TheAnesthetist
Well-Known Member
I "won" my SS/SC for $175 and ended up paying $1800Copart's fees are crazy, I just won an auction for $375 and the total with fees was 727 and I picked it up at the lot.
I "won" my SS/SC for $175 and ended up paying $1800Copart's fees are crazy, I just won an auction for $375 and the total with fees was 727 and I picked it up at the lot.
Yea sadly most with even a engine blown I have seen start out for 3 to 4k, I guess I'll just keep saving for the kit and buy it first or cut my losses and say bye to the Goblin dream and buy some random small thing like a 3d printer. I don't have anywhere to build the car any howI paid $2k for my running and drvining-ish SS/SC which I felt was a steal (my wife, not so much) from a private party individual. I was able to sell about $1k of parts off of it. You might be able to do a little better or a little less, resale market depends on area. That was right before the market went crazy. Now, halfway running donors are going $3-4k. Deals can be found if you look and wait but have to be ready to jump when they do.
Also would like supercharged instead of turbo, and would like to have manual so I'd pretty much just end up having to take most of it apart then back together.I don't want to be the rainmaker here, but @Hayden2053 you'll need to recalibrate your expectations here.
First and foremost, I'm not sure exactly what your budget is for a donor car (earlier in the thread you said you hoped the car you're watching doesn't reach $3k while just a couple posts back, you said you don't plan on going over $1k for your donor), but please know that the used car market has gone a bit crazy in the past 2-3 years. You're not going to stay under $1k through Copart, once you factor in fees, no way no how, on ANY suitable donor. I use the word "suitable" because, odds are, you're going to want a donor that is mostly functional (as in, it runs, and half the motor wasn't left behind on the road where it got destroyed). If you acquire your donor via private sale instead, you'll find a decent SS donor for $3k if you stay patient and keep looking (FB Marketplace).
While I understand and sympathize with your desire to build your dream car right out of the gate, you're on an extreme shoestring budget and you will need to make compromises. You can find a perfectly good, running, driving Cobalt LS 2.2 for $1500 fairly easily, but you'll be lucky to find a SS for double that. Again, patience is key here. You can't rush finding your donor, when your parameters are so strict.
Take this donor, for example: https://www.copart.com/lot/50408404/clean-title-2009-chevrolet-cobalt-lt-mi-detroit
Pro's: It's a low-mileage, late-model donor that runs but doesn't drive, and likely is not worth it for a rebuilder to buy and rebuild, for resale. It'll go cheap, though how cheap, I cannot say. I can almost promise it'll go for under $1500. It's in your state, so the hauling fees wouldn't be too crazy. You can buy a turbo donor kit from DF now, and add an aftermarket turbo kit to the engine later as a relatively turn-key upgrade. This also helps you distribute out the costs over time.
Con's: It's a 2.2, so it's not your "ideal" dream car donor. It's an automatic, and I am not sure how that factors in when considering a future turbo kit, and perhaps you're dead-set on a manual (they can also be found pretty easily, though the vast majority of 2.2's out there will be automatics).
The worst outcome here is that you get partway into your build and cannot finish it. Life gets in the way for us all sometimes, but it's always sad to hear of a half-built kit being sold at a loss. I don't want that to be you, so please understand, I'm not shi**ing on your project here, I'm just trying to help you not become one of the aforementioned "got it partway done but had to sell it" guys.
*edit* Heck, shoot @Dale E a DM, maybe he'll work with you on getting one of those uber-cheap police auction cars!
Got it so start looking for a golf instead since by the time can get the full kit I'd need to own a house and money for the Goblin and donor and by then v1 my dream car will be no moreTo hit a few of your points:
Joe
- I bought a 2.4 auto donor bid win for $900 and arrived at my door for $1750. Beautiful sedan with only front end damage but broke wires so initially would not run.
- was patient and diligent and sold $2200 worth of parts off it as I am in a big city with lots of buyers
- You need a weather proof place to build AND you need a weather proof place to store (the car is not water resistant)
- Look for value not for cost in your donor.
- The $2000 for the donor is only 10-15% of the total car price to build. If +1000 sinks the deal now, you run the high risk of not completing if some issue comes up.
- Buy the full kit when you can and save on the shipping and availability risk. I was thinking the same as you about baby steps in stages, but realized the kit is worth more as complete then as stages (see value vs cost again) if you have to step away.
- 170 (2.4NA) is crazy fast for a light low car driven by a young or old individual. Adding hp is even more dangerous. See insurance rates for you with such a vehicle to see if you can stomach that hidden cost. My goblin premium is more than my other 2 cars combined.
- I have since added a supercharger...'cause I stupud, and needed nothing from DF to do so. Cost was about $2000-$2500 including tuning ability and can be added anytime.
- LOVE the supercharger whine!
I make 11 a hour since I don't have college or anything like that so I'm very much stuck at a 13 a hour max rate so insurance cost for anything is out the window like you said, plus I don't even know how to drive a manual car. Thanks for helping make my decision that the Goblin is just a unreasonable dream to have and not have to tear it apart a million times to upgrade or do other things I'd like to do to it.To hit a few of your points:
Joe
- I bought a 2.4 auto donor bid win for $900 and arrived at my door for $1750. Beautiful sedan with only front end damage but broke wires so initially would not run.
- was patient and diligent and sold $2200 worth of parts off it as I am in a big city with lots of buyers
- You need a weather proof place to build AND you need a weather proof place to store (the car is not water resistant)
- Look for value not for cost in your donor.
- The $2000 for the donor is only 10-15% of the total car price to build. If +1000 sinks the deal now, you run the high risk of not completing if some issue comes up.
- Buy the full kit when you can and save on the shipping and availability risk. I was thinking the same as you about baby steps in stages, but realized the kit is worth more as complete then as stages (see value vs cost again) if you have to step away.
- 170 (2.4NA) is crazy fast for a light low car driven by a young or old individual. Adding hp is even more dangerous. See insurance rates for you with such a vehicle to see if you can stomach that hidden cost. My goblin premium is more than my other 2 cars combined.
- I have since added a supercharger...'cause I stupud, and needed nothing from DF to do so. Cost was about $2000-$2500 including tuning ability and can be added anytime.
- LOVE the supercharger whine!
I find the v2 fairly ugly and wanted a manual car to have some fun but golf's only come in auto with paddle shifters. Plus I wanted a open cage. I guess just save up and start buying cheap lottery tickets to stand a chance of getting money for a house and a fancy fun carIt can still be a dream and a reality but you also need to think realistically. You have commitments for your time and money that you need to satisfy first. I have a teenage child who cannot drive yet, showing me pictures of their 1968 mustang dream car for $30k as their first car.....Sorry but it is not going to happen. They need a reliable self maintainable vehicle to take them to work, school, elsewhere, without calling me to fix it every weekend.
So look at V1. It uses a 15-20 year old car to power it. Donors AND goblins are still around all this time. Maybe down the road, if the Goblin is still your dream and your finances and lifestyle fit it....They will still be around. It might be built, or unfinished, but can be torn apart and rebuilt the way you wanted, just as if you bought a kit. If tearing apart something to modify frustrates you, then building from scratch might do it too. Read my build log with the supercharger addition. As an auto and the motor shift, everything had to change to make it fit and work. I probably fitted the intake manifold 50 times to make sure all components worked. I love the driving and the building part so it was all part of the process.
If this is a long term goal, then make a plan and execute the plan. There is plenty of time. You might actually want and like the V2 more once it is out.
Joe
Does not matter, I'm stuck at how much I make and just Accepted it, Moral the story don't dream they can and almost always will be crushed, made fun of or ruinedWhen I was a teenager, I dreamt big too. I also had no patience. But now I'm 44, married, with a teenager of my own and a house, two car payments, and a successful IT career. I dreamed of building a fun car with my dad back then, but he was on the poor side and I was not established yet. It took 25 years of building ME first, before I was ready to build the fun project car.
I understand you're disheartened right now, but there will always be a fun project when you're ready.
No.....always dream. My guy, just put me in the ground the day I stop dreaming.Does not matter, I'm stuck at how much I make and just Accepted it, Moral the story don't dream they can and almost always will be crushed, made fun of or ruined
There! I Fixed it for you.No.....always dream. My guy, just put me in the ground the day I STOP dreaming.
My paycheck for the last two weeks of work is pending to my account right now and It just pained me to look at, 380 for the last two weeks and 350 comes out for the Goblin fund so it leaves me 40 for gas and nothing elseWoah! Dude! Back up! We humans have to dream. Are dreams crushable?, sure, but we make some of them come true. This is just a fact of life, that you make $X just now does not tell your future. That should all change as time goes by. Our dreams we must cultivate, make them part of your life they will become real one day! Maybe you adjust the dream? Buy a kit and an S/C Cobalt now and "use the Cobalt up", don't worry about a little rust, you'll be scrapping that part. An S/C Cobalt is a fun car on it's own, not a Goblin but fun. A lot changes in 5 years! Life is constant change, lows and highs. I am 62, my wife and I raised 3 kids and through it all I had fun cars, but they sat some times as their needs came second. But fun cars don't eat hay every day, so they can sit. At this point in my life I am actually on my "second life" in fun cars! Out with the 70's V-8's and In with 2 seat 4 cylinders. I want to build for twisty fun now, max speed is no longer my Grail. And I'm doing just that. PLUS, much to my joy, my kids can't wait to drive my next car creation! They are really excited and anxious to see how my next car turns out. They drove all my old cars and grew up around my dreams made real. Life, as always, will be what you make it! We Build from HERE.
Problem is I just really fear I wouldn't be smart enough for a really good paying jobThings change. Breathe. You don't need proper schooling to make decent money, just a good thought process and the right job.
Breathe, dude.