whats the best deal on any car you ever purchased?

allen levine

Member
Messages
12,343
Location
new york city burbs
I was reading rogers truck thread, and it brought back memories of the deals I made on a few used cars Ive purchased, so whats the best deal you ever got on a used or new car?

I had 2 great purchases in my life.

When I moved back from florida, approx. 1973, I didn't have a car.

My wifes father(then my girlfriend) said since he was in the auto parts business, would ask around and find me a decent used car for a decent price.

Turned out, my wifes cousin, owned a lee myles transmission shop(the lee myles franchise was owned by another one of my wifes cousins), and he recently had a nyc marshall take over a 1965 mustang that the owner couldn't pay for the transmission job.
After the marshall turned the paperwork over to the cousin, he called us and said if I pay him for the transmission job, the car is mine.
300 ir 350 dollars, cant remember now,, but I had to put new tires on the car before I drove it home, we pushed it down the street to a tire place.

By far, the fasted auto Ive ever owned, as the previous owner was a car fanatic, souped up this mustang, dual carbs, all the trimmings, used it to race, kept it in pretty good shape, but drove it into a ravine, and after paying to restore it, he ran out of money, and he abandoned it at the lee myles shop.

I didn't take care of the car too well, started having some trouble, and I didn't want to put any money into it.(yes, I was an idiot)

I was sitting with my wife, again, before we were married, and a neighbor of hers, was telling my fil the story of how his daughter ran away, dropped out of college, with a man he did not approve of.
He had just purchased her a new chevy vega in 1975, the year before, and didn't want her to take the car, as he was paying off the loan under his name.
He told my fatherinlaw, find someone to pay off the bank the balance, and they could have it.
So I jumped in and said Id meet him at the bank on Monday, pay off the balance, and he could sign it over to me right then at the bank, and that's what we did.
I sold the mustang, and took an aluminum engine car everyone told me not to buy.
The car was a top of the line vega, had the European trim , leather seats, very luxurious and sporty for a crappy car, but I took it on many trips, used it, it never gave me an ounce of trouble.
Traded it in 4 years later for a 1980 ford Fairmont. Got most of what I paid for it on the tradein.
 
My grand parents had a 1957 Chevy they sold it to me for $25.00 in 1964. Wish I had it today.

Seemed smart then but kicking myself now........In 1968 I bought off the lot brand new a 68 RoadRunner. 426 hemi hurst 4 speed. It was white with a black vinyl top, white seats and maroon dash and trim. Paid $4200 or $4400 for it cash......... Kept it for 2 years. I started thinking that I should show a bit more responsibility I traded it in for a yellow 1965 Ford Galaxy 500 convertible, 6 cylinder :doh:. The dealer gave me the car plus $1000 cash. I thought I had made the deal of the century. Today the RR sells for over $100,000.:thud: Kept the Ford for about 6 months and traded it in for 1969 Corvette 350/350 :thumb: About 6 months later I met this girl, decided to get married, sold my vette (another misguided notion of being responsible and mature) and used her car...a 1970 VW beetle :(
 
bought a used police car a chevy caprice 4 door ,they dont make the model anymore. but did for long time. got it with 78000 miles on it. paid 375 dollars, daughter ran it for 6 yrs, it got totaled by deer hit got 1200 cash minus my deductible of hundred dollars paid 250 to get it fixed and painted ran it for 3 more years til the floor rusted out to bad. gave it away still running strong to a couple that were down on there luck, had it listed for 400 dollars a guy stopped looked at it took it for test drive and came back saying he would think about it. these other folks had stopped right after he dropped it off. they got out asked if it was in good shape i told all that was wrong with it and they looked there daughter and asked if she liked it.. she said sure, he asked if he could pay for it on time.. i said i would and needed to get the title. went got the title found out his name wrote the info down and handed it to him.. he said i havnt paid you yet i said you just did drive it away as is..the daughter was in tears and the old guy just couldnt believe what he was hearing:) that didnt owe me one dime and actually i made money on it:)
 
I'd say my best deal was on my Ranger pickup. I got it for the cost of a plane ticket to go pick it up from my dad.

My most fun deal was when I bought the used Lexus RX300 I'm driving now. I had just sold a house and had several hundred thousand dollars in my checking account. I told the sales gal at the Lexus dealer that I was buying a car that day and paying for it in full. I said "I'm going to pick a car and you're going to tell me the price...no haggling." And that's how it worked.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I was reading rogers truck thread, and it brought back memories of the deals I made on a few used cars Ive purchased, so whats the best deal you ever got on a used or new car?

I had 2 great purchases in my life.

When I moved back from florida, approx. 1973, I didn't have a car.

My wifes father(then my girlfriend) said since he was in the auto parts business, would ask around and find me a decent used car for a decent price.

Your wife's father was your girlfriend????? :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
My grand parents had a 1957 Chevy they sold it to me for $25.00 in 1964. Wish I had it today.

Seemed smart then but kicking myself now........In 1968 I bought off the lot brand new a 68 RoadRunner. 426 hemi hurst 4 speed. It was white with a black vinyl top, white seats and maroon dash and trim. Paid $4200 or $4400 for it cash......... Kept it for 2 years. I started thinking that I should show a bit more responsibility I traded it in for a yellow 1965 Ford Galaxy 500 convertible, 6 cylinder :doh:. The dealer gave me the car plus $1000 cash. I thought I had made the deal of the century. Today the RR sells for over $100,000.:thud: Kept the Ford for about 6 months and traded it in for 1969 Corvette 350/350 :thumb: About 6 months later I met this girl, decided to get married, sold my vette (another misguided notion of being responsible and mature) and used her car...a 1970 VW beetle :(

In 1970 when I married the first time, I was driving a 1965 Vette... (think that may have been what my first wife saw in me??)... since she already had a 6 year old from her first marriage, being responsible, I sold my 'vette since it's not a really good family car ? ... sold it for $1800.... don't even want to think about what a 1965 rag top 'vette would sell for now.... we kept her car - a 1967 Ford Cortina...(crappy little car, but was a sedan and had a back seat for the kid)
 
My very first car was a 1973 gran torino. I purchased it from a relative for around $300. It only had the 400 ci engine, which I know was not very popular, but I wish I had that car back. I saw one a few months ago at a car show painted S&H style and it brought me back. Mine was just plain old red with some rust and a black vinyl top and black interior. I actually got it when I was only 15. I was planning on restoring it but that never happened.

I was not "supposed" to drive it. Not legally any way. And my mother wasn't crazy about the idea but as long as I stayed off the main roads me and my friends were allowed to cruise around the lake once in a while like big shots. At least we thought we were cool.

Cool enough to pick up some girls and get caught driving to the bowling alley any way. Got ratted out by a neighbor.
Then it got taken away till I was 18 and it sat locked and alone. I looked for the keys a few times with no luck.
2+ years of out door neglect had a toll on the poor car. Couldn't get it started and sold it for $200. It was a few months later I learned that gas went bad over time and that there was probably nothing wrong with it that a good cleaning could't solve.
 
Had been living in Chicago for 6 months and not having a car was taking it's toll on us because winter had set in. My brother was selling his 1990 Geo Metro wagon. Bought it for $500. It was the perfect car for a city...could park it anywhere, didn't matter if it got dinged up (and boy did it!) and I sold it for $500 2yrs later!! :)

In high school my brother and I shared a two door 1976 buick skylark with a V8 in it. I beat quite a few friends racing it out on county roads, probably lucky no one ever died. When my brother took it to college I bought a 83 VW Rabbit...Holy cow I had more gas money suddenly...been driving 4cyl cars ever since. (well the geo was 3cyl)
 
My sister drove a '64-ish Corvair (hand-me-down from a favorite aunt) for a while. Most gutless car I've ever ridden in. It would reach 60 MPH after about 2 or 3 minutes of mashing the accelerator pedal so hard it made the firewall bulge. It started going through distributors at an alarming rate, so my dad traded it on a sweet used '67 Mustang. My sister and I both drove that Mustang for much of our high school days. :thumb:
 
Top