My non tractor find at the junk yard

[Kelly 1,029]

I was at the junk yard this week and just as I was getting ready to leave and this guy pulls up in this little yellow car on the scales, and as he pulls in the gate I ask if he's junking the car? "yes I need money he says", I told him at the current prices he was only going to get about $250 for it, I turned to the guy running the yard and asked if I could deal with the owner of the car to buy it, he said "go for it", I turned back and offered $300 cash, he said it's yours, handed me the title and was on his way, I found out the junk yard would have only paid $238 for it scrap, the guy bought it in sept.this year 2011 and paid $1450 for it, I don't understand people, anyway I was looking for a car for my 16 year old Daughter, her dream car is a Yellow Cobalt SS but no way can I afford that for her, well needless to say she is pretty happy with this one for a first car, now she has to learn to drive a stick shift, I drove it home and it's pretty quick, not sure she needs this as a first car but we will see, it's a 98 Cavalier Z24 with a quad 4 twin cam/ 5 speed, has a chip in the computer, header, cold air intake, lowering kit with springs, 17" wheels, short throw shifter, and lots of other add ons, it needs exh. work it's loud and dragging the ground, has a check eng. light on but runs well so it's probably minor, one rim is bent and shakes at road speeds above 50mph, but not bad, even the after market CD stereo is nice, remote start with alarm, only real rust is on the hood I'll find a used hood and probably just paint it satin black, it's been painted and the clear is peeling but hey what do you want for $300 now days, here it is dirty needs a bath and the inside cleaned, it's been to cold to mess with it much.

[nylyon-(Admin) 7,156]

You got a great deal on that one!

[KC9KAS 4,741]

Your daughter will be the envy of all the 16 year old boys....I mean for her car!

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,073]

Good for you (and her). I just went thru the process of getting my 16 year old in a set of wheels and there are no $300 cars that are worth lookin at here in Connecticut.

Ended up costing $2700 for something that was "allright".

Mike.........

[chinoman279 10]

Nice find for $300. I had a 98 Z24 in white. The thing to watch out for on these cars is the brakes. The ABS module goes out or the wheel speed sensors give false readings. Both of these cause the ABS to pulse the brakes during all braking and actually becomes dangerous in wintertime driving. There were many times I found that my stopping distance would become twice as long for no obvious reason other than the module going haywire. You will hear it pulsing. Just a heads up. Other than that I enjoyed driving it. Just a little nerve racking at times. The insurance on it was not cheap from memory. It ultimately got crashed by my brother as he couldn't stop and went up over a curb. He was not aware of the potential brake issue.

[stevasaurus 22,527]

And I thought $300 -$400 vehicles were a thing of the past. Kelly, I am going to take a month off and hang around your junk yard. . Happy New Year Mate

[squonk 40,727]

Ahh a Quad 4. The Tecky of auto engines!! :scared-eek:

[AMC RULES 37,102]

Your daughter will be the envy of all the 16 year old boys....I mean for her car!

...and her tractor too, IIRC. Yet another great score for you Kelly. :bow-blue:

[Kelly 1,029]

Well I can tell you the cheap cars are not to be found around here most of the time, like I said he paid $1450 4 months ago for it, I'll keep a eye on the brakes, she does not have a real licence yet still on the permit, I may plate it and drive it to work for a while to work the bugs out, and make sure it's safe for my little girl, it may end up getting sold to fund something else for her, but this was way to good of a deal to pass up, I know I can triple my money just by cleaning it and putting it on CL, funny thing is the junk yard got 4 running driving cars in last week, one was a very very nice Cad. 2001 needs a wheel bearing, and the drivers door changed (wrecked) but I got there a day late and they already moved it around with the loader so it got beat up pretty bad, the other is a rusty but driving Lumina with 300,000 miles on it, they were driving it around the yard beating the crap out of it, and a escort 4 door and a ranger 4x4 all drove in, but this is a scrap yard not a normal junk yard so it's all scrap metal to them, and can not sell whole cars, unless like me your in good with them.

[jay in nc 210]

kelly, keep an eye on the cooling system, quad fours both 2 & 4 valve have head gasket problems. watch out for water & oil mixing. speaking from experiance 96 buick skylark only 96,000 miles on it

[sgtsampay 117]

Wow, congrats sir. Thats a real cool steal. very nice.

[smoreau 658]

Kelly also the water pumps are known for leaking on these and it will cause a head gasket to blow. Not a cheep fix, and the timing chain, if its making noise at all, move the car down the road!! If both of those things are ok, then they are a snappy little engine that does get great gas mileage. I just did a head job on a quad 4 a week ago. It called for 12 hours with a water pump. Kind of sounds like the onen engines. they run great, but if they don't get out your pocket book!

[VinsRJ 721]

For $300 you did well IMO. And lets be honest.... everyones first car gets wrecked :laughing-rofl:

[Jake Kuhn 1,554]

You got a deal Kelly! My brother got his first truck this year and the cheapest decent not rusty chevy he could get he paid 7000 for,Jake

[SousaKerry 501]

Kelly you are truly the king of the yard.....

I picked up a non running 95 skylark with a quad 4 in pieces with a blown head gasket with only 49K miles, got it for $50 and had to tow it from Warren, OH. Long story short put it back together in my driveway (don't ever try it) pulled everything off the block with the engine in the car put her back together.

Dang thing runs but sounds like a diesel and leaks oil as fast as I pour it in. But I have put over 20K miles on it in 1 /12 years. It gets about 28mpg no matter how hard I beat it, wheel bearings are bad bad CV joint suspension isn't right and it is the most uncomfortable car I have ever owned but I can't beat the price.

I'll dive the dang thing till the wheels fall off.

And Kelly I'm sure you already know but You Pull And Save off of Cedar between Mason and Holt is the best salvage yard I have ever seen, can't tell you how many interior parts I have walked out of there with and they haven't charged me for.

[Docwheelhorse 2,647]

For $300 how can you loose..... a little TLC and some polish and shes on her way. Thats awful close to a yellow Cobalt SS size and performance wise so she should be thrilled. I had a Tech 4 in an Oldsmobile and I beat it pretty good....never skipped a beat.... maybe pure luck I dunno.... never heard of any of the issues mentioned above. But if someone buys a 2.8, 3.1, 3.4 3100/3400 90 degree V6 I can tell them stories about "junk" . But at the same time there are people running those engines that tell me I'm crazy.... everybody has different experiences I guess. Good Luck with it !!!

Tony

[DoctorHfuhruhurr 137]

Nice score. You can't get much of anything for $300 these days let alone a running car. If you walk into a good shoe store with $300, you only come out with one shoe. :D

[SousaKerry 501]

I had a Tech 4 in an Oldsmobile

Tech 4 replaced Quad 4 different engine all together. Oh and they call the one on my skylark a quad 4 but really it is a quad 2, same block one less cam and 2 less valves per cylinder only made for 2 years, basically GM said these quad 4's are coming back under warranty so lets take half the horsepower away till we get it figured out.

[CRE1992 135]

Kelly nice score!, How many miles does it have on it? Also whatever happened to your diesel C195 project? Did you ever finish it, I was real interested to find out about that one...

-Charles

[Kelly 1,029]

This has 138,000 miles on it, so far it runs like a top with what looks like new antifreeze in it, new oil change a few weeks ago still looks new, I'm not going to put much in to it, IF she can learn to drive a stick she will mainly be driving it to school and to close friends houses, and school is only 6 miles one way, she is very very happy with Dad right now for finding a cool car not a mini van or a Grandpa car, my oldest got a beat up Cutlass ciera for $400 but it was wheels.

My first car I drove on the steet (I had 4 cars before I was 16) was a 70 Buick Skylark 2 dr with a 455/turbo 400 with a posi, it would fry the rear tires at will, probably not a good first car, I drove the crap out of it, and my Daughter is alot like me, so this little yellow hot rod scares me, I know she love fast cars, we are talking about putting her in a stock car this year to race, almost did it last year, but it has to be set up so my son Ryan can drive it too, he turns 12 this year and that is how old you have to be to drive a stock car at the local track, 2 years ago a 14 year old girl won the points championship in her class against guys in their 20's, 30's and 40's.

I hope to start back on the diesel soon, just no time right now.

[CRE1992 135]

I told my Uncle about it, he says if you fix it up, and want to sell it hes interested, and will fly out to Michigan to get it lol. My dads first car was a new 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS with a 396. He bought it new off the show room floor for $3600 cash. He still wishes he never got rid of it. He grew up in Detroit and when to the strip every Sunday. My first vehicle was a new 2008 Chevrolet Silverado, it would have been a car, but I have a need for speed... Needles to say I know how fast our 2010 Camaro will go until you hit the speed limiter... oopsies.. Looking to trade my truck in on a duramax for hauling. Well anyways good luck with the car!

[chinoman279 10]

Good to hear it is running strong. I wonder why the guy was going to scrap it? He could have put it in any of the papers and sold it in a week for twice what you paid him. Oh well, you made out good. If I saw it in the paper I would have certainly gone to look at it even if it meant driving up your way.

My very first car was a geo metro. I actually wish I still had it. It did not matter how I drove it, usually north of 100 mph at the time(up 69 and 94), it got 50 mpg. The little 3 cylinder was so cheap if I had to replace it that I did not care if it blew. It never did. I drove it for the last 3 months, before I traded it in on my camaro, with no coolant in it. Not a drop. The car dealer sold it for $700 a week later after giving me $1500 for it. Some sorry sucker could have bought two of your vehicles.

[ce318 13]

Kelly that is so cool for her, My first was a 42 Willy's mb3 with a four cyl. then came the 327 vette and so went the little 3spd. I then swapped in a Toyota 22r and drove it for 2 years. I bought my now 14 year old a 1969 Nissan Patrol for her first. It has 96,000 on original 6 cyl. with 3spd manual everything except the $ 400.00 pioneer with itouch she bought for it. See pic she is happy. We got it from the original owner. I will say it has more grease zerks than a Cat loader. LOL http://s1183.photobu...=tracinissy.jpg