History The Best deal you ever got on a Hamb friendly car or project

$100 for this AA truck...bottom pic is as I got it, top pic is as the guy I sold it to has it sittin in his yard by a vintage gas station replica...

 

Around 78 I bought a 34 Ford 5 window project for $2000. All steel, all of the body was there,came with a 4 four door sedan parts car. Had a title for the coupe too. Sold off a lot of the extras & the sedan to get some bucks back. Initial cost was around $700. Around 35 years later I got the sedan back & resold it for $5K. Still driving the coupe. Way back in 68 I got out of the Army, got home & picked up a 55 Chevy 2 door, 6 cyl 3 spd.for $65, drove it home, dropped in a 283, painted it Corvette yellow, diamond tuck interior. Drove it a few years & sold it for $700. Still looking for deals like that today.

 

Well by old standards (like in highschool era) I am in deep but I paid less than a grand for my Crosley. Actually as I found out after the fact the brakes alone are worth more then I paid for the car.

In highschool I typically bought project cars for 30 bucks or so. The wife and I gave 35 bucks for the '39 Hudson opera coupe we put together. It had already been hot rodded and was set up for a SBC and a glide, which we had from doing a swap in another kids tri five chebby. so it was just your basic bolt together.

 

$2700 about 9 years ago.

 

I am stealin your pic to prove a point on another thread unless you tell me "NO!!!!!" then I will take iot down. OK?

Cool car by the way there is absolutely nothing better then having a basically solid car to start a project with. You're in cheap

 

By todays standards you stole the coupe, congratulations. HRP

 

Very solid $600 shoebox

Sent from my SM-G955U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

No problem at all....use as needed.

 

Thanks

 

I bought my first car, a 30 Model A pickup for $49.90. He wanted $85. I had $50 in the bank and they charged me a dollar to close the account. We cashed some Coke bottles and came up 10ç short. Still owe him a dime. A couple of years later we tore it apart and made a drag roadster out of it.



I bought a 36 Chevy Master Coupe for $35. Drove it for 6 months or so, got a flat tire and spread the word that anyone who wanted it could have it; the keys were in it.

Bought this one, and still have it.

 

In 1972 I paid $100.00 for a running, rust free First Series 1955 Chevrolet Panel. Ran out of gas on the way home and walked to a gas statin. When I returned their gas can, the guy at the station offered me $300 cash for it. I had owned it 30 minutes!! Fortunately I did not take the offer. Drove it for 15 years and parked it. It's partially disassembled right now, but I still have it.

 

I bought a nice 1932 Ford 5 window coupe in 1962 for 75 bucks. HRP

 

When I was 14 I bought a 1934 Ford Roadster that was parked on the road about a half mile from where I lived for $45. That was 1961.

 

A lot of 'em:
1955, a 1936 Ford 3 window coupe, needed points, $15.00. Then went looking for a roadster.

1. 1955, a '30 'A' cabriolet body, complete: $3.00.
2. 1955, a 1932 Ford frame, original with all crossmembers: $5.00.
3. 1955, a complete '32 rear end, (incl. driveshaft/torq tube, wishbone, spring: $5.00.

1956, a complete 1932 Ford 5 window coupe, freshly painted, 10 coats maroon Nitro. '56 Olds engine, dual range hydra-matic, '50 Pontiac rear, chrome dropped axle, juice brakes, '49 Merc wheels, all apart. $275.00. Move it out of garage by Saturday, pink slip signed. Got it on Buddy Teddy's Dad's flatbed, 2 trips. Sold fenders/running boards, did a '32 Hiboy with 316" flathead, with some help from my older drag racing friends.
Mom's boy friend owned/operated a chrome shop. I 'polished' for him, got mine for 'gratis'...

1958, complete '30 'A' coupe. $40.00 cash, drove it home. Cherry, black paint brushed on.

1960, rolling '46 Ford club coupe ('long door') no engine/trans. Cherriest '46 I ever saw. Maroon, no nicks, scratches, perfect body/frame...$12.00.

1972, my vandalized '55 F100. Chrome bumpers, grille, hand brake, steering column, brake & clutch pedals, nice metallic paint. Truck was stolen in San Jose, driven to Santa Cruz, engine/trans stolen, wheels/tires/tailgate stolen, windows broken, tuck & roll slashed, dash smashed.
Body was still excellent. (no rust) $60.00! My Corvette customer GAVE me the '69 350 out of the 'Vette, 12K miles, flat cam. Got a 350 T.H. trans for doing some VW repair. Bought a NICE parts truck for $100.00, included FORD truck shop manual, also a '55 truck body parts manual! Santa Cruz...
Still driving my $60 F100, on my second 350 engine. (76K on the new engine...replaced it in '95) Truck is all new underneath, black primer...daily driver, low 13 second machine, street tires and mufflers...

 

1963, free, was abandoned after a flood on Klamath River


1965 near Sacramento


photos after fixing up both.

bought a 1956 Chevy SW for $25 in 1967, just a parts car
around 1980 I bought a 1963 Impala 2 dr hardtop for $200

 

My first car (1965) was $65, a '40 deluxe coupe with a stuck flathead. It was just a clutch bolt stuck between the block and the flywheel teeth, it ran great. The next was in approx 1972, a '32 5w with a 350 and 4 spd, running and driving for $1500. The latest one is the old 1950 Ford custom shoebox pickup, the Victchero, for free! BTW, it's now registered in my name so I can start on it once I get a few other things out of the way.

 

Lately? Not so much, but:
Nephew found me a '27 T touring, no engine or trans, $300. Also, in the same barnyard, a '27 T roadster, all the fenders, gas tank, wheels. No engine/trans. $250!
Bought 'em both, nephew hauled the tub home on Ford F150 4 wheeler, pulled the roadster on the car trailer.

A month later, talked to a young guy with a Porsche 914 six. Interesting car, had a 351 Cleveland in it, (adapter kit) He offered me a fiberglass '23 T bucket for $100, new. Just didn't need it at his Mom's house...I grabbed it.
Another guy at the swap meet offered me a '23 turtledeck, ('glass) for $20. Had to get it...
Brother had the third 'T' body bought in a 'lot' (all 3!) gave me the last one remaining. The deck lid is really nice, quarters are straight, and cowl is solid. Firewall? Not. But I have 3 super nice ones.
Got 3 'A' frames, $100 for one perfect one, the other two for $50.
Traded a 9" pumpkin (2.75 gear) straight across for a '29 Chevy frame!
Got another '28 Chevy frame for $25, was a trailer. Just the very rear is cut off.
Love Chevy frames...
Bought some '49 and '50 Merc wheels last year at an old Turlock wrecking yard. Somebody had them stashed in an old Ford panel truck body.
The wrecker charged me $2 each, there were 12 in all...

 

`34 Ford 5 window that is my current project...$500...Had to cut the grape vines surrounding it myself.

 

The good old days when you could buy a project or car for penny's on the dollar. HRP

 

My Comet, I bought it HAMB'er porkshop.

 

Scott, that Elky looks great! Do you ever get to Hunt Valley Horsepower on Saturday mornings?

 

Thanks! No. Haven't been there in years since i'm back on the shore now. I lived around the corner from there back in 2003-4. Think I did drive the Elky there one time back then.

 

paid $600.00 for this 51 including a 200 mile delivery. parted it out on ebay and ended up with over $3,000.00 in sales. bet I had 200 listings. I sold EVERY useable part... the car was all rusted to shit, but the door gaps were incredible.

 

got these two El Caminos for $500.00 around 2005. the white one was seriously rusted from the inside out.

 

paid $2,000.00 for the Caddy and $1500.00 for the Dodge. my rent at this little funky house was $440.00 a month. it's all fixed up nice now, probably renting for $2500.00 or more and only about 500 square feet. still have the Dodge. damn I miss the 80's.

that Caddy fit in the garage with with about 5" of room to spare lengthwise, and I could just squeeze out the door once it was inside.

 

In HS in early 62 my dad found a glasstop 54 Ford for $200 and I bought it, it was low miles and perfect. 2 weeks later he found me at home and no car out front and asked where was the 54. Told him I sold it for $450. Hey, I was making $1/HR at the Big Donut Inglewood (Randy's now).Hey, $250 in 2 weeks was too muck to pass up.

 

$25.00 Chevy,2dr post,6cyl., PG in '69. Had a miss, blown head gasket. Bolted it back together and drove it 'til I got paid on Fri. and could afford a new gasket.

 

1964 bought a '48 Crosley wagon for $35 & drove it home. ( 1st car)

 

About three years ago I went to an auction for some model trains; the people were moving to Washington State and selling the house and all the contents. In fact once the house sold they jumped in the car and drove off.

His '64 Riviera parts car was there. No motor, trans or gas tank but the rest all there and for NY not rusted bad at all. Floor patched on one side, couple little holes in the bottom of the fenders, that was about it.

$75 was what brought it home. Just the tilt column in one is worth like $300.


The other, probably all time best deal; in 2007 we got into a yard that was being scrapped out, the owner had been hard to deal with and so there were tons of nice cars. So I ignored the upside down 53 or 54 Buick along one of the main trails, until in the fall one day I had to tie my boot for about the millionth time and I start to stand up and I see a badge on the side "Skylark" ... yes, it was a real '53 Skylark, wrecked, upside down, motor, trans and front stub all gone. Had been ignoring it at that point for like eight months.

It cost me $150 over two trips to get it, complete from the cowl back, rusted funny because it had been upside down. Front sheetmetal was the second trip. The interior actually wasn't that bad when righted, the stitching rotted, but the leather might have been savable.

I sold it to a man from Australia for $3900 a few weeks later. But it gets better. He vanishes off the face of the earth, no communication, no answer, never gets his car. Three more years go by. Finally I sell it to a local guy for $1300. He used parts of that and two others to put one car together. And I kept the badges off the sides.

The other good deal from that yard; a $300 '31 AA and a $300 '31 A sedan with a pickup bed; I combined with a free frame I got locally and a free set of axles from Niagara Falls that I'd had for years by then, the front with split bones, into an A pickup that went to Sweden for $3500. Couldn't sell it as an AA for the life of me, zero interest. Took me a day to slide the cab over to the rolling chassis. I did have it long enough to determine it was too small for me to fit in comfortably. And eventually I found a Tudor back half to put on the other car.

 

This-for free-mind you I have fitted new wheels and tyres and cleaned it up a little-more to do-55000 miles-in the proverbial barn since 1974.We are the second owners.