What is the cheapest running classic car that you have bought?

[Kern Dog]

It boggles my mind to hear of any car being sold so cheap. Maybe since the cars out here don't rust in 3 years, the prices were higher? I've never heard of anyone buying a car for under $400 that ran and drove. My 69 Dart was hit on the right side and needed a door, partial fender and quarter panel and I paid $400 for it. My dad bought a '63 Mercury Comet for $75 in 1967. This was in Ohio and the car was already rusted out enough to drop the value that far.

 

[1KoolBee]

It boggles my mind to hear of any car being sold so cheap. Maybe since the cars out here don't rust in 3 years, the prices were higher? I've never heard of anyone buying a car for under $400 that ran and drove. My 69 Dart was hit on the right side and needed a door, partial fender and quarter panel and I paid $400 for it. My dad bought a '63 Mercury Comet for $75 in 1967. This was in Ohio and the car was already rusted out enough to drop the value that far.

Remember tha gas embargo? In 1975, the seller of my Bee had bought a shiny new Datsun 610 wagon. He was so proud of it. Couldn’t wait to get rid of that “gas hog” 17 mpg hiway (@70 mph) super bee. I ran into him again in 1980 and I was telling him about all the things I had done to it. His response was “ I can’t believe anyone would put money into a car like that” I felt the same way about his Rotsun!!!

 

[451Mopar]

$40 for a 1968 Dodge Polara 4-door sedan 318 car around 1985 Not sure if it exactly meets the criteria because it had a bad alternator and burnt the fusible link, but after fixing that It was a good daily driver for the next 5-6 years until I sold it.
My first car $175 for a 1967 Coronet 440 model 4-door 318 car with like 35,000 miles on it. I think that was around 1979.
Paid $200 for another 1967 Coronet 2-door 318 car. around 1982? It ran, but was not the nicest looking car and the interior was pretty bad

 

[72redbird]

In 87 I bought a 68 Satellite from the original owner. It was a 2 door with a 318/auto. Car ran great! It was my daily driver for years! She sold it to me for $300!

 

[Rick@Laysons]

Paid $1200 for this just a couple of months ago....

Paid $500 for my first Mopar...'70 GTX 4-speed fresh air hood car back in 1975...looked an awful lot like this one....(stole this pic off google)

 

[Budnicks]

Early 1974, Jan.-ish, while living in Garden Valley
I bought a Red 1965 Ford Galaxie XL500 $100
& later sold it for $150 (In Antioch Ca.)
Got it from someone my dad knew
I had thoughts of building it, it wasn't that bad, had a really clean straight body
decent cloth interior, good tires, all stock, but like 150k+ miles
3 on the tree

until;
my 1968 Charger R/T in GG1/Black top & guts near perfect condition
was in the scene for $350 with 50k miles on it, July 13th 1974
from a divorced 'neighbor lady' of my Mom's place down in Antioch
(while visiting in the summer, for my birthday)
Her former husband's old car, I knew well, a former Contra Costa County Sherrif
who lived down the street from my mom...
After I got the Charger R/T home, bought it the day after I turned 15
& I got my learner's permit...

My dad was sort of pissed, my insurance doubled
but I didn't care, it was, a so much better car...

I quickly sold the Ford shortly after,
we used it as a beater on dad's ranch for a while 1st
I bought it when I was still 14, some 7 months before the Charger R/T...

 

[Kern Dog]

Paid $500 for my first Mopar...'70 GTX 4-speed fresh air hood car back in 1975...looked an awful lot like this one....(stole this pic off google)
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See, this is absolutely unbelievable to me. I got my license in late 1982. There were no deals like this around here back then. Maybe I just didn't know about them? Mopars weren't that common in my little world. I liked them but the majority of cars around here were GM and Ford. If it weren't for the Dukes of Hazzard, I may not have developed an interest in Mopars to the degree that I did.
I bought the Dart even though I wanted a Charger. The Chargers that I saw advertised were either in need of work that I couldn't do or too nice for my limited funds.

 

[SteveSS]

I bought a 47 Chevy Business Coupe when I was 17. I painted it copper. 6 Cylinder 3 speed. $300.

 

[1967coronet]

Great thread ! 65 impala ss $600 327 4spd car, 69 RR
383 4spd $800 give or take.
66 SS chevelle i bought it minus the 396 but installed a 327 with the muncie, $600 or so. The 71 RR was a even $1000. Early 80s the others were 70s.

 

[Coelacanth]

Great thread ! 65 impala ss $600 327 4spd car, 69 RR
383 4spd $800 give or take.
66 SS chevelle i bought it minus the 396 but installed a 327 with the muncie, $600 or so. The 71 RR was a even $1000. Early 80s the others were 70s.

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What's up with that tire sizing? Did you make it a FWD?

 

[Black_Sheep]

My first Mopar, a 1970 Charger SE purchased in 1979 for $250. It was Y2 yellow with a black vinyl top, mint condition black interior with leather buckets, a console shifted 727 and 383 4 barrel, front disc brakes, tic-toc tach and a go wing. It was rusty AF but a good runner, I did everything possible to kill it but it never missed a beat. I’ve been a Mopar guy ever since…

 

[1967coronet]

What's up with that tire sizing? Did you make it a FWD?

Just useing what I had lol, I'm sure the rears were wider or I would have swapped them.
Turns those 3.23s into 3.40s

 

[hanks73340]

1954 Desoto Powermaster. Was the 4 door model and it had the 251 v6 in it. Bought it because it was such a beast. Actually put 8 guys in it from our softball team to get to some of our games. Had the car back in the 80's. It looked very much like the pic below. I actually paid 200 bucks for it in 1980. Had a blast with it driving it daily to work and ball games and just running around.

 

[Richard Cranium]

In the late 80's, I bought a 69 Charger parts car for 50 bucks & a 69 Road Runner for $150. I parted both out and made a few hundred bucks on each, then junked the rest.

Today, the Charger would be a $15,000 car & the Road Runner a $10,000 car.

 

[Hey-O]

Bought a 69 ,340, 4 speed for 250 bucks in 1976. The guy thought the engine was bad, I knew better. He was pissed and made a stupid decision, it was the distributor, and after I replaced it I was down the road. The body was great except for one bullet hole in the trunk about 16 inches over to the left of the keyhole. I made a mistake when I got rid of it. I've had some nice cars, but that's the one I think about. So be it!!!

 

[Kern Dog]

I bought an '86 Nissan and an '86 Mazda B2200 in 1993 for $500 each, two separate guys that I worked with blew head gaskets and parked them. I fixed both and sold them for $2000 each.
I only mentioned that because for awhile, I was buying dead cars and trucks and getting them running to sell.
I bought a 72 Duster with a slanty in 1994 for $250. It had a burned up wire harness. At the time, self serve junkyards were full of those cars so used parts were easily found. I spent $50-60 bucks on the car and sold it for $800.
A bodies were commonly found in the 90s and 00s for well under $1,000 in running condition.
1976 Dart Swinger, dead slant six, $250 in 1998.
1974 Dart Swinger 318, $400 in 1999.
1973 Challenger needs everything, $ 800 in 2001.

 

[JackR]

They can be bought in running condition?

 

[OneWheelPeel]

I’ve had a bunch of cheap runners that were old enough to be considered classic, I only recall buying a non runner once in my life.
Anyway two best deals are from the early 2000s.
First was a 73 Ranchero with a very leaky trans and lots of rust for like $250 that was a couple of miles from my house, barely made it home before I had to add fluid. Leak turned out to be loose cooler lines, but damage was done and eventually I changed the trans for like 4x the cost of the vehicle. Got some years out of it before selling.
Next was an 85 Capri RS 5.0, basically a Mustang that had a blown HG. No money exchanged hands as the deal was I fix the person’s Prelude that was in a crash well enough to be reliable to go to work which cost me a couple hundred for a rad and some time stick welding a bumper back together. I drove the Capri home after reviving it since it sat for a year or so with no problems but it smoked like it was steam powered. I remember having it idle in my driveway and it seemed the water shot out the exhaust as quickly as I poured it into the radiator. After getting the heads surfaced and putting it back together I drove it for years about 160 miles a day. Wish I never got rid of it.

 

[451Mopar]

Maybe not classic, but I was given a 1980 Chevy truck with a straight 6 and manual trans from an uncle. Body was in real good condition, and it ran. I drove it a bit, but it sounded like it had a rod knock. Might have just been a bad exhaust leak? When I was moving between homes I had it parked at my fathers house and someone stopped by and made a good offer on the truck. Sold it since I had no place for it and already had three Dodge trucks, but it was a nice solid straight truck that needed some mechanical work.
I also have had several cheap cars I bought not running, like a 1977 Cordoba 360 4-bbl car that a guy was taking to the scrap yard. Got that car for $100 thinking the engine would be a good builder. Found the reason the car didn't run was the fuel pickup in the tank was clogged up. Fixed that and had a plush driver (power everything, A/C, sunroof, cruse control) for about 2-years and then sold it to one of my "parents friends daughters boyfriend", take payments deal that I only git a few payments then he took off to CA.
Had a neighbor either give me (or maybe I paid $300?) for a 1973 Audi 100 LS. Good body on it and drove but burned oil. found it had a bad/loose valve guide. I pulled the engine and "rebuilt" it, as in only had the cylinders honed as there was little wear, and then new rings, bearings, gaskets and rebuild the cylinder head. That was my "economy" car that I mostly drove for 4 years, but the heater did not work well in the winter, so I would drive one of the Dodges when it was cold.

 

[Dutchrebuild]

Bought this old girl for $1 two years ago...it was sitting in a garage in Greece NY. When I asked about it, the owner said he was going to scrap it. Brought it home and had it running in 15 min.