Earlier this year I hired 2 of the kids from my church to help me on some of the projects at my house, which has been working out great( they get some $$, i get some stuff done, and i get to claim having minions, so step 1 of world domination is complete...)

After they had saved up a decent amount of money, i started looking for a car for them. Found a '92 pontiac sunbird in running condition for $350, and got it for them(15 and 16 years old, VERY happy to have a car). shortly after they got the car(titled in their parents name for insurance reasons) the female that gave birth to them(will NOT use the term mother to describe that woman) decided that she didn't want to deal with the family any more, so left her husband and 4 boys, stole the boys car, and went back to her home state.

she has made claims that she will send money to help them get a replacement car, but the only thing i've seen so far was a $25 check that she closed the account on before it could be cashed. so...I'm looking for a replacement car for them. would like to find something in decent running condition. their family has some mechanical ability, but no money for parts to fix. if anyone knows of something for sale that would fit this, please let me know.

Oh, in the interest of full disclosure, they are (much to my chagrin) a chevy family...with that said..I'd LOVE to find them a ford. looking for a car more than a truck, would like to seat 5 if possible

 

2 WORDS (very seriously)

GEO METRO

I swear by those little buggies - they run forever, burn so little fuel they seem nuclear powered, and they're easy as heck to work on. *I did a head gasket on one not long ago just so I could make sure the pistons and rings were okay, it's actually a suzuki swift - but suzu swift, chevy sprint, geo metro, poncho firefly are all the same car.

Now, my preference is to ford escort wagons, fiesta, and festiva. If I could get my hands on an EXP I'd be tickled right on down to the ground! But you dealin' with GM folk, so they will be stuck with a slightly higher insurance premium (cars made in the usa have lower insurance rates) MY INSURANCE AGENT and I kicked around ideas on this topic for several hours all together - the only thing cheaper to insure than a Ford Escort is a motorcycle

ANY car made in Japan has a higher premium because it is based on what it costs to repair your own car - even if you only carry liability and collision (FACT!) Come to think of it - I happen to know from the same conference that a VW Beetle is more expensive to ensure than a 1/4 ton Ranger pickup, strange but true.

Most of Chevy's small cars are imports

You want to think in the long term here. The price to get in the door isn't the one to be most particular about, it's what it costs to run and maintain that matters. Itty bitty cars pay for themselves in no time...

With that having been said - notice that the list I've given are almost all hatchbacks. They can carry a lot more than most people realise
(The EXP idea is the one exception)

I'm not telling you that I know where one of them is - but for planning purposes I think these are what ought to be looked for.

PS: The Sunbird also came in a station wagon version, but I don't know where they were actually made.

PPS: The worst of all possible worlds is a Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon. Stay away from them! The body is Mitsubishi and the engine and drivetrain are Audi

 

Some good advice there.
I have had a couple Geo metro's. Bought them to resell. They go for real cheap sometimes. Especially if you pull them out of the ditch. LOL. They bend real easy, but they also straighten real easy.

I bought one for $400 because it was ran into a real deep ditch and I had to pull it out. Didn't really mess up the sheet metal but it pushed the front wheel back into the inner fender. The fender hit the front door and the front door hit the back door. Couldn't open any door on right side. When I got it home, (had to trailer it because of tire rubbing), I hooked a comealong to the front suspension and the trailer it was sitting on. Pulled and pulled. Measured the good side of car wheel base and stretched the bad side till it matched. Pulled it off the trailer and all doors worked. Suspension was not damaged. Sold the car the next week for $1200. Took less than 30 minutes to fix and earned $800 profit. That's the only time I ever made $1600/hr. LOL

 

Ford Escort. Seriously. The 2nd gen Escorts (91-96) are almost indestructible and cheap to boot.

 

What seamonkey seddd...

It's a fact that Escorts are the best deal goin' in a ford mini-car

 

metro's are fun for gm folk.

my buddy and i bought one for a 125 bux with a title. was the 75hp 1.0HO(sarcasm) with a 5spd and manual steering for better track feeling in the corners.

he drove it everywhere. it was at the time gas was 4.50 and he had a one ton with a 460. put something like 50k on it in 2 years because we didnt care compared to what we were driving it was like putting gas in a weedeater. we drove all day everyday. got to the point we put my old 4wheeler tires and wheels on it and turned it into a toy. that thing never died......until the pond. even then it drove itself on the trailer. i mean 3 years 125 bux and alot of memories.....and after we stuffed a couple old truck axles and cracked engine blocks and even a riding mower into the hatchback we profited 200 bux hauling it for scrap.

i remember that thing was so light when it got stuck 3 guys could lift the front enough to move it.

but on a serious note, i see cars all the time in the peddler, or local paper for under 500 that are decent run around cars. alot of early mid 90's throw away cars are out there.

DT