CHEAP Tech...The Value Of A Donor Car!!!!

In an effort to get my shit built as cheaply as possible over the years, my most effective strategy has been to resort to using "donor cars" to save lotsa cash when screwing a ride together!

I've touched on this concept a few times in the past, but I figured I'd organize it into ONE thread for the end of Tech Week. (This has been the best five days on the HAMB in a LONG time, you guys all ROCK!!).

You can use a donor vehicle from any era to supply you with an engine, tranny, rear axle, battery, wiring, metal, bolts, bulbs, cables, hoses, belts, radiator, etc for whatever project you're working on, but I find that "forgotten" cars of the 70s make the best 'bang for the buck' values in this department!

70s cars, while smothered in smog equipment, still have familiar Chevy, Ford, Mopar, Pontiac, Olds, etc V8 engines in them with reliable three speed automatic trannys. You just have to rip off all the pollution control junk and add a few swap meet bolt-ons to your 'new' engine to make it more at home in your older rod or kustom kruiser!

Cars of the Disco Decade are also dirt cheap, or FREE most times. It's alot easier to find a rusty 77 Malibu or a smashed up old Maverick than it is to snag a whole 66 Chevelle or 67 Mustang...but you get essentially the same drivetrain from the newer stuff...just at a fraction of the cost!

To share some examples with you, let's start with a lowly four door 77 Malibu Classic. I bought this car for $200 from a friend's mother, and drove it for about a year while using it as a rolling dyno to measure the effects of various bolt-on speed parts...tweaking the 305 until it could pull honest high 14 second quarter mile ETs in this big old land barge! (See my 305 postin the Tech-O-Matic for the full scoop!).

After I'd had my fun, I used this poor rustbucket to supply everything needed to get my 70 LeMans on the road. The engine, radiator, power steering pump, headers, hoses, brackets, engine mounts, battery, and TONS of incidental parts were robbed from the Malibu to bring the project car to life!

After that, I managed to sell the front fenders, transmission, exhaust system, stereo, wheels and tires off of the gutted Chevy for a total of over $300! That's right...I not only got my drivetrain and various needed components from this old hulk...I also netted three hundred dollars cash to help me add a better shifter, gauges, and other items to the project car in question!

On top of THAT, the local scrap yard STILL paid me $25 when they hauled off the remains!

 

Now, here's another donor vehicle that I did very well with.

It was my Dad's old Maverick Stallion with a rebuilt 302 four speed. It had a VERY quick ratio, high effort power steering gearbox on it...and that was a contributing factor to it's untimely demise! My sister, who wasn't used to the car spun it into a tree while attempting to swerve around a truck! Ouch!

My Dad gave me the car to do what I wanted with, so I robbed the engine and radiator out of it for another project, and used many other components on still ANOTHER car build-up. When it was all stripped, the junkyard toted off the carcass and paid a paltry $30 for the privilege!

I kept the older (1967) Top-loader four speed out of this car, the Hurst Competition Plus shifter, bellhousing, flywheel, crossmember, clutch linkage and trans yoke for years, eventually selling them all individually through e-bay for over $450 total! Maybe shoulda kept the tranny and shifter...but I sat on it for over ten years without finding a use for 'em...so I took the cash instead!

This poor car met a tragic fate...but still managed to serve it's purpose as a free donor vehicle!

 

One more for ya...and this one really worked out well for me!

It was a buddy's 77 Grand Marquis four door with a 460 engine and C6 tranny. It sat in front of his house for months with a busted windshield (thanks to an angry stripper 'friend' of his!) and bad brakes (blown master cylinder). I had gotten a rust-free 72 Torino fastback from a friend with a blown up 429 in it, and needed a new motor for the beast.

My buddy's Mom "convinced" him to get rid of that junk Mercury in front of her house when I came to inquire about it. For a mere $50, I carefully drove the car home (minding the spongey brake pedal and peering through the shattered windshield!).

Once home, I yanked the motor and tranny from the Torino, and from the Marquis...then pushed the Marquis down to the street while I worked on the Torino. I also stole the battery, stereo, exhaust manifolds, and radiator from the huge Mercury for my own use.

A buddy stopped by upon hearing about the project, and asked if I'd be interested in selling the dead 429 and C6 tranny from the Torino. I told him to make me an offer and haul it away!

Next, another guy (who drove a cherry two door Marquis) came over to ask if I'd sell him the front clip off of my parts car. Sure...but pull it yourself, I'm BUSY was all I told him. He grabbed some tools and went to work, handing me a few greenbacks before he left!

Still another dude stops by and asks if he can buy the wheels, tires, dual exhaust and interior parts off the four door Marquis. By this point, I just said "Give me fifty bucks and take anything you want from it!". He gladly did, and went to work ripping nearly EVERY usable part from what was left of the old car!

At the end of the day, I once again placed a call to the junkyard, and they sent a flatbed to drag away the remains...handing me $25 for it! I reached into my pockets and pulled out a big fist full of money...I had been so busy thrashing on the Torino, that I hadn't really paid attention to how much I had made during the day selling stuff from the donor vehicle! I took my buddy who had been over all day helping out to our favorite local steakhouse for a feast, and still had loads of green left to finish off the Torino!

Sure, you can buy a used motor here, a used tranny there, a radiator from a junkyard, and so on...but you'll end up paying WAY more than if you just bought a running donor vehicle to begin with! Not to mention, all the little nickel and dime stuff you snag from a car before sending it off to the junkyard. (I don't think I've had to buy ANY bulbs, fuses or headlights in over 15 years...I still have a bunch left from cars I've stripped!).

 

I was wondering when you were gonna make this post.

I love donor cars too.

I had a mid 80's grand marquis. It got hit by a drunk, so i got it for 150$, drove it home. I took the 302, AOD, lots of other misc parts, and let a guy have the body for free since i couldnt get a yard to get it without having to pay them.

I am working on an engine swap right now for a customer, in a dodge van. I used the almost new tires off the parts van and put them on my daily driver, and saved myself around 300$. My buddy gets to take whatever else he wants from the van, he is gonna take the seats for a motorhome, the radiator just to save for somethin else.

I just drug these two trucks home in August. I got them both for $100. The blue one is a '73 F-250. It has a 390 engine, an automatic trans, and a working snowplow. It had a spare 360 in the bed, and a bare 302 block with a crankshaft in the bed too. The tan truck is a 68 F-250, with a 360 engine and a four speed transmission. I bought them to use parts for my other trucks, and to try to make a little money off of them. Did I mention that they both run and drive?
Both of these trucks had a snake or two living in them for a few years. I found over five complete snakeskins, one over four feet long. Creepy.

Both of these trucks fired right up after fiddling with them for 5 minutes. I will be able to part these out and get much more than i paid for them. I like parts vehicles.

 

well this pickup years ago was a result of many manufacture donor vehicles.Not just American either. I call it the volvofordchryslertoyotajeep.. Chevy pickup......from a toyota radiator to a jeep gas tank and a Volvo truck air conditioning compressor to a 1970's ford fuse box.

 

I just bought a early 80s late 70s impala for a parts car. It was sittin behind my work and I got it for the tow bill. It hit a pine tree and was left on the side of the road. NE ways i bought it, yanked the centerlines off and stuck on my Jimmy, and the motor/trans, and seats and u name it is all goin in my 53 chevy.

 

I pick up my 72 Skylark on Sunday for $100 and drive it home to the shop. I'll get the motor and tranny for the model A (i was thinking of calling it buford - but thats already HAMBers name ) and start parting out the rest of it. Put it the local rag for $100 with title and hope someone will bite .

Another one that i like is Mail Jeeps - right hand drive has a nice little box that will work for a drag link steering, straight axle leaf spring front for a gasser, dana 44 posi rear flanged axle that is nice and narrow 54"(i think), cool floor shifters, nice clean column, flat sheet metal out the wazzuu, small 3 row radiator, AMC or GM 6cyl (some Iron Duke 4cyl) with 3spd auto, small wiper motors and fleet maintenance for years.