how did you find your classic car?

hey guys, once i pay off this credit card later this year im going to be buying a classic car as described in one of my previous threads. and was wondering how most of yall have found the cars that you have. my goal is to find a car that has most of the body and motor work done and finish it from there(and maybe with a hope and a dream it already be bagged), as ive learned with my past three cars that this is where most of the money is spent repairing/restoring the car. i would say as a starting figure i would have 7500-10k cash to spend on the car for initial investment. i did find the classifieds on here and there are some great cars but im the type of person that likes to see the car in person local before i buy the car and traveling to all the different states could eat into my car budget. would you say that you found it just driving around, on craigslist, on ebay, classic autotrader or even local carshow(or are the carshow prices slightly inflated due to environment). one example is that since im in central FL, the turkey rod run in daytona is a great show to go to.

thanks

 

my first car i found while lost driving thru a neighbor hood,my 2nd and 3rd were in the paper,my 4th was in the auto trader,my 5th was at ecology,my 6th and only car i still have i got free by word of mouth from a friend of a friend,,,good luck in your search,you never know where you will find a car,but it pays to check out all the options out there.i hope your search leads you to the car you want

 

I found my newest project by asking every swinging pud I saw; hoping to get a connection and I finally did.

 

If you open enough barn doors..........

 

After working at the same place for 18yrs now guys come up to ME and ask "Hey, you buy old cars don't you?" And my same old reply, well I'm not really looking,....but watcha got? Now I have to look at a '64 Dodge 330 on Sat.

 

My dad found my car when he was golfing the guys garage backed up to the 14 hole my dad saw it called me and the rest is history.

 

I found mine in my girl friends dad's garage. He told me a price and I bought it.

 

Was in Auto Trader magazine , back in 2004.

 

in a state of disarray!

 

ebay. It was about 70 miles away with one day to go and under $1k. I contacted the seller and went to look at the car. The only bidder wanted it for the a/c, dash, and front clip but it was a great driver. They did not want to see this car get destroyed. I won and, to the confusion of many, saved another more-door from certain death.

 

Ebay on Friday night, bought it the next day at a local show. The damn thing talks to me........( real dirty if you know what i mean )

 

i started looking for mine when i was 15, had to be a 2 door. A friend of mine found my 57 in a local classified paper, got the guy down from $4000 to $3300 borrowed the money and drove her home.

 

A guy named Craig. He has a list.

If you let enough people know what kind of stuff you are lookin for, one of them will happen across it and let you know. Or they might have one they want to get rid of.

 

KIJIJI for us up in Canada !!!!!

 

found mine a some guys yard, Im working on finding the guy so I can buy it

 

My current car, a 1937 Terraplane, is one I found through the national H-E-T (Hudson-Essex-Terraplane) club, back in 2004. I had been looking for a '37 two-door specifically. My Grandparents moved my mom and her sisters and brothers, one dog, and a small u-haul trailer all the way down Route 66 to California after the war. That, and the fact they were probably the best-looking car Hudson ever produced, made me want one.

I traded a beautifully restored 1968 Chevy C-10 pickup for it. Basically, it was a rolling, painted, running car with no interior, glass, wiring, or trim on it. Got it all put together and it is now a great-running and looking Terraplane. The car was about two hours away. He needed a nice DD, and I wanted the TP, so we swapped.

 

Back in '87 my dad had retired and decided to spend his time fixing up other people's cars. So this guy brings him a '56 Dodge Royal Lancer, and it's lookin' bad. Dad made all the patch panels, even rolled the lips on the wheelwell patches. So Dad gets the car done and the guy picks up his car. 2 weeks later Dad had a heart attack from which he never recovered, died about 2 months later, so the Dodge was the only car my Dad ever did. I never saw the car again after the guy picked it up.
15 years later there is a 2-line ad in the local Advertiser: 1956 Dodge 2-dr hardtop, a price and a local phone #. I thought "What the Hell, ya never know" and called the guy. He told me about the car, and then said "It was restored about 15 years ago by John Fornataro". I bought it over the phone.
When I went to get the car it was only about 8 miles away and the guy still had Dad's hand-written work estimate and a bunch of "in progress" pics of my Dad working on the car. I drove it for a few years with the red & white paint Dad shot on it, but it was getting bad and flaking off so I went my own direction with it.
And there is the long-winded story of how I found my car. Thanks, Dad. Thanks, karma.

 

Craigslist. Saw that it said possible trade in the add. On a whim I emailed him. Turned out I had a 4x4 and he needed a 4x4. Traded a run down 97 GMC Yukon for a very nice 66 Chrysler Newport, straight up.

 

WOW, you're going to pay off your credit car debt AND save up $7,500+ dollars for a car?? Good going!

I was told about my '47 Oldsmobile convertible by a friend of a friend. It was not for sale and took me two solid months of convincing the owner I was the right next owner of the car. Truer words have never been spoken by be. Ask anyone here.

 

My neighbor gave me netty

 

Found mine when a friend of friend told me his mom was selling her bel air for 2 grand!!!!!! I bought it right away

 

nice 56!!!! not muchcooler than a girl driving an old car.....

oh and here's a good place to start looking for a classic....
http://www2.jaxed.com/cgi-bin/mash.cgi ......

 

In 1990 I took a job that had a company car so I sold my own driver. I still wanted something to wrench on so started looking at Vettes and any Chevy from the 50's. My 58 Belair coupe jumped off the pages of the Old Car Trader. The friggin thing even winked at me...I swear! Home she came.

Best advice is to take your time, get the word out, hit the swap meets and every car show and cruise night you can. Patience and a little focus on what you really want.

 

Found my 52 about 5 years ago listed in the local trading paper. It was listed as a 1953 Pontiac for $500 I called about it and the lady on the phone told me it was in great shape so I went over and looked at it. I knew from first sight it wasn't a 53 since it had a two piece windshield. Wasn't in great shape either haha, but I liked it and bought it and still have it today.

 

Some of them I looked for, and some of them found me.

 

eBay and FordBarn

 

I found my 56 fairlane ( first car) when i was 15 at pamona swapmeet and my other 4 projects i found here.

 

Neighbors field, under a tarp.

Also, talk to people. I tell damn near everyone i meet that i like old cars. Thats how i got my 29 sedan for $100

 

yeah ive learned over the years that when your lookin for the vehicle you cant find it, but once you buy it, what do ya know, they are everywhere.

 

found my latest on ebay...basic build done but with a ton of stuff to correct, but most of the $$$$'s had been spent- just required a small fortune and a ton of time to finish