Most interesting deal you ever made.

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Willowbilly3

A *real* tin magnet
Joined
Dec 10, 2007
Messages
7,847
Location
Black Hills South Dakota
I was thinking back on different deals I've made and thought it would be fun to hear your stories.
One of my better ones was when I was a kid about 16. Neighbor had a black 54 Dodge hemi convertible. Some airforce guy dating his stepdaughter had knocked the tranny out and left it there, got transferred and moved away. I ended up helping him castrate pigs for an afternoon in trade for the car.
 
Bought a 57 Chevy in Kansas for $4500 got it home and it had four mufflers four exhaust pipes.
I got to lookin and the exhaust manifolds were cast iron Fenton with two ports on each manifold.
They were used by SEDCO in Georgia. SEDCO was a paper division of Nalley Chevrolet in Atlanta.
I sold them to a guy building a 57 Black Widow for $2500

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These were the cars SEDCO put them on.

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furk me,, that is the coolest pair of manifolds I ever did see !! 1950s and 'not -quite' factory speed gear to boot .. hmm got me thinking
sorry to hijack ive never heard of these black widow cars before.--- now I just want one..
 
I have seen pictures of those manifolds but didn't know the connection to the Black Widow cars. That is a cool story.
IIRC, the cars were built for stock car roundy round racing, hence the pickup truck 6 hole wheels and lots of other mods. Oddly enough though Fuelies with a 3 on the tree.
 
My brother-in-law had this god awful grandfather clock that his old lady left at his house when she split. Tried to sell it to no avail, so he put it up on craigslist with "interesting trades considered", mentioning old cars. Wound up getting a reply from two fellas of questionable sexual orientation in Toledo who said they had a grandmother's '54 Pontiac to trade. So up we go to their creepy old Victorian home, leave the clock (which they were tickled with) and go across town to this falling down shack of a garage where the Poncho is. Nothing special, but a beat up original condition car. We loaded it up and had it running in a few hours after we got back home. No more bitchy old lady, no more ugly clock and the Poncho is still on the road. Good deal! [cl
 
Not a car, but a garden tractor. I got a call from a guy who had heard I was looking for garden tractors. He said he had one I could get for free if I came and got it. I headed on f=down there and when I got there noticed his leg was in a cast. Asked him about it and he said that he was driving the tractor and the "F" in steering broke and he ended up in a pile in the ditch. He ordered a brand new Kobuta the next day with all the extras and wanted all the old Ford crap out of his shed. I loaded her up and insisted that he take $50 for him and the wife to go out for supper. Tractor, mower deck, tiller and snow blade.....Deal done.....

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Weird

Had a 65 Ford pickup once , somebody T- boned the passenger side one day and the cab mounts were so rotted that the fenders were the only thing holding it on after it was hit. Anyway, one Saturday a guy stopped and wanted to buy the tranny. I told him 75 bucks and he could have the whole truck. He said he only wanted the trans, gave me 75 and took it out. Week goes by, he's back, wants the engine. Again , told him 75 takes it all. Nope, gave me 75 , borrowed my tripod, and he and his kid pulled the engine. Week goes by, he's back, wants the truck box. Again I said 75 , and again he paid me but the box bolts were too rusty to get out and I told him I didn't have a torch so he was either gonna have to go get his own torch or just take the whole truck home, well , he chained it up , his kid steered, and away they went. One week later the same guy shows up at my door and asked me " You wanted 75 for the truck, right ? " I said yeah and he hands me another 75 bucks, said he decided he wanted the frame and rear too, and could he have the title ? Now don't get me wrong, I appreciated the money, but geeze !!!
 
In 1972 I worked in the shop a Chrysler dealership. They also sold used cars. Sometimes the used cars were financed by small finance company that also handled the insurance on the cheaper cars. They had a 62 rambler that had been rear ended and drove the rear bumper about half way to the back glass. The rest of the car was fine and it ran perfect. The insurance totaled it. Because it was Rambler there wasn't much demand for it. I offered the finance guy $20. for it. He said he had to have $35. So we agreed on $25. I drove it back and forth to work for awhile. One day a guy ask about buying it. I told him I wanted $50 . He offered me $20. and a New watch his wife gave him for there anniversary. I took the watch and traded to a friend for a 410 pump shogun. I traded the shogun to another guy for a Ruger 44mag rifle and I still have the rifle. I guess in the end the rifle cost me $5.00.
 
I saw a Jeep Grand Cherokee for sale on C/L ----called the guy and I said I wanted to look at it. He gave me the address and it is a place where I lived about 12 years ago---I really enjoyed living there---and I use that address for my pass word on some of my stuff. The Jeep was in a little fender bender, not bad. I got the Jeep for a good price,plan on fixing and selling---Im feeling lucky on this deal.
 
My best deal took awhile. I bought a 79 mustang for $600, 302 that sounded like a diesel. It held around 5 pounds of oil pressure on 20w50. I traded it for a 86 4 dr chevette. A car lot owner needed a gas saver to run parts and traded me a 72 chevy pickup, long bed, 4x4 that needed rocker panels and a driveshaft. Fixed the truck the next morning for $75. Showed it to a buddy that was trying to restore his grampas 58 ford and a 69 chevelle at the same time. Nearly everything on the chevelle was brand new. Needing only paint and a transmission, traded for the chevelle even up for the 72 pickup. $80 for the junkyard tranny and $20 for some rattle can grey primer, i sold the chevelle 2 weeks later for $3500. Spent a whopping $875 to get $3500 in 1 month. I think of this one every time i get burnt on other deals.
 
All my best deals were so long ago I don't really remember the details except to say that I went from about 1979 to 1994 without ever spending anything on a daily driver. As a mechanic, I would fall into cars for cheap that needed repairs, fix them for the cost of parts, drive them for a while and sell them for as much or more than I had in them.
My friend Dale used to drive an 86 turbo Saab. Cool little car. Anyway, he was driving by the local junkyard one day and saw one out front just like his with a perfect windshield. So he stopped in to ask how much they wanted for the windshield and they said take the whole car for 500.00. So he did and then he sold his Saab with the cracked windshield for 550.00.
 

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