My best one was a 75 Pinto. Bought for $150 because it wouldn't stay running. Towed home and "fixed" it by replacing a missing plug in the carburetor with a pencil. I drove it like that for 3 years and sold it for $500. I only had to replace the pencil once. 
Back in 2000 a friend told me about a Galant VR4 that had been sitting in a parking lot for a couple days. I pulled up just as a tow truck driver was putting it on the hook. I warned him that it was AWD, and he needed t
Back in 2000 a friend told me about a Galant VR4 that had been sitting in a parking lot for a couple days. I pulled up just as a tow truck driver was putting it on the hook. I warned him that it was AWD, and he needed to but the rear on a dolly. He ignored me, so I took down the tow company info, figuring maybe I could find the owner in the small GVR4 community. He made it about 50 feet. I had no luck finding the owner, so I called the tow company. No one claimed it. I bugged them for months before they sold it to me through a lien sale for $750. It turned out that the engine was recently replaced, and they forgot to install the bolts to the transmission mount. The bell housing broke, and the owner abandoned it. I was offered $7,000 for the car as it sat right after I got it home. I put a $100 transmission in it, and drove it a couple years. It's been heavily modified over the years, and is now my daily driver.
A couple more since this thread started...
I bought a 62 Caddy for $1500 because the guy said it just died one day and he couldn't get it started. When I was negotiating, I noticed the distributor cap had popped off and was crooked. After I gave him the cash and he signed the title, imagine his frustration when I put the cap back on, fired it up, and drove it home. Fix = free.
I snagged a 74 maverick for $300 because the guy was frustrated with the electronics. He had replaced the solenoid, the alternator, the starter, and the battery, and it just wouldn't hold a charge. After jump-starting it and getting it home, I realized he had put the alternator wire on the wrong side of the solenoid. Fix = free.
In my current job (tool repair at Home Depot) I have amazed people with my "talents." They pull a lawnmower out of the garage in the spring and it won't start. I pull the bowl off the carb, drain the fuel, run a wire up through the jet, put it back together and it starts on the first pull. Of course they say they ran it dry last year, or used stabilizer, then I show them the tablespoon of water I got out of the bowl.
Just two days ago I had a guy bring in a top-of-the-line Honda mower and said it won't start. I pulled the cord and water shot out of the muffler. WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE DOING? 
Another one came in... it was an old Bolens string trimmer that would only idle. The guy had bought a new Echo but wanted to fix this one to take to camp. The muffler was just packed with carbon and oil. I grabbed a drill (which already had a 1/2" bit chucked up from another project), drilled a hole in the muffler, ran great. He asked me what he owed. I told him that we charge $60/hr and this job took me 35 seconds. I said "you owe me a handshake."
This is why I love my job. I get to make customers happy by simply using my analytical brain. One thing I will say about Home Depot... they recognize customer service. No boss will come to me and say, "you didn't follow procedure," or "you should have charged him the minimum $15." They say, "thanks for kicking ass and making a customer happy."
On the mower subject:
My dad's bought 2 mowers in the past 15-20 years. Both of them have been super cheapie $150-$200 Meijer special non-powered push mowers with tiny honda motors. Never have the blades been sharpened, and never have they had the plugs changed or oil added. Best damn mowers, ever. How do I know? Because I'm the most brown out of three kids and have been delegated to being the 'yard beaner' as he likes to call me. He's white, my mom's hispanic. Only replaced the old one because my parent's dog chewed up one of the wheels in the garage while my dad was washing his Harley. That was in 2007 when they first 'adopted' him, aka, a friend of my mom's dropped him off when my dad and I were sitting around a week before I moved to Phoenix and said "Here's your new best friend." Guy gave us a cage and some food, then left super quick as my dad and I stood there with bewildered stares at the dog as he crapped on the floor.
Non-powered push mowers with tiny Honda mowers.
OK, I know.
curtis73 wrote: Just two days ago I had a guy bring in a top-of-the-line Honda mower and said it won't start. I pulled the cord and water shot out of the muffler. WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE DOING?
You can't imagine how many relatively new lawn mowers I see just sitting outside 24/7-365...
I use Stabil, but have still had to clean crud out of the carb in my mower. I just figure it's something I'll have to do every couple of years or so when it doesn't want to start. Fortunately it only takes an hour or so. A bit longer if I decide the clean the deck and sharpen the blade as well.
A few of mine:
'83 GTI, bought for $100 because it wouldn't idle. Wrapped the intake boot in duct tape and drove it home.
'87 GTI 16v. Bought it for $600 because it "needed a transmission or a clutch". Clutch pedal was sitting on the floor and the cable wouldn't adjust. I bought a clutch kit, and as I was digging into it I thought I better check the TO bearing (which is in the back of the trans and is accessible without removing it). Turns out the little lever that connects to the clutch arm that depresses the TO bearing was cracked and slipped a few splines. A trip to the U-Pull and $1 and it was fixed. I returned the clutch kit.
'90 Subaru Loyale - perfect condition. $100 because it wouldn't start. Owner had no idea why and didn't care. It wasn't getting spark, so I popped the distributor cap off and the rotor wasn't turning as you cranked it. Bad timing belt. $30 and a couple hours it was good to go. Not as easy as some, but still cheap.
Not a cheap score, but a friend of mine (NOT a car guy) had a headlight go out on his Mazda 3 with factory HIDs. He took it to the dealer and the quoted him $300-$1,200 "depending on whether it's the bulb or the ballast. They can't be tested". Completely blown away by this quote, he brought it over for me to check out. It was a fuse.
Well, I didn't buy or sell it, but I was evidently smarter than the 5 people who tried to drive it before me........'57 Tbird. 312v8, automatic. You shouldn't be able to start them in park, only Neutral. 
dculberson wrote: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.
Yup, I think this one wins.
My favorite story: this kid stopped by my place because he saw some Spitfires parked outside. He allows he has one with a bad cluch for $125 and it's right around the corner. I walk over there, it's a dark blue '72. I fire it up and put it in gear, it won't move and I hear a whir sound from the rear. I haggled him down to $100, got the title and he even threw in a battery because the one in the car had to be jumpstarted.
I grab a buddy of mine and we pull the car to my place, I jack up the rear and sure enough the bolts had come out of one of the inner U joint flanges for the swing axles. Rummaged in my junk, found 4 bolts and nuts, bolted it back up and drove it down the street. 
I did discover the front brakes were toast, IIRC I paid $70 for new rotors and pads, total investment $170.00. I flipped it quick for $900.
I bought a rusty Triumph GT6 Mk3 in (marginal) running condition. Paid $500 for it since it was a complete car.
Had it out in my back shed, which is at the bottom of a slope.
A few weeks after gettting it, decided I didn't want to do the project, so I backed it out of the shed and up the hill about 20 feet to take some pics to sell it. Then went to return it to the shed. Keep in mind the brakes worked, but the ebrake was not hooked up. I basically let it coast down the hill as I had several times before so it could get up into the shed (which has a nice lip on the front).
As I'm halfway down, I step on the brakes to slow it down and ..... nothing. Pedal to the floor. Car was picking up speed toward the shed (like 10mph, really). Put it in 1st and dropped the clutch.....slowed down a few mph but not enough. At the last moment before crashing through the back wall fo the shed I jammed it into reverse. Rear locked up, car came to almost a stop, and then a loud bang as something in the transmission broke as it softly bumped the back wall of the shed.
Sold it 2 days later on CL for $500 with the broken tranny. Also pulled a few nice parts off it before selling it. So I bought the car, broke it, and sold it for a minor profit :)
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