[scarab51]

I have been watching this 1990 VW Cabby in my town for several years. The registration ran out on it June 30, and it had not moved since then.
Sunday afternoon, I saw those magic words...."For Sale".... painted on the windshield!
So, I paid cash for it, and what a great little clunker it is.
I have compounded and waxed it, and scrubbe the top. I will vacuum the interior tomorrow.
Who needs a 2009, when you can have a 1990, and be able to put the top down. The best thing, what I paid for it is less than the sales tax and excise tax for a 2009 vehicle.


IF ANY OF YOU HAVE JUST BOUGHT A GREAT CLUNKER FOR CASH, PLEASE POST IT !!!

[1948Lincoln]

Well, I got my buddy a 1988 Chevrolet Corsica 4cyl with 43,000 miles on it from an older lady, very clean, everything works, and runs great, just replaced the battery and coils and the tilt-wheel unit, and it is good to go for my buddy, got it for $1350 which is a great deal here in ca, considering most stuff in that range has no paint, interior or engine! LOL!

[West Peterson]

My son picked up this 1983 VW Scirocco clunker for $500 when he was 15. New gas tank, battery, tires, motor mounts and several fuel pumps later, it runs like a charm. The dent in the driver's door was my fault. I backed into it with the car below.

[joe_padavano]

My 84 Olds Custom Cruiser is one of the best beaters I've ever owned. I paid $250 for it. My total investment is under $1,000, including tires, brakes, exhaust, converter, water pump, carb rebuild, and tuneup. The car holds a sheet of plywood flat in the back. The dogs love riding in it. The car is so ugly that it is theftproof. No one cuts me off in traffic. I can park it anwywhere without worrying about door dings. Now, here's the best part. Even accounting for the government clunker handout, if I were to get a new Prius instead, the money I would need to spend will buy me gas for about 100,000 miles in the Olds. That doesn't include the interest I'd need to pay on the car loan, the higher insurance premiums, or the fact that I would still need to buy SOME gasoline to drive the Prius. Yes, this only makes financial sense if I'm doing the repairs myself, but the point is that I CAN on this car. Plus, parts are dirt cheap - for example I can buy brand new brake rotors for less than the cost to turn the old ones.

[Shop Rat]

scarab51, It looks like we have similar taste in cars....bright yellow. We named our car Woodstock for Snoopy's little bird buddy.

We got this '74 450SL last May and it would have qualified as a clunker. It conked out on us three times during the test drive.

The A/C doesn't work (Bill has been working on it this week), the battery was iffy, the gas tank had to be removed, sandblasted and then coated on the inside because it had so much lead residue it clogged up the in tank fuel filter.

Trust me, having a small car die just over the crest of a 55 mph road that is run by semi's night and day was more scary than I want to think about. Luckily we were able to limp it along to a construction site gravel lot. The lead settled down off of the filter and it started back up. We had to stop two more times to get it home.

With lots of work, money and scraped knuckles it is now a fun car to drive.

[stealthbob]

Well if a "Clunker" is a 1954 Buick Roadmaster then I belong here in this thread...

I just bought one and am awaiting it's arrival. I plan on it to be my main "Good days and Sundays" driver while keeping my Jeep Liberty as a winter vehicle.

Sorry for getting off track...

[MCHinson]

Now that we are talking about $6,000 transmission rebuilds, it reminds me of my most recent "clunker" purchase. About five years ago, I bought a 1992 Chevrolet Euro Lumina for my 16 year old son. It had transmission problems and I bought it for $200. I paid $600 for a complete transmission rebuild. He drove the car for over two years with almost no work other than routine oil changes. What little bit of repairs it needed, we did ourselves.

I then bought the family a Chevrolet Tahoe because I needed a tow vehicle, and traded the family Oldsmobile Silhouette minivan down to my son. I then sold the Lumina for $1,000 to a guy who was looking for a first car for his 16 year old son.

[Dean_H.]

Clunkers rule!
At my high school, the shop class would use donated cars for students learning to be mechanics. When I was in this class (late '70s) too many cars were donated, and the shop teacher started selling them off for $50 each. Us teenagers sure had a lot of fun with those old clunkers. My brother picked up a Karmann Ghia. There was a field near our house with very tall grass. We would get the car up to high speed and plow into the grass field and see how far it would go before quitting. The engine on that car bit the dust after a short while and he next bought a dodge station wagon from the shop class. That car could go super fast in reverse. We'd drive it at full throttle in reverse (probably 50+ mph) until we'd loose control and end up in some farmers field. It was great fun.
I bought a '64 Mercury station wagon and paid $70 because it was in mint condition. That old car was great, but only lasted a few months at the hands of a teenager. In the end, I tried to destroy the motor by sitting in neutral and flooring it. It's amazing how long a big V8 motor can run at super high rpm. I never did get a piston to come out but it did start smoking.

My Dad would have had a cow if he knew about any of this.

I found a pic of that old wagon

[West Peterson]

This thread has been cleaned up. Can we stay on topic?

[scarab51]

Hi,
Your recolletion of that beating that Mercury wagon around in a field was great to read.
Here in Maine, we called clunkers put to this use "field bombs". About 1967, a classmate (in 10 th grade) purchased a 1957 Plymouth 4 door hardtop with a V8 automatic, for $35.00.
Admission price to flog this Mopar around a field was 1 gallon of gas (about 30 cents). Half a buck got you an extended session .
The course was a loop over about 5 acres, and invloved crossing a Central Maine Power Co. powerline ( a well - cleared swath thru some woods, with a crude access road), plus about 150 feet of a State highway....where you had to stop, and wait for any traffic, especially cops).
As the summer wore on, we removed the glass, then the bumpers, and finally the doors .... to lighten ship, and enhance performance. The absence of doors caused a rather thrilling body flex. We learned basic repairs, plus some driving techniques not taught in Driver Ed.
That Plymouth lasted the whole season. Then, it became a donor car for some other kid's Plymouth with a bad engine.
We had more fun with that old bomber than today's kids have with $8000 four wheelers.
Lately, I have seen one or two long forgotten field bombs pulled out of the woods to provide parts for today's restorers.
With all the aging SUVs out there, I am surprised that field bombs do not make a comeback. That would be a lot more fun thsn the Governent crushing them.