Free Stools to a "Free" 2022 Challenge Car

I have long wanted to build a car for the $2000 challenge. In fact, I started an attempt a few years ago but it all kinda fell apart and I had to sell the car due to financial constraints. 

Money in our world is a bit tight and I have always done my best to create side hustles to support my hobbies so that my day job salary / our "family income" isn't solely impacted by my expensive hobbies. It doesn't always work that way but I have done a pretty great job overall. Im blessed to have great friends that I get to race with and co-own the Sentra Rally Car with (my buddy Graham) and my dad is SUPER cool and we co-own the Santa Miata together. All of this lessens the blow. It also helps that my wife is 100% supportive of me being a gearhead. She is incredible and I couldn't be more grateful for her. 

Many years ago I read an article about a guy who started with a paper clip and traded his way to a Porsche Boxter. I always thought that was a cool idea and wanted to try something similar myself. But, instead of trading starting with something free and then using my profits to continue to grow the amount of cash I had until I could buy something great. 

So, after the sale of my CB550 fell through... (which I'm ok with because I want to finish it) I decided to start the process of building a "free for me" challenge car. It will all work within the rules of a normal challenge build in regards to money spent on the build itself. The money that I use on the build will all come from the sale process of a single Item I got for free and leveraged until I had the 2K needed to do the challenge... Thus creating at least "zero" financial impact on our family... 

So....   I found these 4 stools on the side of the road on my way home last week. Someone in one of the nicer neighbors I drive through on my way home out in the country had them sitting out there with a little sign that said FREE. It wasn't until I got home that I realized they were actually really nice! They are restoration hardware that retails for like $250 each. 

I cleaned them up and took pictures of them staged at my work. I posted them on FB Marketplace for $450. Last night I sold them for $400! This was a WILD start to my little project. 

So that is where we are at currently. I know it's kinda boring. It is after all a post about stools. But I'm excited to see how this goes.

Maybe this whole thing encourages someone who, like me, feels like money holds them back from participating in the challenge.

There is a 50cc scooter for sale for $350 that I'm going to see on Saturday that I think I can fix and sell here in our college town as my next flip. 

There is a $500 Miata sans the engine and tranny for sale that I have my eyes on. I'm hoping I can get it. 

Thanks for following along! 

Holy crap! What a great start to your efforts. I do not find it boring at all, I love this kind of stuff. Those are nice stools, too; I was thinking "hey, I'd pay for those" while reading, but I'm not sure I'd pay $450. Good luck, looking forward to where this goes.

In reply to dculberson :

LOL! I can tell you that I wouldn't pay that much for stools either! But I'm sure glad someone did. They seemed to be very popular. I was overwhelmed with the number of people who messaged me about them! 

Subscribed

I've long thought a "true $0" challenge class would be fun. 

But everyone makes money in different ways so it's hard to control what ways are "ok" and what ways are just "getting paid for work and then spending that on car".

Interested to see what you come up with!

This will be fun to watch! Good luck!!!

Nice butt planters!  Ours don't have any radius on the seat edge and dig into my thigh.  Clever using school type with functional bases!  Shipping would kill me, but thank you for the great ideas.  =~ )

What kind of scooter? I might swap ya a Miata with motor and trans (automatic) for a scooter!

Bruce (East Texas)

One I pulled a motorcycle fairing out of a guys garbage and sold it on eBay for $75.  Boxing it up sucked.

I think you were referring to my thread from a few years back.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/pimpm3-attempts-to-obtain-a-porsche-for-250-what-c/162699/page1/

You can totally pull this off.

That is an incredible start! I'll definitely be following along.

And it's great to see the Christmas Miata getting so much love!

Love this!  Currently attempting to do similar by buy/sell/trading my way from the crap i have laying around and can scrounge or flip to a skyline.  I made over $4000 on video games and toys that were given to me.  

In reply to B13Birk :

Hey dude.  Great idea! I know how you feel about trying to minimize financial burden on the family. I think you and I were building G20's around the same time if I'm not mistaken. Thankfully I've made it to the "other side" and finally racing (if only 1-2 times a year), but now finding time harder to come by than money. 

This is not boring at all, and a lot of us can relate to it. We're pullin for you man! Can't wait to see what kind of challenge car you get yourself into.  Maybe post here with stuff/parts/cars your in need of and see if someone would be willing to donate?

Thank you for all the incredible feedback on this little project so far. This is why I love this group. 

A few updates:

1. The scooter I was going to get sold. It was a Roughhouse scooter that normally gets around 1000 - 1200 here in our town so at $350. I was pumped to make a big profit but I'm sure there will be more deals to be made.

2. I have a verbal commitment from the Miata seller that he will hold it for me for a few days. I'm pretty set on that being the car at this point... I have a ton of experience with Miatas and I think it will be an easier project for me for my first challenge. 

3. I have established a team! I'm going to be the sole funder of the build (I have hopes and dreams for the car after the challenge) but my two offroad buddies (and now rally buddies) Dave and Gene are in and so is my dad. I'm really pumped about my dad wanting to join. My dad and I always looked forward to reading the magazine when it came in the mail starting way back in the early 2000's after the challenge. We always had big dreams and big ideas but we never followed through. I'm excited to share this with him. 

4. My wife has now helped fund the build too.... Because on her way home last night. You won't believe what she found on the side of the road. (I'm literally LOLing writing this) - More Barstools. 

Now these aren't as nice as the last ones. But they were free too. I plan to take good pictures of them once it stops raining and should get around $100 for them. 

This brings me to the final announcement. 

5. I'd like to introduce you to our team name....

Thanks for reading along. And thank you to the few of you that have reached out with car ideas/offers. I appreciate your willingness to help! 

Until next time. Get Busy Living!

pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) said:

I think you were referring to my thread from a few years back.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/pimpm3-attempts-to-obtain-a-porsche-for-250-what-c/162699/page1/

You can totally pull this off.

Dude I haven't seen your thread that is awesome! 

I was actually talking about this article. Teenager Trades Phone into a Porsche

Idk where I got the paperclip from. But the idea has stuck with me since at least 2010 apparently. 

egnorant said:

What kind of scooter? I might swap ya a Miata with motor and trans (automatic) for a scooter!

Bruce (East Texas)

Thanks for the offer Bruce! That would have been a sweet trade! Unfortunately, the scooter fell through. 

dyintorace said:

That is an incredible start! I'll definitely be following along.

And it's great to see the Christmas Miata getting so much love!

Great to hear from you man! Yes Santa the Miata is coming along well. Its been a slow process but I cant complain! I hope to have it done and back on track by the summer. 

Patrick said:

Love this!  Currently attempting to do similar by buy/sell/trading my way from the crap i have laying around and can scrounge or flip to a skyline.  I made over $4000 on video games and toys that were given to me.  

This is an epic plan! My dad has an R33 Skyline V-spec. I assure you... your efforts will be WELL worth it. They are incredible cars. 

MaxC said:

In reply to B13Birk :

Hey dude.  Great idea! I know how you feel about trying to minimize financial burden on the family. I think you and I were building G20's around the same time if I'm not mistaken. Thankfully I've made it to the "other side" and finally racing (if only 1-2 times a year), but now finding time harder to come by than money. 

This is not boring at all, and a lot of us can relate to it. We're pullin for you man! Can't wait to see what kind of challenge car you get yourself into.  Maybe post here with stuff/parts/cars your in need of and see if someone would be willing to donate?

Great to hear from you man! Yeah, the G20 never got finished on my end but a friend of mine that I sold it to is currently putting it to great use! I'm glad to hear your build is going so well. 

So here is a teaser. 

This is the Miata I'm hoping to snag. The seller has all the body parts. The front end and core support is cut off because the current owner was going to do some type of LS cart contraption. It appears that the car has KYB AGX on it. which is cool. Hopefully, they are good. 

In reply to B13Birk :

Thats good to hear.  I sold my G20 as well... Just wasn't quite in love enough with it.  Bought an s12, and that's what I've been racing.  Good luck with the miata! Great team name!

B13Birk said:

Thank you for all the incredible feedback on this little project so far. This is why I love this group. 

A few updates:

1. The scooter I was going to get sold. It was a Roughhouse scooter that normally gets around 1000 - 1200 here in our town so at $350. I was pumped to make a big profit but I'm sure there will be more deals to be made.

2. I have a verbal commitment from the Miata seller that he will hold it for me for a few days. I'm pretty set on that being the car at this point... I have a ton of experience with Miatas and I think it will be an easier project for me for my first challenge. 

3. I have established a team! I'm going to be the sole funder of the build (I have hopes and dreams for the car after the challenge) but my two offroad buddies (and now rally buddies) Dave and Gene are in and so is my dad. I'm really pumped about my dad wanting to join. My dad and I always looked forward to reading the magazine when it came in the mail starting way back in the early 2000's after the challenge. We always had big dreams and big ideas but we never followed through. I'm excited to share this with him. 

4. My wife has now helped fund the build too.... Because on her way home last night. You won't believe what she found on the side of the road. (I'm literally LOLing writing this) - More Barstools. 

Now these aren't as nice as the last ones. But they were free too. I plan to take good pictures of them once it stops raining and should get around $100 for them. 

This brings me to the final announcement. 

5. I'd like to introduce you to our team name....

Thanks for reading along. And thank you to the few of you that have reached out with car ideas/offers. I appreciate your willingness to help! 

Until next time. Get Busy Living!

That is both awesome and hilarious!

B13Birk said:

egnorant said:

What kind of scooter? I might swap ya a Miata with motor and trans (automatic) for a scooter!

Bruce (East Texas)

Thanks for the offer Bruce! That would have been a sweet trade! Unfortunately, the scooter fell through. 

Dang! Well I will keep watching. Still might find some way to dump this thing on someone!

Bruce

You probably thought of the paperclip because of the "one red paperclip" guy that started with a red paperclip and wanted to end up with a house.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_red_paperclip

He did it, in 14 trades no less.

I had a similar idea to you a few years back and started putting any extra play money in an investment account - I sell stuff on eBay and CraigsList for play funds - and it has accumulated a frankly embarrassing amount that I can't bring myself to say out loud to anyone. Let's just say it's more of a racing annuity at this point, and the returns can pay for my racing. It's astonishing what you can make off of or out of other people's castoffs.

In reply to dculberson :

That's exactly what it was! Yeah, I'm hoping to slowly do the same thing. My issue is that I tend to fall in love with too many projects and have a hard time flipping stuff after I get my hands on it.