Purchased in 1990 for $3500... sold in 1994 for $18,000
Purchased in 1990 for $3500... sold in 1994 for $18,000
You left out the "Invested- $xx,xxx.xx"
Did an MG Midget with a Fiat 124 drivetrain swap.
Built this thing with a good friend while in HS; it did insane wheelies.
In 1990, I built my first truck, and Associated RC10T. Followed the manual and it came out fine. Bleeding the shocks, setting the ball diff, painting the body. No adult help. I was 11.
I built the K-tona in about 2002. It was the pairing of a 1984 K-Car with a 2.5 tall block and an auto, and the running gear out of a 1989 Daytona CS, the 2.5 non intercooled turbo motor and five speed. I swapped everything from one shell to another. Wiring, gas tank, engine, transmission, everything. It ran, drove, passed inspection in Texas and I ran two autocrosses with it. I then tore it back down for paint for the $2003 Challenge and never put it back together. It wasn't exactly pre-internet as I was on the GRM forum then, but build threads weren't a thing.
Getting this car together and working was a big thing for me. It was really the first project of this scale I had done.
A 318 powered d50 i never put on the road was the first running one. Then finishing a 79 capri i purchased from am estate for 800. Added another 500 or so between junkyard parts and chassis stuff. Ran 12.96 at 108mph. Car had a brand new driveline in it when purchased though. car died too rust in the rear trailing arm mounts after sitting for a year because it made my girlfriend jealous.
An 81 D150 /6 3spd turbo. Junkyard build from an actual junkyard, parts came off a duster that had been there for who knows how long. My dad and I knew nothing about it and I blew up three engines before I "kinda" figured it out. Ended up with a diplomat interceptor motor by the time I sold it. What fun.
91 crx, crv bottomend, b18 head, t3/t4. I wish that I had known theb what I know about now regarding suspension setup and tuning as that should've been a great handling car as well, but instead was point it straight, mash the loud pedal and giggle, pedal through a corner and repeat.
94 jetta 2.0 8v, switched over to the 16v 9a head added a lysolm and itbs...in front of the charger. It would set off every car alarm within a 3 floor radius if I went above 6000rpm in the parking garage at the local shopping mall. I kinda miss that one, it was obnoxious, but it was something that you'd never expect from a mk3 vw chassis.
1967: 57 Chevy 2 dr post (purchase price, $300): Accident first week I owned it, replaced frt clip, replaced 6/auto with 283/stick. Spent too much time and money for POS.
1972: 68 International Scout ($400): Replaced worn cam/gears,tuneup, etc. Body work and prepped for paint, Cadillac yellow, replaced wheels and tires, removed front bumper and headed for Jersey Pine Barrens for offloading. Had a blast!
1975: 68 Camaro SS 350/4 bbl, 4 spd ($200): Replaced battery, starter, flushed engine, changed oil twice, tuneup, deep cleaned interior/replace carpet, clean/paint trunk. Installed OEM frt/rear Z/28 spoilers, prepped for paint/assisted in painting, Black Imron. Drove it for a couple of months and sold for $1250.
1976: 68 Saab 96 V4/4 spd on column ($75): Gutted interior except frt seats, installed/secured 3 spare tires, tool box, shovel, tow rope, come along in back seat area. Tuneup, water proofed ignition, routed air intake into interior of car, fabricated/installed skid plate, L78x15 tires on front, install tow bar. Headed for the Jersey Pine Barrens. Had a BLAST!!
Minnesota
1982: 80 Chevy Malibu 9C1, 305/4 bbl/350TH($1000): Removed heads, replaced valve guides/valve job, had it painted dark blue w/black 9C1 steelies and trim rings. Installed latest/best radar detector, CB radio and Scanner. STEALTH, These were the days of serious 55 mph speed limit enforcement.
1985: 1974 VW Thing ($900): Replaced steering stabilizer, tuneup, installed 4 snow tires and waited for snow. Had a Blast!
1989-1997: Built and campaigned two stock body 4 cylinder dirt track race cars. Did not know how much time and money I spent doing it until I quit. Still miss it!!!
I did a 302 into a Pinto wagon back in '93. I still miss it.
I did a 350 into a Pontiac Astre (Vega wannabe) back in '95. I don't miss it as much. I ~was~ on the interwebs back then, though - on a 2400 baud modem.
NOHOME wrote: Did an MG Midget with a Fiat 124 drivetrain swap. Built this thing with a good friend while in HS; it did insane wheelies.
That rules.
I could barely talk when the Internet happened, but pre-broadband I found a bunch of old dead AFX slot cars and combined parts to make a few working cars. I think I was 7? Lost more than a couple brushes in the shag carpet, though...
Appleseed wrote: In 1990, I built my first truck, and Associated RC10T. Followed the manual and it came out fine. Bleeding the shocks, setting the ball diff, painting the body. No adult help. I was 11.
Hey, I have one of those!
My first was a Team Losi XXX-T; same deal but I was 12....which means that would have been 2003. So the internet has basically been around my whole life.
1989: 1977 Nova, pulled the 305, built the worst 350 ever. Added a shift kit the the TH350, rear axle out of a truck, rolled the fenders, front spindles and brakes from a buick wagon, welded the subframe on with out the pucks. The engine had small valve corvette heads, a wild ass cam, dual plane intake, 600cfm holley, stock torque converter. I guess it ran ok. I was 15.
1991: 1981 buick regal added a 1971 455, it dropped right in with the lower motor mounts cut in half and welded to the cross member. Later it received a TH400. I had no idea how much the stock trans must have been slipping until the TH400 went in, then it just had tire slip. I still miss this car, what a sleeper. Everyone expected a 350 Chevy under the hood.
When I was in college, I had a 1965 Austin Healey Sprite with a Datsun 1200 drivetrain. The swap was done when I bought it, but not really finished. The alternator output was not connected to anything when I bought it and I managed to drive it 100 miles home just on the battery. Made it home and shut it off in the driveway, but there was not enough juice to start it again.I built a voltage regulator out of some Radio Shack parts and parts of the Lucas regulator to get the alternator to work.
My GTV you see in my avetar. We got it in '96, and did the performance package in '98 or so. Yes, there was internet, but the sources of work were people I knew pre-that. Some good phone calls were made.
Other than that, most of my cars were stock or very much helped by the internet.
At 9 years old I rebuilt a Honda Z50A, engine down to the case. My dad figured out which wire needed to go to the coil to make it run.
I now have a replica of the same bike with a powder coated frame, and newer top end.
At the same time I was building Tamiya RC cars for myself and friends. I still have a Hotshot and Midnight rider.
My twin boys are now ten and I couldn't imagine them doing that kind of thing. However they know their way around a computer, something that took me 35 years to figure out.
While I sadly have no pictures of it, my "pre-internet" project was my '78 F-150 4x4 that I installed a 6" lift kit on to fit 36" tires. Purchased 1989 and sold in 1992 when I got laid off from my job. I didn't really own a camera at the time, so I don't have any photos of it. After that, I didn't really play with cars much for the next 15 years.
Theres no pictures that I have found. But a few were the first resto of the duster, a 351 Cleveland and 4 speed swap into a cherry 68 torino, and a full off-road build of a one ton 84 ram. 9 inches of lift, winch, 38 inch tires, hopped up 318, lights, camper shell, built in a parking lot in college.
pre-picture days, but my first was the 89 9C1. I put mid-length headers, true duals, removed the AIR pump and associated crap, flex fan and truck ralleye wheels with BFG Radial T/A's. Loved that car.
Second was a 1993 GMC Ext Cab SB, 4.3 V6/5-spd. Swapped to a 13" open element, true duals, a handful of the TBI mods and a Hypertech chip. I found a set of Boydz 17x8 wheels and 255/50/17 BFG Comp T/A tires for it. The exhaust was the big mistake. Loud as berkeley, and at cruising speeds resonated in the cab so bad I couldn't hear the radio at all.
Circa 1994/1997. 1970 Mustang coupe. 302/c4. Paid $1800, it ran and drove and didn't look to bad from 20'.
I thought it was midnight blue, but after a wash and polish it was eggplant purple.
I wound up doing a period correct resto-mod and returning it to it's original color, Wimbledon white. It looked great with body color steelies and dog dish center caps.
To be honest, I messed up. The body part was done well, but the drive train was a story of missed opportunity. I had the original 302 rebuilt and hotted up a bit, but for the money that I spent I really should have done a 5.0/at swap from a late fox body 'stang.
I just about broke even when I sold it for $7000 in 2001. If it had been a convertible, fastback or factory big block, it would have been worth twice or more.
1991 VW GTI 2.0l 16v, bought it with 9k miles on it in 1992. Swapped in a Corrado G60 motor in 1996. Sold the car in 1999.
Kinda miss it, it got completely molested by the guy who ended up with it. He tried to turn it into a stereo car and had the rear windows replaced with steel. Then he didn't pay the body shop, so they did a shop lien on it and seized it. The shop offered it back to me but I wasn't interested in it with the steel skinned over windows.
It was in the January 1997 issue of European Car magazine, got 4 pages! Was one of the last "normal guy" cars they featured in a long time. Most of the cars since have been tuner/shop cars or owned by famous people.
I'm younger than the Internet, if you count ARPAnet.
!987, bought a 1972 Austin Mini and a pile of parts. In the pile was a rebuildable 1275, a manifold and twin SUs, and an LCB exhaust. Put that all together to go autocrossing.
Back in the '80s, I built a Daytona Spyder replica like the one on Miami Vice, and it got used in Max Headroom. Was a fun build that took about 6 months to complete. After that it was a Triumph TR6 with a Ford V6 (tiny little motors, fit about anywhere and can make good power), then an '80 Mustang with a built 466cid Ford big block, finally the last real build before the internet was the V8 FC RX7 back in '93, which I had during the birth of the internet and forums.
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