Your least expensive car?

[fraser.innes.3]

My dad gave me a Renault 18. It was written off when it got driven into. I hammered the rear corner out, replaced the rear light, and it was motable again. 2 years later it was successfully written off (roof bent). Insurance paid out again, so I was in profit

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[Tommyboy12]

5 hours ago, Eyersey1234 said:

@Tommyboy12OMG that ZX is a mess, I hope you weren't too badly hurt. My grandparents had a red J reg ZX 1.4 Reflex for a couple of years in the 90s, J946 HKH.

I was pretty lucky. My left hand and scalp ended up full of glass and I have a dozen scars to show for it but no major injuries. I got some massive seatbelt bruising too. Im not shy about the fact I was pushing the car way too hard. I was young and definitely stupid, but learnt my lesson! Which is of course that free cars are not the fastest cars in the world...

[Eyersey1234]

2 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

I was pretty lucky. My left hand and scalp ended up full of glass and I have a dozen scars to show for it but no major injuries. I got some massive seatbelt bruising too. Im not shy about the fact I was pushing the car way too hard. I was young and definitely stupid, but learnt my lesson! Which is of course that free cars are not the fastest cars in the world...

Liked for the fact you had no major injuries not you getting covered in glass

[UltraWomble]

Aside from a ROFFL win Yaris the least expensive car was a Mk2 Fiesta bought out of someones garden for £40 with 3 months MOT , moss growing on it, flat paint and a mahoosive hole in the exhaust when the missus bashed our car and it went in for bodywork - was cheaper than renting a car.

£40 battery, Road tax was another £60 I think for 6 months, I repaired the Zorst with bean tins, paste and jubilee clips.

Ran it for 2 weeks and then sold it for £150 - I think the £10 actually covered the fuel we used.

[New POD]

2 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

I was pretty lucky. My left hand and scalp ended up full of glass and I have a dozen scars to show for it but no major injuries. I got some massive seatbelt bruising too. Im not shy about the fact I was pushing the car way too hard. I was young and definitely stupid, but learnt my lesson! Which is of course that free cars are not the fastest cars in the world...

But obviously too fast for you who tested the tyre to the road surface interface friction level to the extreme, and found it wanting. (I've written off 3 cars so i know about exceeding the capabilities of the car.) 

[Tommyboy12]

10 minutes ago, New POD said:

But obviously too fast for you who tested the tyre to the road surface interface friction level to the extreme, and found it wanting. (I've written off 3 cars so i know about exceeding the capabilities of the car.) 

I definitely found it wanting! It was of course the fault of the tyres and not mine at all... 😅

[dave j]

I once bought a vw Polo off ebay for 1p! It was about 15 years ago and it was listed in the parts section with no picture and a crap description. No one else bid so I got it for a penny! I did give him a tenner for the tax though.  Had 6 months mot but was listed as a non runner. Turned out the fault was the alternator which I fixed with a spare I had in the garage. I ended up spraying it matt black with a chequered roof and sold it after a few months. Made about £150 profit! 

[Zelandeth]

Thainstone Mart Tuesday auction back up in Inverurie.  Mid 2003.

£2 plus fees, so £26 all in.

Started at £500, then 400, 250, 100 then "Oh come on, someone give me £2!" At which point I put my hand up.  Nobody else was interested.

17K miles, 2 owners, about 11 months test and even a few months tax. 

Was a cracking little car and is still the one I regret selling on the most of any I've owned I think.

There have been a few freebies over the years too and a couple of swaps, but that's definitely the cheapest car I've actually deliberately bought.

Well I say deliberately...I hadn't actually intended to buy anything that day, was just scoping out what stuff was going for.  Though the moment I saw that car I knew I was after it.

Thankfully I had a friend who was in the trade who happened to be there that evening who had an A frame in their car and had come out empty handed or I'd have had to figure out how the heck to get it home!

[MJK 24]

9 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

I had one of those back in 1991.  Ran as a reliable daily for five years, only need one sill and both rear jacking points in all that time.  Did the clutch myself at 70k.  It got tired in the end and I wanted a 33 1.7 so sold it for £200 to Alfa breaker

Today saw this and wept: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174921716305

£16,995, Chertsey

Nice looking car!  This is what sixty quid buys you:

 

[Three Speed]

I have had a few cheap cars, some of which I've managed to sell for the same money. I paid 125 quid for my Mk2 Spitfire in about 1984, did 18k miles in 18 months, rolled it and sold it for the same amount.

And there have been some freebies. The BX estate I passed on to @barrett was free to anyone who could get it off Jersey (so the cost of an EasyJet flight and a ferry ticket).

My parents passed their Mk5 Cortina estate on to me when it was about 11 years old. It was an automatic with a temperamental automatic choke. I ran it for a year but sold it on when the back axle started to get a bit grumbly. Last seen on Crimewatch after it was used as a getaway car in a supermarket robbery. 

My first free car was 1/3rd of a bright yellow FE Victor in about 1982 for about 3 hours. A workmate (Gary) wanted a comfortable place to entertain his girlfriend somewhere his wife wouldn't know about. The labourer (Stuart) had this Victor, sans MOT or tax and he needed it gone so offered it to Gary provided he shifted it. Gary found a discrete parking space but could not drive (and he couldn't ask his wife). So another workmate (Phil) offered to drive it and they both needed a lift which is where I came in. So we head off to solubrious  New Addington in my Herald - for some reason Stuart was otherwise engaged - to find this thing. It was actually pretty good, except for a very bent wheel. But it ran. The route out took us along a residential road that went down a steep hill and up the other side. That's when we found the clutch was completely shagged and no matter how fast we drove down the hill (which was quite fast, even with a wobbly wheel) we could not get up the other side in either direction. We were trapped. There was a guy at the bottom of the hill polishing his red FE. He'd watched us fly past a few times and hadn't called the police so we took that as a positive sign and sold him the car for a fiver. Back in the Herald to the Catherine Wheel pub to convert said fiver into 3 pints and a packet of B&H. This left Gary a bit frustrated. It's the only time I've ever been in a FE. 

[Markeh]

Money only changed hands in the case of the Megane, the 206 and the Qashqai - the cheapest of which was the 206 at £250 (although it was bought with a friend so it only owed me £125). The Corsa was given to me, and the Sedici was technically swapped - I was paying about £150 to my friend for it and then her laptop died, so I sorted her out with a replacement in exchange for the car.

[Vince70]

For me it was £50 for a lovely elderly owned 1968 1300gt Escort Mk1 in ermine white with a lotus green stripe down the coke bottle styled side.

It was totally original and had a beautiful silver six dial dash and a bus size steering wheel embossed with GT this was back in about 1985 though so I guess it doesn’t really count but I’ve had some real nice cars for under £300 in the last 10 years in great condition.  

[Dan302]

2001 5dr Ford Fiesta 1.25 that I bought off a lad at work for £150. Working air con and heated front screen. Needed a bloody good cut and polish (done by hand) 

Had it a year or so. Needed a spring, tyre and a patch on the sill. Never let me down.

[motorpunk]

I think I paid £75 for this. It was still too much. Bag o’ shite.

[rantingYoof]

This 1993 Volvo 480 2.0ES.

Bought for £550.

Driven for 13 months or so.

MOTed (about £40).

Sold for £550.

Ignoring fuel and insurance (both of which were pretty good) cost of ownership was £40.

[wuvvum]

On 9/28/2021 at 6:55 PM, Zelandeth said:

Thainstone Mart Tuesday auction back up in Inverurie.  Mid 2003.

£2 plus fees, so £26 all in.

Started at £500, then 400, 250, 100 then "Oh come on, someone give me £2!" At which point I put my hand up.  Nobody else was interested.

17K miles, 2 owners, about 11 months test and even a few months tax.

I had a very similar story, except my Metro was £5 (plus buyer's fee), and was an A-reg 1.3 auto with 37K on the clock and one owner.

[17-Coffees]

The 1.7CDTi Astra I had...It was free from a family friend back in 2019...

Okay cost £90 in all to get in threw an MOT (That's MOT cost included). Loved that thing, the legendry Isuzu lump was as good as they say! 

The cheapest car I've paid money for, was the E36, 316i,  £195 with MOT on it back in mid 2016...

As some may recall it was a joint buy by myself  @Supernaut, and bounced between the two of us before he bought it outright. 

 

[HMC]

Cheapest 3

all in 2007-2009, all mot’d and with no major faults.in fact without spending anything on them except at the pump the rover I went to Brighton in, and the e34 I took to Germany one winter.

1989 240glt estate 2.3 manual £105 (e bay)

1988 rover 216 VDP efi £100 (roadside ad)

1989 e34 525i £200 (e bay)

 

[sutty2006]

I think this was £60, or £80, I can’t remember. One of the two that’s for sure. 
 

 

[NigeT]

£90 for a Rover 75. Was in Leamington & needed to get to Scotland via Surrey. Trains were crazy expensive and flights all booked. Cheapest nearby car on Scumtree was this Rover (almost half a tank in it). Did the job fine though the clutch master started to give up the ghost just as I left the M74 and was totally gone by the time I got into the city. Late-night coast across Edinburgh South got me to parking spot. Coolant reservoir was empty by then though the noble V6 hadn't overheated. Sold on ebay 24 hour auction as spares/reapers to a dude named Keith who had bid £114. 

[UltraWomble]

On 9/28/2021 at 6:55 PM, Zelandeth said:

Thainstone Mart Tuesday auction back up in Inverurie.  Mid 2003.

£2 plus fees, so £26 all in.

 

Mega early one too (washer jet placement)

[Alfaisti]

£100 BMW 525i with 3 months mot, ragged it all over the place on the limiter then scrapped for £120  bonus, so -£20 without running costs

[Zelandeth]

2 hours ago, UltraWomble said:

Mega early one too (washer jet placement)

Yep.  Didn't have the lights above the heater controls either.

Really wish I still had that car.  Sadly I'm guessing it was parted out pretty much as soon as I sold it.

[Shite Ron]

This is a hard one as I had a lot of cars when I was young, the £15 1700HL Princess I bought to use the engine in a 7 year old Ambassador I bought for £50 was the cheapest. I bought a Mini Clubman with lots of 1275GT bits for £40 when I was 16 but when I found an 8 inch diameter rust hole and couldn’t weld at the time I sold all the rare bits and then sold the car for £40 to someone who needed the gearbox. Also a tidy mk1 2 door Escort for £50!

For MOT’d running cars, I gave £50 for an R reg Chrysler alpine against a Cortina I was selling, more recently I paid £60 for an MOT’d and taxed mk3 Cavalier 1.6L, it failed it’s next MOT on serious rust and got scrapped.

The 940 Volvo estate was £160 with MOT and tax. The best though was my 82 2.0 Ghia Cortina, this was £180 with MOT, the seller worked in a body shop and had taken parts off to repair other cars, I fitted an exhaust, passenger door and dash from my spares stock and drove it home, this was my very reliable daily driver for 4 years and is the best driving car I have owned or driven, it maintained an indicated 120 mph for many miles following two Capri 2.8 injections on a private* road. The only repairs needed was a big weldathon at each MOT, which I did myself. The only cost was oil, plugs, filters, tyres and brake pads.

 

[robinmasters]

I can't compete, but my dad bought an Austin Princess 30 years ago for £80, and reminds me and my brothers of this every time we spend more than £80 on anything. 

[Spiny Norman]

Many moons ago when Mk3 Cortinas were firmly in the banger class a lad I knew at collage got one for a bowl of soup and a packet of fags, but discounting a Corsa I won on a radio phone in and immediately flipped for the wonga, the least I've ever paid for a car was £50 for a K11 Micra off a mate. It was rough but it ran like a dream and after 3 months of ownership its MOT was up and I thought 'fuck it, let's see what it fails on' and surprisingly all it took was a CV boot and a handbrake cable so I got it fixed. It then became the only car I ever owned where I spent twice the purchase price on repairs. I'd have quite happily run it for a while longer but some cunt in a Datsun Cashcow decided he needed the same bit of road as me and although it wasn't a hard hit, K11 Micras fold up pretty easily and that was it.
Sold it to a grasstrack racer for £100 so it got to live out its final few miles as AN RACECAR.

[GMcD]

Cheapest was the 406 coupe of many shitter's. Bought it for £400. Did bit of work to it, Motd and sold back on here for £450. It then proceeded to do it's best shitting Peugeot impression and have a complete electrical meltdown for the new owner. A real shame as it was really tidy: 

[Macscrooge]

Cheapest car I ever bought was in c2003. A 1987 Volvo 340DL 3-dr in red. Decent MOT, lots of history and good tyres. £195!

[Agila]

1. Ford Granada on an E reg. Bought from a guy called dodgy Dave, a banned drink driver who made off from the police. Paid 2 pints of Sam Smith lager. Also had to pay £15 for a new headlight as he crashed into a wall when he made off from the cops. Around 2005. Got followed home by the cops once.

2. Free Rover 400 at around the same time. Leaking water pump. Obtained from a fella who got into gambling debts and did a flit.

3. Felicia £250 on an x-reg, a cracking little car.

4. Current Yaris £350 2003 110k from this parish.

5. £100 Ford ka on a 2005 around 2013.