Cheap, low budget builds/buys, whatcha got?

Sold my Cadillacs a couple years ago, been getting the bug again. There are still some deals out there if you're really lucky or really beating the bushes. I think a lot of us on here are in the same boat, love old cars but, a little light in the personal finance dept.

So, show us what have you bought or built for next to nothing? Pics, prices, amazing tales of bargaining or bartering, whatever you want to include. Looking forward to seeing and hearing about the innovative thriftiness.

 

i don't know if this qualifies, but heres my story about how i got to my dream project.
always wanted to build a late 20's early 30's hot rod, but like most, funds were difficult to part with, for such a "toy".
i started to think of what i had that was'nt important to me, and was expendable. my 89 jeep was the ticket, as it was just sitting in my driveway.
i put an ad on craigslist for a for sale/trade for an old hot rod. i set the price at $5000.00 for the jeep, as it had a whole host of new stuff in it. after a few days, i got someone who asked if i'd be willing to trade the jeep for a 1966 impala ss, with 80k original miles. well, this was not the car of my dreams, but i figured it would get me in the car shows, and at least open the doors to "the scene", once again. i figured i'd put it up for sale, as i drove it, and then see if i could get my "dream ride".
the car was in great shape. very well cared for, garaged all it's life. the guy i got it from was asking $8000.00 for it!!!
i got it for an even trade!!!!!! the damn thing was 18ft long!!! i named it "beheamouth".
the car had been home for about 3 days, and i just could'nt get excited about it. it was a nice ride, don't get me wrong, but not the "dream ride". i decided to put it up for sale/trade, just like i'd done before. this time it was e-bay.
i could not believe how much interest i was getting. questions every day! could it be that this was someone elses "dream ride"?
after the car had been up for auction for about 2 days, a guy from maryland contacted me, and askes if i'd be interested in a trade for one of 2 rides, he had. one was a 46 chevy turn key, led sled. nice ride, flat black, chrome engine, just needed interior work.
car #2 was, are you ready for this, a 1931 ford tudor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the "dream ride"!!!!!!!! he had copies of all the titles, as this car remained in the same family, since new!! it was passed down through generations. the car had all the original parts, except for the drivetrain. it was in awesome shape, a few rust spots here and there, but in really great shape.
even trade!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the guy was a really great guy. we have since become friends, and have plans to attend the carlisle swap meet, together. he is even helping me with the project!! not only did i get my dream ride, i made a great friend. he threw in buick finned brake drums, 2 sets of original spoke rims, a 250 engine, with powerglide trans, clifford manifold, finned valve cover, and more.
i have since purchased a 8ba flathead, for this project, with plans to keep her as a semi period correct hot rod, from the 1950's.
the moral of my story, i guess is, "where there's a will, theres a way". don't give up on that "dream". just come up with a plan, and go get it.
hope you enjoyed my story.

 

I bought a '57 Plymouth 2dr wagon from Florida for $600, cost me $650 to get it home. Used a $200 289/C4 to get it on the road. A buddy wired the car up with a brand new Painless harness, and another buddy welded up new floors with some scrap sheetmetal my dad had. It's on the road for a little less than $4k. Add up all the costs of stupid stuff like light bulbs, bolts, mig wire/gas, oil, junkyard parts, license/registration, new wheels/tires, etc.. and that isn't too bad. Yep it's a total piece of crap but it is stone reliable, and it draws a crowd wherever it goes.

 

Nice start. About the closest I've come lately to a cool trade is my buddy and I were trying to work a deal for a 59 or 60 Chrysler in exchange for a 70's lawn tractor. Only problem is, owner long dead, left on someones land, no title, land owner does not want to go thru the work to get a bonded title.

We keep hoping he'll call someday. That would be a good one, might have $200 in the tractor.

 

This was cheap, but came with no glass in it, a couple years ago. I have it tucked away gathering parts to go to open drive so I can spend a week thrashing at it and be done.


I have maybe $1500 in it, not counting things I swapped for to put on it. It was running, but the last time I tried to start it it wasn't getting gas, the new el-cheapo fuel pump might have crapped out because it would run if I primed it.

As it stands I probably could make it drivable for the cost of some brake lines and rebuilding the rear wheel cylinders, but the plan is to go to open drive, I have a T4 (yes, T4, hey it was free, I'll deal) and I'm working on a deal to get a Camaro rearend for it. So maybe $400, $500 more and the rest is just going to be the labor to put it together, put the lights back in it, the new wiring harness, and so on.

 

I've found craigslist to be a decent source of parts for cobbling together some of the late model stuff i've done. Got a 351 free with purchase of a $40 motor stand. Kind of have been looking for something to maybe squeeze that into.

 

I have a $1000.00 into this including the price of the car.

 

I have $2500.00 in this car to date including TT&L. That includes lots of scrounging, lots of freebies, lots of parts I made myself and lots of hours!! Most of the money went to buy suspension pieces, brake parts and clutch assembly parts.

 

Mine's not really a build (do a search for the classic "$5000 hot rod" thread), but I got a '52 Dodge 4dr for about $1200, did some wiring, new tires, all new brakes, tune-up, etc and it drives as reliable as my daily. I figure I've got less than $3000 in it total.

 

I've had all kinds of cheap build starts. I think it's still possible (as Chris has shown) to get a solid model a start. You can also find early '50s Chevs for reasonable prices.

My most recent purchase was a '62 Impala. It's far from perfect, but the key is I can still drive it around, while doing work on it and I'm not going broke.

 

I saved this from the scrap yard for $125 this winter.



I figured I would build a 4x4 stock looking f-1 that I could drive year round and get fair mileage.

I bought a $100 RUSTED 1970 bronco for the front axle, t-case and tranny. I traded the rear axle out of it for a 1970 f-100 axle and took the rest of the bronco to the scrapyard and got some $$ back.

I made the front axle work by using chevy knuckles spindles and brakes with 70's ford hub and rotors... got all that stuff for $100

bought 1 ton doge TRE's a chevy lift steering arm, DOM tube and a ford ball stud and had all of it modified to work for $250

I bought a good running 200 I-6 and bell housing etc.... etc... for $350.

new clutch brakes and driveshafts for $300.


SO thus far I have about $1250 in it....

Not done yet but getting there. I should be done by fall.









This pic gives an idea of the ride hight compared to my sligtly lowered stock suspension 52 f-1.

 

man, that is something. $1,000?!?! nice work

 

i got a t bucket i've been building from scratch. very slow build right now. the frame is based on the CCR t-bucket plans (though i extended the rear part). picked up a chevy 250 for 50 bucks (still had reciepts from when it had been rebuilt!), a rebuilt dana rear end cost me 20 from a friend who got it as a door prize and didnt want to drag it home, a friend donated the leaf springs (two off a 32), frame only cost me 60 for the rectangular tubing, another 60 for the round (bought extra to help compensate my buddy who did all the welding for free and hooked me up with the plate exchange for helping out on some of his jobs). gas tank out of a jeep for 50, gm column out of a AMC for free (donation from my uncle), Farmall Grill for 60, picked up a model A axle recently on ebay for 100,another ebay score was an original Corvair steering box for 50 (with shipping!). i have to agree with Drive Em, alot of money goes for the suspension and brakes, i figure another 500 or so just for the front brakes, the rest of the suspension pieces, and the hardware. heres a pic of it before i got the axle...i'll make a buildup post one of these days (or a blog....)

 

start to date, under 5k. we've put probably 1500 mi on it in two months!

 

Not as cheap as some, but I picked this '50 Coronet up right...

Lowered it, added the Buick hubcaps, covered up the old cheapo lime green paint, and drove it. Had $2K into it when I sold it...

I miss looking at it, but I sure don't miss pulling into traffic with the flat 6/fluid drive power house

 

just today I sealed the deal on an 8ba 51 flattie with a 3 speed, been in a barn for 20 years, looks great and ran when pulled! $500

and last week I shelled out a whole $300 for a 38 ford pickup, complete minus the bed and engine/trans....just 100% apart, no big deal!

 

6-8 months ago, I pulled a 36 5 window coupe out of a farmers field because he didnt want it there

 

Wow .... interesting thread, guys, ......... you've given me hope ...... I posted about a year/year and a half ago about trading off my '92 Dodge Shadow for something real (old, steel, cool, etc., ....) and lo and behold two months ago I found an ad on the 'net for a '92 Dakota for sale or trade ..... turned out the guy had just picked it up and lives 5 doors down from me !!! I no longer have the Shadow....... anyone wanna trade a mint '40 Ford Coupe for a banged-up '92 Dakota ?????

 

Just buy a mid '40s Mopar car or any 40s-50s truck body and slap it on the Dakota frame, there's a couple threads on here about doing that, some look better than others.

 

Awesome man, looks great!!!

 

I got a 53 Plymoth Cranbrook I picked up earlier this year . It's not done yet....far from it but, I'm still under grand for the car, camaro subframe, 86 chevy 305, 81 th350 trans and 70 Monte Carlo rear end. I hope to not spend more than 3k on it.

 

under $1500

 

Once again, here's my old parts chaser 66 F100(65 Grille). I picked it up about 25 miles from home for $800.00. Some guy had started "restoring" it and had taken a lot of parts off of it. I basically just started putiing the stuff back on it. I added 2 (used) exhaust manifiolds twice, new gaskets and seals along with brakes , hoses master cylinder battery and also bought an extra hood (75.00). Including the 75.00 tow bill I've got close to 1500.00 in it now. Starts every time, doesn't smoke or use any oil so far. it sure has been a coversation piece and I've had a lot try to buy it but its all I need for my uses besides if I decided to sell it I wouldn't be able to find a buyer...everybody wants it until its for sale

48 Poncho

 

Tragically I have no pictures anymore but, we picked up a 63 Willy's 4x4 wagon a few years back for $300. Someone swapped a 289 in it back in the 70's. Totally cheap almost rust free runner.

But, as those things go someone wanted it WAY more than we did so we sold it. About the only thing it needed was brakes and a patch on the floor. Should have kept it but, at that point I was into Cadillacs so, as it goes.

 

This is exactly what I was hoping to see. Built cars, projects etc for cheap and the stories of how they happened.

 

This coupe is a product of a trade.
I had a 72 cheyenne longbed with a blown and injected 377 that I built for cheap over about 5 years, totaling about 9k with wheels and paint and uphostery-done. I street raced it against a cbr6something and beat it. Went looking for some clean shorts and something slower. I found this 46 and after much work it has over 70k miles on it in 3 years. It is my daily and work car.

 

$7500 as you see it.

 

Here's my piece. I have a little less than $1300 in it. About $600 for the car (I traded parts and such), $100 into the brakes (dual M/C too), $80 port-a-walls, $500 for an engine freshening and misc. I don't have an interior but it gets me around.

 

That's it!! No others out there?

 

The mid-late sixties t-birds are some of the best deals going right now in my opinion. fantastic that your up and going for $1300.