Hell, just talk to people sometimes. I got my truck for $400 out of a friend of a friend’s yard. Was hanging out with my friend when he came by looking to get help from my friend or his father because he and his son couldn’t figure out how to make this truck he just got run (mind you the guy with the truck was in his 60s or 70s). So we go over, my buddy runs a wire to prove the truck runs and we leave them to figure it out.
A year later, I decide I want that truck, so I ride by his house in the car I bought for $750 (needed air conditioning work and the guy decided to sell it rather than fix it. Found that out via the shop my father worked at) and the truck is still sitting in the same spot, so I put out word that I wanted it. Bought it a few days after that, then me and that same buddy came by on Saturday, hotwired it again, and drove it out of his yard. I then found the problem all along was a fusible link I replaced for $2 at the parts store. Heard a few years later he was pissed about how he “sold a running truck so cheap” and got a laugh out of it.
Anywho, the deals are out there, just got to work for them and when you do, you’ll get a good story out of it. Also, part of the reason I have my girlfriend is she likes the truck. Riding around in it reminded her of riding around with her grandfather when we met.
This. I remember one time my dad brought home a Country Squire wagon. Didn’t run, $100, get it gone by Monday. He goes to the parts store, comes back with a timing chain set, hour and a half later he’s driving it out of their yard while they are absolutely malding. Coping and seething, even.
I bought my OBS in 2022 in the midst of used car madness because my buddy cracked up the passenger door, and doesn’t do bodywork. He wanted $1500 (was worth $5k before the accident) but all his friends & relatives lowballed him G note offers, and I was the only guy he knew that was into it. I could’ve sold the rims for $800 if I wanted to, and that was their plan.
Still have that, and now I added a VW TDI to the mix for $2k. Built, I might add - upgraded turbo, intake manifold (not the tube) injectors clutch full exhaust, 45 mpg but I can chase sports cars, AC blows snowballs, and this was in Florida - not my favorite car market. High mileage but that’s nothing to a German diesel.
I took a fat overtime check and ate ramen while it went to the down payment, and the next week paid off the balance. My hourly rate is nothing to really brag about. I’m going to address the, fish a set of BBS wheels off of Marketplace, replace the missing stereo and enjoy a car I always wanted. Efficient, fun, reliable, & nice enough to take on a date. Idk what else you’d need.
There’s no fucking excuse to not do this. I learned to wrench through enthusiasm & watching my old man - a zoomer has buyer’s guides, a tutorial for everything on YouTube for any obtainable vehicle, cheap high quality tools, etc etc etc. Bonus: being able to do things is sexier to wamens than lifting the hood and just being baffled - just like a license and a whip are more attractive than a bus pass and a screed about how Chevy Tahoes make Captain Planet cry.
