Old days best car deal..

[Ron 73]

I was just reading in the your first car thread and got to thinking about all the cars ive owned, Whats the best deal you all have made for a car back in those good old days? Ill start one that although considered a very cheap car and in reality it was the cheapest one of the Chevy, A 1964 Chevy Biscayne, 4 door, 6 banger, 3 on the tree... My brother in law (now) and i skipped school and riding around we ended up in Titusville Pa, We seen the car going by a old farm and decided to stop and see if it was for sale, we had the intentions of a sleeper car we been talking about doing and this fit the bill perfect for it.
We stopped and a nice elderly lady came to the door and we asked her if it was for sale, she said she had been thinking of calling a junk yard to come get it out of there, she said if you want it, give me $15.00 and just get it out of hear, we thought she was just having fun at first but she really wanted us to get it out of her sight she said the exhaust was broke but it ran, we gave her the money and drove it home by all the back roads, All we needed to get it inspected was a down pipe.. even the tires were passable. Ill never forget that one, I told her thats its worth more then that for junk, she said never look a gift horse in the mouth.. I was young once.. so we bought it.. never did the sleeper car thing with it but wow what a deal. Not a Mopar, but again, what a deal for a couple kids in school.. Im sure theres others who have come across deals like this, but even for back then it was a good one.

 

[Budnicks]

here's one

Here's one, I wish I was of age, I was only 9 or 10, when you could buy a New 68 Hemi Charger or Roadrunner {$2800 base price + the $800+ Hemi option} for in the $3800-$4500 range...

 

[YY1]

Bought my 2000 Dak R/T 2.5 years old for 16K, when book was 20K+
Bought a 2003 PT in 2006 for $3500- book was 8K.

Just this past year, I paid $650 for a running, driving 73 Charger SE with an Eddy intake and 4 bbl, ceramic headers full new duals, cassette recorder pod, power window doors, complete extra disk brake suspension, a/c system, hood, bucket seats, electronic ignition, new in the box headliner, carpet and front floor pans, and 15x7 Keystones with radial TAs.
Needs quarters and roof work, but WTH, easy money back in just a few parts.

In 1989, I bought a 70 torino GT 351C shaker car in original paint with akmost perfect interior for $1100. Still had original spare tire, betls and hoses.

In 91, I bought a wrecked but very fixable, driving 86 Daytona CS turbo, 5speed, leather T Top for $900.

In 87 I missed a 70 Cuda, InViolet 383 pistol grip shaker car for $1200, and a 69 RR vert for $1500,

In 90, I missed a 74 RR/GTX 440 sunroof car for $250, then again for $500.
Missed a 69 RR hemi vert for $700, a 67 hemi sat for $500, then aggin for $1500, and a third time for $3500. Also a rootbeer brown 72 RR 400 pistol grip with perfect quarters for $2500.

Last year missed a 65 factory 426 4 speed Sat for 8K- perfect quarters!!

 

[Lowhound]

Bought a 70 Road Runner 500.00 running. Used as a daily driver for a couple years. 1974 Charger SE loaded for 250.00,needed motor. 1970 Superbee 383 4-speed for 600.00.Presently restoring the Bee. 1969 Road Runner 400.00 total rust bucket. But had a good 383,4-speed, and 8 3/4s with 3.91 gears. And once past up a 70 Charger R/T for 400.00 blown motor.......Yes if I only had it to do over again

 

[Meep-Meep]

Bought a running 78 Toyota pickup with 300 K miles for $25.00. Looked like hell but it made it to LA a few times.

I got my 68 RR for $450.00 and it came with an air grabber hood from a 69 as well as another 383 and tranny. I still have the car and the hood.

Back in the 80's I traded a mild hot 383 straight across for a 63 426 Max Wedge. At least the heads and cross ram were MW but the block turns out was just a standard 426. I sold the top end some years ago but the short block is going in my 69 RR as a six pack.

Traded a 71 super beetle for a 70 Challenger R/T 383. Another great MoPar I should have kept! X2 on doing it over again!

 

[fla 66 cuda]

1976- bought a 68 roadrunner 440/4 speed 250.00$ daily driver.
1977- was offered a 68 roadrunner [supposed to be max wedge ?]/4 speed car mint cond. 300.00$ [needed a clutch i had no money dad would not help] still depressed.
1981- 69 olds cutlass 50.00$ 350 rocket/auto. [needed engine rebuilt]

 

[cdr]

68 gts383

in 1980 paid 100.00 68 gts 383 needed to be put back together but all complete, here it is after i put it together,sold it 83 84 to buy a house,lost house in 88,no house no mopar no car lol life is like a box of chocolates:violent-smiley-100:

 

[696pack]

I could make you guys cry with many, many stories.

I started selling new Dodges and AMCs in 1968 until 1974. After that I was buying and selling muscle cars on a regular basis. Some I kept for extended periods and some I sold quickly. It was a hobby/business for me. Even though I was a savvy buyer the prices were just a sign of the times when these cars were "just old cars."

I will give you an example of one of the HIGHEST prices I ever paid for a car and it is relative to the time. I paid $6500. for the car in the picture. which is a 1958 283/290 h.p. fuel injected Corvette with power convertible top, power windows, 4 speed, hardtop, and wonderbar radio. It had 44K original miles on it. It was Silver Blue with an Inca Silver cove and a Silver Blue interior and convertible top. Really nice car and I wanted it for myself. I bought it from a dealer so I ponied up for it. That was in 1976 when the car was just an old 18 year old car. It was a lot of money at that time as I was only making about $20K at my job which was good money at that time. I was making at least 1/4 of that anually buying and selling old cars. You guys probably thing that was a smoking deal with the value of these cars today but believe me, it was a LOT of money at the time.

To me, many of the posting above mean nothing as they don't have any time line in them and many of the prices could simply be market prices at the time they were bought.

That is me in 1976 leaning up against the car with my long hair and full beard looking like Jesus in front of my house in Mt. Carroll, Illinois.

 

[Ron 73]

Looks like some good deals have been made, My 67 Charger was the first Mopar i had and bought it for 350 dollars, then the 69 RR i paid 800, I traded a dirt bike, fairly new, for the 70 RR and i think i was real lucky there, the 68 RR was 250 bucks, but it was in pretty poor shape, little fixing up and it lasted a couple years, as rough as it was i wish i would have just put it in the barn and left it there now.. Along with the rest of them.

 

[goose69]

Wish I could find the deals now that I did years ago.
1990 Bought a '70 318 3sp on floor duster for $300. A couple weeks later a guy came up to me that HAD to have the car because it had clutch pedals and traded me a 1969 383 Roadrunner for it.
1993 '73 340 A/T slapstick 'cuda for $700. #'s matching
1992 '70 340 4sp. 'cuda rolling shell for free. Actually welded some quarter patches on a buddy's car, he gave me the car for the work done.
1995 '68 Roadrunner 383 4sp. Traded some stock steelie wheels that were widened and $200 for it. Just a roller though.
1991 '73 Challenger 318 a/t $300.
1993 '64 2 dr fury. Rebuilt 383. Saw it in an old garage. Went to the door & my buddy asked the old lady if it was for sale. She said it was her son's and he went over seas for the army but didn't come home. Had fresh rebuilt motor. She said sure she'd sell it, what did we have in our pockets at the moment? Told her sorry but all we had was $75. She said SOLD, take it away.
Probably more but have to check the memory banks.
Oh this isn't an entire car but my buddy has a '72 Roadrunner. Been looking for an air grabber hood for it. Saw 1 on craigslist a few months ago & went to look at it. Guy had the whole hood with under hood stuff, no air cleaner tho. Wanted to get rid of it because he found the "better" hood...... the one with the raised indents and the motor stickers on it. So he sold the air grabber for $100!!!!! WHAT THE???????? I almost fell off my chair when I heard it.

 

[67 coronet]

in 1998 bought a 77 w300 1 ton dually extended cab 4x4 440 eng with huge steel headache rack and lights galore for $1100 bucks.didnt run.1 major tune up and spare carb out the garage and vroom.took it to the local track since it seemed pretty fast for a monster.ran a 13.6 in the quarter,guy offered me $7000 cash in the pits.bye bye new truck,CHA CHING!!!!:headbang:

 

[Bruzilla]

The best deal I ever got was on my first Roadrunner, a Petty Blue 1973 GTX/Roadrunner that I bought for a whopping $500 in 1980. I loved that car!

The deal that still gives me nightmares was on a 440-6 Superbird that had been sitting in a guy's garage for years and was sold to 103rd Street Auto Parts in Jacksonville back in 1985. It was orange with a white interior, paint was faded but okay, had a white bucket seat interior and 727 tranny with console shifter. The only downsides were the rear window was cracked and the rally rims were replaced with 15" cop wheels. The asking price was $5,000.

I went from the store to the Navy Credit Union at NAS Cecil Field and got a loan for the $5,000, and on the way back thought twice about buying the car since I already had two 73 Roadrunners I had to put into storage because I was going to be stationed at NAS Bermuda for three years and I decided I didn't want to pay another $21 a month to store the Superbird. I figured I would just get one when I got back in 1988, so I took the check back to the credit union. Talk about regrets!

 

[sawdoff]

Not my best deal but about 6 weeks ago i bought a 70 el camino for 500 and drove it on the trailer.

 

[kidmopar]

back in 76 i traded 50 dollars and a shotgun for a 66 satellite 2drhdtp with 383 and 4 speed, had a spun rod bearing. it was a nice looking car down to the spinner knock off hub caps. found a 66 fury 2 weeks later that was rear ended and bought it for the motor, a 383 also. wish i still had that car!!!!

 

[big_jake57]

I got to thinking about this as I read the posts, and all the really good cars that I bought and missed came to mind, but back in the late 70's and 80's, even a high priced car then is a great deal now. Mid 80's I bought a Superbird with a 440 six barrel 4 speed for 8000.00,, who'd let that go now ? But even back then, a few stick in my mind, my first car, a '63 Fury 2dr ht, one slightly rusty quarter for 225.00, that was in 73. Mid 80's I found a '69 GTX that had the low reverse band out of the tranny for 500.00 (I'd add a zero to that price now and call it a bargain,, it was gorgeous), a HEMI '69 Road Runner 4 speed with under 40,000 miles for 2000.00. One that really bothers me yet though had some history to it. At 12 years old I went with my dad to the local Plymouth dealer, and they had a yellow 69 Road Runner in the show room. It was a hard top, buckets, no carpet, manual steering and brakes, 383 with a 4 speed, 3.23 posi and the coyote duster air grabber hood. Poverty hub caps and red stripe tires. The kid that ordered it didn't get his Dad's OK,, and when it came in, although he had the money,, his Dad said no. 15 years later, I'm doing a service call(working for the same dealership) for a dead car in a customers driveway Jumped the battery and got the car going. It was in front of a garage that held,,,,,, that same 69 Runner. I knew this guy had the car at one time, but hadn't seen it in years, and thought it was gone. It was now painted black (poorly), but outside of a dent in the drivers door was solid. Asked the guy what he was gonna do with it,, and he said he was thinking of dragging it to the junk yard. How much I ask. Junk price is 35 bucks he says. I paid the man, and went back later in the day to get it. Put in a battery (from the afore mentioned GTX) poured some gas in the carb,, and drove it home. Fresh gas, oil change, a front wheel bearing, tires and a set of Appliance headers, and it became my first drag car. I'd sure like to run across a deal like that again !!
Sorry for the long post.... this is one of those "don't get me started" subjects. LOL

 

[marlabuck]

1953 Bel Air

Paid $245.00 in 1966 for my 1953 Bel Air...saved all my money and when I got my permit at 15 I bought this car...Marla

 

[goose69]

Paid $245.00 in 1966 for my 1953 Bel Air...saved all my money and when I got my permit at 15 I bought this car...Marla

I see you live in Long Beach, are you part of the beach barons and or involved with the Rod Run?

 

[Ron 73]

Good old days are gone i guess as far as deals like those days.. Now the back then 250-300 dollar, drive it home is what, a 800 to 1,000 bucks today? The thing of it is back then coming up with the 300 bucks was tuff when your in school, My first legal car was a 66 Impala my dad bought me at a small time dealer for $115.00, and i had to fix it up to get it inspected, i was lucky though i worked at a garage part time and the owner helped me out, some came out of my pay, what was left paying my dad. Lol.. I had enough for gas (25-30 cents a gal.) though sometimes even to drive it to school.. Good times thinking back on it. Once i traded a steer i was raising for a little Ford Currier truck, I think it was the best thing i ever had on gas...

 

[696pack]

Good old days are gone i guess as far as deals like those days.. Now the back then 250-300 dollar, drive it home is what, a 800 to 1,000 bucks today? The thing of it is back then coming up with the 300 bucks was tuff when your in school, My first legal car was a 66 Impala my dad bought me at a small time dealer for $115.00, and i had to fix it up to get it inspected, i was lucky though i worked at a garage part time and the owner helped me out, some came out of my pay, what was left paying my dad. Lol.. I had enough for gas (25-30 cents a gal.) though sometimes even to drive it to school.. Good times thinking back on it. Once i traded a steer i was raising for a little Ford Currier truck, I think it was the best thing i ever had on gas...

More like $3000-4000 today.

 

[6t4polara]

1967 Fort Knox paid $250.00 for a 57 Chevy two door sedan with a rebuilt 283 and three on the tree.Good driver with no problems.