Here’s a fun one — Who bought a car for under $ 100 ???

[Ozstatman]

In the late 60's bought a '46 Ford Deluxe 4 Door Sedan for $35, from a "shonky" used car yard, asking price on it was $50 but I only had $35 in my pocket. Decent driver for the price but I wanted it for the engine, trans, juice brakes, etc , all of which were going to be grafted into my '29 Ford Model A Tudor Sedan.  But that never happened, used it only as a daily driver. At one stage, needing tyres and being a penniless youth, I swapped a set of 4 18inch spoked wheels and tyres off a '32 Ford onto it. Only '46 Ford back in those days flaunting wire wheels. Wish I'd taken a photo of it like that. It did "look" slightly out of proportion with the larger diameter wheels anf tyres on it. Now it's just a memory.

[Dandy Dave]

1. 1957 Dodge Swept Side Pickup. It was a $25 dollar truck that needed a lot of TLC in the mid to late 1970's. I found it and told a buddy about it. He put up the $25 and we at first were going to scrap it and go haves on the profit. After getting it home I looked it over closer and decided I wanted to keep it. At the time he bought an old house, that bordered our farm and his property also, that went for back taxes. A former tenant had broken off the septic pipe and let the sewage run in the basement. He said if I shoveled out the basement he would give me the truck. We had a 175 Allis Chalmers tractor and loader on the farm. I brought the tractor over and a shovel and pick ax. It was April and the sewage in the basement was frozen and moved relatively easy for a farm boy. I did the job in less than a day and ended up with the truck. It needed glass and a motor. The cab and frame was really solid. The swept side box had some rust and I set it aside to refurbish at a later time. I put a wooden box on the truck and drove it for a few years around the time I got out of high school. I did later get it partly restored enough to have it running but decided to sell the property that I had at the time and down size my collection. Probably one I should have kept but I had no where to give it proper storage at the time. My 1915 Buick took priority for the space I moved to back then. 

 

  

Edited December 30, 2023 by Dandy Dave (see edit history)

[Dandy Dave]

2.  1928 Desoto parts car. $25 My first purchase of a Car.

3.  1928 Model AAA Ford Truck $50

4. 1931 late production Model A Ford AAA truck with a steel roof. $0 Got this from an old family friend when I was 12 years old and drove it around the farm.

5. 1975 VW Rabbit. $50

6. 1974 VW rabbit. $0

7. 1972 Chevy Nova. $75

8. 1946 Chrysler Highlander with a straight 8. $30

9. 1975 Chevy Nova. $0. Drove this one for many miles. 

10. 1929 Reo Speedwagon Model GA truck. $25 At an auction.

11. 1911 Stoddard Dayton remains at an auction. $27 and 50 cents.

12. 1966 International 3100 4WD pickup truck. $0. 

13. 1928 Reo truck. No motor. $0.

14. 1936 Studebaker. $45.

15. Became partners in a 1924 Model T Ford. The fellow that had it could not afford to pay me to get it running so we worked out a deal. $0.

Here' some of the ones I can think of at the moment. There's more.

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by Dandy Dave (see edit history)

[hook]

My first car, a 1930 model A Ford when I was 15 for $25.00. Put it on the road when I was 16 and got regular liability insurance on it for $78.00 dollars a year. "1961" My, how times have changed.

[wayne sheldon]

1972. I was going to college part time, and working almost full time. I had my 1929 Reo coupe, and a model T speedster, both of which ran well. The family's business was struggling a bit, and my mother's old car had blown the engine about a year earlier, and been junked. She had to either drive my dad's work station wagon, which was always crammed full of work stuff, or his 1951 Chevrolet 3/4 ton pickup, whichever one he was not driving that day.

Sometimes I didn't want to drive my antiques, or leave them parked in some less than safe area. So I suggested I buy and repair a cheap car, and if they would cover the license and insurance, we could share the car.

So I paid thirty dollars for a 1952 Chevrolet two door fastback. The fellow that had it, had bought it from where it had sat for about a decade, but supposedly "ran when parked". The fool put in a battery, and some fresh gasoline, then went straight out to see how fast it would go! Turned out I don't think the oil had been changed in about ten thousand miles, and he got only about three miles before throwing out a rod bearing! the crankshaft was basically destroyed.

My dad had a bunch of extra 216 Chevy engine parts, so he donated those, and I pulled the engine and the two of us did a quicky refresh on it. Now, that engine was not all that good. The cylinders were four thousandths out of round, and believe it or not!? NINETEEN thousandths larger at the top than the bottom of the cylinders! YIKES! But a careful (???) valve and rings/gaskets turned it into the sweetest running 216 you ever heard!

We put thirty thousand miles on that car before the speedometer cable broke, and probably another forty thousand after that. With fresh rings, as bad as those cylinders were, you could drive it all day long at 60 mph and it wouldn't burn a drop of oil! Push it to 65 mph and it would guzzle a quart in less than fifty miles.

One day, dad decided to drive it from San Jose to Modesto California, a distance of about a hundred miles. Knowing his tendency to push cars faster than he should, I did the quick math and realized he would be crossing the couple/three mile long two lane bridge through the delta area just short of Modesto, right about the time the engine would run out of oil! I told him to stop before there was no place to stop and add some oil. He was a wonderful person in many ways? But taking advice from anyone else? He was always too smart to do that. So, naturally, he was about a hundred yards onto the no place to pull over bridge when the oil pressure dropped to zero. He eased it across and off the bridge area. Added a couple quarts and hoped. By the time he got home with the car, it had four knocking rods. Fortunately, the crankshaft this time was not hurt. And I spent a couple days doing an in-the-car rod bearing replacement project.

 

We got a couple more good years out of that car until the transmission began to wear out (three speed jumping out of high gear, a common Chevrolet failing) . About then. my parents bought a mid 1960s Pontiac for my mom. About a month later my sister got her driver's license and went right out and wrecked it!

The '52 Chevy had become practically not drivable. I had too many projects, had just gotten married, and some guy driving by wanted the desirable body style car more than anyone in my family did. So it went away for about three hundred dollars.

[SMB]

1936 Studebaker Dictator Coupe owned by a mechanic and everything worked   $60.Now in the Pioneer Auto Museum in Murdo, SD

Forgot to mention I tripled my money when I sold it to the Museum for $180!

Edited December 31, 2023 by SMB (see edit history)

[Gary_Ash]

In my senior year of high school in 1961, I bought a very used 1950 Ford convertible from a kid in the neighborhood for $50.  I think every fender, hood, and door was a different color, including brush-painted green zinc chromate primer.  I covered the worst colors with gray primer, later painted the whole car with forest green using spray cans.  The flathead V8 engine was great, but something was misaligned with the clutch and gearbox so the synchronizers went out every couple weeks -  I got good at rebuilding the transmission.  The top was rotten, so I took one off another Ford in a junkyard and nailed it on.  At the end of the summer, I sold the car for $75.

 

 

About 1980, some family friends offered me a free 1968 Mustang convertible.  I went from eastern Mass. to the NY metro area to pick it up and drive it home.  It had no muffler and no floors in the back seat area.  Those were easy fixes and I drove the car for a couple of years.  I forget how I got rid of it. 

[JamesR]

I bought a running driving '68 Dodge Charger for $87.50. Actually, my brother and I each paid $87.50 for a total of $175. It was rusty with bondo, and barely ran, but it did run. This was back in the early '80's.

 

I thought  we held the record for the lowest priced running non-gifted Dodge Charger of that gen, but recently I saw on the youtube channel "Uncle Tony's Garage" that Tony bought one for 20 bucks back in the day. People forget how common, beat up and even undesirable these cars used to be in the eyes of the general population.

 

Speaking of my brother, he bought a two door '55 Chevy for $60 in 1969 - his first car.  It had dents and a straight six, but he drove it to high school. Same deal as the Charger: once tri-fives got to be 10 - 15  years old and well used, they lost most of their value to most people.

[PONTIAC1953]

Not long after I bought my 1953 Pontiac Chieftain Custom Catalina in Santa Monica in 1973 for $150.00, one of our neighbors passed away, he had bought a 1956 Chrysler Windsor Newport, and he had been in the process of customizing the car by removing the outside door handles, well his widow and their son didn't drive or have license to drive, two weeks had passed since he died, and there were two parking tickets for street sweeping day, Monday one side of the street, Tuesday the other side, I asked the widow what was she going to do about the car, She replied if I would go downtown Santa Monica and pay both $5.00 parking tickets and bring her back the proof they were paid, She would consider that the price for buying the Chrysler, So I did, I had bought the Chrysler for just $10.00

[JACK M]

First car, a 53 Studebaker, ten bucks plus two more to transfer the title.

From age 15 or so until I was well into my twenties there was a wrecking yard near me that usually has $35 cars, running.

I bought many of these clunkers and made profit on all of them. Most sold for a hundred.

Don't ask how many or what they were as I will not remember them all.
Had to be at least a hundred of them.

[Fargoguy]

I’ve had several free or nearly free parts cars over the years, but my under 100 vehicle was different . Our small town fire department had an old Mack pumper that I hadn’t seen for a few years, so I asked one of the town councillors about it and what its status was. He called me the next day and told me to bring him a loonie( Canadian 1 dollar coin) . I did and he signed me a bill of sale. I took a battery and one of the techs from the garage I worked at over to check it out. It wa in an old storage barn just west of town. I installed the battery and we did a cursory check of fluids, hit the starter and it was running! Next we checked if it would move, it did, and it had brakes, so he drove it out and headed back for our shop. We checked it over better, bled the brakes and changed fluids. A couple of months later I drove it the 300 miles to where it is now stored and used regularly. 1961 Mack C125 pumper. This was 10 years ago

[Barney Eaton]

Lots of good stories....... all my cheap purchases were running vehicles, 

around 1959 purchased a 1933 Plymouth coupe for $60 and put a chevy V8 in it. 

In the '70's people were almost giving away Corvairs.... purchased a 63 convertible that needed a differential for $40

In the '80's I purchased a 1968 Corvair that had been rolled but it was complete and I needed a windshield...paid $75

Sold the interior for $150 and I got the windshield I needed. .... still have the 140 engine, differential, and transmission.

[TTR]

I don't recall ever buying any specific vehicles, modern or vintage, for less than $100, but have been offered many for that, i.e. less than $100, or free and turned down most of them.

I've also given or offered several (vintage) cars or lots of (good ?) parts for them for free, but not all were accepted.

 

OTOH, I've bought numerous vintage cars for less than $500 and many of those have been reasonably good, running/driving examples, but I really didn't start buying/selling/owning vintage cars until mid 1980's.

Edited December 30, 2023 by TTR (see edit history)

[31Buick96S]

1974 Mustang II Ghia, V-6 with a four speed. Paid $75 for it, put a $30 alternator on it and drove it to work for 2 years. Ended up selling it to a guy at work for $300 when he wrecked his truck.

[28 Chrysler]

I did not mention that my $35 1962 Plymouth I had and sold it for $75 was found on the street and the police called to tell me to move the car.

The 3 spd transmission stuck in 2 gears  because of a worn shifter, the title was in the glove box, I drove it back and again sold it for $75.

 

A $150 1966 Comet Calienta, I again bought once and sold twice I got anther call from the Police for the third time on this car to move it.

While I was bringing it back in the first 1/2 mile the front of the hood tilted up and the dash and floor went down I knew I was in trouble.

The sub-frame rotted off the firewall. There was a good 4 inch gap at the bottom of the fender and tranny fluid leaking from were the driveshaft should be.

I called a bone yard and they picked it up on a flat bed and gave me $35 for it

 

[Leif in Calif]

My first car (1966): a '59 Hillman Minx convertible. It had been sitting for a while and needed brake work, but it was $50

[keiser31]

 A buddy called me one day and asked if I wanted an old Dodge truck. I zipped over there to see this 1965 Dodge A100 stepside shortbed 1/2 ton in his driveway. The instrument cluster was hanging out, the carburetor was missing and it had no brakes. I told him I already had too many PROJECTS, so I left. He called the next day and said to come back and see it. He got it running!. WHAT? Sure enough, it was all put back together and running (rough, but running). I said OK....what do you want for it? He said just take it. It's in my way and I have to get my school bus out of my back yard. So....I got under it, replaced a brake hose, bled the brakes and drove it home! It had a blown muffler on one exhaust pipe and a glass pack style muffler on the other exhaust so it sounded REALLY loud. I drove it for a few years and finally got something better and sold it for $400.00. It had a pair of vise grips on the shift rod and one on the driver's window winder post when the guy drove away with it. I kept it running better by cleaning the spark plugs once a week and rotating them. I would go over the railroad tracks in town and the bed would shift over an inch or two. I called it the TUG truck because of the TUG on the license plate and I mounted a tug boat bank on the hood just for fun. What a truck.

[Marty Roth]

1956 and delivering newspapers on three different routes. A customer couldn't pay the $0.37/ weekly charge, but when the tab got to $15, she signed over the title to the derelict 1932 Chevy 5-window coupe. Within a couple of hours Dad (and I) got it running and driving, and I was sill three years away from being a licensed driver. 

 

1959 - A friend's Mom and dad had previously given his older brother a new 1956 Dodge D-500 for his graduation from Rutgers. His old red 1949 Pontiac convertible slept in the barn for nearly three and a half years until I visited and noticed it. A jumped battery plus $75 and I drove it 60 miles home from the Jersey shore to Linden. Ity had absolutely no canvas for the convertible top so we dressed warm. My brother held a flashlight on the dash because the dash lights were out (later cleaned the wires on the headlight switch rheostat) so we didn't risk speeding. A junk yard almost new convertible top, rebuilt clutch-pressure plate-throughout bearing, and a pair of Pep Boys Recap tires, and I was good for a summer in the Catskills, playing trumpet in a band at a resort hotel before starting college that fall.

 

1963 - $5 for a non-running 1953 Sears Allstate (Vespa) motor scooter. just needed a woodruff key to lock the flywheel and timing. Drove a complete lap of the USA that next summer, earning expenses along the way by taking my trumpet, tux, sleeping bag, and Musicians Union card - calling ahead for work in several cities as needed - (NJ to Maine to Oregon & Washington - then gave up on the Al-Can Hwy so drove the PCH all the way through WA, OR, CA - started for the Baja, but somewhere beyond Tijuana, I realised not speaking Spanish was a major problem. I scootered back across the south, crossing AZ, NM, Texas took forever, and then was amazed by New Orleans (didn't get back there until 1968). Back in Jersey around late autumn, and having skipped a semester at Univ of KY, I enrolled at Monmouth U at the Jersey shore, changed majors, bought and sold a $249 '56 Bel-air convertible and a $525 '58 Impala convertible, and got into sports cars with a 1956 TR-2, learning very soon how to replace  the 1st/reverse idler gear which went out every time I autocrossed.

 

A mistaken and misbegotten example of a relationship put me back into an oil-burning $15 1960 Rambler American, and only my trumpet case could hold the driver seat from constantly reclining while I tried to drive. Replacing piston rings in the horribly grooved first two cylinders cured its 15 miles per quart of drain oil and I later sold it to a neighbor for $300(?). He may still be driving it if the trunnions haven't failed.

 

Several others at slightly higher expense, including a $60 TR-3A in Fort Wayne back in late 1970, but I dumped it almost immediately with a very minor profit.

 

It has been a journey, an experience, and built some really funny memories.

[Gunsmoke]

During my third summer job during university days in 1966, I was working as an Instrument Man (surveyor) on a large construction project, and the guy I was replacing was heading back home and did not want to take his car with him. I was driving a 1960 Ford Consul (paid $400 for it in 1965), and he asked me if I wanted to buy his car. "What are you selling"? Well he said, its a 1950's Karmann Ghia souped up with a Corvair engine conversion. come to the parking lot for a look. Sure enough, it had been properly modified, with a conversion kit that enabled mating of engine to VW transmission, and used a Chevrolet starter. "How much do you want"? How about $100, I'm flying out tomorrow. Deal. 

 

As you might expect, the KG was about 400 lbs lighter than a Corvair, and the engine upgrade boosted horsepower from about 50 to 80. The great little car would really run, and I drove it through 1969 when my Dad pulled the engine for a refit. Always thought I might buy one again some day. 

[Dave Gray]

On 12/30/2023 at 12:21 AM, Chry54 said:

first car a 1954 chrysler windsor convertible. car was in the last line at  used car lot.the junkyard was across the street and the car would go there next. it was still there because it had a flat and the owner had not fixed it to roll it across the street. price was $25 so i offered $15. offer accepted. i then had him take off $2 for the flat. the top was shot and the car was full of snow. i got the snow out, put a battery in and drove it home. this was 1966. today i own a 1954 chrysler windsor convertible. guess i never forgot that car.  capt den

 

On 12/29/2023 at 11:17 PM, ramair said:

My first vehicle I bought was in 1971, it was a 1936 GMC pickup in pretty reasonable condition, it was missing the front axle and that’s were my story begins. I knew the owner and when I approached him on selling it he told me, son I already sold that pickup for $35 and the new owner came and took the front axle off and said he would be back for the rest real soon, lucky for me I asked how long ago that was.  He thought for a couple of minutes and said it was shortly after the War.  He then smiled and said  “I recond 

he is not coming back for the rest” . So I asked him what would he take and he said the other guy set the price, I could have said that he bought a whole truck and I am getting one without a axle, but I didn’t, I came back the next day with $35 and a tow truck, finished in 2021 and you know in that fifty years I must have spent 100 times the purchase price🤫💰💰💸💸💸

I have owned a few cheap cars that I bought for little or no money, mostly while working in several junk yards in central Florida in the 60s, but I have never had such a great outcome as your GM truck. Congratulations.

[Leif in Calif]

13 hours ago, Gunsmoke said:

During my third summer job during university days in 1966, I was working as an Instrument Man (surveyor) on a large construction project, and the guy I was replacing was heading back home and did not want to take his car with him. I was driving a 1960 Ford Consul (paid $400 for it in 1965), and he asked me if I wanted to buy his car. "What are you selling"? Well he said, its a 1950's Karmann Ghia souped up with a Corvair engine conversion. come to the parking lot for a look. Sure enough, it had been properly modified, with a conversion kit that enabled mating of engine to VW transmission, and used a Chevrolet starter. "How much do you want"? How about $100, I'm flying out tomorrow. Deal. 

 

As you might expect, the KG was about 400 lbs lighter than a Corvair, and the engine upgrade boosted horsepower from about 50 to 80. The great little car would really run, and I drove it through 1969 when my Dad pulled the engine for a refit. Always thought I might buy one again some day. 

I've seen this conversion once or twice. One thing that makes it slightly more complicated; the Corvair engine turns the opposite way to the VW. 

[JACK M]

1 hour ago, Leif in Calif said:

Corvair engine turns the opposite way to the VW. 

Learn something new every day.

[carbking]

As a young man, I was fascinated with British sports cars; it wasn't until 1979 that the "buy American" bug bit me.

 

I bought, fixed up, and flipped several Triumph TR-3's and Sprigets, many for $10~15. each in the mid-1960's.

 

Probably the deal that most here will appreciate started with a nice 1953 XK-120 drophead for $500, that had just been serviced. The following week I bought a running 1953 XK-120 roadster for $100, and the following week bought a non-running 1953 XK-120 fixedhead for $75.

 

Dad used to tell me I had champayne taste, and beer income, and he was right! It didn't take long to determine that, even if I was able to buy these cars, I couldn't afford to own them,

 

The first clue was the first oil change on the drophead. It had the "S" engine (similar to the "M"). The crankcase held 19 quarts!!!

 

Second clue was a broken transmission mount ($100. at the local dealer!). This in 1967.

 

Soon after, Uncle Sam called. Moved the 3 cars to my folks place for safekeeping. When I returned from Asia, they made a down payment on my house!

 

No regrets!

 

Jon

[Ed Luddy]

Oh boy, I've had so many sub $100 cars in my youth a lot of them were forgettable, so yes I can't remember some!

A few will always stick with me.

My 1st= 1957 Meteor Rideau 500 2 door= $50

My 2nd Mustang a 1965 coupe= $60

So many Canadian Pontiac's from 1962 to 1966. All sub $100

A 1950 Meteor club sedan that I got for my $35 1963 Valiant, a half pack of Export A cigarettes, and $15.00. It was one of my best deals as the Meteor just came from Saskatchewan (very dry, little rust) to Nova Scotia where all the cars were rusty including my Valiant.

[TexRiv_63]

I've had a few under $100 but the best was a 1966 Mustang coupe for $30 cash. 6 cylinder automatic, barely running. I rebuilt the carb, tuned it, put a muffler on, did a little body work and flipped it for a surprising profit.

[brasscarguy]

In 1959 my father was told about a model a touring for sale.  The car was bought new in Seattle and shipped to Alaska, where it was only driven in summers when the family was there for their summer vacations. The total mileage of 4500 miles. 

They brought the car back to Seattle in 1955, and parked it in a garage. The car was for sale for the outrageous price of $50.00. He had to sign a note that he would never sell the car to a young kid to drive or hot rod. The woman owner did not want any young person to drive the car due to the antiquated brakes.

Once the paperwork was done we put a battery in and drove it home. We still have the car now showing about 15,000 miles. In 1959 it was in a fire and burnt to the ground. We restored the touring car to a 100 point car and my dad and mother drove it to Reno from Seattle in 1980 for the 50th anniversary of the 1930 production year.

 

It is my wifes favorite car, beating out, a vintage Ferrari. '41 Cadillac convertible sedan, '29 Cadillac dual cowl phaeton, to name a few cars in our collection.. 

Our family has enjoyed this model a for well over 75 years.

 

brasscarguy

[Harold]

I've had a number of cars in the $0-->$100 price range.  These are the ones that stand out in my memory:

1971 Ford Pinto   A local gas station told the owner that the car needed both an engine and transmission.  I bought it from him for $25.00, the same as a junk yard would pay.  I found the culprit was a missing 3" piece of vacuum hose that connected the intake manifold to the transmission modulator.  Replaced hose, drove for several years, sold for (I think) $675.00

1978 Toyota Corolla  Free.  Needed alternator.  Replaced it then sold car for a modest profit.

1968 Pontiac Catalina convertible with factory red paint.  Got it at a Federal sealed bid sale for $41.50, beating the second highest bidder by 54 cents.  Sold it to a guy who swore he was going to restore it.  I later found it stripped and abandoned in a vacant lot.  Sad.

1951-1952 Plymouth  several cars over the years, varying conditions but all under $100.00

1976 Chevy Chevelle bought to flip for $50.00

1967 Olds Delmont 88 convertible My friend's uncle's car.  Bought it for $25.00.  The car needed left front hub/drum.  Bought one at a junkyard, installed in his driveway, drove home.  I bumped into the buyer about 10 years after I sold it to him.  He fully restored the car, dismantled and stored a parts car for it, and moved from Staten Island, NY to Florida, then north again to New Jersey.  He told his wife that if he had to choose between keeping her or the Olds, he'd keep the car because it was around longer!

 

[Studemax]

I was 13 and bought my aunt's trashed '58 Ford Country Squire for $10. Drove it around the farm and worked on it for 5 years before selling it to a salvage yard for $50 without ever getting it tagged.

[mrspeedyt]

I forgot about the 52 Buick super two-door hardtop I bought for $25 back in 1975 and the 52 Hudson hornet four-door sedan about for $100 with a blown head gasket in 1972... I think it was.

[mrspeedyt]

1 hour ago, mrspeedyt said:

I forgot about the 52 Buick super two-door hardtop I bought for $50 back in 1975 and the 52 Hudson hornet four-door sedan about for $100 with a blown head gasket in 1972... I think it was.

 

[jimy]

I bought two $50 cars in my youth.  
 

First one was a 1968 VW Beetle.  It was a little beat up but not bad.  It ran fine (although it had that VW semiautomatic transmission).   I did some bodywork and had a neighbor spray the paint.  Then I got seat covers and a few other things from the mighty JC Whitney catalog.  It looked pretty good and I sold it for a bit of profit. 
 

The first car I put on the road was a 1975 Saab 99.  Good for a few years until the transmission shaft broke.  So I drove around the back roads and spotted another 99 in someone’s yard.  I got that for $50 as well.  It wouldn’t go into reverse, but I just needed to solder an end on the cable that let you put it in reverse.   I drove that car for several years.  Then I did a dumb thing.  I did bodywork and then painted it.  Soon after that 2nd gear went out.   Not a big problem for a cheap kid.  Then 3rd gear went out.  Well, the jump from first to fourth was too much so it was done.  If you know how the old Saab transmissions were below the engine, you would understand why I didn’t fix either Saab. 

[Lee H]

I’m not surprised that there are so many responses. I’ve always believed that some of the best mechanics are those that couldn’t afford a new or even decent car, and learned the trade out of necessity. Later they go on to become old antique car guys hanging out at the forum🤭

[Grimy]

2 hours ago, Lee H said:

I’m not surprised that there are so many responses. I’ve always believed that some of the best mechanics are those that couldn’t afford a new or even decent car, and learned the trade out of necessity. Later they go on to become old antique car guys hanging out at the forum🤭

And that's the truth!  Five of us teenagers in the late 1950s had POS first cars and only one of us (not me) was mechanically skilled.  When one of these cars would break down, all or mostly all of us would collaborate to diagnose and repair.  We all learned a lot.

[Grimy]

Here are a few from the early 1960s, so set your inflation calculators:

 

* 1947 DeSoto Suburban 8-passenger with roof rack, $75, needed only a battery.

 

* Summer of 1962 a friend and I bought a 1929 Ford Model A Tudor wearing 1940 plates, and the other contents of the detached single-car garage, for $25.  Years of household detritus was stuffed on top of, under, and alongside the car, to the extent that we had to remove a side window to enter, and it took 3 days of emptying before we could move the car itself.  We sold the magazines, newspapers, and coins for $350.  The Model A was faded but always garage kept, had 58k miles, and you could close its doors with one finger.  We installed a used battery and used tires, drove it all summer, and then placed a for sale newspaper ad for $325.  The afternoon before the ad was to appear (too late to cancel), the car developed a rod knock.  At the curb, we dropped the pan, found the offending rod (#3), determined there were no shims left, filed the cap by trial and error without benefit of plastigage, and had it running again without knock by midnight.  Sold the car quickly with our famous 30-30 guarantee (30 seconds or 30 feet, whichever comes first), and the buyer drove it home -- and never complained.

 

* December 1963:  Found an ad in a throwaway newspaper offering a 1934 Chrysler CA 4-d sedan, garage kept, 65k miles, not running, for $75.  Heirs said it had been running but fuel pump had quit a few months prior and they couldn't find a replacement.  I flat-towed it home 40 miles with the DeSoto Suburban.  Found a rebuilt pump on an old parts house shelf for $2 and had the car running 30 min later.  My family sold it with my permission while I was in Vietnam in 1967.

 

* June 1964:  Elderly maiden lady around the corner from my parents' home died, leaving her very decent 1936 Buick 40 4-d sedan in the tiny single-car detached garage.  She had been a customer on my paper route a few years before, but hadn't been able to drive for about 3 years.  I asked neighbors who was handling her estate, and they told me Bank of America Trust Dept in downtown Oakland.  I called Trust Dept and asked for person handling Ruth P's estate.  Said I'd like to place a $25 bid on the 1936 Buick.  Three weeks later a young man from the Trust Dept came to my parents' home, accepted my $25 cash, and signed over the title.  It was a struggle to get the brakes released to remove the car but I soon had it running.  It had 102k and used a quart of oil every 50 miles but reclaimed oil was available for $1.29/GALLON at Grand Auto, so No Problem.  Drove it all summer and sold it for $160.

 

Impoverished student that I was, what I MISSED, for lack of funds, was a 1938 Lincoln Zephyr convertible sedan, faded paint and canvas but running well for $750--which might as well have been $750,000 to me in those days.  And a 1931 Buick 90 7-p sedan, with inexpensive repaint, for $200.

[Packard enthus.]

HUNDRED BUCKS OR LESS?

This presents a "generation gap" issue.   Why?   A little explanation to give you younger folks a better understanding of what has been avail. over the years for a hundred bucks

 

Because...well....a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks...? Nope....think REAL VALUE/PURCHASING POWER.   What the "powers-that-be" LIKE to say to disguise what they've done to us....they call "inflation".   Not true.  What they've done to our purchasing power... our American dollar has been DEFLATED in its value....

 

To give you a example SOME of you can relate to, when I bought my '34 Packard Super Eight (a good running car I went to my first year of high school in)   I did pay a hundred bucks for it.  How much did I REALLY pay...in REAL MONEY?   Well...in that year...a U.S. Post stamp was three cents.  At three cents for ordinary mail, there was sufficient purchasing power in that three cents the U.S. Post Office was doing fine.  Now, in our bright new year of 2024,  they are LOSING money at over fifty cents a stamp.  

 

My best guess is the twenty five bucks I paid the following year, for my '38 Packard Twelve, was the equiv. in today's money/purchasing power, of around five hundred bucks.    Pretty steep  (did I over-pay..?) 

for a then 18 year old car with a bad battery, bad tires,  and needing an engine overhaul.

 

In 1950 I went with my dad to take delivery of his new Buick Super.  If memory serves, that was about a grand.   How much in that DEFLATED currency is a mid-price range Buick today?

 

So - let's keep some perspective....and be prepared...at the current rate, it won't be long with what happened in Germany as the 1920's drew to a close....(you needed a wheelbarrow full of Reichsmarks to buy a loaf of bread....!) 

 

Not to worry....I kept that Twelve...pulled the engine out  - (the rod bearings were fine)....did the valves, new rings....honed the bores.....so far, so good (the picture below is it last summer with my wife and I, storming thru a high mountain pass in the Colorado Rockies....during a CCCA tour....!

[kidd65]

In 1964 I was 17 years old when my dad told me about a cook at the local greasy spoon who had a 1950 Ford 4dr for sale for $15. It was missing a battery. I bought the car and bought a used battery for $2 and drove the car home. I sold it a few days later for what must have been around $23 (I forget the exact amount). I thought I was a genius.

[28 Chrysler]

In the 60s & 70s I was given several cars.

The 62 Buick Special that had the wrong wheels jammed on it.

A 63 Rambler American 2 dr that a towboat cook hit the wrong petal while a bit drunk drove it in the water and got the dist. wet.

A nice 1964 Dodge Dart 440 2 dr that was low on tranny fluid and hardly moved.

2 Corvairs that had oil leaks and no heat.    unbelievable?

In 1974 there was almost a recall on 1959 & 60 Caddys for the Pittman arms. I was given a 1960 Coupe DeVille that was sitting in a truck stop parking lot, loss of steering.

I guess I was the go-to guy for getting rid of cars in the small town I lived in.

 

[mrspeedyt]

just remembered the white 1967 Oldsmobile toronado after I saw it abandoned on the side of I-40 outside of Williams, Arizona around the early eighties  and then saw in it again in the storage yard of the Chevrolet dealer in that town. I waited for the abandoned vehicle sale and the Chevy dealer said just pay the tow charge and it's yours. The tow charge was like $46. I took the battery out and recharged it and put it back in the car and it ran just fine. I kept it a few years and then sold it to a friend of mine that needed transportation. he loved that car! (another car that I wish I kept!)

Edited January 17 by mrspeedyt (see edit history)

[31nash880]

1968 Cadillac Eldorado convertable.  Bought for $50.00 out of cow pasture 

Sold for $500.00 at stop light have way to the shop will no idea what I was going to do with it. Buyer needed the chassis. 

[Mark Gregush]

Bought my 1946 Dodge one-ton short flatbed from Don, one of the farmers up the road in 1973 or 1974 (17 at the time) for $75. Had bought it new just after the war. As it was my first car (truck) I wish I knew what happened to it after I sold it. Was going to community college and needed something that got better mileage.