Good lord. I have more into new tools to build my truck, than most people say they have into their perfect vehicles altogether! Truth be told, I wouldn't be able to build the truck without a place to do it, and that cost a couple hundred thousand dollars. Ugh, why did I even reply to a silly post like this. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em? Oh well. Ben
Absolute cheapest HAMB related I guess was a '39 Hudson Opera Coupe. Still had the crystal bud vase in the back, and original mohair interior, original ghost grey paint, a '57 Pontiac rear and a hurst SBC motor mount 30bucks at the wrecking yard. The future Mrs ****** towed me home with the Merc ( a 75 dollar car) on a Thursday evening. We slammed a 283/powerslip in it that we pulled from a friends wrecked hotrod belair. A freebee for favors. Had it running and driveing on Saturday afternoon. Drove it a week and sold it for 150.00 we made money. The guy still has it, only changes T.Greek pinstrips and several sets of tires. We strew it together in 1970. Those were the days. I'm in the Pusher pretty cheap but the total is not for the viewing public I may want to sell it someday.
Hemi powered '46 Ford coupe. I couldn't have had over $350.00 in it. But those were 1960 $$ and that would be $2217.86 today according to http://www.westegg.com/inflation/
this is a loaded question, I've owned over 160 cars 28 trucks and 16 motorcycles not counting all the $50. cars that I drove till dead and never spent a dime on. (that seemed to be a common price till the mid 60's) my current project I'm in $830. and it runs and drives but not on the road yet
HAHAHAHA. I'm calling ******** on HARRISON. I know what you paid for the Model T that you dumped in my driveway. Hell folks, I just bought two leaf springs and a set of shackels $148. $20 of that was shipping. I'll give the UPS guy a blow job when he drops them off, so that will knock $50 off the total cost. Then I'll sell the packing material to my grandma for her to use as insulation in her meth lab so there's another $15 off the total cost... ...but I'm still at a loss.... ..... I'm really trying to figure out how you guys are getting so many great deals. (oops, I lied....I just can't stop myself from being an ***hole.)
my first car 1963 ford ranchero, (rebuilt motor by previous owner) damn solid car and good driver $450. (totaled by a guy who ran a red light) my third car 1963 ford falcon futura (rebuilt motor and trans by previous owner) even better driver drivetrain wise. $500 (totaled by a lady who decided to make a left hand turn infront of me) my current driver for past 3 1/2 years, 1963 ford ranchero original 260 V8 car. 302 motor and AOD trans (added by previous owner) runs like a champ and is a damn solid car $800 (totaled by a lady who also decided to make a left hand turn infront of me/i'm still negotiating this one).... so thats 3 falcons/rancheros that were/are driven daily through the streets of Los Angeles for the small price of $1,750
Skill and being in the right place at the right time will get you great deals. Sometimes, it's selling off parts of parts cars you bought specifically to build a car out of, though, for example, at the Gr***roots Motorsports $200X Challenge, they've specifically limited that to selling off only half the value (i.e you can't buy a $500 parts car for the engine, then part out $750 worth of stuff you're not using off of it, and count a negative $250 towards the budget, even if you might do that in real life). I paid $150 for this 4 handle Falcon in '97, paid $160 for the 4 tires, $20 for the trim rings at a swap meet. Paid $15 for the lowering blocks at the swap meet, $30 for the unique U bolts to put the lowering blocks on, $45 for the material to redo the door panels, $20 for the upholstery dye to paint the seats, carpet, and dash pad, $3 for the spray can of black for the interior metal parts, $3 for the spray can of white primer for the roof, and $200 for the tinted primer/reducer that did the outside of the car, and about $50 for tune up parts. So, not quite $700.
its going to take 4k by the time i just redo my car, that was running/driving to get it to where i want it...at least. I already put about 1100 into it and i still need tires, steering, fuel tank, gl***, top kits, steel/matierial, driveshaft and body work and paint and the MOST expensive........ NUTS AND FRIGGIN BOLTS! -Rob
I'm calling ******** on this whole stupid thread. This is the most useless **** I've ever seen. Newbies pondering how cheap they can build a rat rod. I think Caffeine is trying to point out the fact that a decent ride is going to cost some $$ to get on the road and I believe he is correct - but I don't even care enough about the topic to discuss it... For God's sakes, go build something people. Tingler, you go paint something. JH
Good Gravy Man! I'd wear something other than a bullseye paint job on those cars! Perhaps painting your next one "SAFETY ORANGE" and putting those big airport beacon lights on it . . . Ouch!
Who said I was building a rat rod? I had lunch with some fellow KC HAMBers and thought it would be a great topic after listening to the stories of trades and other crazy things. We all have to be a little loopy to play with old cars . . . right? I think the next thread should be "And then how much did your cheap car go for on EBay?"
I may have posted this before,... this project was built on a tight "shoe string" budget, this was my oldest son's shop project his senior year of High School,this project as you see it in the second picture was just under "A grand". And this ain't no ****, the wishbones and axle was ground, sanded and polished ( He was hoping to reduce the cost of eventual plating, not done yet) and yes he hit my parts pile for the A rear spring and 35 rear bones but everything else came from swap meets, junk yards and the local steel place....... unfortunatly it is still not finished, and sits as it looked in the last picture, well maybe some day he will finish it. ( thats when it will get expensave ) At school with his teacher,...... At the M.I.T.E.S. compe***ion 2-1/2 weeks later,... ( this is how it sits ) (Wait a month or so to see what my youngest son is up to !)
It's not useless. It's good to remind people that we are in this hobby to play with cars, not just finding creative ways to rid ourselves of disposeable income, and that this can be a hobby you can have fun in without breaking the bank or killing the family budget. No one says you have to cheap out on things, but these are reminders that you don't have to have CEO levels of income to have a fun ride. You can have a family, meet your responsibilities, and not have to fork over $20-30k to $100k just to have a fun car that you can enjoy cruisin' in. What do you call a "decent ride?" Something like my last Falcon or the current one which will be under $2k to have fun in? Or a $35k '32 5 window? Are you implying that it's only "decent" if it represents a bunch of money spent on the "flavour du jour?" That sounds like "street rodding" to me..
There are two schools of opinion about this subject: Those that think you can build a fun HAMBy car cheap, and those that think you can't and call ********. Some build a car from cheap parts they find. Some find cheap parts and build a car. It's all how you look at it. I am building a decklid for my coupe from a discarded aluminum construction sign. Will it be cool? I think so. Will you call ******** when I tell you how much it cost to build my coupe? I don't give a ****.
Cheapest car ive ever built and am still building is my 71 buick skylark sedan. $1300 into it so far. went thru the motor with new bearings, oil pump, new intake, carb rebuild, hei, Headers, all new bushings, coil springs, shocks, carpet, and put in a set of nice bucket seats. Car only has 89k original miles. i put 6,000 of those miles on my self. Great running car. After i find a posi to put in, i'll go back to body work.
all of my cars start out cheap and end up expensive. i just can't bring myself to half-*** things; the junkyard and swap meet "bargains" i bring home invariably cost more money to rebuild than expected. what really kills me is that the guy behind the counter at napa doesn't seem to care how cheap people build things on the internet.
I love a well-built project that comes in under budget. Clark’s 999 Special is a great example. A neat car that was ALSO built on the cheap. Those are rare though. The little orange Falcon pictured earlier in this thread is the neatest car in the whole damn thread. I like it a lot. I love a Deuce 5 window too. These threads usually turn into a “mine was cheaper than yours” ******* match though. By the time it is over someone is bragging about the $1300 “Roadster” they built using a discarded mail Jeep, a Corvair engine, & 4 sheets of 4’x8’ polished diamond plate. None of us are trying to spend more than we have to. Having said that, I’d rather take 5 years to build what I really want than build something that falls short in half that time.…. JH
My 50chrysler! $350. from the original owner in 1968,$600{roughly}for engine overhaul in1973,$40 for "messican blankets"seat covers,FREEBEE wood panelling from remodel of living room for door panel backer and $26 for "utillity automotive"carpet to cover them with,$75 for the rattle cans I painted it with this time around,tires =free take offs from other people,tubes were $80 for all four{price ****ing sons of @%&#*}, I think theres about $10 worth of epoxy filler inthe steering wheel resto. And $250 for the wireing kit and misc. connectors,bulbs and sockets. Total of $1431.00! It really helped to start with a car thatwas a driver and had been in the family for nearly 40 years!
OK im goning to be serios 1961 caddy $2200(bad trans) sold stock drive train -$525 78 cutluss $300 got motor 260 trans rear end brake booster wiring s****ed cutless -$125 friend was getting s-10 repoded got its air ride for free sold viair comp -$100 york engine driven compresser free 77 thunderbird a/c new carpet $20(speaker box stuff) john der green and white $50 hose,belts,bolts,ect maybe $100 to be fair thats $1900 ish traded it to grumpy for a daily driver
Tingler the Hudson in question was built in about 1970. I got a deal on the body because I knew the guy with the wrecking yard and the 283 cost me nothing but a favor from a fellow Cambuster. I don't know what counts as built either, the 283 was one I had built for the other guy from an old wrecked vette (same wrecking yard) the powerslip was original in the belair. I guess the car was OK the dude that bought is still has it and told the kid all he's ever done is general maintenence, although I seriously doubt it has ever been his daily. I thought that the question was "ever" built not last week or my first ride that I built after joining the HAMB in 2005. Could I build the same car today for that money? Not likely, it was the only '39 Hudson Opera coupe I have ever seen. If I ever did see another in any condition I wouldn't expect it to sell for less than a grand and probably 3 times that. As for current I don't know what I really have in the Pusher. The mill I built back in the 90s from pieces and I already have some use on it prior to buying the truck from Rockey, the ****** didn't cost me a dime. I did buy about 300 dollars worth of tires and a set of headers and some mufflers. Some gauges etc. I was in about a grand at HAMB Drags #2. Swapped in the motor and ****** after that but not counting the motor and ****** that's currently in the truck with the bits n pieces that go around it I'm still in for less than 1,500. granted its not considered cool by most of you, but its mine. And if I were coherced(sp?) to sell this week the price tag would be high.
Thanks! Hopefully my "new" one will be as cool (just a slightly different color, and maybe shiny) Agreed. But when you build a number of cars, sometimes you want to simply have a fun one. That Falcon, if you got close, had 80 grit DA sand scratches under the primer, 'cause I did the whole paint in an afternoon. I had a more expensive, shiny "finished" car at the time, too. And my current one is being done quickly, on the cheap so I can have something cool to drive while I work on the more expensive "everything is done right" car. On that car, I'd be upset if things weren't done right, but on the Falcon, I'll be just as happy if the door rubber isn't replaced, or the underside's still dirty, or the bodywork ins't perfectly straight, or if it's just a cheap seat cover tossed over the torn up old seat, etc. It might be "falling short" by cruise-in standards, and definitely by car show standards, but it, like the orange one, is to say "f*ck it, let's get out and drive," and keep my enthusiasm going for the one that is stil in the garage getting done "right." And hopefully still get thumbs up from the general populace (while not driving a generic Camry or something) and older rodders.
Hell Tingler, Unless you look better than your picture in your avatar, the UPS guy might add $50 bucks to the total! You notice I'm not posting how much I have stuck into "Lulubelle". Stock '54 dodge pickup, junkyard 383 with bolt-ons (tunnel ram, cam), rebuilt 727, custom headers. And now, a rev limiter and parts to repair bent valves and spun bearing. Ouch. Somehow, I've now got the car equivalent of a $2500 Pentium 3 computer. It was low buck (about $3800) until it broke.
I bought this 1942 Ford PU for about 900$, had it for six months. Started to look at my other projects, and decided to sell it again. Put it up for sale for 1.500$, sold it a week later to a guy who really wanted it for 2.300$ He actually bid himself up when talking to me on the phone!
funny you say orange My Old Buick, you'd think people would notice my car when i'm traveling in a straight line and they decide to make a left hand turn infront of me =)
my cars have all been decently cheap, but my 29 sports coupe im not settling on **** with, i want ALL the parts I wanna run, no ********, nothing newer than 57, and i have about $4800 into it now, and its a pile of parts, LOL.... granted, VERY cool, somewhat rare parts... but i have everything shy of a few brackets (lets say $300 hahaha, WAY too much, but **** it over exagerate), clutch/pressure plate ($400), and brake rebuild type ****... also included in this budget was payin bobby bleed to make me one of those cool frames he does up, and i will also be paying him to do some roller work on it cause i have no 220 wirin in my house, and no trailer etc to get **** around, let alone someone with a shop that would let me sit it there, LOL... all told, i figure on $7-8k total when on road, the way i want it, not wanting to replace ANYTHING.... although i may drop another couple g's and rebuild the 303... in the fall... anyways, WHO CARES, lol... it will be worth more than that, and it wont be for sale for a LONG time... 50s cars can be done cheap, but cool hot rods are hard... sure i could have used the A frame i had, kicked it up, used a 305 we have sittin here that runs, used a rear end or two i can get for free, used a $20 cowl and made the rest of the body, but i want somethin trad, period correct, somethging too many cars are lacking these days IMHO
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