Cheapest new car or truck your family ever bought

My Dad bought a new 1962 1/2 ton Chevrolet pick-up 6 cyl. three on the tree,NO radio,NO rear bumper,rubber matts on the floor for 1500.00,GREAT truck.diz

My grandad bought his last Model T (1926 Ford Runabout) brand new for $295, cash.

And that was his LAST brandy-new car too...

1986 Dodge ½ ton van, $11,300. Still in use every day. Its asked for very little and gave a lot. Threw a paint job on it twice so it looks good. Was at the car wash the other week and the kids were making nice comments about it, Six more years its an antique!

My cheapest new car was my first new car. 1971 Plymouth Duster 340. $2945.00

Ok Dale, Off to the family car receipt file.

1923 Model T Ford Touring $431.00

1929 Model A Ford Town Sedan $802.25

(Bought September 6, 1929 may have been a 1930?)

1953 Buick $2,796.88

(Knocked off $300.00 for the 1940 Plymouth that was traded in)

1957 VW (Station Wagon) $2,157.85

1961 Ford $3,078.25

(I remeber looking through the catalog and Dad asking what interior color I thought would look best with the black car. RED! What else goes with black, I was 10 years old at the time. That car took us to Hershey for the first time in 1969.)

1970 Ford $3,400.00

(They allowed $1,000.00 trade in value on a 1964 Mercedes Dad bought used. That was one piece of ----,hope the dealer crushed it)

There is a window sticker for a 1970 Pontiac Le Mans convertable somewhere, think it as @ $3,600.00 out the door.

My Dad's '42 Chevy sedan was $1067.30. I have the receipt { purchase/lease}and just found a picture the other day I've never seen before. Also found a picture of his '29 Desoto deluxe coupe.

Dear Bob,NEAT story about the 61 Ford.It reminded me of the time when my Dad brought home new car sales brochures in 1966 for the big three and had me and my twin brother pick out the new cars for the business,we were 12 at the time.Three 1966 Plymouth Fury IIIs,all were white with dark red guts.diz

My cheapest new car was my 64 Chevelle 2dr. post, which sold for $2100.00. Today, that's not even enough for a down payment.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">1986 Dodge ½ ton van, $11,300. Still in use every day. Its asked for very little and gave a lot. Threw a paint job on it twice so it looks good. Was at the car wash the other week and the kids were making nice comments about it, Six more years its an antique! </div></div>

What a difference a decade makes!

In 1974, as Ford was clearing out the last of their old Econolines before the 1975 redesign, my dad bought a 1974 E-100 window van (no interior or rear seat, he installed them the next week--<span style="font-style: italic">panelling and a school bus seat!</span>) for $3100. It had a heater, a passenger seat, a radio, and an automatic tranny for options. We had it for 11 years, and until it rusted to nothing it was one of the most reliable cars we ever had.

At the time you couldn't get an automatic Pinto for $3100! We used that van for a cross country 3 week tour in 1974, still the best vacation I ever took!

To this day it's still his only satisfactory domestic new car purchase.

Dale, The '61 Ford was special, that was the first year my Dad ever got a vacation and we went Washington D.C.. The Civil War Centennial was in full swing and the Smithsonian was full of displays that I'm sure are locked away now. Learned to drive on it and passed my drivers test with it. It took us to Dover Drag Strip one Sunday, I'm restoring a Lyndwood rail that raced there that day. Survived a headon with a jerk that passed a guy at a stop light. Got to hang out at Scott's Auto Body while the new front clip was going on, guess that is when my auto body skills started. Years later got to see it for the last time under another worn out car on its way to the crusher. I have picked up a few sales brochures for 1961 but have far too many better cars on my wishlist.

My first new car was a 1963 Rambler American 220, 2 door sedan. Absolutely no options. Well the heater may have been an option. 6 cylinder, stick shift.

$1,850.00 delivered.

Dave, this was my first and only new vehicle. I bought the van on Halloween night. The following night I took my wife down to pick it up and was showing her the truck, until the salesman came out and told us I had bought the maroon one not the blue one. I am color blind however I didn't think it was that bad.

Van factory delivered with no seats, spare tire or seat belts. Negotiated them out of the dealer.

The only new car I ever bought was my 1973 Z-28 which was $4195 and included A/C for $397, TH 400 tranny $297 Z-28 option $598.

Dear Twitch,A new Z-28 with a Turbo 400.WHAT no 4-speed?I wanna hear this explanation and YOU had better make it GOOD....diz

My parents bought our best, cheapest car (which we still talk about) in Hamburg Germany in 1961. It was a 1961 VW beetle, black with light grey interior. No radio, no clock and no gas gauge. It had a little handle on the floor that you turned when it started to run out of gas, opening a 2 or 3 gallon reserve. Hell that was worth a good 90 miles on the open road!

Great little car.

Randall,

My first car was a 61 VW. That handle confused me and made me wonder if my fuel pump was bad when it got to the wrong position.

My cheapest car was a 62 TR3 that needed a valve job, I paid 10 dollars for it in 1972. I finally sold it in 1997 for $ 750 to a kid down the street.

I can remember in 1977 my Dad and I went to the local Pontiac/Chevy store to buy the high schools "drivers ed" car (had only been in service about a month) it was a 1976 Pontiac Ventura to be used as my Dads work car, we came home with a brand new 1977 Chevy Chevette Coupe in Siver with a Firethorn interior - MY MOM WAS MAD ! ! ! Ended up being one of the best cars my Dad ever owned, he dove it to work, it was driven by 3 kids and he got rid of it with over 200K miles and it still looked and ran great - it ran another few years until the kid that bought it finally blew the engine.

My daily driver was purchased new by my Grandfather for $810.00. I still have the original bill of sale and reciepts for his GMAC payments. In 74 years and 479,000 miles not counting gas oil and tires but including 2 repaints and all mechanical repairs as well as the original price it has cost us $7,734.00 or $91.00 per year or .016 cents per mile..

1974 Jeep J-20 4x4 - $3,900.

When I hear the word cheap, I think of inferior quality. However, another meaning would be that of a bargain from the going rate.

I would like to hear about cars purchased that were the "best bang for the buck."

OK West. Our best bang for the buck was a 1941 Cadillac Convertible sedan my father bought new in Feb. of 1941. It took our family through the war, me through college, me to work for 3 years after I left the AF and 42 years of life in AACA.

Mechaniaclly almost trouble free for 64 years and in excess of 200,000 miles.

Cost new-- $2244 delivered. I still have the bill of sale and original title.

Unfortunately, today a replacement top made to factory standards costs more than the car did new.

hvs

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">OK West. Our best bang for the buck was a 1941 Cadillac Convertible sedan my father bought new in Feb. of 1941. It took our family through the war, me through college, me to work for 3 years after I left the AF and 42 years of life in AACA.

hvs </div></div>

Well, this IS SOMETHING! WOW!!

I can't say more than congratulations. I'm speechless.

Nice. My dad bought one of those at Hershey about five years ago. Black, red interior, black top. He uses it for a tour car. I think he paid less than than $40,000 for it. But then put on a new top and did an engine rebuild.

My personal best bang for the buck was a rust-free unrestored 1962 Porsche 356 Super 90 cabriolet that I bought for $13,000 about seven years ago from a non "collector." I didn't know much about Porsches and was just looking for a daily driver while living in Atlanta. The seller kept telling me that it had the Super 90 engine, but that didn't mean anything to me at the time. It turned out to be the most powerful engine offered when the car was built (aside from their racing engined Carrera, which wasn't even produced at the time my car was built). Very rare, especially in a convertible.

Anyway, I drove the car almost daily for 4 years and put about 20,000 miles on it before I "restored all the fun out of it." I sold it last January.

There's a topic we should discuss as well. What cars have you had a lot of fun using, then restored, and hardly ever DRIVE anymore? Which is more fun?: to drive a truck and trailer, or your antique car?

West ~ Driving the cars beats the heck out of trailering them around any day. I mostly trailer the very old cars [70 plus years old] to tours 1000 to 2000 miles away. The post WW II cars get driven to tours, and all of our cars get driven locally.

Our routine is normally to pick up a car, drive it a while to feel it out and determine what it needs, and then do a restoration. Then show the car to see what it can win, and regardless of what it wins or doesn't win or what the cost of restoration, it is then driven on AACA, VMCCA or HCCA national tours, depending on the era of the cars and the location of the tour.

As for my Cadillac, the family drove it until 1950, I drove it until 1955, it sat in a neighbor's garage from 1955 to 1960 while I was in the AF, then driven to work every day until 1963 and then restored in '63-'64. The car has been driven and shown for judging, winning a 1st junior in 1970 and a Senior in '71. Since then it has been driven regularly to Meets and on tours to the tune of about 30,000 miles. Finally had to have it repainted and retopped about seven years ago.

hvs

Dale:

Lowest purchase price was a 1950 Pontiac silver streak 8 convertible (first new car). Green with white top. Bought it new in Jan.1951 off the show room floor. It was sitting next to a 1951 four door hard top which,as I remember the 50 was $200 less than the 51 but it was a convertible. I traded in a 1941 Pontiac conv. that I bought only two months before for $50. I can still remember the night my mother told I would never pay off a $2000 loan and she was right. The Insurance company paid it off seven months later.After insurance settlement I ended the summer with a 1940 Pontiac coupe. Quite a let down after a fun in the sun summer.

Best bang for the buck: 1986 Buick Electra Estate wagon. It is still sitting in the yard with 427,000 miles on the Odometer. Four kids in collage in four different states all at the same time. Wisc.,Mich.,Iowa,and Minn.

Most fun for the Buck: 1929 Buick. $3,500 minus $11,000, but that another story.

Terry29-26

Ahhhh. I remember it well. The year - 1964. The car - 1958 Morris minor convertible. Cost: all of $75!!! My first car and a project my father and I did for the next year. It took me forever to save the $75 since all I was doing at the time was pumping gas part time after school. What we don't realize as youngsters is the cost doesn't only include the initial purchase price. But as a first car and a project between pop and I ... howz it go? "Priceless" Thank goodness back then foreign cars were the norm around the streets and parts weren't that bad. At least I didn't think so. It was amazing how many Morris's were around to scrounge from too! What a great time... Since then I've had 2 more Morris'. A 60 hardtop and a 60 wagon. Oh to still have them.

Dear HeyPop,Isn't it amazing the STUFF we all put our Dads through.GOD bless em all.diz