Ever been given a free car?

[larrybuck]

More than 1? From parents, friends? Did you consider it special then, or did you kind of abuse it? Was it a car you liked, or was it a beater?
1st car only story?

Fill us in!

I've been given 2 cars free. The Edsel I mentioned in the weirdest car you have owned thread, but later my Dad gave me his '63 Nova

It was a light beige w same/+gray interior. 2HT., 194 6cyl., PG auto.
Was already tired, smoked some on decel on hills.

I wasn't real nice. I made a 140 mile round trip towing a '57 2HT Belair
less eng/trans. w it. No hitch! I rented a bumper hitch ( 4 points clip
over rear bumper... actually legal...shudder!!! back in the day).

It made it ok, 45mph tops was all I trusted on freeway to go....you could tell she was working.



If that wasn't bad enough, then I took it to Wednesday night bracket drag racing about 4 times.

I had some mercy on it. I ignored the burnout box, and carefully steered
away from any water. I did not powerbrake at all...this was my ride home!
Each time after, I removed more weight...front bumper,back seat, glovebox,ashtray!
Oh! Of course I removed the sun visors..got to go faster.

I simply nailed the pedal to the floor on green, and held it.

The last time I went, the tech guys were snickering at me because I flaired
duct tape from the body to meet the ends of the rear bumper thinking
that would help my aero a little.

After being laughed at, and the car getting a little more tired, I stored it
w some other vehicles. A couple of those were stolen, so like the '57 Belair, I decided to sell the Nova before it was stolen.

My Dad is still alive, still driving at 86. I'd like to still honor his gift better
some day, perhaps in memory.

I feel kind of bad that I was rather rough w it!

Still have a 1/25th model of a robin egg blue '65 Nova.

Maybe I could someday do a tribute rebody on a CRX platform...
modernized windshield angle for sure!
After each time, I'd remove MORE weight for a faster time. Backseat,
glovebox, front bumper, ashtray.... thought I was really living!

[SentraSE-R]

Free car #1 - 1963 Rambler American 220 3MT given to me by my parents
Free car #2 - 1959 Buick Electra AT given to my first wife by her parents
Free car #3 - 1973 Ford Pinto Wagon 5MT given to me by my parents
Free car #4 - 1983? VW Rabbit diesel 5MT given to me by a friend
Free car #5 - 1996 Toyota Corolla 5MT given to me by a friend
Free car #6 - 1994 Hyundai Elantra 4AT given to my current wife by her mom

[Frank Lee]

larry: I LOVE those Chevy IIs!!!! *jealous* I'd love to get one now, even though I'm pretty much "car saturated" at this point.

Sentra: I thought I was the free car king, but you have me beat!

I got the Coupe ('92 Tempo) free, but I gave the guy a case of beer just because. I got the blue Tempo off Freecycle- pretty amazing find! The gal just wanted her garage space for something else. I still can't figure out why she opted to freecycle it instead of sell it... but I'm not complaining!

Tempos must be the "most given away for free" cars! My theory is, older folks had them and they held up so well that instead of being scrapped when the folks stopped driving, they gave them to grandkids as first cars. Then all these 16 year olds with their free hand-me-down Tempos flocked to the Tempo Topaz website (Yes, there is such a thing) wanting to put turbos and/or V8s in them so that they didn't feel inadequate compared to the rich Honda driving kids, thus loading up the site with really, really stupid threads.

[ajjct]

first free car i got from a friend and was going to scrap it. but he said that all it needed was a clutch and battery (ha ha ha). i jump started it, it ran and i desided to work on it and after going though the whole car and about 6k later its knowen as the turd, 1988 honda civic 4dr DX. but still need bodywork and loveing it.

[euromodder]

When my dad got a new car around the time I got my licence, I got to keep his 9 year old car - a 1978 Toyota Carina 1.6L petrol, still RWD back then, with blistering hot vinyl seats.

No power steering, no power brakes, no synchro on 1st gear, no A/C, no radio.

It survived a small electrical fire when trying to start it from another car, before rust finished it off at 14.

[SentraSE-R]

I've actually gotten 8 free cars, if I admit my parents gave me the money to buy two others. OTOH, I've given 9 free cars to my kids.

[Ryland]

My first free "car" was a 1987 Ford Ecconoline conversion van that my Aunt gave me because she failed at selling it and wanted it out of her yard.
I drove it for maybe 200 miles total over the course of 6 months or more, I was going to keep it because at the time I was working out of town and sleeping in a tent and thought that a van with a bed in the back might be nice! I instead opted to buy a Civic Hatchback and buy a new tent and sell the van... much harder then I thought it would be! I ended up selling it for $250 plus a Yamaha XT500 motorcycle in trade

[Thymeclock]

My very first car was 'free', given to me by a cousin who is married to a wealthy lawyer. It was a 1963 Cadillac convertible and by the time I got it in the '70s it looked like a jalopy. But it has the most comfortable leather seats imaginable. There wasn't a body panel that wasn't scratched or dented on it. But oh, was it fun to drive! - and it got me hooked on convertibles. I think I related the story here about starting it on a subfreezing morning and having the rigid steel fan blade go right through the hood because the water pump shattered. (I thought a bomb went off under the hood when it happened!) I replaced the water pump when the weather got warmer but it left a good sized leak in the radiator. I used to carry jugs of water with me so that when it overheated I would refill the radiator and keep going. I drove it for several years, as it was dependable and I couldn't afford much else.

Eventually the motor bearings failed. I had had the transmission rebuilt just before it died, so I did the logical thing: I found another '63 convertible that needed a transmission and transplanted it. The replacement car was under $100. My friend and I drove that one cross country and back and virtually nothing went wrong with it except for replacing tires. That was in about 1976. Gas was about 85 cents a gallon. I sold it to my friend and he drove it a few more years until... the water pump failed on it. He couldn't get the bolts out so he junked it.

Another car I got for 'almost free' was a 1971(?) Toyota Corolla with a manual tranny, for under $100. It had a major oil leak in the main seal. The body wasn't pretty, either. That was during the late '70s during the gas crisis. The oil leak got progressively worse while I owned it and eventually that motivated me to sell it. I never did fix the leak but I was able to sell it at a hefty profit due to the demand for gas thrifty cars.

[Ford Man]

My only free car is the '94 Ford Escort I currently own with about 188K miles. It was dad's daily driver. Mom doesn't drive and gave it to me after dad's death, it's just an Escort and would be nothing special to most people, but since it was dad's it has a special place in my heart. Mom still has their '99 Grand Marquis in case she needs someone to take her somewhere if my brother or I are not available. The '94 Escort was still running fine when mom gave it to me, but needed a water pump and timing belt. I took a day last summer and replaced them and it's running great now. The body is in pretty decent shape, but could use a paint job since part of the clear coat is peeling off. Since I have too many cars to insure and maintain I've considered retiring my '88 Escort Pony with 518K miles on it and using this one as my main daily driver. This should tell you how special it is if I'm willing to give up my baby (the '88 Escort Pony) for it.

[dcb]

My friends and I regularly gift vehicles to each other when we are done with them.

My folks got me and my sisters a bobcat to share during high school.

A honda dealer gave me a beat up xs400 when my buddy bought a bike off them, I beat on it some more for 2 years then gave it to another friend.