This is a spin off of the other thread of my biggest blunder. What is the best deal you have come across buying a car or cars?

Mine would have to be buying a vibrator truck with the trailer for $60. Not bad but not a super buy. One that makes me sick to my stomach is my father-in-law bought an original aurora tow truck with the correct chassis at a yard sale for a whopping--------25 cents. Now thats just luck, I need to catch a little.

Back in my early days of eepay, around Y2K, I picked up a junk lot of Aurora AFX cars and parts for a whopping ten bucks. It had five MT chassis under these brush painted bodies that only looked liked they'd been on a track once, other than routine oxidation and dried out sponges. A little chassis cleaning and new silicones, had five great running chassis. A little more effort on the bodies, I had five in great shape bodies ready for some true customization. Nothing broke, great chrome, to be so lucky again. Plus there were a bunch of extra parts in the lot that helped me restock my inventory. :) rr

near mint Motta F1 bought for $10 and sold on the next day for $180.

I picked up 2 master cases of FF2 cars that PM was blowing out the doors....2.25 per car.
2 years ago, yeah? I think I have less than 12 left. I have only 1 FF2 bodied car in my collection, though. A Pink Chromed Mazda.
Funny, that! :D

Kinda of a fun and open question as to cost, value, and over all enjoyment. Mine break down like this.

Cheapest = 49 cent '63 Split Vette in white , mint! This car also has the distinction of rekindling a nasty slot habit.

Most fun = a whopping $198.00 (OUCH!, but still worth it!) for a boot (shoe) box over flowing with a tangle of pancake parts..looked like dark matter when I unboxed it. Some dude in Jersey had it. I built 42 T-jet chassis, 14 AFX, and 4 four gear. The remaining parts filled my parts bin to the point they were ready to spill. It took almost a full week to sort and prep this mess on a giant automotive metal drip pan on the rec-room rug; plus many eve's to assemble the fleet. Surely I'll never see a pile like that again...unless my work bench goes upside down.

Most Sentimental = Having commanded my minions to go out into the world and seek slots...The kids found an AFX magnatraction set on consignment at their local hobby store. It was filled with a big bunch of extra cars. They dun good! Cost me $50, but the cars all had minimal play wear or damage. They were low milers. After some gentle cleaning/polishing, new tires, and a 'lil tweaking it proved to be a great score. This particular lot yeilded one of those holy grail super cars that ya run across so seldom...an all stock Red '55 Chebbie in cherry shape. Silly thing runs like it was shot out of a gun.

I've told this story here before...

I was at a yard sale looking for slots. I found the remains of a Sizzler set in a cardboard box, so I asked the old guy if he had any of the other kind of toy race cars, with the little metal rails in the tracks. He said he sold them all yesterday, even showed me the AFX instruction sheet that the buyer forgot. Dang.

But another guy at the yard sale said he had a whole box of that stuff at home, and gave me his number. I eventually went to see it... he had 41 cars. 26 Tjets and 15 AFX. A few of the Tjets were hacked on, but the vast majority were very nice... they guy said he never cut his cars, he just rested the rear body screw on the chassis for clearance for big tires.

He said he had done some research, and from what he got from Fleabay and people at work, these were pretty valuable--some were worth 15 or 20 bucks each, maybe even more. My heart was THUMPING... we're talking Mach 1, Torino, Galaxie convertible, red, white, and blue GTOs, and holy crap an orange Mako. The bottom line is he wanted 650 bucks. More thumping... crap, I NEVER spent anywhere near that all at once on this hobby. But... I took the plunge, almost scared the guy off by answering yes too quick. Got 'em home, my wife called me an idiot. Till I went to the next show and made the whole $650 back by selling just the Mako to a collector I know who was looking for one... :D

The rest, which I essentially got free, see regular track time in the dungeon.

--rick

edit--almost forgot the yard sale find that got me back into the hobby. 3 boxes of Tyco S and Atlas track and a bunch of random junk cars at the bottom. Guy wanted 8 bucks each box, I balked, so he sold me all 3 for 20 bucks. Turns out there was a gray Corvette and a Fairlane in the pile. I was letting my 3-year-old run the Corvette when I saw what they go for on Fleabay... dang. I got him something else to run real quick...

I figure, though, with those two finds, I've used up my luck for finding screamin' deals for, oh, probably, the rest of my life... :rolleyes:

near mint Motta F1 bought for $10 and sold on the next day for $180.

I got a Motta in a $5 Salvation Army figure 8 set. I was pretty excited till I found out they're essentially worthless if the wing is busted off...

--rick

I went to a local HotWheels Show looking for any slots that may show up. Bingo! As I walked in the door a guy I knew was selling a bunch as he needed the cash. He deals in tons of car stuff (buys and sells) and always has several tables set up with stuff to sell. Some times he doesn't know what things are worth.....this beeing one of those times. Yes!!!

Well I was pretty big into collecting AFX originals years ago (still have some in my cases) and knew what things were worth. Looked at all he had and picked up several slot cars at good prices...then asked about the Black AFX Cab Over (Mint) he had and how much. He said $40.00 and told me that it was worth more (I know that..he,he,he) but, he needed to sell stuff to get some money. I said O.K.....Yes!

I kept this AWESUM black Semi truck on display for years and finally sold it along with lots of other AFX originals. Wish I would have kept this truck...Ooooh Dang!

Wish I would have kept my Model A Ford Panel truck...the Orange one...etc, etc, etc...oh dang it again! Realy into Custom building ho cars and trucks now. Pick up some old school slots now and then to put in the case and race now and then. Tyco Pro, T-Jet, AFX or Ajs are just fun to run and look at (best when this happens at the same time).

Uuum yeah love all the cool find stories you have all posted here. Very fun read this thread is....Cool Beans Man!

Bob...zilla

Mine would be the box of 10 "junk" cars for $60. Included was a white Cheetah,white Falcon,red '63 Galaxie and a red TycoPro Iso Grifo,all mint.The Cheetah had decals on it and AJ's red silicone tires.

I once bought 5 near mint tyco pro chassis off ebay for 15 bucks, shipping included. It also came with enough parts to build another 4 chassis!

The seller even sent them to me before the money order got to him.

the last great deal.... was a sizzler's like track set. MIB. the person said they'd pay for shipping. I put a bid for 5 bucks and won... shipping was 7 bucks.

So the seller spent 2 bucks to send me something I essentially won for free.

I have several, but don't want to tip the seller(s) off as they may lurk here. But one deal I can 'safely' tell about (actually 2 from same place.......a Bill & Walt's hobby shop tha's no longer open) is a red vibe semi w/trailer for $30, and a green/blue Afx Chevelle Stocker for $15.

Found a box of AFX cars, track set and a tjet in a box at a resale store - only mistake was I peeled off the very faded Penske sticker from the Plymouth. Oh well, for $10 it was a pretty good lot, traded a couple things out of it, but I have enjoyed the rest.

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/11-5-07_tortoise_010.jpg

My best deal would have to be the One I got in Indiana last year.. 3 working test centers ( One of each). about a 2 and half dozen chassis, Pink sand van, Purple Tyco Dune buggy, Tyco S cheetah, a Mclearn and Brabham Tjet slimline, Tan Cobra, Ferrari 312 and Ferrai #12 F1 car. Tyco Chapperal 2d. Gplus Lotus ( Ya now I had ten!) Parts galore and even a pack of track Pins.. all for 60 bucks...So even though DLW thinks he got a good deal.. lolol.....I passed along the saving.. and wa shappy to do it...

Dave

Over the past 40 years or so I've prob'ly had a couple dozen great deals fall in my lap. Friends selling their stuff to buy real cars, nieghbors who gave me their kids slot cars when they lost interest in them, garage sales and so on. I've had a few bargains on e-bay and other places.

Most recently though, I found two cars I have been trying to win on e-bay for a few years on the rare occaission they show up there, I always get outbid and they always sell for way more than I was willing to pay.

I was at the Richfield Ohio show last weekend and the second table I walked up to had a Russel Maxx new in the box. I asked how much, expecting to hear a price of over $100. My heart sank as the vendor considered it for a moment then almost leapt out of my chest when he said, "How's forty bucks sound?"

It took me about a quarter of a second to regain my composure enough to say, "SOLD!!! You got change for a hundred?"

A couple hours later as I'm browsing the last few tables before leaving I see a Tyco 908 short nose (silver and red) in excellent condition. I pointed to it and asked the guy behind the table how much. He says the owner is away from the table for a few minutes and he doesn't know the prices on anything. So I browsed the table for a few minutes, the vendor comes back and I ask him for a price. "Twenty bucks" he says.

"SOLD!!!" says I.

:thumbsup: