I might be getting a truck of my own!

For anyone who doesn't know, for the last year while I was doing a complete rebuild on my car, my dad allowed me to use his Chevy 1500 v8 pickup. This is how I discovered scrapping. My car is near in completion and thus, I must be returning the truck to my dad.



As a past job/hobby, I bought and sold fire alarm systems on eBay. I repaired, sorted, cleaned, and individually listed each part. I made a pretty hefty profit. However, I ran out of time when we had to move out. Recently, I've been able to list a lot of my old back-stock. I threw up 2 panels, only expecting $150 each, for $400 each or best offer. Someone bought it now for both. This is like 1/10 of what I have to list still. I still owe my dad about $1500 from borrowed money, but he said take my time.

Now the good part. I was picking up scrap from a friend's house the other night, and I saw that they've had the same truck sitting in the back yard for over a year...so I asked about it. "Yeah I'm calling a professional junker and selling it to them." I asked what was wrong with it...and I got "Needs a new battery." So I asked to buy it and she seemed surprised, but she said once she finds the title and gets an offer, she will get back to me and sell it to me. Its a purple Ford F150, 380 engine, v8 (pretty sure), stick shift. It has like 170k miles on it but apparently it runs just fine, they just need it gone. I might be able to snag this baby for $400 +/- $100.

So I have the money (I've been riding on less than $50 in the bank for the last month or 2) and I have a lead on a truck. Good deal.

Good deal...once you get it and if all it needs is a battery....do a oil change encase any water got into that oil it will fry the new truck real fast.

Doing the air filter wont be a bad deal either and or other tune up items (spark plugs and so on)

Good idea. Really good idea. Shouldn't be too expensive either. Anyone know what a scrap company would offer for a vehicle in this condition?

Thank you!

Here...that would go for around 250 to 350 cash.

And your right idaho...condition dose not matter when it comes to "scrap" cars...but I do know scrap yards who own a car lot and or some used car part store some where.

Right, I didn't word that question properly. Thank you.

The engine will probably be a 360 ci. Real common motor for Ford. Older ones sometimes had a 390 ci.

Dang, that is one crazy story...

I am buying the truck to scrap WITH. I will NOT be scrapping the truck unless it proves to be in worse condition than expected. The only reason I asked what it would be worth as scrap is because she is trying to get an offer from a car scrapper before she contacts me and I want to know how much I will end up paying for it.

Well, I got the truck!



Paid $250 for it. It needed some work though:
Battery - $120
Battery terminals - $8
Alternator - $160
Serpentine belt - $25
4 Used tires - $150

Add in the price to get the tires mounted and I'm sitting at about $750 invested. Not bad, especially because I could flip it for about $1600-$2200 at this point.


This is when the nerd side of me kicks in. I LOVE flashing lights, I don't know why. I was given a large, orange rotating light when I was younger and I would like to mount it on the truck. What would be the best way to do this? Magnets? Or would it just be better to screw it in with self-tapping screws and rubber washers?

Also, the back cap is so nice looking, but I feel like it needs to be taken off for efficiency. It's such a shame. This is a shorter bed so already I am going to have problems fitting things like fridges and such. I mean, my old truck was an 8ft bed with a cap, and that was hard to deal with. Do you think I should take the cap off and build up the sides for more room?


Thanks!

$250!! WOW what a deal

The short bed is still fine, you'll just have to be a bit creative. invest in a few crank straps, you wouldnt believe the stuff i haul in my short box 4 banger sonoma, its just like playing tetris

its not the size that matters, its how you use it

Nice find at a great price.

In any other situation, I would probably flip it as well, but the original owner seemed absolutely delighted that I got it running and I would put it to good use. She knows I am going to treat the truck well, also.

So I think taking the cap off would be best. Yeah, I was going to look into getting some ratchet straps once I get a little more cash (I'm broke again...:/). How is it exactly that people build up the sides on their trucks? Do they screw into the bed?