apache

Surely some of you have had a junkerod you picked up for a song. Sometimes there the best vehicles. 2 of mine were a 74? 240D Benz,With no reverse,I got for $350 and a 78 Fiat 131 . I got both from a friend during hard times and they took me many 1200 mile trips to Washington and?. Come to think, of it most of my vehicles have been junkerods.

Lary Ellis (Top)

Metropolitan Nash, the engine was in pieces in the trunk and I was 12. My first car and dad made the mistake of saying I could drive it once I got it running.

Two weeks later I was buzzing down the back roads with an old apple grate for a seat When Dad found out, it got restricted to the back 40

Funny thing is that old car would be worth a house if I still had it

Joe N.

Around 1964, we were juniors in high school, one of my best friends bought his first car. He had just started work in a service station and a fellow employee sold him a 54 Studebaker. The car had already been parked out in a pasture and was left to let nature take its course. He paid $25 for the car and paid it off $5 or $10 dollars a week. Someone told him if he would add a quart of oil to the gas tank it would lubricate the valves and make the car run better. They failed to tell him that was a quart of oil to a tank of gas. Well $1 of gas and a quart of oil later that car smoked so bad it left a oily film on all the windows on main street. Another of our friends backed into the side of the car and sprung the front passenger side door open. There was about a 6 inch gap between the top of the door frame and the top of the car. He used an old spark plug wire to tie the door closed and kept on driving it. When he had a date he would take a couple of blankets for his date to wrap up in. The heater didn't work so he burned a bucket of charcoal in the front floorboard to try to stay warm. The only reason he didn't suffocate was that gap at the front door sucked all the fumes out.

My father owned a Dodge dealership so I didn't have to buy a car until we sold the business in 1969. Mostly I drove a 1948 Plymouth Special Deluxe Coupe. That was a good old car. We must have sold it 3 or 4 times. Someone would buy it and later trade it in on another car. I would drive it until we sold it and then drive it again when we got it back. That car was in the family from 1956 until about 1966. My mother taught me to drive in in, my brother took it to college for a year, and I drove it through most of high school. If I had the money I would buy one now and restore it.

01redram

traded a indian wool sweater for a 64 pontiac in about 1983 .had a 283 in it.that car just wouldn`t quit.i lived in northern b.c. at the time and it gets mighty cold in the winter up there.some days after work the old beater had to jump start some of the newer cars in the parking lot.they just didnt have the will to live like the old beater.their heaters worked better though.

Scotty

I had a 68 Impala I got from my brother for paying his parking tickets...about 60 bucks...rock solid car...then I had a 74 Plymouth sattelite interceptor, I got it by trading a 65 Bel Air I had for parts.

RATTLINRAM

First car was a 67 Impala 2 door hard top, 283, "slip and slide Powerglide". It belonged to my shop teacher's wife and I paid $200 for it by remodeling a room in their house. The car was in pretty good shape till I drove it through a house down in Suffolk! I slightly side-swiped another Impala and jumped the curb,,,, last thing I heard was the mechanical secondaries kick in on that ol Carter 4 barrel and the next thing,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, white boards and canned goods were bouncing off the windshield! We worked on it all day at a local junkyard and was able to drive it home that evening. I gave the motor to a friend who put it in an old 62 chevy panel truck and it wouldn't surprise me if it's still running somewhere,,,,,,,, Tough little motor!

Redleg

Had a couple scouts. Bodys were junk but ran great. Might get another one and make a yard buggy out of it like Chaikwa did with an old army jeep.

Hoss

The best $50 car I've had was probably that little radio controlled dune buggy thing that my parents got me for Christmas one year when I was a kid. That thing was awesome!!!

Now, the best $50 REAL car I've had was the 1970 1/2 ton pickup that my grandfather gave me when I turned 16. He was the original owner. Three speed on the column, no A/C, barely any heat, no radio, lap belts only, no power steering, no power brakes, three ugly clearance lights on top (he used it for pulling his 4 horse trailer), no carpet, vinyl bench seat.....basically the perfect truck for a 16 year old county boy. I sure wish I would've held onto that truck...

Shovelhead

1968 Toyota Corona 4 dr, 4 cyl, 4 speed. $500 special. Owned it from '75-'78.
Drove it for 3 years, got good fuel milage when not being used for "drifting".
It was real easy to 'steer with the throttle' on exit ramps.
For some unknown reason, rear tires never seemed to last as long as the fronts.

Huey

Had a 1970 Olds 88 that I picked up for 200.00. Rusted out bad in places so that every time I slammed the door something would fall off of it. I drove that car for 2 years back and forth to work before she finally gave up the ghost.

MOPE540

Got a 58k mile '68 Dart GT 17 years ago from my cousin for $20...the very same car that an old lady (original owner) had wanted $1200 for several months earlier.
shortened story....She let her grandson have the car, the grandson, who was a friend of my cousin, wrecked my cousin's car, he gave my cousin the Dart as a replacement, my cousin drove the Dart for a few months. A broken motor mount and a burnt exhaust valve on the 273 told my cousin to get rid of it. Of course I wanted it to put a big block in. He made a deal to give me the car if I found a cheap ride for him, I found one, so the Dart was mine for free. But I gave him $20....wasn't that nice of me?
i posted a recent pic of it in the gallery

Commatoze

My 1966 Dodge Dart with the Slant Six....purchased for 700 bucks in 1969. It had been in a "slight accident" (yeah right) and was sold by the body shop that repaired it. But it got me twice from Philly to Cocoa Beach, FL and back before it started to rust out around me. Eventually, a hole formed in the firewall near the gas pedal, and the air would almost frostbite my foot. That's when I got rid of it. Boy, that car saw a lot of drive-in movies! Probably a lot more that me and the girlfriend (now wifey) did.

Shovelhead

Jughed440,
Was the previous owner (Old Lady) the Lil ol lady from Pasadena?
I like the 'tubbed' look.
Nice looking ride.

wgingg

900 bucks was the cheapest running truck i bought. 81 toyota 4 hole. the bed was held together by the plastic bed liner! it was so rough that a young girl practicing for her licence t-boned me (barely) and her mom was worried about insurance i said just give me a new tire and im happy! i lived on kodiak island and ran that truck any where i wanted to go. great memories nice thread!

BIGBADBOB

Brother inlaw gave me an 80 Rabbit diesel that had 350,000km on it the drum brakes were worn 1/4in past service limit. lucked out at the bone yard found an 85 golf with brand new every thing on the brakes, got the whole car for $60 did the brake swap and drove the car for another 150,000 km still running when sold but getting very tired. cost me $5 a week to run it. Thats why I have a 2001 TDI