Fun day at the local tow yard auction

Lil Stampie was out of school today for Fall Break and it's the 4th Friday of the month so that means tow yard auction. 

I looked at the list online and the two main interest were an 2010 Honda Insight and a 2004 BMW 745i. I walked over to the Insight first because we know they're fast otherwise one wouldn't have won the Challenge in 2017. Plus Seth has one so who else is cooler than Seth?  

What a POS. Missing about half the trim and bumpers, automatic, and 397k miles. Ok let's pass soon that one. 

Walk over to the BMW and it's looking nice, real nice. Then I notice a side swip on the passenger side.  Ok could still be a deal. Tell Lil Stampie to pop the hood and I see a normal BMW V8. This yard doesn't make keys for the newer BMWs so it's kinda a roll of the dice on if they run. I look down and see this:

Strange the serpentine belt is coming off ... wait ... WTF the water pump shaft is bent. Confirm no water in overflow bottle and shake my head as I walk away. 

Ok looks like it's going to be a bust so I quickly check some other vehicles and walk up on a 98 S10 purring like a kitten. Jump in and it's a manual. Hit the AC button and cold air pours out. Release the clutch in first and reverse and it feels good. Damn this is a nice little truck. Needs side mirrors and a front bumper but that's an hour in the junkyard and $100. 

We walk around more and Lil Stampie tries to talk me into meth lab, missing rear wheels, got all the JDM overnighted 91 Civic Si I don't notice anything.

Auction starts and works it's way around to the S10. I start at 500 and one other dude jumps in also. Here's persistent but berk it has working AC and we're in Florida my man. I finally get him to drop out and it's mine at $800.

We go on and pay then head out to make sure the windows are up and grab the keys.  This lady sees me and ask if I'm a mechanic. I tell her no that I just do this for fun. She ask if I mind looking at this 96 Honda Accord her daughter bought. I hadn't really checked it out but she said the yard sold it as run and drives. I explain that means it starts and will move forward and in reverse. So we walk over and she says they won it at $350. I tell her that's not bad at all and glance inside to see a manual trans. Oh cool I tell her I would have bid against her if I had noticed that. Daughter freaks out saying she didn't notice that and she can't drive a manual. I offer to take their winning bid but tell the mom to buy it throw it on CL and sell it for a grand.

We are driving out and Mom runs up saying we can take the car. Park run in and pay the yard off to get the paperwork. 

Here's our 96 Accord.

Yard guy explains that they had a key but lost it so they'll get another one made before I pick it up.

Lil Stampie and I go grab some lunch before heading to the DMV. I always enjoy looking at the paperwork and seeing where the vehicles were picked up from and stuff. Looking at the S10 I see the title status as Salvage. WTH?  They didn't state that and in fact made a point at the beginning of the auction to say no rebuilt titles today. I'm thinking I'm screwed because technically it's salvage not rebuilt and that's even worse. 

After lunch we head back over there and they're cool as hell about it. Seems the new office lady didn't know to point that out to the owner so they refunded my money. 

Cool but I still have the Accord so we head to the DMV and after title and taxes we're all in at $539.69. I still have to pay the key guy but that shouldn't be over $40. 

Wow, 400K miles on an Insight. 

Yes, an Insight won the Challenge. A mid engine RWD Insight with a motor swap, half the weight and double the horsepower! 

Duuuude. 

Slap a turbo on that thing and rock gastropod. I'm serious.

Good score.

In reply to Robbie :

Shhhh ... Lil Stampie might hear you. 

Our 96 accord was my wife’s favorite car we’ve ever owned. She’s weird though, she thinks I’m neat too. 

Shame about the S10. Does a salvage title mean it can’t be registered in FL?

In reply to Pete Gossett :

It could but you'd have to do the rebuilt title process. I've only done it once and it's not hard but it's time.  It would take a month to do that when I was wanting to flip in a week or two. Because of that the truck is worth a lot less at auction ($350ish) and on the resale ($1500 vs $2000).  

The honda looks like an easy flip, no?  Clean, hood and marker from junkyard, send it off

In reply to Patrick :

That's what I'm hoping.  It won't be as easy as the S10 but shouldn't be bad.

Nice score on the accord! Being a 5spd, it really doesn't need much besides a VTEC head swap to feel pleasantly quick. OR is it already a Vtec model? There's a user here whose name i think is Beans who had a build thread on one you could look at. 

In reply to Vigo :

I don't know to be honest. We just looked it over for all of 30 seconds.  I did call the dealer today and got them to make two keys with the VIN.  That was $15 so much cheaper than the locksmith. 

Great story, Stampie!  Sounds like a fun day and a good experience for Lil Stampie.  One day he may be the only kid in his high school who can drive a stick. 

In reply to Danny Shields :

Thanks and he might be. Right now I'm pretty sure he's the only one in his elementary school that can drive a manual*.

*Yard drive and around the cul-de-sac. I wouldn't let a 10 year old drive at speed on the road. 

Decided to do a follow up on this one. I went to the next auction in November. Team Stampie decided we'd go in on the S10 but we set our max bid at $350 since we'd have to do the rebuilt title process. Local yard started bidding at $400 and it sold to them at $450. Shame a good truck will get parted out but dems da brakes. 

Tomorrow is December's auction and there's some interesting vehicles.  Going in these caught my eye.

1998 Jaguar XJ8

2009 BMW 128i

1982 Holiday Rambler

2002 Audi A4

2015 Yamaha R3

Hope is everyone is broke from the holidays and maybe I can get a tax return flip for cheap. 

Did y’all ever sell the accord? Where do you find these yard auctions? I’m in west palm. 

In reply to grover :

Actually the Accord never made it off my trailer.  I decided to save it for tax return time also.  I'll probably pull it off soon and clean it up before putting it on CL end of January.

I found these auctions all because of an E30 I'd been trying to buy for years. I just happened to see the tow truck take it as an abandoned vehicle.  I asked the driver and they said to check out their website for auction dates.  I'd suggest checking your local tow companies down there.  

If that 128i is a manual and not completely destroyed, it's worth grabbing; on the rare shot that it's a sport package car it's even more appealing. 6MT 128is are not easy to find, and if you were looking for an E30 that's essentially the same car with 30 years of updates.

I would be seriously interested in that R3. Like fly down, pay you, and ride it back to Chicago interested. 

In reply to Appleseed :

It sold for $700 no key so unknown if running. Body looked clean.  Sorry I didn't see this earlier as I would have done something for you .

 

1998 Jaguar XJ8 - Rebuilt GA title no key sold for $500 to junkyard

2009 BMW 128i - no key auto convertible with one small hole.  No sale at $2500

1982 Holiday Rambler - was a Ford so not a 454 as I hoped . Couldn't get hood open. Smelled like death inside.  No sale at $400 but bet he would have taken $300.

2002 Audi A4 no key manual looked to have boy racer mods. Mismatched fender and hood. Sold to junkyard for $450.

2015 Yamaha R3 - as stated above no key but clean looking. Sold for $700 .