Hot Rods What was the craziest car deal you made?

I'm a body man. 3 times I've spent a weekend repairing someones car in exchange for their spare car. drove the wheels off each one, then flipped 'em for a healthy profit

 

When a friend of mine ws first getting into R/C airplanes, he traded straight across a solid '73 Chevy Cheynne Super 10 (less engine/trans.) for an R/C airplane engine that I had. So I made the deal and took the like-new 250 6 cyl and TH 350 from a rust bucket pickup that I was driving and put them in the Cheynne and drove it all over creation for 3 or 4 years before the tranny started slipping and I sold it to get out of doing a trans. swap.

 

A buddy was working for a plumbing and sheet metal shop in the late seventies when he told me about a 56 ford truck sitting out back of the place and that the owner wanted to clean the all the junk out, so I told him to ask him how much he wanted, a couple days later he said he wants $150 bucks and make it disappear this weekend so I bought this thing sight unseen.....long story short I tuned it up on site, aired the tires up, put a gas can in the back to feed the fuel pump and drove it home 60 miles. Had that thing for years as a beater and eventually sold it for $1800 bucks.

 

helped a buddy shift houses,,, he gave me a Prefect, 283/glide, narrowed 9', drop tube front end,, and a fibre T body ,,, o and a pontiac 6/ 3speed...

 

I am well known where I live for crazy impossible deals... here are a few off the top of my head.

I bought a 72 442 for $1 (Canadian LOL) drove it home, had some fun with it, the trunk had been pried open by the previous owner, and it was really rusty, but I enjoyed it, traded it for a pretty nice 82 F150 Lariat with a 400/C6 that I drove for a few months then sold for $1000, took that money and bought tools. Not long after that I cleaned a guys house, mowed his lawn and cataloged his cars for him (he had lots of cars he figured were worth a mint, I checked and it was mostly junk) he paid me in the form of a 1960 Buick LeSabre sedan with a broken rear window and a seized engine... I sold that car for around a grand and got a 37 Ford 1/2 ton panel with crappy fenders but an almost rust free body as a partial trade on it!

I traded a Cheeseburger for a driving 1970 Datsun 510 with the IRS and gave it to my is in law for her first car instead of selling it which would have been easy and profitable. (she's in love with it and when she finishes it wants something from the 30's)

A friend bought a 38 Plymouth sedan for $800, took the clip and the engine and sold it tome for $40 as I needed parts for my 37 Dodge, I sold the car to a TV series as a prop for $150, bought it back from them for $5 at their auction after the series was done, stripped more parts off of it, sold a lot of them, then I sold it and a burnt 38 Dodge sedan to a local hot rodder for $200, he filled them full of parts and they sat at his place for years, he joined a cult and ran out on his family and they eventually had an auction, I bought both cars back for $10 each, took even more parts off of the Plymouth and the Dodge, scrapped the bare remains of the burnt Dodge for $300, sold all the stuff out of the cars that was stuffed in them for a few hundred bucks, stripped the Plymouth totally and skinned most of it for other restorations and hot rods locally, scrapped the hulk for I think $250 (scrap is very low here sadly compared to the US and the cars were full of loose crap scrap) so those 2 cars made me all sorts of money from 1995 till last summer!

Looked at a 79 Lincoln Continental (I wanted a weekend boat) and found one locally with 55 000 miles on it, the owner wanted a grand for it, he was the son of a cop and while I was talking to him I realized we had met before, so I asked him if he remembered trying to steal my bike I was riding when I was 11 and he was 18... suddenly I got the car for $150, with spare skirts and oil and filters, and I got a genuine apology!

I traded a file cabinet I found trashed on the side of the road for a 27 T roadster body at a scrap yard, they even loaded it for me! And I only took the cabinet there because it was a road hazard, I wanted nothing for it!

Got a 64 Fairlane 2 door hard-top with a tube chassis and Nascar style cage for free because I was polite when I asked about it, apparently all the other who looked at it were know it all rude douches.

Got a chopped 48 Dodge sedan for free for helping the lady who had it deal with a$$holes trying to con her out of her cars, she was driving a 67 Firebird and a 60 New Yorker at the time and had about 40 cars in her yard and people kept treating her like like she was an idiot because she is a woman... that pissed me off and I had to step in, I never knew her before that, now we are friends!

I know a couple of these are a little OT, but the stories were worth sharing in my opinion, and if someone still feels the need to whine and cry maybe they should get off the internet.

 

A buddy of mine traded a 6 pack and a switchblade for his 63 comet which he's drivon almost everyday for the past few years!

 

Looks like I didn't post this in this thread before, but last spring I picked up a 2000 Dodge minivan for $120 - half scrap per a call to the junkyard. Pretty solid, ran, had a rear heater and the metal line behind the motor rotted out. I think I had $20 in some new hose, clamps and anti-freeze, plus a trip to the junkyard to see how the lines were run on ones with only front heat. It ran and drove fine, trans even shifted good. So I cleaned it up and sold it for $1300 like two months later. Guy just wanted it out of his garage so he could park the newer van in there. Guy who bought it was going to combine parts of it with another one that got T-boned - I've no idea which one fixed which one.

Although with gas prices what they are I almost wish I'd kept it now for a beater.

That was the third car I got through that guy, too, I got his '94 Saturn free and sold it for $200 without ever taking it home, then later got his brother's '96 Ford .. some small thing like an Escort but not an Escort... wouldn't pass inspection because of a check engine light because someone put an auto trans car computer in it and it was a 5-speed. Paid $100, sold it on eBay for $600. College kid drove it to Albany and just wanted a parts car for one he had or something.

Come to think of it it's wierd how many late models I've sold to guys who just used them for parts.


I almost had a '56 Olds 4dr hardtop with an SBC cobbed in it in trade for a 55 Willys plow truck I got off a Hamb'er for $500, but my buddy lost the deal he needed a plow for. But I got the truck running, and none of his other deals have come through, so I may still get it here like a year later. I even offered to put brakes on the Willys - they're cheap - other than that it ran, moved and the plow pump worked, although it needed a generator and the throttle linkage is a little goofed up.

 

Needed a truck one winter. So i found an OT 79 3/4 ton chevy 4wd with a built 454 , the400 205 combo , 35's on wide aluminum slots and a 6 inch lift. Had all new bedsides and doors and fenders with fairly fresh paint . Owner was a little booze hound and had been getting in trouble . Swapped him my new england arms 45-70 govt rifle " $250 dollar gun" and a 1964 or so Johnson seahorse boatmotor that needed rebuilt for the truck

 

Bought a 50 F1 a little rough and in grey primer with a 307 sbc that didn't run for $500. Went to pick it up, it had an electric fuel pump that died. Cost me $29 at the local parts store, 15 minutes and it was running, drove it home. drove it for 2 years, sold it to one of my sons for $500. He drove it for 2 more years in school. He sold it to a girl for $800. She drove it for about 6-8 months and parked it in the back yard. About 6 months later I stopped and asked about the truck. Said it didn't run. I bought it back again for $100. Checked it out, the fuel pump was bad again. Replaced it and drove it home. Drove the truck another 1 1/2 years. Got bored one weekend and did a quick smooth mud job and painted it Kawasaki Lime green and put a for sale sign in the window. About 4 months later, I sold it for $2500. The truck disappeared off the face of the earth. I haven't seen it since...

 

bought a 77 Cadillac for $87.50..it won $500 at the Derby and I took it over the scales for $160..went to a garage sale and bought a nice 72 Eldorado for $125.00 because they couldn,t get the hood open..traded a 53 Mercury Woody stationwagon for a new roof on my house..

 

59 chevy apsche 3200 long bed 6 cyl came from texas . Bought from a gas station in town and he said the junk man was on his way over to get it . Paid 75 bucks for it. I saved it, put a poncho 350 in it and drove it with all my carpentry tools for 6 years it was my favorite truck to this day.

 

Soooooooooo what did you do with the load of shit?

 

I bought a '64 Chevelle SS because the tranny didn't shift. A quart of tranny fluid fixed it.

Probably one of my better deals had to do with an engine that I ultimately stuffed in a '68 plane jane torino. I had built he lower end for a boss 429, the fella took the heads to the local machine shop to be redone. the machinist trippled the quote and gave him 3 days to raise the cash when he went to pic the heads up. The fella told me I could have the entire engine if I got his heads out of hock. He didn't want the machinist to have his heads and I hadn't cheated him on the lower end.

I borrowed money from everyone in town including the baptist minister who loaned me 10 bucks. I ended up with a fresh Boss for less than a grand.

 

Bought my first car ('72 Chevelle ) for $50.
Traded a CB900 that I had Nothing in ( "Hey I got this bike and it dont run, want it" ) for my first Rod, a '38 Dodge coupe.

 

Traded a fishing lure collection for 31 chevy coupe that was a driving older restore,
lost it in the divorce

 

I paid $15 for a 55 Chevy 2-dr BelAir in 1965 because low gear was out on the powerslide trans. Pushed it to get the tranny engaged and drove it home...pink and gray 2-tone.

 

Nice thread!

 

Some time in 1967 or 1968, my dad made a DUMB trade. He traded a running/driving '40 Packard 110 sedan, a running/driving '47 Packard Clipper sedan, and a running/driving '36 Ford 3/4 ton panel truck for a running/driving '62 Renault Dauphine sedan!!!!!

To be fair, he was running a new small business and the 3 vehicles he traded had issues of one sort or another, but still.....

 

The best "quick-fix-while-the-PO-watched" story was from Chicago when a fellow Corvair Club member answered an ad for a 1960 Corvair sedan. The stoner-owner said the car would start up and then die right away. He only wanted $75 for it (this was back in the mid '70's). My buddy ponies up the bucks and then pops the engine lid and re-connects the vacuum balance tube to one of the carbs. Instant idle and all the PO can say is, "Far out, man..." Turns out the car was the oldest known surviving Corvair at the time being built only the second day of production! That car is gone now and General Motors changed the design the next year so a leaking vacuum port would not disable the engine.

 

In 1973 I traded my 5,000 mile Honda 750 K1 four clyinder motorcycle to my college roomate for his 60,000 mile 1970 Chevelle SS 454. His car had the LS6 450 HP engine and the Muncie M22 Rock Crusher 4 speed. It needed a little work like a new flywheel and a starter. The drag headers were leaking and the Mr. Gasket straight-line shifter rattled all the time. But boy did that thing RUN!

I replaced the exhaust and the flywheel and clutch and put a Hurst shifter in the car. I cruised Woodward Avenue with it a few times but no street racing. No, really Officer!

As it does happen Life got in the way and I sold the SS later that year for a whopping $2650. Since I only paid $1400 for the bike I thought I had made the Deal of the Century! Maybe not. Today's prices for a nice K1 Honda 750 are many times my original purchase price. But a numbers matching original LS6 M22 SS 454 has been known to trade for $150k. So much for my deal of the Century! Oops.

 

Not too much to get excited about but I went to a yard sale last year. Guy has a 95 Mitsubishi Montero for sale, loaded, 4x4 etc. Price is in the window on a large cardboard sign that's kinda wrinkled. Looked like $500 but couldn't tell for sure. I asked and he says $500 because the head gaskets blown, or so he thinks. Ran good. Towed it home and found out it had 5 quarts too much oil in it. Drained it off and the wife's been driving it all winter. Great rig for $500.

 

Good thread

 

in 2000 at 16 years old I traded a 40 Ford 9N tractor in need of restoration and a 80 C10 pickup for TWO 62 Impala Sport Coupes (1 was in fresh paint and all body, chrome and seats redone) and a trailer of 62 Impala parts, an 84 Blazer K5 4X4 and $500 cash. I think I made out pretty well. I took $400 of the trade money and bought a 52 Chevy Styleline deluxe with 37000 orig miles and in original paint with not a speck of rust one week later. In short, I traded a 2,000 truck and a $1,000 tractor for an impala that I later sold for $7,500 a blazer that I later sold for $1,400, a trailer of parts that I made almost $6,000 parting out on eBay the other 62 Impala was rough and was traded to a buddy in exchange for body work, including hanging new 1/4s and door skins on my 69 Chevelle and still have the 52 Chevy

 

Back in high school I cleaned out a barn for an old woman. When I was done she gave me the 1953 Chevy pickup that was setting in the barn. I had it running within a few hours and drove it just the way it was.

Also painted two rooms in a house for a 1967 Buick special.

 

Back in high school (1980s) my brother and I tried to purchase nearly every unrestored 1958 Ford in the St Louis area. We knocked on alot of doors and pulled many '58s and '59s from garages and backyards. Usually for $400.00 or less. We got a 30,000 mile tan/white '58 custom 300 sedan from a dude selling it in the paper. We went to the house and he told us it never ran since his son put a battery in it some time in the early 70s. Well, we looked at the car for a minute and we said "well take it!" I handled the title stuff with the owner on the porch and I asked if we could tinker with it for a bit in the driveway and the owner said "Good luck! You aint gonna get that POS to run...you better get a truck and trailer!" We took one look at the battery cables and saw they were installed backwards. We installed some fuses, a fresh battery, distributor/wires and carb we brought with us and poured some gas in the carb and that sucker lit right up! We got it to idle on a gas can under the hood, checked the brakes, and drove that car down the driveway having worked on it for only 45 minutes! The owner came out pissed as hell and started calling us crooks and shit. I reminded him my name was on the title now and that I didn't care about his lack of car knowledge. He had some more choice words for us as we drove away with our new prize!!!

We got countless cars the same way and flipped them real quick. In the 80s we got a red 30,000 mile '69 1/2 Maverick 6cyl once on a Friday for free (took it home on a wrecker) and drove it back to the former owner cleaned, polished and running perfectly the very next day. She told us the car was her college driver and was just parked for many years and her husband and son tried for years to get it running. Her husband was pissed when we brought that one back........

 

I just bought a '32 Studebaker Rockne sedan in big chunks out of a you-pull it yard - the hood one day, the cowl and doors a week later, today the back half of the body and some pieces. Missed the grille but I have a line on who does have it. Who the f--- junks a car there's only 200 of known to exist - between two years, three models, and umpteen body styles?

 

Traded a 10 year old 18' car hauler for a 98 dodge diesel truck that needed an IP. Put the pump on, replaced the trailer, and made $4k.

 

Back in the 50's I traded a home made go-cart for a full blown Road racing 55 Austin Healey and all related extra parts. Owner had been in a street wreck and lost an eye, end of racing career, wanted the go-cart for his son. Made the Healey streetable, drove it for about 4 years and sold it to a Austin Healey restorer for $900.00. A bunch of money in the 50's.

 

About a month ago I had a quad I didnt ride anymore listed locally for $3000.
I had paid $1800 for it and had dumped about $600 worth of parts on it.
The quad had a good bit of motor work done to it by the previous owner.

I put in the ad that I would consider a hot rod project as trade.
I must have gotten 200 calls from guys with 80's Camaros and all other sorts of crap.
After a week I got a call from a guy 80 miles away who said he had a 38 Chevy truck project.
I drove out with the quad in the trailer to check it out.
It looked pretty good so we did the trade.

The old guy wasnt much of a car guy it seemed and had the truck in his garage for 15 years.
He bought it already built and took it completly apart to make it pretty. He spent a ton of money just to realize he didnt know what he was doing apparently.

When I added up all of the receipts he had it came out to a little over $24,000...

The little small block he gave me came with over $7000 in it. He said it was a 350 but after I ran the casting and piston #'s turned out to be a .30 over 327. The heads are heavily ported 1965 327 double humps with 2.05 and 1.6 valves. Its all brand new. He hadnt even tightened the heads down yet. It has a steel crank, h-beam rods, forged pistons, ARP main studs head studs and rod bolts, and a new roller cam. The new Gear drive, roller lifters etc.. were all in the new boxes...


Of course Im already spending more $$ on it as I dont want a drag truck.
My girlfriend has decided that this cheap truck is gonna cost me $20k to build...lol

 

I bought my 61 for $100 bucks. I flipped a coin on my '54 got it for 1250 the guys original price was 5500.