A Tree Falling in the Forest

Exhibit four: "The Charity Case"

This experiment actually began as a repair project for a young man that is entering the Marines in about a month. His name is Joe... I call him Fonzie. So Fonzie was at a stop sign in his Mazda when he did a very teenage thing... he dumped the clutch and caused terminal damage to his transmission. I removed the tranny hoping it was something inexpensive, such as the center of the clutch, but alas the differential in the transmission was shattered. A used transmission was about $500, which is about $300 more than he paid for the car. I offered to buy the car for $250, which is about $100 more than it was worth. He's a good kid in a tough family situation, so I wanted to do what I could to help.

The flywheel and clutch were less than a month old, and are a perfect fit for my Mazda powered Ford Probe. For the sake of the experiment, let's say that is worth about $150. I also removed the CD player and speakers, which included a nice set of Polk Audio rear speakers and tweeters. These may find there way into my Mustang. I sold the wheels for $80 to a very nice, very large man (think bouncer) with a Honda Civic. I saved the radiator as a spare for my Probe (a direct match) and cut off the catalytic converter to add to my growing collection. The remainder of the car went to the shredder where I received $200.


Exhibit five: "The Crossfire Z28"

I bought this car off Craigslist for $250 from a nice young woman and her girlfriend. She was too busy driving cross country in her truck (with her girlfriend) to have the time to restore it as she had planned. (Sidebar: as you may have surmised, she intimidated me more than the bouncer.) She originally wanted $400 for the car. I employed the "keep your mouth shut" strategy and she talked herself down to $250 while I stood staring at the gutted interior of the car. I removed the crossfire injection manifold, throttle bodies, distributor, the t-tops, hood, rear spoiler, and the wheels and tires. The rest of the car went to the shredder for about $200. So far, I have only sold the hood, wheels and tires, for which I received $200.


This is not the Camaro, but it is the Camaro that received the hood, tires and wheels.