Ever get lucky on a project car?

[Cdnone1]

I have had more than my fair share of project cars that I have poured time and money into. I should say that my wife is a saint. Well I finally got lucky with one.
Talking to someone in a bar that had a Fiat 124 Spyder that they just could not get running. They stated that it had a complete engine rebuild and still wasn't running worth a crap. The mechanic wanted another 4K to finish it. After a couple of beers she showed me the pictures, then told me how much she wanted for it. I picked it up the next day.
Noticed the plug wires where in the wrong order. It was winter so I decided to pull the head and check out the condition of the "rebuilt motor". Well it was actually just rebuilt. Put everything back together. Installed the distributer correctly along with the wires and she fires right up.
Runs fantastic. No problems what so ever. Been taking her up and down the mountain plus drives to a from LA.
I finally got lucky with a project car. Now I have an empty space in the garage.......

[Dantilla]

Went to look at a boat for sale.
Seller couldn't get it to run. Started fine, but as soon as the key was released, it died.

I took a gamble. Offered a much lower "as is" price, which was accepted, and towed it home.

Didn't take long. A little rubber cap attached to the key kept a small plunger kill switch depressed.
Rubber cap was cracked and brittle. Hold the plunger, and it ran like new. $0.99 fix.

[Tobra]

That Fiat will be a hoot to drive this summer

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Tobra

That Fiat will be a hoot to drive this summer

In SC, Spring and Fall

What a nice example...well done.

[stevej37]

Yes....but it wasn't a 'project' car, it was on my daily driver.
And she was a hot blonde cheerleader.

.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Nice! She’s a looker too. More pics?

I got lucky like that on a base model Boxster years ago. Persistent misfire, the seller had a multi-thousand dollar estimate from a shop to repair. It didn’t add up so I rolled the dice, once home I ran the codes and it had a persistent misfire in one cylinder. Swapped coils and the problem followed the coil, $50 and it ran like new.

[Sooner or later]

Great buy!

[wilnj]

Kind of.

I bought my E46 330i ZHP for $9500. Unfortunately it was totaled in an accident well before I could really get into any of my projects.

The insurance company lowballed me and refused to acknowledge any of the sample comps I referred them to.

For $375 I hired an independent appraiser who negotiated with their independent appraiser and they arrived at a valuation of $12,600.

I want another one but it will have to wait until it’s not doubling as a daily.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

My luck is heavily favored to finding great parts deals on Classifieds here, though checking out the page 10 times a day will move the needle.

My best get lucky project car though is a 73 T that was on CL for two months for very reasonable money. I kept wondering why it hadn't sold especially seeing that it had been special ordered with no headrest sport seats. I finally emailed, they said it runs fine but there's something wrong with the motor, it bogs down. It had Zenith carbs so I thought that was an easy fix. Went out to see it, not much rust but some ugly welds underneath. Great interior. Bad black respray over Gemini Blue.

Owner gave me the key, it started right up, I put it in first, it bogged down and not 2 seconds later he came running over yelling to turn it off. Did that, got out, there was a huge puddle of gas under the motor.

We found a broken line, very brittle. I told him I'd give him half his asking price. He happily agreed. I drove home and got a trailer.

Getting it to the shop, $5 worth of fuel line fixed the fuel system. I said to myself when I originally started and shifted into "first" how sloppy it was, so I pulled of the shift coupler plate and found the coupler completely disintegrate. Gone. Going into first it was actually going into 3rd, hence the bogging. Brass bushinging and it became a great little car. I later put a 3.2 into it and lightened it down to 2174 lbs making it insanely fun to drive.

[rockfan4]

2000. I bought a mid to late 80's Alfa Romeo Milano. I'm pretty sure I paid $2000 or less for the car. I got it home, and while the sound of the V6 was pretty intoxicating, the rest of the car was pretty much a piece of junk. I drove it about 6 weeks, and one night, while I was waiting to take a left turn, a college girl in a Mercury Monarch slammed into the right rear. Tuning the radio, she said. Her insurance wrote me a check for $2700, and sent the car to Alfa Heaven. (salvage yard in Aniwa WI). I'm pretty sure that's the only time I've every disposed of a car for a profit.

[GH85Carrera]

My brother worked as a VW mechanic in the 70s and 80s. He had a guy bring in a 65 Bug with a supposed 60 HP engine in it, and offered it to my brother for $500. He said it would run, but it could not get to 30 MPH. My brother bought it, check the timing and it was so retarded he was amazed it ran. He adjusted the timing, and it ran fine. Zero dollar fix. He sold it for $1,200 a week later.

[ted]

Almost 15 years ago bought an old tired race car.
Soon after found it was eligible for historic racing.
Restored it to period correct specs.
Since then it has been accepted and raced at the Monterey historics every time entered.
Didn’t make money on it just more than a decade of great historic racing experiences.

[porsche tech]

My fist car when I was 17 was a ‘58 ragtop beetle with semaphores and no motor that I got for $75. Bought a non running motor from another guy for $25 and a VW book for $7.95. Put the motor on an upside down trash can next to my parents back porch, the book on the steps and overhauled the motor. I had minimal tools and borrowed what I didn’t have. The lucky break part was that project sparked an interest in German cars and ultimately a 42 year career as a Porsche mechanic.

[rcooled]

Someone got lucky on this project car

[Yorkie]

Sight unseen, $500 cash and the owner drove it down from Santa Barbara to Long Beach. Floors had been replaced and the paint was tired but it drove well. Yeah this was 20 years ago.

[wilnj]

Originally Posted by rcooled

Someone got lucky on this project car

No body likes a bragger.

[onewhippedpuppy]

That’s a Volvo, no wonder Baz loves them so much!

[jrj3rd]

1970 Datsun 510. Girlfriend of my older sister was daily driving it in 1978 when it died on her and refused to start while she was home. Father told her it would need to go into the shop. She was a recent colelge graduate so bought a new car and the 510 was left parked. 4 months later I asked her what the deal was witht he old 510. Said it wouldn't start and wasn't worth what it would cost to be towed and repaired at it had some rust in the front fenders and had been lightly hit in the rear. Asked how much she wanted figuring it might be fun too tinker with over the summer. It actually belonged to her father so she said she would see nd get back to me. Called me later that day and said her dad would give it to me if I got it out of their yard.

Towed it home 7 blocks with a rope and pushed it in the drive. Popped the hood and started checking it out. No start, no spark. Figured start with a good tune up and went to check points for condition and saw bare wire in dristributer and marks that it had been shorting out. Replaced points and condensor and it started right up. Did some body work on the rear and was able to find two new fron fenders at one of the local dealers for $65 each. Installed and took it to Earl Scheibs for a quick shoot. Cleaned interior and polished bumpers and put it up for sale. Sold for $1200 the first day. Total ownership time 14 days....profit $1K. Life was good for a college kid.