Junk Cars

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D_gamer725

D_gamer725

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DodgeViperRocks
Who here is actually planning on getting a junk car as their first car of anytime in the future? I know I am. I've heard so many success story from people who bought a junk car. There was some famous car restorer who had got a beaten up mustang for Christmas, he didn't even touc it at first but eventually he went bac to it and made it into one bad machine. As I was looking at Pinks on Channel 99 (Cable), Some guy said he bought his car for $25 and turned that thing into a ten second car (Speaking Of which, A ten second car is a car that goes 1/2 a mile or 1/4 a mile in 10 seconds. I forgot). :drool: In addition to tha, I'm a fan of muscle cars so getting a junk car is already a dream for me.
 
He didn't turn it into a 10 second car for 25 dollars though, did he?
 
Hey, as the owner of a $1000 car, one that really hasn't proven too much of a hassle, I could say that you could have a reliable daily driver for a grand or less You just need to find a vehicle that's simple and reliable, not a tightly sprung sports car. You also need to look Very, very hard at it, research, find common problems, avoid copius amounts of rust...but that's part of the fun.

Also, would avoid most of the two-door musclecars from '71-earlier, look for a four-door car. These are much lower in price, came with some of the same engines, and will accept just about any motor the two-door cars will accept. Also, to aviod, unless you're gonna just redo everything, is the mid-late '70s emissions-controlled Carburetor V8 engines. Can you say Vacuum lines? restrictive exhaust? guzzles gas?

Personally, what would I get? (According to your preferences?) A late '60s Dodge 4-door, perhaps even a former police car. easy way to get into Mopars cheap. granted, probably more than a grand for one that's worth driving daily: If it's under a grand, you're gonna have to settle for an undervalued mid '80s Japanese subcompact.
 
He didn't turn it into a 10 second car for 25 dollars though, did he?
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He said bought the car for $25. But didn't include the price of anything else, plus I didn't see the condition of the car before.
 
In the UK there's a guy who coined the phrase "bangernomics" for this practice, and wrote a book about it. Buying a dirt cheap car and risking it costing virtually nothing to run over it's ownership, and even selling it for a potential profit.

I guess the sorts of cars available for virtually nothing are different in the UK than in the States, but the guy I'm on about was buying things like old Saabs, Mercedes and Volkswagens for between about £100 and £750 (roughly $190 and $1700, ish), running them for a year or so, then moving onto the next one. When he was lucky, he would literally have to pay for fuel and the obvious tax, insurance etc and that was it. When he was unlucky, the car broke down, but at the end of the day he'd only paid £100 or whatever for it anyway so he just bought another and he'd not lost much money.

You need dedication for it though.
 
cheap runarounds are great, a potential risk but if you check it over first and the owner isnt some kid thats driven it hard then you can be onto a winner. plus bits for older cars are cheaper, and dont require a 'specialist' to change a bulb. also if your a dab hand at welding and fixing things you could pick up an mot failure, as long as its rust or minor fault related of course. certain cars are going super cheap, especially unwanted models or from owners who dont have a clue, a mate sold a perfectly fine volvo for £200, and my faultless rover only went for £400, my dad nabbed a £100 range rover that just needed a new battery, bargain!
or even free cars! i spotted on freecycle a citroen xantia, and a mini offered with just a few rust spots no chance of a loss at all
 
We ran a couple of bangers a while ago before we had kids who actually need to be at places. Our best was a 1988 Renault 5 Campus. Bought for £300, we ran it for two years for a total (excluding fuel) of two grand.

If you get a good car, it's a great way of getting around.
 
Me and some buddies got this for $25, our budget is $2,000 for everything to turn it into a real performing autox car. Shouldn't be too hard :lol:.

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Thanks, most of the exterior pieces came with it so that shouldn't be a problem but we need suspension, steering, wires, and a drivetrain. The interior will stay gutted aside from a racing seat and a couple gauges. We are still uncertain on what engine to run but we are hoping to find a PT Cruiser somewhere we can cannibalise everything from, although my vote if for a Honda engine. The only problem is we will be classed weird for autox.
 
D_gamer725
Some guy said he bought his car for $25 and turned that thing into a ten second car (Speaking Of which, A ten second car is a car that goes 1/2 a mile or 1/4 a mile in 10 seconds. I forgot).
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And it was going so well till then....

A friend of mine bought this for under 1k
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In about 2 weeks (or in a week hopefully) it will be making around 700bhp.
 
LOL. as a graduate of the school of Bangernomics, having had 12 of em, I've had em all.
 
M5Power
Good luck - I'd be blown away if any insurance company will touch that.
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It has a real title (not a salvage one) and a matching VIN number, that's all that insurance companies require to my knowledge. It shouldn't be to hard to get a PLPD on it. We just need it insured so we can drive it to autox.
 
Joey D
It has a real title (not a salvage one) and a matching VIN number, that's all that insurance companies require to my knowledge. It shouldn't be to hard to get a PLPD on it. We just need it insured so we can drive it to autox.
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It has a legit title?!?! Hahahahaha

Yeah in that case you can probably insure it. But if you wreck it, never file a claim. The adjuster will very quickly realize what you've pulled!!
 
M5Power
It has a legit title?!?! Hahahahaha

Yeah in that case you can probably insure it. But if you wreck it, never file a claim. The adjuster will very quickly realize what you've pulled!!
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Yup it has a legit title to it, the guy we bought it from bought it new in 95 and basically drove it into the ground. It then became a parts car for his spec Neon that he raced. He cannibalised all he could off of it and wanted to dump the shell. It was cheaper to sell it to us for $25 then it was for him to haul it away.

Like I said, we are only going to drive it to near by autox's and nothing more. If it wrecks it will be a write off.
 
Joey D
Yup it has a legit title to it, the guy we bought it from bought it new in 95 and basically drove it into the ground. It then became a parts car for his spec Neon that he raced. He cannibalised all he could off of it and wanted to dump the shell. It was cheaper to sell it to us for $25 then it was for him to haul it away.
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Fair enough. Seems like a hell of a (long-term) project. Screw autocrosses, you should try to make it into a 10-second car... except go by the OP's definition of a 10-second car: the HALF mile in ten seconds!!!
 
Well we do have a Chevy 350 sitting around in the garage that needs a bit of work, but I'm sure with a 9" rear end, a huge blower, and maybe some slicks we'd be in business :lol:.
 
Mid-engined, former Neon dragster. Yeeikes. I'd forget the Chevy mill, though, get a crate 572 Hemi...which, actually, would be even more yeeikes.
 
Joey D
Well we do have a Chevy 350 sitting around in the garage that needs a bit of work, but I'm sure with a 9" rear end, a huge blower, and maybe some slicks we'd be in business :lol:.
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Haha - do it - this would be hilarious.
 
As fun as that would be, we are still doing a 4 banger in it, probably from a PT Cruiser if we can find one. If not, finding a Neon block would be the easiest thing in the world to find. They are everywhere in Michigan and should be really cheap. I want to do ITB but I'm not sure how difficult that will be.
 

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