Vacation to Savannah GA area, need help finding a CHEAP car.

My wife is finally getting her honeymoon. April 12th we are flying to savannah (I wish we had spellcheck for the city name) GA

Our plan is to fly down, find a car for under 1k preferably 6-700 then drive to Tybee Island and stay in a hotel a couple days (depending on the reliability of auto) then drive the 10hrs home. We are just looking forward to being off work and enjoying each others company for an entire week without any distractions.

If anyone happens to know of any vehicles in that region let me know. We prefer Mazdas ie: Protege, Miata (manual only), and wagons of any model such as Taurus civic etc.....I'm not brand loyal. Clear title is a must. Body damage and bad paint are ok.

Whatever we purchase pending its relative reliability will be chopped behind the front seats and converted into a Camino/Rampage style pick up with ice racing tires. Ive been wanting to build one for a long time. If its a pile then I'll scrap it upon our return. If nothing works out we are going to just rent or fly.

My wife and I drove 3 hours in a pickup with 3rd gear only from central Illinois so she's a trooper when it comes to my adventures. I'm lucky to have an extra gearhead in my life that can't tell me to stop my ramblings.

Look forward to hearing back from you all. Her friends weren't impressed with our sense of adventure.

Oh boy, This should be a good one. Tuned in.

Good enough for 80 miles a day for the last 10 years, plus multiple trips to Florida and back with no hiccups. Brand new tires. New t-belt, water pump, cam & crank seals, plugs, wires, battery, etc. She just goes & goes.

I'll go $1,000 without the spares, and meet you at the airport (assuming you're flying into ATL and not Savannah.)

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/200x-classifieds/the-mighty-integra-1500-your-lechumpchallengedd-chariot-awaits/76320/page1/

In reply to poopshovel:

That sounds like a perfect solution to me.

$600 to $1k has you shopping in pretty daring territory considering the need for 10 hrs of driving shortly after the purchase. A lot of sub $1k cars need some considerable attention.
Keep us posted.

Sounds like a typical banger rally, buy well and you'll be fine. I think the integra being offered up there is a hell of a good idea.

JohnRW1621 wrote: $600 to $1k has you shopping in pretty daring territory considering the need for 10 hrs of driving shortly after the purchase. A lot of sub $1k cars need some considerable attention. Keep us posted.

I'd drive the inteezy to the berkeleying Sun & back. Ymmv.

Bonus: As you know, you can sleep in it if your tent gets rained out!

I got nothin to help you on the car, but I'll make some recommendations on the trip. While in Savannah, make sure to visit the Six Pence Pub. It's a great English pub, coolest bar I've found down there, but it's not on River Street. River street is okay but it's a tourist trap. On Tybee go to the north beach public beach area, kind of near the light house. It's much less crowded and better IMHO. There's a great beach bar on the back side of the public parking area.

On your way back, if you come up I-16 to Macon to catch I-75 into Atlanta you should give me a shout. we'll grab a beer or something.

Yeah, be hard to lose on that teg.

In reply to poopshovel:
We all know that sub $1k cars can be a crap shoot. I was not trying to imply that yours was a risky venture, rather the opposite. I was trying to state that buying a known car from a known board member is far less risky that just trying to show up in a town and buying a beater (someone else's problem that they do not want to deal with.)

I think you should swap out the odometer on that Integra then sell it as True Miles Unknown. Having seen the car, no one is going to guess it has that many miles. The reality is that it has likely been better maintained than a vehicle with half the miles.
Up here in rust-land, it has crossed my mind to do exactly that...bring your rust free car up here, pull the odo and challenge the buyer to guess what the number really is. The car is better than the number implies.

In reply to JohnRW1621:

I was not implying that you were implying anything.

April 15th is my target day to sell cars by. Seems every cheap car gets bought with all that "refund" money.

Here is one that you might like, $800, in your target location:

http://savannah.craigslist.org/cto/4287642369.html

How brave is the wife?

http://savannah.craigslist.org/cto/4226385288.html

My buddy has a Taurus for sale right now for $500 that has AC and runs good.... that may be the rampage project. I believe the search continues, however I will keep the Integra in the back of my mind.

I'm not really feeling all these transmission issues (my wife is brave but as previously stated... when youve driven nearly 200 miles on 3rd gear alone, she's a tad shakey)

I'm really feeling a car with body damage in the rear, even terrible paint. I can give up a lot of cosmetic appeal for mechanically sound. A set of tires good enough to get home (like I said I plan on putting some monster ice racing tires on)

Thanks for the thoughts and replies, guys. I'll keep you posted and do a build thread on the Rampage (shouldn't take more than a weekend with a couple buddies, my wife and brother pitching in)

Wait...why haven't you made a deal with poopshovel yet?

In reply to szeis4cookie:

Yeah, that is so obviously the answer to your problem.

I think the OP was scared of the tranny in the teg. I may have overstated the issue. 3rd grinds a little if you're getting on it. 5th occasionally requires a little "finesse." - like, let the revs drop to idle, then go into gear. Nothing too complicated, and I believe it's related to the motor mounts, not the trans. I've driven it back and forth to Florida multiple times like this. Unless you're taking backroads the whole way home, you should only be shifting into 5th after gas stops.

YMMV. No pressure. I'd just really like somebody here to do something cool with her, rather than some flat-brimmer with a penchant for krylon and stickers.

Dude, buy the thing from Poopshovel. He and that car have been vouched for so many times on this board I can't even remember them all. The guy's even going to pick you up at the airport. That's a sweetheart deal. Give him a bear hug for me.

Hey now. The more you guys pressure the OP to buy this thing, the more likely it is to have some catastrophic failure 5 miles down the road.

If Frank is planning on flying directly to Savannah, a car located in Atlanta may be a problem even if it IS a great car. It's a 4-5 hour drive from Savannah to Atown.

Now if Poop was half the man he's reputed to be, he'd offer to drive the Teg to Savannah

Frank is on Vacation. Poop's at the shop.
Frank could rent a car and one day of vacation could be an easy drive to N. Atlanta.

Flying to Savannah, with my wife...... on our honeymoon. I haven't had a vacation since 2011 (I went to a drag race and mud bog) . Yeah we want to enjoy ourselves (backtracking in GA is not my idea of fun)

Im trying to talk my sister into buying the 99 Taurus with AC for the $500. I hope she does or I may have to.

The end goal is to find something "UNIQUE" for a truck conversion (hence the wagon talk) and to have an unforgettable time with Mrs. Tank

I haven't forgotten about the Intrepid, however it's not the only option and not the most impracticle/practicle.

ultraclyde wrote: If Frank is planning on flying directly to Savannah, a car located in Atlanta may be a problem even if it IS a great car. It's a 4-5 hour drive from Savannah to Atown. Now if Poop was half the man he's reputed to be, he'd offer to drive the Teg to Savannah

Which is why I said "ASSUMING you're flying into ATL and not savannah."

Savannah is a 9 hour round trip for me...plus a rental to get home.

And the OP is obviously not interested, so let's not beat it to death, eh?

ehh, I'm just jerking your chain Poop. I didn't think anyone else realized the distance from Atlanta to Savannah...

$1000 Lumina

$1000 Accord WAGON

$1200 Explorer, build yer own Ranger!

$1200 V6 Camaro...looks too good to be true....

In reply to ultraclyde:

I don't think a car without a title is going to help much in this instance, clyde.