing in places. . While the driver was still unhooking the car, I popped the hood .Under hood was clean 351 Windsor and ton of new parts. The rad, battery, water pump, distributor cap, plug wires, master clyinder and belts all had been very recently replaced and were stil nearly new. Then I popped off the air cleaner and found a brand new rebuilt carb with the rebuild sticker still attached. I asked the driver what on earth was wrong was with the car and why was he scrapping it???. He told me he didnt really know the history of the car, other than he had gotten a call at 800 o'clock that morning from the owner to come and pick it up and scrap it. Apparently, in the last year months or so, the car hasd turned into a money-pit for the owner and he had spent at least couple of thousand dollars in repairs and new parts on the car and a just day or two before, he spent more money on it to have a rebuilt carb put on. Whoever had put the carb on never botherd to adjust the automatic choke and that morning, when the guy got into his car to go to work, the choke stuck and flooded the engine so it wouldn't start. That was the final straw! The guy was in a rage and so pissed off ' that his money-pit of car car wouldn't start even after he had just after just spent even more money to have the carb replaced, that he went back in the house and called a up towing company and said "Come and get this %!%X$* piece of *@%!* car and and scrap it!" So they did!. Under the hood I could smell gas and noticed that the choke was on. I jammed a screw driver into the carb to hold the choke plate open and got in the car and turned the key. Almost instantly it fired up and then dropped down an nice smooth idle! No knocks, no lifter noise, no smole, noting , just a nice smooth idle. I didn't know what else was wrong with it and I couldn't take for a test drive anywhere, but I decided to buy the car on the spot. I figured even if there was something major wrong with it, I could make some money by strippingit for parts and selling them. The only problem was that I only had about 40 bucks in my pocket that morning as I hadn't intended to buy a whole.car! What to to do? The car was next in line to be crushed. If I went home to get some more money, by the time I came back it would have been gone. I went inside the scale house and asked the yard manager how much he wanted for the car. The tow truck driver had already shown me his scale ticket and told me they had paid out $85 for it.. The yard manager thought about it for all of about thirty seconds and said "100 bucks" I didnt have a $100 on me though and the yard monkeys were already unbolting the wheels to get the car ready to drop into the crusher. I said, ok, I'll take it. The yard manger got on the P.A. systom and hollered to the yard monkeys to leave the wheels on and set it off to the side. But I didn't have the 100 bucks I needed. I looked over to my old beater Chrysler wagon in the parking lot. I ponted to it and asked the yard manager "what'll you give me for that?". "Drive it on to the scales" he said."and I'll tell you". Over the scales, the Chrsyler wagon being a lot heavier than the LTD paid out $105 ! After weighing the car, I went back inside scale house where I told the yard yard manger to give me $5 bill and the signed-over ownership for the LTD, which he did. Then I drove the Chrysler off the scales and parked it in the crusher row, right beside the LTD. I cleaned my stuff out of the Chrysler and pulled the plates off it. Then I put the plates from the Chrysler on to the LTD , loaded my stuff in and drove out! On the way home, I took it pretty easy, but the car ran great. The steering and brakes all felt good .and everything, including the AC worked. When I got it home, I removed the screwdriver I had used wedge the choke plate open , adjusted the choke linkage so it didn't stick anymore and that was it. I took the car in to a buddy's shop a day or two later to get a safety check so I could properly transfer my plates and insurance over to it and put the car in my name. Except for needing one tie-rod end and and the front half section of an e-brake cable it passed a legal safety, with almost flying colors. I drove that car for almost two years, hardly spending a nickel on it and then sold it for
$800!

 

Bought a running and driving 70 grand coupe cuda in 94 for 75 bucks off a druggie that needed the cash for his next high. It was banged in the front but the grille was good. No title of course but I did drive it home! 318 auto. Sold it about a week later for 800.

 

Not me, but when my father was 16 (1964), he traded away his half a a '32 Ford coupe to the other 1/2 owner (the thief is still a family friend) for a dwell meter and a 6-pack...Z'd frame, engine from a studebaker goldenhawk (my uncle had totaled the stude)...both the dwell meter and the 6-pack are long gone!

 

Bought a 57 Chevy 2 dr post back in the 70's for $300, Had a built 350 in it that was never hooked up. Pulled the motor and put it in my 37 coupe. Sold 57 body for $600.
4 or 5 years later a guy wanted to trade a 57 chevy for about $600 worth of work to his A. Decent car, fresh bodywork and primer, new glass and chrome, no motor so I swapped. Guy said it had title issues, never been transfered in several sells. When I got the title, you guess it, my name on the title. He did so much work I didn't even recognise it as my old car. A week later a guy walks in my shop and offered me $1500 for it so I sold it.

 

Bought a '49 Plymouth 2dr for $50.00...drove it for a year, and sold it for $65.00! Prolly the most money I made on a car doin' nothin' to it...

EW

 

Another series of good deals I have had started with the purchase of a 1967 Dodge D200 pickup from a guy in KS, for a whopping $200, with a title. It ran and drove, but the cab floor and steps were non-existant - Fred Flintstone's pickup! I hauled it home, and began parting it for another '67 Dodge I had then. Sold probably a grand of parts off it, then made a pickup trailer from the bed and frame. Painted the trailer to match my much newer Dodge Cummins truck. Stuck some later Dodge wheels on it, and figured it was done. Essentially, I had a free trailer and made a few hundred bucks on the parts off the D200...not done yet!

Traded a neighbor the trailer for a complete 1968 Chevy C-10 that was in great overall condition, but the engine was locked up and the front clip was in the bed. I've got a whopping $200 in the trailer at this point, and traded straight-up for the C-10...

Ran the C-10 on Craigslist. Traded to the next guy for a '78 Yamaha 650 and a 3/4 ton Chevy pickup bed trailer. Sold that trailer for $250 cash. Traded the scoot for a brand new 9mm!

Not too bad for an initial $300 deal (truck plus fuel and tolls!)

 

Not exactly a car deal, but I went to a yard sale one day, and these people had their whole back yard covered in tables. There was a shed in the yard that was full of empty boxes, I assume they'd unload a box for the sale and throw the empty in the shed. I was a good 25 feet away when I caught a glimpse of a tail light between the boxes. I asked the lady what was hiding in the shed, and she told me it was he son's motorcycle.
We talked a bit, and she told me her son had gone off to college 2 years ago and left it at home. I asked if it was for sale. She told me if I'd move the boxes I could look, so I did, and after moving 4 or so boxes I uncovered a 1978 Triumph 750 Bonneville, Silver Jubilee Edition. Now I was indeed excited, and she knew it. She told me she'd call her son and ask him about it, so I left her my number and waited by the phone for a couple days.
The son calls me 2 days later, and tells me that when he gets out of college, he plans to travel for a couple of years, so he basically has no need for it. He told me the bike had been sitting for 2 years, so he didnt even know if it'd run. Said I could have it for 100 bucks, and I could give the money to his mom.
Man, I never cleaned out a shed so fast. I rolled the bike outside, and turned on the key. The headlight was very dim, and the gas had a funky smell, but it fired up on the second kick and I drove it home without a single hiccup from the motor. I changed the plugs and oil, and rode that bike almost every day for 3 years. Never should have gotten rid of that one.

 

61Falcon ex racer, solid front axle, empty shell of a car, delivered for 200bucks. When he got to the house, he ended up taking a plymouth minivan (nice car, bad 604 tranny) instead of the cash. I had previously gotten the van for free.