So my friends call me a cheap bastard and brought up how I haven't spent much on my vehicles. I believe in paying cash and yes I'm value orientated (PC for cheap bastard). That got me thinking. My driveway is full of Challenge qualified vehicles. How is your driveway? Here's my driveway with Challenge rules values.
2002 Infiniti Q45 $50
1988 Chevy K30 $1800
1996 Miata $494
1976 Lotus Elite $1000
1999 Chevy Silverado (Gift from family bought new by uncle)
Not so much.
The Passat is an '07 that I bought three years ago and only have two more years of payments. 
The '97 Miata was $2400
The '99 Suburban was $1600 (probably my most GRM)
And finally the '94 Ranger was inherited.
I'm not really in the market for anything else just now but in a year or so we'll be getting a starter car for the eldest child.
78 zephyr wagon. Around $1400 in it right now.w
89f150 $1,130 but its for sale.
99 silverado. Gift from my father in law because he bought a new truck and wants it off his insurance.
04 saturn ion. Wifes car. Paid 10k in 06 for it. Last car payment ill ever have.
Stampie wrote: So my friends call me a cheap bastard and brought up how I haven't spent much on my vehicles. I believe in paying cash and yes I'm value orientated (PC for cheap bastard). That got me thinking. My driveway is full of Challenge qualified vehicles. How is your driveway?
The only car I have that would fit in the Challenge budget is the GTI that I bought a ways back. Everything else blows the budget out of the water.
I mean, yes technically I paid $475 for the RX-7, $400 or something for the Volvo, but I have something like $3500 in the Volvo to actually make it a running, driving car, and there are individual components on the RX-7 that blow the Challenge budget...
54 belair was a gift from my dad, he bought it for $50
the datsun Z was 600
the 90 c1500 was 600
the impala SS was 1200
express van was 1000
then we have the chevelle at 6500, snaab at 8000, and the ram at 44500.
Short answer-no I do not.
Longer answer, I could loose money selling a car you gave me. I am the worst turd polisher I know. A buddy gave me a free Xr650l, I managed to spend 5 grand on the damn thing. My brother sold me his Cummins 3/4 ton for a grand, now I have $3500 or more in it. My $450 Starlet recently got 3 grand of suspension, and isn't even in the same galaxy as being a running, driving, watertight automobile. Don't even get me started on my stagnant Bugeye Sprite.
I like the definitions of being GRM that are on a sliding scale. For the last 6 years, I have had a lucrative job. The income has allowed me some extravagance. At the same time, I built my own rotisserie for $0. I pressed every bearing on the bike's suspension, justifying the purchase of a press. I dream of making the challenge someday, but have yet to walk the walk. Maybe I'm more DIY than GRM.
Pfffft, not even close. But that's what I like about this place. Did you buy a $50 Infinity? We want to hear all about it. What about a five year old Viper? Tells us more. Nissan leaf? Sweet! 20 year old lifted Suburban leaking in the driveway? Show us pictures!
You guys are great.
In reply to mazdeuce:
Stampie wrote: In reply to mazdeuce: $50 Infiniti
I've been waiting for you to straight pipe it and post a video for the sound. Those are pretty glorious sounding motors once you get rid of the mufflers and what not.
Purchase price, no. Usage, yes. My DD MO is newer used Honda with payments, but keep it until 200k+.
No toys for me right now. Although I'm working on a BAD idea for a motorcycle right now.
Yeah, pretty much any car I've bought over the last decade has been under 2 grand. Destroying a 12k car by berkeleying around with it and essentially turning it into a lawn ornimate when I was in my late teens taugt me that I was better off buying cheap E36 M3 and doing whatever I want with it.
Currently I have an 85 b2000 that owes me about $1800 and 01 Ford courier that cost $2000 that I'll drive for a while and make money on because it was so underpriced when I got it.
I had a string of sub $2000 Suzuki Swift gti's. A free 90 Ford courier, a $600 nissan hardbody and a couple of sub $1000 Holden commodores (both made me money when I sold them).
The most expensive cars at my place at the moment belong to Mrs daeman, her dc2 integras worth about 4.5k, and we not long ago bought an 03 Forester for 3k to replace the dc2.
I love cheap cars.
HA not even close! Though one could argue about my MS3 being born from a challenge budget and flipping cars to get to this point without adding more money in to the pot.
But here's the list.
So no I don't walk that walk. But when it comes to my vehicles I have my car budget which is the proceeds from my car flipping so I never use my income from my real job to fuel my motoring demands.
In reply to mazdeuce:
Funny I was just thinking about the same thing earlier. The first time I started it the exhaust leak have me a hint of it. I think I felt movement.
Disclaimer i forgot, i only drive 2 miles for work and average less then 3k total miles a year so my beater car doesnt need to be real reliable!
Was DDing sub $2k BMWs for years - last go round I sprung for an e61 wagon for $11,500. Mrs. Oldtin has a 4runner bought new for about $32,000. Building a house soon, so probably not spending much on vehicles other than maintenance and repairs for the next year.
Current driveway, not so much. Mazda p5 spent 4k 180k ago. Subaru was 6k. 140kago. Elky was 3800, now have 12.5 in it. Duster was a 600 dollar car. In 1995. Now, it's wearing 3k heads.
But I'm shopping for a sub 1k neon to build a challenge car, and do everything on the cheap. My riding mower was free, my pressure washer was free, etc. None of the cars come out of the family budget. All side money I make. So, I guess the answer is sorta.
For a while, absolutely. I daily drove a few of our BABE rally cars for a few years (90 Miata and 96 Saab 9000T), and those were missing parts of their interiors, had some bits cobbled together, all as expected for sub $1000 cars.
At this point, not even close. My daily drivers are a Z4M coupe and CLS63. I still think they are grassroots though. The BMW hasn't really depreciated in the 5 years I have owned it. The Mercedes depreciated about $90k before I bought it at 9 years old with 93k in great condition, and because I can do the work on it, it won't be cost prohibitive to own from what I can tell so far. At this point I can afford to drive something a bit nicer, and I really do enjoy it, especially as it is not just money down the drain in depreciation.
Even Chrissy's car, an 07 Mazda 3 she has had since new, is still quite grassroots. It now has 185k miles on it, but also has a 2.5 motor from a 2012 Ford Fusion, a 6 speed swap from a 2010 Mazda3, Speed3 brakes, Konis/Eibachs, RX8 wheels, etc, all things that were upgraded along the way on the cheap as things needed to be replaced they were upgraded, and we think we should be able to hit 250k miles.
Current cars:
90 Miata, could probably meet challenge budget in it's current state but I have spent more on it.
95 Montero - $400 at auction, ~$50 into it to make it reliable (brake lines and swaybar endlink).
79 Midget - $550, still not fixed.
99 Impreza 2.5rs - $3500.
It's not because I'm cheap, it's just because I'm poor.
Most of the 18 cars I've owned over the years are within $500 of the Challenge cap. The big exceptions would be my Corvettes (both sold for more than I paid) '88 Fiero Formula which I sold for the same price I bought it for, and my current DD 4th gen Firebird. My boat is very close to Challenge money too. It's good to be cheap!
Getting back into cars but my car purchases have been very thought out and.....I've only ever bought 2 cars
My first car is a 91 ranger. I still have it 17 years later. Its my work truck and I drive it 5 days a week.
Second was a 00 explorer. Still own it, had it 11 years and just drove it an hour ago.
Kinda sad list there but I guess I picked good cars for longevity. Both have the ohv 4.0 v6 which while not fast is a great engine
Antihero wrote: Getting back into cars but my car purchases have been very thought out and.....I've only ever bought 2 cars
Last time I counted I had bought around 30 cars since I got my license ~11 years ago.
All but a couple have been purchased way under challenge budget.
For my toys yes I'm grm. My project car is a $400 MR2. That being said I'm more than willing to put some real cash into it to go where I want to current spend is about $1800 total. My daily no way. I need a nice vehicle that I can completely rely on for work. I also occasionally drive director level people to project sites for projects I am managing.
Not entirely. I was given a 1987 econoline that I still drive, that's probably all it was worth fair market value anyway.
Other than that, the next cheapest was my 323 GTX which was a bargain but still more than double challenge price, my rx8 was new but still like 7K under sticker, wife's focus was new, but cheaper model with a stick. So i guess it's in the spirit of GRM, but not the budget.
I think putting a few grand in performance parts into a economy car as counting if you are getting super car performance from it. Even if it goes over the challenge budget.
That said i am pretty cheap now but have wasted a few k on mechanic work and over priced parts.
Free 70s vw bug first car (it did get some rattle can paint sandpaper, and bondo)
$1900 90s ford escort ($1200+ in parts and work in the first week )
$400 93 nx2000
$4500 91 nx2000 ($1000+ in parts)
Free 95 camry (+/-$1000) in parts
Free 05 pt cruiser (+$500 in parts)
$500 99 saturn sw2
$1300 04 redline ion (havent looked at the cost of parts but i get nausea considering adding them up... maybe $1000)
I own a little over 20 cars and all but 3 of them are theoretically challenge legal at this point, and one of those is an RV. So yeah. I actually walk it more than i talk it.
Some of them were over challenge budget when i bought them but wouldn't be today. Even my 07 Prius is borderline Challenge legal after the body damage my inlaws put on it.
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