Friend of mine in college, had a cherokee with a 'blown head gasket', I took it off her hands for 400...
hossed the hell out of it for a year, sold for $1600
(repair cost: bottle of seafoam, new O2 sensor after seafoaming)
Guess there is an upside to scumbag mechanics eh?
20 years ago I bought an '85 CRX while I worked at a new car dealer for $500. It was traded in because "the clutch was going" and the wipers didn't work. I bought a new wiper link from the Honda dealer and adjusted the cable clutch. Then I had the detail guy buff it out for $50 and I started driving it to work. The dealership owner was pissed, and kept trying to buy it off me so he could resell it. I wisely held on to the car for a few years and eventually sold it for $2500. That car was awesome. So much fun to drive and over 40 mpg was terrific.
I bought my '93 MX-3 GS with the intention of using it as a parts car for my Protege. I think the MX-3 is one of the ugliest mass-produced cars of the era, so I didn't feel the least bit bad about pulling it apart. Besides, the owner said the engine was locked up... When I was looking it over, I noticed that the intake hose was disconnected between the MAF and intake manifold. I pointed it out to the owner and he said his mechanic friend had removed it when trying some troubleshooting. I didn't think anything else of it.
My girlfriend and I towed it home and I popped the hood before pushing it off the dolly. I connected the intake hose and jumped the car with my '78 99. It started right up. I drove it off the dolly and put ~40 miles on it over the next two days. It then got broadsided by a backwards Grand Marquis. Totalled. ~$2000 profit and I still got to use the seats, control arms, wheels, steering rack other bits that I had originally wanted on the Protege.
Bought a Valiant that the owner was going to sell to the junk yard because he couldn't start it. Button mising from the push button transmission control. Got one from the junk yard, free. A little TLC and I had a cheap DD.
Bought a non running 94 Grand Marquis in MI, picked up and towed it home after parting with a princely $350, in 2004.
Got it home, checked the electrics, no spark, nothing t engine at all, climb under dash to check key it engaging electrics and I spy this toggle switch, hmm, it couldn't be, sure enough turn the switch on and the engine starts. The wife drove it for 3 years then sold it for $650 after overdrive went bad.
The kicker is the guy had the car for 10 years yet he didn't know there was a kill switch....really, really.
I suspect in a lot of these cases, the owner no longer cares what is wrong with the car. It was probably the fifteen things that went wrong before the current problem that pushed them over the edge.
The company that I worked for in '97 had a '90 F-150 that stopped running...I offered 500.00 for it, bought it,popped the hood and put the distributor cap back on.
Still have it.
JFX001 wrote: The company that I worked for in '97 had a '90 F-150 that stopped running...I offered 500.00 for it, bought it,popped the hood and put the distributor cap back on. Still have it.
And do we know who removed the distributer cap? 
got a 97f150 for 1500 in 2000 because it ran terrible would barely idle. (the maf was disconnected inside of the airbox)
I bought an 84 Chevy pickup with a seized 350 engine for $250. Turns out it was a bad starter. The seller just assumed that because the starter wouldn't turn the engine that the engine had seized. Rebuilt starter, $35.
I bought a 73 AMC Hornet Sportabout wagon for $1500 with (get this) 7400 miles on it. The owner got an estimate from a shop to "get it running" and it scared him so he sold it. $5 of gasoline in the tank and a quick squirt of Ether and it was running. I did have to extract a mouse nest from the air cleaner.
My brother-in-law has a 9.9 hp Johnson outboard. It wouldn't run one season. He got an estimate from a shop for almost $600 to rebuild the carb and do a tune-up. I pulled the cowl and airbox off and saw the problem. A critter had left a walnut in the throat of the carb.
My friend grabbed a Camaro rolling chassis for $300 and I snagged a 2.8L/700r4 combo that ran but smoked a little that I found for $50. New valve seals and it quit smoking. Nothing like a 3rd gen Camaro for under $400
Although I have to admit, I tore down a fresh Caddy 500 because it wouldn't turn over. I thought I had some clearances wrong.
Turns out I just forgot the engine ground strap. It was trying to ground where the tranny dipstick tube was touching the firewall. Burned a nice hole in the dipstick tube too.
bearda wrote: I think there needs to be the alternate "I thought it was an easy fix, but three years later it still isn't right" thread for those that took a chance and lost.
I bought a dodge neon for a $2500 about 10 years ago. It "ran a little rough". I was almost positive it was just a bad motor mount that was causing vibration. I test drove it and it ran fine minus the vibration. I replace the mount and the vibration got much, MUCH WORSE. About 10 miles later the clutch cable gave out. I had it towed back to a shop and told them to fix it for me. They call me the next day and tell me "You need to come see this." That is never what you want to hear from a auto shop.
It turns out that the PO had swapped the stock flywheel for an aluminum one, but he had bought the wrong one. Instead of making a return, he decided to drill new holes. Flywheel vibration killed the clutch, which snapped the cable.
Sold the car to a guy in Jacksonville for $600. I was so eager to get rid of that damn car I trailered it to him in the middle of the night when he agreed to buy it sight unseen.
I think I had the car a total of 3 weeks...
At a swap meet I bought a 1978 Honda Express that was in great shape but had defeated the owner as to why it would not run. As I was poking around with it, a 6 year old girl who was playing with my sister in laws little rat/dog suddenly got up and walked over, grabbed a phillips screwdriver and jams it up the tailpipe!! Turns out that her Dad had let her help him prepare for the swap meet by poking the wasps nest out of an intake manifold the day before. 5 adults watched as she carefully poked and dug out the dirt daubers nest.
Scooter started on the first try, so I asked her how much I owed her for "diagnostics and repair"
I happily paid her $20 asking price. Sometimes you just have to pay for expert help!
egnorant wrote: At a swap meet I bought a 1978 Honda Express that was in great shape but had defeated the owner as to why it would not run. As I was poking around with it, a 6 year old girl who was playing with my sister in laws little rat/dog suddenly got up and walked over, grabbed a phillips screwdriver and jams it up the tailpipe!! Turns out that her Dad had let her help him prepare for the swap meet by poking the wasps nest out of an intake manifold the day before. 5 adults watched as she carefully poked and dug out the dirt daubers nest. Scooter started on the first try, so I asked her how much I owed her for "diagnostics and repair" I happily paid her $20 asking price. Sometimes you just have to pay for expert help!
HAHA. That is the best story I have heard in this thread.
My coworker sold a Bronco II to his friend for $50 because the engine was blowing massive smoke and had blown up.
The friend replaced the oil pressure sending unit and had a nice little truck.
Bought a 1994 2 dr Impreza AWD for $900 with a floppy crankshaft pulley. A tube of loctite made to repair worn keyways has keep it running nicely for the past year.
I bought a Suzuki GS500e with a bad motor as a project; the owner said it had dropped a valve and that looking in the spark plug hole he could see the valve. Well, as with many projects it sat and sat... then one day I saw a good motor on Craigslist in Lake Orion, MI and I was going to be near by, so I picked that up. Then it sat and sat some more. My daily rider GS500e needed tires so I swapped the set. I was tired of the noisy aftermarket exhaust on my bike so I swapped to the factory exhaust from the project bike. Then one day I saw someone wanting a project bike locally, so I offered the whole shebang to him for what I had in it. He bought it and a week later called me to tell me that the bike was fine, it was just a locked up starter. D'OH! Turns out the valve the previous owner could see was just an open valve because he caught it in the wrong part of the stroke.
Oh well, I got a good set of tires and a factory exhaust out of the deal for free so I did okay. The one I felt really bad for was the previous owner, he obviously loved the bike. He never found out about it.
92 Jetta recycler ad says bad auto trans $500
email reply was "it stopped moving and made a bunch of noise-I towed it to A*mco and they says it needs a new trans meet me there w $400 and its yours"
And I needed a parts car, so I did-car was so clean I bought it instantly
Checked it over, found passenger inner cv joint loose and hanging-the bolts were catching on the flange when it turned, making all the racket. I left it in drive, grabbed the employee (the guy was paying $95 for "diagnosis") and asked if they had started taking it apart-he stated they did not touch it. I had both of them help me push the car to the parking lot to "wait for my tow" and I bolted the axle back in, warned both of them that someone is going to be upset in a minute, and drove off....quiet and shifted great.
Got home to numerous voice mails (answering machines-remember those?) from previous owner, shop manager, shop owner....explained to everyone what happened, and how it was fixed so easily-the owner of the shop asked me what the car was worth ($2500+/- at the time) and he gave the owner of the car $2k cash to not sue (per owner of the car)
Cleaned it up, replaced 2 tires and put it on autotrader for $2850-the first person who showed tried to lowball me using the ad from when I bought it (in last weeks recycler) telling me it was only worth maybe $1200, since one with a bad trans is only $500-had to bite my tongue to not tell him it was the same car :) next person drove off after leaving me $2600, and I kept the Sony CD player-changer combo for my daily
so I always laugh a little when I hear "double a......"
curtis73 wrote: I bought a 73 AMC Hornet Sportabout wagon for $1500 with (get this) 7400 miles on it.
So it was only moderately rusty, but not yet completely dissolved, then?
A guy in my apartment complex had a CRX that had some stuff done to it, but he said it needed a pressure plate. It would run, but wouldn't go into any gears, and when it did, it didn't go anywhere. He told me I could take it for $500, but I BSed and didn't end up getting it. A couple weeks go by and I see him working on it, and I offer to help him. He said he was pulling the trans, so I proceeded to help pull the axles. When I got under the car I saw that the axles were'nt all the way in the transmission, so I popped them back in, and now it runs and drives. Not only save money, but also saved all the time we would have spent pulling the trans.
I got a Fuel Injected '75 VW Bug for free that wouldn't start. I spent an entire frustrating weekend troubleshooting it before I discovered that '75s had a seat belt / ignition interlock. I buckled the driver's seat belt and it fired right up.
Woody wrote: I got a Fuel Injected '75 VW Bug for free that wouldn't start. I spent an entire frustrating weekend troubleshooting it before I discovered that '75s had a seat belt / ignition interlock. I buckled the driver's seat belt and it fired right up.
No. Oh damn I think you take the top prize in this thread.
I once bought a 72 RX-3 in 1984 for $300 that "needed a clutch" lady had just spent $300 at her mechanics to get it to run smothly (replaced every thing sparkplugs wires 2 distribitor caps all rotors and points, all filters etc...) said it was going to cost $300 to get a new clutch.
I towed it home and found the slave cylinder on the floor, thought it can't be just that? 30 min and $14 later it ran better than any car I have had. ran that car for many years.
I should have called and told her to get a new mechanic.
I once bought a '91 318is for $400. Went into 1st, 3rd, 5th. Drove it home to my parents, right up onto the trailer, where it sat in a storage lot for a year since I lived in Wyoming. Broke my back, was at my parents, and the PO wanted to buy the car back. I had my dad take me over to see the car, threw a battery and some gas it in, played with the shifter linkage(i forget exactly what was wrong), tightened the belt, and sold it back to the guy for $1600.
Clean car, too. Kinda wish I would've held onto it.
$400 RX7 previous owner installed battery backwards, later sold the RX7 for $1500.
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