What 5 cars are in your *BUDGET* dream garage?

[Mephistopheles Janx]

I've seen a lot of these prompts but they usually involve a ridiculous amount of money... so I thought it would be fun to talk about a way more budget friendly garage.

Each car must be, currently, listed for sale at no more than $10k. No project cars that need to be worked on... they need to be able to move at least 2 people around reliably and legally on city streets.

Mine are as follows...

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The Daily Driver - 2009 Pontiac Solstice GXP w/91k miles - $7,250



I actually have this car and it is my daily driver. Well... not THIS one but the same car in the same color. This is just a better photo than what I have. Yes, it basically has no trunk but I can (and have) gotten 300lbs of goat feed in this thing. It is a blast to drive. It has been extremely reliable. It is fun to look at. I can take it to AutoX. Got mine well below $10k.

The Farm Truck - 1993 Honda Acty 4cyl / 4x4 - $10,000



So I mentioned goats. I would love the flexibility a vehicle like this would provide me while managing my herd of goats and the 10 acres I'm on. I'm also in the middle of nowhere and on a dirt road so having the ability to have an extremely light 4x4 vehicle pretty much ensures I am not getting stuck While not highway legal... it is city legal where I live. Listing found on FB Marketplace.

The Work Truck - 2007 Toyota Tundra SR5 with a 5.7l V8 / 4x4 / 170k miles - $9,500



The listing I found wouldn't let me screenshot it so I used a stock photo. Being on a homestead I, on occasion, need something with a lot of grunt to get things done be it pulling a loaded trailer or carrying heavy things for the farm. It could pull my tractor down the road with no worries at all. Bonus... this Toyota will probably still be running like new at 400k miles with just regular maintenance. Listing found on cars.com

The People Hauler/Loaner - 2013 Mazda 5 Touring at 61k miles - $9,500



There is absolutely nothing sexy about this pick. It is there to serve a purpose and nothing more. You damn well know that if you have a 5 car garage... someone is going to ask you to borrow one of those cars at some point. You need something you can lend out without really being overly concerned that they are going to try to go fast or drive aggressively. Also, none of the other vehicles listed so far are really capable of, comfortably, carrying more than 4 adults and even then they would be tightly squeezed in the back of the truck. So... we have a minivan. At least it is a Mazda so I expect reliability and it has low miles. Listing found on cars.com

The Saturday Night Special - 1938 Dodge Brothers Fast 4 Rat Rod Chopped / 350SBC / Unknown Miles - $10k



There is nothing else on the list that has this aesthetic. This car would be for the sole purpose of getting people to look at it. It should also be, relatively, easy to work on, if needed... it is a rat, as the engine is completely exposed and is extremely common. If I'm going out and want to make a spectacle... this is the car that I'm going in. Listing found on FB Marketplace.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Mephistopheles Janx

I throw pics on imgur then use the img tags to add the photo here.



A ****ing Starion!?!?!? I'mma need more than just a single photo of that car my dude.

VERY cool car.

Weird! It looks like a strange firebird hatchback combo things

[UteChief]

Instead of $10k per car for five cars, can I just spread the $50k across 1 or 2?

[loochy]

Originally Posted by UteChief

Instead of $10k per car for five cars, can I just spread the $50k across 1 or 2?

That's not a "dream garage." That's real life.

[ToxSocks]

Originally Posted by kpic

Nice day here so I took this out for a spin...

Attachment 127815

Bought about 8 years ago for well under your 10k limit, but I had to travel pretty far to get it and 80's Japanese sports cars have jumped up in price over the past few years so it'll take over that 10k now days.

Lots of nice ones in this thread, I'll take that T\A and the IROC and even that T-Bird Turbo Coupe, but all of those (especially the T\A) in the condition shown would be well over that 10k limit, heck that T\A you'll need a near 40k limit probably.

Now give me a 20k limit and I think I might be able to come up with a few...

Edit: Guess I don't know how to insert a pic? All these years on CP suppose I never figured it out?

Neat. I love seeing cars like that.

[Dunerdr]

Originally Posted by kpic

Nice day here so I took this out for a spin...

Attachment 127815

Bought about 8 years ago for well under your 10k limit, but I had to travel pretty far to get it and 80's Japanese sports cars have jumped up in price over the past few years so it'll take over that 10k now days.

Lots of nice ones in this thread, I'll take that T\A and the IROC and even that T-Bird Turbo Coupe, but all of those (especially the T\A) in the condition shown would be well over that 10k limit, heck that T\A you'll need a near 40k limit probably.

Now give me a 20k limit and I think I might be able to come up with a few...

Edit: Guess I don't know how to insert a pic? All these years on CP suppose I never figured it out?

I had a friend near Joplin that had one in a burnt orange with a 2jz and th400 swap. It was really salty and a sleeper. Poor guy died in his sleep a few years ago.

[Dunerdr]

He ended up running 10.80s or 90s. I raced him him in my Chevy II when it was a small block car. It would do 10.80 all day and he gave me all I wanted on some shitty asphalt road outside of asbury one night. Pretty cool build.

[Smed1065]

Originally Posted by srvy

Is the 1st one a Kawasaki 380 GT?

[kpic]

Originally Posted by Mephistopheles Janx

A ****ing Starion!?!?!? I'mma need more than just a single photo of that car my dude.
VERY cool car.

Impressed you knew what that was; actually Chrysler Conquest TSi - But yeah Mitsubishi Starion in everything but name and very minor exterior differences. 1988 w\62k on it, had to go all the way to upper north Minnesota to find a nice one like that. Fairly stock with exception of larger-free flow exhaust, short throw shifter and few other minor things.

2JZ is a pretty common swap on them, that drag one is pretty nice, I've only seen one other one but it was completely bandaged together. Quite a few have been modified because keeping them almost stock is hard being parts are difficult to find. Even tires are hard to find and have to be ordered but thankfully the rears (245/45/16) are shared with the late 80's Porsche 911 Turbo so hopefully they'll always be around.

If I made the link right the link below should take you to the Google photos album I have with some more pics...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/o6sJ5AaiZ99FzdjT6

There are 3 pics of my car before this one in there; 1990 Dodge Daytona Shelby VNT (Variable Nozzle Turbo) 536 of those were made.

Yeah I seem to like the semi-oddball-step-children cars; this is my 2nd Conquest TSi, previous one I had in the mid-late 90's and it was a beautiful Electric\Fiji Blue. I've owned several mid-late 80's Turbo Mopars (Shelby Charger Turbo etc.). Even a 1978 Mustang II King Cobra (w\T-Tops-4spd & the big snake decal on hood - Think Charlie's Angels) is in there.

For all of my 'fun' cars I've never paid over or close to 10k, all of those 'non-popular' cars I'd dabble in always had the benefit of not being popular (IE: not as expensive). Unfortunately that's not the case anymore, now you're paying 10k for close to a shell of a popular year Mustang\Camaro\Corvette and you'll probably put at least 20-30k in it to get it close to 'right' and that's brought along a lot of other cars with them, as people can't afford those vehicles they'll look more towards the outer fringes for something.

[kpic]

Here you go... something that has been on my list for a while. Almost bought a 76' TA w\400 and came very close to one of these (1981 Turbo TA Daytona Pace Car) Recaro interior, nice! This is mid-90's, no one wanted one of these, everyone lusted after the 77-78 Smokey & Bandit ones. Nobody wanted the Turbo TAs, except me because if no one else wanted it that meant affordable!

Even still couldn't pull the trigger on it, it was at a dealer needed a little bit of work but I refused to come up to their (overpriced) asking amount so I walked. Now many, many years later it's too late, even these ones that nobody wanted previously are out of my price range (for a good one).




Another one I always had on my list and came close to buying a black one just like this... 1972 GTO, yes 72'. The mid-60's to 70' GTO were the popular ones even back then, that left the oddball 71'-72' in the more bargain priced area, perfect for my budget! Didn't like the 1973 model, but I did like the 1974 GTO, based on the Pontiac Ventura, unfortunately I was never able to locate one of those.

[kpic]

Oh I forgot a big (well little) one... yep a Vega! Not just any Vega for the price of one of these little puppies you could have bought two standard Vega's (they even had an ad that claimed that)! Twin-cam head by Cosworth and fuel injected! Alas another forgotten & un-loved car that people for some reason started to want and thus increase the price over the years