To all the naysayers, "Challenge Deals", or...

"One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure" or "I Went To The Dave Hardy/Hong School Of Wheels".

Pick which ever title you like, but this is a thread for all the scrutineers that pop up every year after the Challenge issue comes out and claim these kind of deals don't happen.

If you follow the Classifieds, you may have noticed a thread where velocecrat was selling some new 13"x10" Diamond Racing wheels. I was very interested, but very poor. Being hopeful that I might find a pile of money somewhere and somehow magically end up with the wheels, I sent out an informal request for some wide 13" auto-x tires on our local club mailing list. A local auto-xer responds, he's got a set of 21.5x8x13 Hoosiers with 6 or 7 events on them (he gets new tires every season) that he'll sell for $50, and he could bring them to this Sunday's auto-x. I was already half-planning on attending, so I asked him to bring them along in case I ended up with the wheels. So anyway, back to the wheels. I get a bit more serious about them, and find out the seller has a 924S he's building into a track car. I offer him pretty much any of the parts I have laying around that will fit it, and he says he could use the transmission that I have with a broken ring and pinion to build a spare out of. So Saturday night around midnight I check my email at a friends house, hoping for more progress on this deal, and find out that, going against the judgment of his friends, he agrees on an even trade! Not only that, but he's going to be in Greencastle, IN until 10 am (9am my time). So I go home, take the dogs out, dig the transmission out of the garage (where it's been buried in the corner for the last 8 years), roll it to the driveway on a skateboard and throw it in the trunk of the E30, and set my alarm for 5am. It's now 1:30 am and I'm going to bed. So I wake up, drive to Greencastle, and make the swap without a hitch. Steve is a super nice guy, and we stand around and BS about cars for a few minutes before I head down to the auto-x.

So in the end, I traded a busted gearbox that I was planning on either scrapping or giving to a local Porsche guy for two brand new 13"x10" Diamond Racing wheels. I've figured my budget on the wheels to be $23.97. I drove 202 miles out of my way at 25mpg, and gas was $2.41, so that's $19.47 for gas and I figured FMV on the transmission that I planned on scrapping would be $4.50, since the local scrap yard pays $.045 a pound, and the trans weighs about 100 pounds or so. Pics to come.

Here's the original classified thread: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/200x-classifieds/fs-pair-of-new-13x10s-on-4x100-bolt-pattern-cheap/11308/page1/

Sorry for the long read, but it came together too perfectly not to share.

I believe you, for the same reason I saved the thread where I got my tires given to me by a fellow GRM reader

Situations like this happen all the time..

I Paid $20 for this Rust Free 92 civic CX with no motor or trans.. Yes a Rust free canadian car. I was able to take the suspension off with hand tools (my compressor was pooched that weekend)

Car $300 Sold the snows on it for ($250) Sold the Ebay coilovers that were on it for ($30) Found a Garmin GPS under the seat with a bad usb port. soldered in a new port and traded it for a Carbon fiber (ching Chong china)

I don't believe you. You just fabricated this whole story to make it SEEM like you got a good deal, but you're making it up. Good deals like that don't exist!!!

The deals are always out there, just a matter of skill, luck, timing, and sometimes eve a silver tongue to get them. Sounds like the stars aligned for this deal.

Bryce

My contribution:

Purchased '82 GMC Diesel One ton truck for $1,700 (I splurged...I never spend that much on vehicles).
Puked a head gasket on said truck.
Spent way too long not fixing it due to emotional blocks (also purchased a used engine for it that didn't cost me very much after selling the truck it came in).
Got a guy to trade the non running truck for a running (but VERY beat/ugly) truck and a CB750.
Sold Running truck for $800.
Traded (non running) CB750 for a racing kart this past weekend (which I estimate to be worth roughly $1,500).

Fun times!

I've written about this before - I once got a FREE 91 Civic wagon, FWD (not the wagon I have now). At the time, I misunderstood the FMV rules, and declaring FMV on the car wouldn't have left enough budget for any worthwhile mods that were within my abilities. However, it was posted on a public e-mail list, for free, that anybody could've grabbed. I was #2 to respond. #1 learned it had charging problems and chickened out. (I replaced the battery after I got it and it was fine.) Since the FWD wagons are essentially a Civic DX, any of the wacky wild engine swaps for other Civics would've worked in the free wagon, and $200x would've bought a lot of power and handling. Or how about a second engine powering the rear wheels...

Just a FEW if my car deals (and I often pay too much because I am a pansy)

$400 running driving Miata

$95 Spitfire (got it to run and drive before selling the engine for $200)

$0 Integra -sold hundreds of dollars of parts off of it before scrapping

$500 GT6-Should be able to get it to run with a few hours effort

$100 13B in good running condition

$0 N600 shell with good floors

$300 N600 complete

$380 Dodge 600 turbo (some may say I was ripped off )

<$300 Numerous first gen RX7s

$500-$1200 Many many Miatae

$275 for 2 stand up forklifts. Scrapped steel for $600

Past freebies: 1978 Cutlass Supreme:bucket seats, rally gauges, V8, rear frame rotted out. Got it from a friend when he bought a better car and knew I needed a parts car for my 78 442. I drove it for 3 months before the frame broke in half 1979 Rabbit Diesel:factory sunroof 4 speed round headlight car. Sitting in a field and the owner just wanted it gone. Drove it home with iffy brakes and a frozen front strut. Used junkyard GTI parts to restore it and sold at insane profit 1987 Buick Regal:V8 with nothing wrong with it. Guys father died and a friend of a friend mentioned I was into cars. Drove it for 2 years as a GNX clone before parting it. 1970 Volvo 142S: Found on Brickboard by another BABE member and I was the first to call and say I'd take it. Drove it home 200 miles sight unseen. Had to use a ratchet strap to keep the hood closed. Currently my BABE project/winter beater.

Sometimes its who you know more than what.

The deals do exist but you need patience.

Collecting a war chest of good trade bait is always a heads up play.

Squirrel away a couple of grand and sit back and watch the classifieds on this site alone. Within one year you can buy about 3 challenge worthy cars.