• From: Longmont, CO
  • Registered: 2010-02-22
  • Posts: 3

Topic: I bought and engine and got a free car...know what to do with it.

I just bought a GTI engine & trans with 60K miles for $400. It came with a free rusty vw caddy pickup.

I was going to pull it out of the '80 vw pickup that it was in. The guy decided he'd rather tow the whole thing to my house and be done with it, rather than have me pull it on his property.

I've tried to sell the pickup, and a few people have looked at it. but everyone feels it is too far gone. (ok so it does have a little more than surface rust). The last time it was driven legally was 2000 and might have been turned over as recently as '06.

after I put the newish engine in my GTI, I'll have a 210K mile bottom end with at least 1 broken off piston ring. I have some old  pull off heads in my garage that I can scavenge for a set of "good" lifters + valves. I'm keeping the 1.8 16v head from the GTI as its rare and worth something. the 2.0l 16 heads are a dime a dozen and the ones I have are junk, so one of those should be just right.

So I ended up with the truck for $0.

So chassis and old engine parts -- junk I don't need and can't sell, does this put me at $0.

the truck was missing a half shaft and coolant resv that I'll have to find in a yard, as well as a new head gasket, timing belt + tensioner,spray paint, oil + filter, battery, plugs. maybe oil and water guages, and front struts could all be had for under $500

any thoughts on if this would be legal for cost.

  • From: Arvada, CO
  • Registered: 2009-12-09
  • Posts: 201

Re: I bought and engine and got a free car...know what to do with it.

Hmm.. not quite sure if I'm reading your question correctly.  Are you asking if you now have a free engine?  I'd say no, since you haven't sold anything off the parts car yet.  Also, it sounds like what you DO have for sale is basically worthless.

That said, scrap is about $175 a ton right now.  Crush it and save the receipt; that counts against the budget.

Or maybe I missed the question...

If it ain't broken, fix it 'til it is.

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  • JThw8
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  • From: Mullica Hill, NJ
  • Registered: 2009-06-10
  • Posts: 1,781

Re: I bought and engine and got a free car...know what to do with it.

You missed the question.  He bought a car to use the motor for his DD.  The shell remains.

He paid $400 for the motor, the guy threw the rest of the car in rather than put up with disposing of it.

He now wants to use the bad motor from his DD, the body shell that came with the new motor and some parts he has lying around and wants to start at $0

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  • From: Longmont, CO
  • Registered: 2010-02-22
  • Posts: 3

Re: I bought and engine and got a free car...know what to do with it.

I was thinking of setting up the 1980 vw pickup chassis as a lemon car.

I'm putting the nice engine that was bought in the pickup into my GTI, street car worth more than $500. I'll have the old tired engine from the GTI, that could go back in the pickup.

So I bought an engine for $400 and it came with a rusty roller I didn't want. I'll have my old tired engine its worth squat without a rebore and rebuild. If I put them together I should be starting at $0, right.

the list at  the end of my original post is the stuff I would need to BUY to get the truck running.

  • From: Arvada, CO
  • Registered: 2009-12-09
  • Posts: 201

Re: I bought and engine and got a free car...know what to do with it.

Gotcha. Well... If the engine is legitimately worth $400 (which it probably is, but what do I know?), then all sounds good to me.  Certainly, I wouldn't pay jack or shit for the rest!

Our car was free too, with a reciept to prove it.  Try to document as best as you can and it should work with the judges.  That is, if it's something crappy like a VW pickup, as opposed to (hypothetically) a Miata.

If it ain't broken, fix it 'til it is.

Cadillac Bob's Website

  • From: Longmont, CO
  • Registered: 2010-02-22
  • Posts: 3

Re: I bought and engine and got a free car...know what to do with it.

yeah I got the photos, and the 2000 registration and plate, to prove it.

at this point its a garage barnacle. I left it in the drive way for a couple of days, but got bad anxiety and lost sleep.

here's where we tried to resell it with the newer engine. see the gory photos.
(the asking price was a big bluff, we had 1 consideration at $500, for the engine)
http://metrodubs.com/forums/showthread. … ight=caddy

  • ronman
  • ronman
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  • From: Orlando, FL
  • Registered: 2009-09-15
  • Posts: 1,842

Re: I bought and engine and got a free car...know what to do with it.

Pfft, there's been WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY worse piles of shit entered in Lemons.

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  • Serj
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Re: I bought and engine and got a free car...know what to do with it.

I think I'd establish a baseline value of around $200 for your junkered DD engine, as that's about the value a Pull-N-Pay place would attach to it. since the chassis came free with your engine, at worst I'd give it a "fair value" of maybe $50 for whatever the tow and the pain in the ass it was. that gives you $250 to work with. you can probably work in a gray area of another $100 or so, but I seriously doubt anyone would even bother scrutinizing a VW pickup.

  • From: Romeoville, IL
  • Registered: 2009-12-12
  • Posts: 1,117

Re: I bought and engine and got a free car...know what to do with it.

The caddy is free until you put an engine in it. Is what YOU throw away/have laying around (the engine you want to put in it) really free?

Assigning value seems to be a gray area with Lemons. If I were going to run it, I would just find another motor somewhere else to throw in it. No sense risking bringing it up during BS.

The Charnal House Geo MetSHO: Turning less laps than a regular Metro, the hard way!

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  • Riktor
  • Riktor
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  • From: Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas
  • Registered: 2009-08-06
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Re: I bought and engine and got a free car...know what to do with it.

I am sure the assigned value will be under $500 if he takes lots of pictures.

Sons of STIG
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  • Registered: 2009-05-04
  • Posts: 311

Re: I bought and engine and got a free car...know what to do with it.

Serj wrote:

I think I'd establish a baseline value of around $200 for your junkered DD engine, as that's about the value a Pull-N-Pay place would attach to it. since the chassis came free with your engine, at worst I'd give it a "fair value" of maybe $50 for whatever the tow and the pain in the ass it was. that gives you $250 to work with. you can probably work in a gray area of another $100 or so, but I seriously doubt anyone would even bother scrutinizing a VW pickup.

Just what I was thinking.  Assign a junker value to the old engine and start from there.

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  • Riktor
  • Riktor
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Re: I bought and engine and got a free car...know what to do with it.

David Hawkins wrote:
Serj wrote:

I think I'd establish a baseline value of around $200 for your junkered DD engine, as that's about the value a Pull-N-Pay place would attach to it. since the chassis came free with your engine, at worst I'd give it a "fair value" of maybe $50 for whatever the tow and the pain in the ass it was. that gives you $250 to work with. you can probably work in a gray area of another $100 or so, but I seriously doubt anyone would even bother scrutinizing a VW pickup.

Just what I was thinking.  Assign a junker value to the old engine and start from there.

Car-part.com... good for reference prices on FREE items.

Sons of STIG
Judge Jonny, "So, what's the next formerly thought to be immune from winning that will steal the nickels?An MR2? A Fierro (ha ha ha)? A Datsun/Nissan Z? A Camaro?"
  • From: Houston, TX
  • Registered: 2010-02-10
  • Posts: 150

Re: I bought and engine and got a free car...know what to do with it.

Be sure to document it all, we received penalty laps for lack of documentation(thats what it all boiled down to).

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Races: 2010 Gator-O-Rama(DNF, blown motor, "Trailer on Saturday"), Oct 2011 Yee-Haw Its Lemons(actually finished the race! Judge's Choice)

14 Reply by rockwood (edited by rockwood 2010-02-24 03:50 PM)

  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2010-02-11
  • Posts: 156

Re: I bought and engine and got a free car...know what to do with it.

For a theme, you could all grow mustaches and write "Free Candy" on one side, and "Help me find my lost puppy" on the other side.  Make sure to leave the camper shell on it... big_smile