As a 'Kid" of 25, I would search the local freebe 'Green Sheet' and if I wanted to spend the whole $1.50 it would be the Recycler with a quick jump to the Vintage/Classic section and the dreams would start..
What do you mean by when you were a kid? Heck, I still do that on a regular basis~ the thoughts of picking just one car at a show or right here in a thread that I could take home is what dreams are all about. HRP
I agree it started when I was a kid but it continues to this day and I don't see an end until maybe when I'm gone. I believe it's what keeps me going sometimes and gives me ideas about my own projects.
I'm 71, still a kid, and the dream searches are on screen instead of on paper. There are 3-4 websites I spend way too much time on doing exactly the same thing you used to do in Thrifty Nickel, Ryan. Fortunately, being a fixed income senior tends to severely limit the possibility of any impulse buying. Still alotta fun to dream about what-ifs though.
My 4 best buddies, with just enough money to buy cokes, a couple of gallons of gas for our dirt bikes, and an Auto Trader between us. We'd also grab a Little Nickel (as it was called up in the Pacific NorthWest) on our way out of the store. Ride our dirt bikes back to my friends house and spend the afternoon sitting on his deck, sipping our cokes, and deciding on "the car". Good times!
I would do the same thing with the Hot Rod Mart in the back pages of HRM. Check out the Rod&Custom Dream Truck for sale, post accident.
As a younger guy that cant afford the cars I already have its hard to do that. But there is a nice 54 Chevy I like. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/index.php?threads/1058335/
I play the same game. In a position now where I'm kinda thinking what's next and with that budget this screams at me. Right up my alley
me and my buddy in High School used to go to the library at lunch a couple times a week to look at the San Jose Mercury news since they had the best classic section around. this was before the interweb or even the Auto Trader type publications.
............That's a sweet ride. Someone could get into that, not break the bank and have a lot of fun with it.
I would like to buy Gman’s Chevy Impala, but the price is above the max limit. It is very well done, low key and a super car to drive around. Plus, it would have been a fun drive from Kentucky, through Nashville to see relatives, and on to So Cal. Hello, My top three cars for sale in the HAMB Classifieds with a budget of $28k max would be these three below. I like sedan deliveries and this one would fit my needs with little work and upgrades (remove sign, wheels,etc), would be a cool daily driver. Ever since I was a little kid in Long Beach, I have always liked custom trucks and this one fits the bill. It is unusual, styled like the 50’s trucks of the day and would be great to haul stuff from the local nurseries and home improvement stores… I also like open air roadster pick ups and phaetons to haul the family around. Yes, one is for two and the other is for the whole gang. Diversity is the name of the game as long as we are able to choose which one we would buy. One is ready for the road the other would need work, but both would be cool open air cruisers. (these two are lumped together to be choice #3) My wife wanted to play this game of window shopping as she loves window shopping, looking for bargins. With the money she would save from the 28k, Her favorite would the great 62 Chevy nova convertible, with a few upgrades. There is something to be said about girls/women in red convertibles. After finding old photos of her 98 year old dad’s early chevys, she thought this one would be a replica of that 51-52 2 door when they lived in Pacoima,CA. Plus, this one in the ad has been done quite well. But, somehow even though it did not have A/C in 52, she would have someone figure out how to get one installed for those hot So Cal summer drives. (38 Delivery,350/700r. M/S 2 suspension PS, Power disc brakes. AC, Runs great needs some interior work.$12,000.00.) Is it $21k or $12 k? at any rate, she has plans for this delivery. The ad is a little confusing. But, she said that with the money saved from the 28k top limit, she would paint the car red, make other upgrades, and put on different wheels for a cruiser look similar to the second red 40 Ford Sedan Delivery that she drove after we got married. Jnaki This was a fun exercise in perusing the HAMB Classifieds and to allow our dreams to move on to the next possible adventure. Plus, it gives the ads more exposure...nice story for the threads and the owners of the cars for sale. (and...of course, our dreams.) Thanks, Ryan.
I know the gentleman who built and owns this custom truck. He is an excellent builder/fabricator and this truck would make someone a very cool and unusual ride. You will never pull into a show and park next to another one like it for sure.
My friends and I in the early 60's would look every Sunday at the Mercury News Classifieds and search for the best car for $50 or less. I bought my '31 Model A coupe for $50 from the original owner in Sunnyvale and drove it home. Had the engine out in a half hour and in six months had it channeled 4" and had a 303 Olds engine, juice brakes and a '39 Ford trans. I worked in a gas station in Cupertino and got any "take off" tires I wanted so I had 8-20"s on the back and 5-90's on the front. I believe I had the car on the road (in primer) and with a homemade adaptor plate for less than $400. Wish I still had the car. Don't even have a picture of it anymore.
Bought this in late 1965 out of the Washington Post classifieds as you see it for $35. Had a rebuilt Flathead V-8 from Sears, '54 DeSoto grille, '56 Olds tailights, '56 Ford full wheel covers, de-chromed hood and deck lid. Ran like a champ, drove it two yrs. to HS. 'till I got this '64 Galaxie.
we do something like that at swop meet car corrals.really fun at hershey. we pick a vehicle we think is a good deal, would be reliable enough to drive home and then resell easily when we get home.
I am glad you all are fessing up to what I thought was a personal, embarrassing affliction! Back in my preteens and teens I would always look in the back of a new or used magazine for the classifieds. A 1K limit was applied, with $1200 being in the stratosphere! Now, as a senior adult, I suffer from sleep disorders. Daily I compile a collection of cars from here, ebay and other internet sources. I limit my collection to a bakers dozen (13), and usually have at least 3 by bedtime. I will probably fulfill my limit by tonight, considering it is only mid-afternoon and I have already accumulated over a half dozen: a 36 Ford P.U., a 39 Standard Tudor, a 39 Ford Deluxe Coupe, a 47 Tudor, a 49 Tudor, a 50 Chevy Deluxe bomb, and a 62 LeSabre 2 door post from the HAMB classifies. When I retire for the night, I take my melatonin, and make sure I have my collection memorized. With a list as long as tonight's will be, I will probably be asleep before I recite the days collection. Instead of counting sheep, I count rods and customs. If I have a small collection, I will change things, build things and design things. By the time I have a roll and pleat job done, install a dropped axle, swap in a nailhead, or design scallops, I am asleep. It is effective remedy, but I keep asking the questions: Have I gone crazy? Will medicare provide counseling? Into what will this manifest it's self?
When I was 13 I would go through Hot Rod and Rod & Custom page by page and look for what I would do to that bone stock '29 RPU in the drive way. Every day it was a different color, different engine, or different interior. Fenders, no fenders, stock bed, shortened like a T bucket, my dreams went wild. Turned out nothing like any of my dreams. But, damn, that time sure was fun.
I bought my first car from the pennysaver for 50$. An Eldorado 1983 baby blue biarittz with a continental kit and a crummy 4100v8 that was blown, it taught me more than 50$ could teach anyone . I was 16, I remember I had 49 cash and 1 dollar in coins. My mom, being a single mom and I the oldest saw the fire in my or something. Well the price of the tow was more than the car and she paid it lol. The search still continues and it's funny looking back but also amazing that if you look you will find. Sent from my SM-J700T1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Been doing this since my early teens, the local Bargain Finder, the classifieds in the paper, anywhere with iron for sale. I still troll the local online classifieds daily. Once upon a time, I'd even go look at a few. And I'm now sorry to all those guys, now knowing what a pain in the ass tire kickers are...
Yep still like playin that game. When I was a kid I would search the "Wheeler Dealer" the first thing to do was look for the Jack Dykstra Ford ad. Every week they would have 4-6 cars listed for a quarter. Junkers for sure but they were in my price range. When we would come into town I was never able to get Ma to stop so I could look at them , so in my mind they were perfect projects. Probably a good thing I never saw them would've ruined the fantasy
I also saw that caddy and my trip is to imagine how I'd build the car and how I'd like it to look after I'm done. I immediately saw it black, laser straight, super slammed and with widened chrome caddy wires and black tires....black leather interior too. 500 caddy motor and 400 turbo...oh yeah! I've wanted one of those for a long, long time.
Dreamers all, no? I've had a dreamer from FL buggin me about the Packard since Dec. Not long ago he walked me right to the altar and on "money day" calls and says he just can't get past the color. Whatever, right? So I wished him luck and said feel free to keep in touch and he did. Send me a pic of a Caddy 60S he put a deposit on. I couldn't make this up if I tried, seriously. And of course his deal on that fell through too. My car: The car he "bought": It leaked, wouldn't stay in 2nd, things didn't work like lights, wipers. And it was $7K more than mine So he got his deposit back but still spent $500 to fly out and see it. I simply replied, "Love the color..." And yes he's back on me again. At least we say we're dreaming when we do.
^^^^Great story^^........................Buyers can be soooooooooo fickle. Of course he didn't want a green car!
The Green Sheet was free on Thursday but if you really wanted to get the jump on the good deals you coughed up a dime and got it on Wednesday after 12 noon. Bought and sold a lot of stuff via the Green Sheet over the years.
Hot Rod Mart for me, those days...17, and on the hunt. One day I got the Hot Rod magazine in the mail, thumbed to Hot Rod Mart. Jumpin' Jehosophat!!!!! Tommy Ivo's 'T', for a price that was unreal... My Mom said she had the $$, IF I'd sell my roadster after getting it..."I'll sell everything, flatheads and all!" Made the phone call...Tom's father said it had been sold. AGH!!! Horror of horrors! Always checked the San Jose Mercury News for 'Thrifty Sales'...and "Free". Did it for years. Must have been in 1966, just finished installing Merc 312 and T85 box in my '54 Ford Coupe: Thrifty Sales one Thursday evening: "For Sale, Model A frame, MUST SELL! $5." Phone number got me the address. I drove over, the guy opened the side gate, said his brother was going to do something, then left this JUNK here. "Please take it, I'll help you load it." I walked in, saw the rear rails, it was leaning against the fence, 7 foot space to the house...Not a Model A. Few more steps...it was dark, but I could see the curve...I felt the bottom of the rail...IT WAS A DEUCE!!! I brought my '54 Ford Coupe, and 2 blankets and some rope (30 feet or so) We laid the frame upside down on the roof, on blankets and tied it front, back, and sides...I had a 5 and a 10. I insisted he take the 10, (I said for helping me load it, but it was really to beset guilt) Happiest drive to Santa Clara I ever did. Stock center K member was in there, too.