Ask a car enthusiast what their ideal number of cars is, and the answer will probably be n+1. In this case, n means the number of cars they currently own, and +1 means, well, plus one. It’s not so much about hoarding, it’s about enjoying a larger breadth of automotive experiences, and sometimes having backups for the cars you already own. Oh, and what makes getting another car better? Not paying a dime for it.
The free car is often a fantasy, but real free cars are rarely perfect. After all, if you get known for an eclectic mix of older cars, chances are the cars you attract will be less-than-perfect. The question is: How far is too far? How bad does a free car have to be for you to say no?
When it comes to additional cars, I have limitations. My indoor storage and wrenching area is full of Porsches, and since it’s snow season in Toronto, any car I acquire must run and drive. Beyond that, I usually don’t want anything that’s rotted out. I mean, I don’t have 240-volt service in my garage, and although I technically can stick metal together with a 120-volt flux core welder, it’s going to be ugly. Fine for floor pans, but all the slag and spatter will require grinding if used on an A-surface. Oh yeah, and the factory emissions equipment needs to work fine because catalytic converters are bloody expensive and all the hardware just fuses together after several salt belt winters.
Then again, we are talking about a free car here, so I’m generally fairly open. If it doesn’t pique my interest, I can always register it, drive it for a week to see what it’s about, and sell it. Worst case, it’s so bad, it needs to be scrapped. Best case, someone gets a decent car for bottom-of-the-market pricing.
Plus, rules are sometimes made to be broken. If someone gave me a field-find DeTomaso Pantera, air-cooled Porsche, Honda S600, TVR Griffith, or something that just really gets my desire pumping with an engine that isn’t locked up, I don’t know if I’d be able to say no. Occasionally, the heart simply overrules the head, and we do things not because they’re easy, but because we thought they’d be easy. Similarly, if someone offers me a free parts car for a car I already own, and said parts car has rare stuff I want on it, I’m booking a U-Haul faster than you can order Domino’s.
So, how bad does a free car have to be for you to say no?
Top graphic image: David Tracy
For me, it would have to be pretty good to say yes. I don’t have storage space, I don’t have wrenching skills, and I don’t have body work skills. I own two cars, one generally driven by my wife and one by me. I do respect those that have the skills and ability to take something rough and polish it into a gem, but it just isn’t me.
I have zero desire for a free car. I’m the opposite of a hoarder and actively keep the number of my possessions low. I’d only take it if it were something that I personally like better than either of my current two old Subaru Legacy manual wagons. So I’d only take a car if it happened to be a Gen 1/2/or 3 Legacy manual wagon in better condition (and a good color) than the winter beater. And not the ’97-‘ ’99s with the EJ25D. It would replace not add to the fleet.
Realistically there is little chance of someone giving me a car I actually want.
I’ve taken 2 free cars in my lifetime both when my wife and I were newly married and struggling financially. Both were old hand-me-downs from parents that needed a lot of wrenching and both exited the garage within 18 months when I moved on to another $300 to $500 beater.
I also had a 1400 sq ft garage at the time. Today I have a 2 car garage that has a workshop and motorcycles inside so any new car would need to be a runner that can keep the city happy and not get towed away.
What does the city have to do with it? Or is it not a city but a huge HOA that says what you can do, what you need to spend, and what you need to spend it on?
The city I live in requires all street parked cars to have current tags and move every 3 days.
The city where my parents live does not allow any cars to be parked on the street between 3 and 6 am.
3 days!? Sheesh, I can’t imagine the amount of enforcement they must do to keep up with that. My neighborhood’s nearing the 1 year anniversary of my neighbors flatbed trailer he’s half abandoned in the street.
Not hard actually. People complain, code enforcement comes out and green tags the vehicle, if it doesn’t move it gets towed.
Under current law, you can never actually own property in a USA city.
Govts have even gone after people owning tractors in rural areas.
They call it “civil law” which is an artifice to end run the Constitution.
Translates to “You have no right to an attorney”.
This is the job BTK said was more satisfying than torturing victims to death.
He’s the poster boy for code enforcement anywhere.
I took the Nash in the TopShot for free, which is quickly turning out to be not very cheap at all (but totally worth it).
$2K to ship it from David’s Lair to The Cape Fear, engine-out rebuild, brakes, fluids, interior, rusted floor pans, cracked windshield, etc.
It’s “Mardi Gras Red” though, quite uncommon and the Mrs loves it, which is priceless.
Big thanks to David Tracy for making it happen!
“$2K to ship it from David’s Lair to The Cape Fear, engine-out rebuild, brakes, fluids, interior, rusted floor pans, cracked windshield, etc.”
Hmm… let’s try to tally that up… and I’m padding these costs to include tax, shipping costs for parts, installation costs and misc costs at an independent shop:
2K for shipping
3K for an engine out rebuild.
1K for brakes
$100 for fluids
$2k for the interior
$1000 for the floor pans
$500 for the windshield
So that’s about $9600.
How close am I?
Never add up the receipts
This is why I never have had a project car. I’m the type of person to take the receipts, throw them into a spreadsheet, tally it up and look at my monthly cost and/or cost per kilometer… and then think about what else I could have used that money for.
LOL
If you need to keep tally on the $ invested you’re not a true car aficionado .
I’m up to my eyebrows in a derelict 1971 BMW R75/5 Motocycle I bought in Feb. 2025, I don’t look at the $ I put in, I look at the joy I get from saving one more elderly vehicle from the crusher and of course, I enjoy riding it as much as possible .
-Nate
“If you need to keep tally on the $ invested you’re not a true car aficionado .”
Nah… I just like to know where my money goes and what something cost.
But cost is not the same thing as value.
Sometimes after spending money, I feel I got great value.
And sometimes not.
Completely agree with you Nate. Just because your methodology is different doesn’t make it wrong. This could develop into a whole other conversation over an adult beverage as to how people should stay in their own lanes and not worry about what other people are doing.
Agreed I had a Jensen Healey put more into towing it from state to state and even more restoring it. Then got busy sold it for less than one tow and once things settled down I looked for another one.
That’s the argument I have for bicycles! The difference is the receipts tally to 1/100th to 1/1000th of a car’s
I have plenty of project cars and STILL do this.
Don’t do this. It just hurts your heart. 🙁
? Is there a sequence of events here I’ve not been told of ? .
I gave the car to David and it only needed a crankshaft, I included a better (std./std. Vs. 030./.030″) crankshaft he apparently allowed to get wet and surface rusted .
The rakes were good and had been redone not long before along with the entire suspension, steering, radiator, rebuilt original radio, speedo, fuel tank relined and fuel gauge, all locks rebuilt to work on one key, rebuilt windshield wiper motor and linkages, the windshield was undamaged, I’m not sure why it now says replaced .
Last thing I knew the car was just left sitting .
If he doesn’t want it I’ll take it back I guess .
-Nate
If I wanted/was looking for a project, I would take on that Nash if only because of the novelty factor as well as it being in decent looking condition.
But if I was to take that on, I’d only do it if I could start working on it immediately.
Just letting a car and related parts sit unused or not worked on for a long time is not good
Don’t fret Nate you did alright but he is a person whose dreams exceed anyones abilities
SWG probably rebuilt the engine himself because… it’s what he does.
It’s what David did too, except for the whole matter of finding love and that leading to a baby within a year or so of starting his own business and moving halfway across the country…
The deal is : this car has many more special upgrades than is apparent .
It’s just one more old Nash Metropolitan FHC but it served me well for a decade and is fairly well known around the world as “Nate’s Fast Met” .
I fear like so many others it will be sidelined and scrapped
The engine was properly rebuilt and needed only a crankshaft (common and cheap), I supplied a perfect Std./Std. one that somehow got rusty (?! WTH?!) .
David clearly understands nor cares about this unique automobile, all who have ridden in it or tried to keep up with it in the canyons liked it very much .
-Nate
The Mrs? I think that’s new, right? Congratulations!
I don’t think I realized you were wifed up.
Glad it wound up with a deserving owner, and congrats on your wedding!
I may have used the “Mrs.” term a little loosely in the above post. I should’ve used “Ms.”
No ring on the finger yet, but the salutations are kind and thoughtful regardless. Hoping to get back on the site shortly – hope all is well in Origami-land, my Sensei!
I have taken in a few free cars, and generally my rule is they need to be repairable and not need major repairs like an engine replacement or transmission rebuild. My time is more limited these days, so I think I’d add a requirement that it be something I’m either interested in owning, can find useful, or can sell quickly.
As it would cost me $250/mo to move one of my cars to another parking spot so I can keep it in my garage, it better be worth that much to me to own. I just passed up on a free 06 4-runner with 250K on it that got smashed in the rear hatch, and no wheels / tires. (friend got a nice set of tires 4 days before getting rear-ended) I’ve always wanted to build an off-road rig and this is a good base, but realistically I’d use it maybe 3 times a year…
I will take this 4Runner. Please and thank you.
too late, friend bought used OEM wheels to put on it and took the insurance payout. (just over 2K) It’ll probably be on Chicago Copart soon. Body panels had minor rust, but the frame was solid and oddly rust free. Especially given the rear passenger spring and rear sway bar end link broke simply from rusting through. Drivetrain seemed perfect, but I doubt any fluid but engine oil has been replaced regularly in the last 100K miles.
Damn.
I could’ve had a 4Runner AND a proper hotdog.
Costco $1.50 hotdogs are.pretty good once you load them up.
They stopped offering sauerkraut, which makes me sad.
I put on my own. Along with chopped tomatoes, avocado slices and mayo:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Completo
Try a Costco “completo”, you’ll be glad you did!
Did we just become best friends?
Probably
Seriously though, try the Completo. It’s transformative:
https://youtu.be/fmzpUIk808k?t=272
I absolutely will. Thanks for the tip!
“ I’ve always wanted to build an off-road rig and this is a good base, but realistically I’d use it maybe 3 times a year…”
And for those 3 times a year, you could do that offroading at a much lower cost either on foot, on a bicycle or on a dirt bike/motorcycle.
Essentially yes. After I get it running it’ll still cost me $3K to park, $200 to register, and likely $500 to insure. Add up all the upgraded parts and things that’ll break and it’s cheaper to fly somewhere like Utah and rent a side by side a few times per year.
If you can find me a cheap bike that can tow a truck and trailer out of the mud, I’ll get one.
Going Offroad and doing ‘vehicle recovery’ are two different functions.
Sure you can have both functions in one vehicle, but it won’t be cheap.
If someone just wants to go offroad, a bike is perfectly fine.
And while offroad on a bike, if you come across a situation where a truck or trailer needs to get pulled out of the mud, that person who is stuck (which won’t be you since you’re on a bike) will have to call in someone with a recovery vehicle.
OR in cases where there is no cell service, you would help by riding your offroad bike back to somewhere with cell service and call in help for the person who is stuck.
I am actually in the market for an off-road bike, but something like a surly moonlander.
Doesn’t address my real world needs getting trailers and other stuff back and forth to the back pasture.
They are in a valley and often waterlogged.
As for extraction, you can do that with much less vehicle than what is stuck.
My heavy hauler has a limited slip but that only goes so far.
Friend paid for his custom jeep extracting big off-road stuff with a beetle or Datsun, much to the annoyance of owners of big iron.
Fortunately it turns out 4wd isn’t always expensive.
Bought a 1500 version of my truck for $200 more than I was willing to pay for the parts.
It’s not pretty but the 318 is perfect.
If I get the transmission right, and put grippy tires on it, I’m fine.
Insurance costs off-road $0
Tags $0
Parking $0
And the 4wd parts are abundant and cheap.
“Doesn’t address my real world needs getting trailers and other stuff back and forth to the back pasture.”
Yeah but that’s not the offroading I’m talking about. I’m talking about the offroading for fun.
You seem to be talking about offroading for work and/or hauling things… which is completely different.
The most fun offroading is not getting stuck in the mud.
Being able to extract yourself comes a close second. The horse person got a 4wd truck stuck in April, and had to be pulled out.
I don’t mind toodling around off-road trying to get myself in trouble for no reason, like the Jeepers.
I used to go off-road in a fwd Fiat, later on road bikes with friends before it was a thing.
A bike light enough to cart over obstacles does okay without big tires.
But the first time I rode a Surly Pugsley I was in love.
A wide tired bike or maybe a Yamaha 200 would be nice.
I have a manufactured bike trailer made out of deck plate, maybe from the 60s or 70s? If anyone can help identify it, I’d appreciate it.
“The most fun offroading is not getting stuck in the mud.”
Solid +1 on that!
Depends on how much you need it.
I never knew the Forerunner was useful off-road?
Whatever happened to Jason’s AWD Sienna?
I found that once you had more than 2 of something, people think you’ll haul away their junk for free. That’s how I ended up with about 6 Renaults. I only paid (very little) for the first 2.
I paid $450 for my first Miata project car and about $700 + 30-50 hours to get it running and water tight again. Sold it to a friend for roughly my cost and have since had 2 more Miata project cars for free because the owner didn’t want to pay for it to be fixed but didn’t want to let it go to the junkyard either.
Noticed this as well, but with bikes. Once I fixed my electric one from junk to presentable, other “project bikes” started to materialize
“other “project bikes” started to materialize”
#metoo
Static project friction is bigger than kinetic project friction. Once you start one, suddenly you have fifteen and a room full of spare parts on suitcases…
Hey! I’ll get around to those!
…eventually.
I have to be interested in it, man. I might feel sorry for something that’s in okay condition that would otherwise go to the crusher, but I only have so much space.
Hard to say. What are you offering?
*points to pile of rust*
Interested? If not I know a guy who will be.
I guess in order for me accept a free car it would have to either:
A. Be something I’d rather drive than my current daily
B. Be easy to flip for profit
C. Be something I don’t feel bad about scrapping for profit
As a college student, I simply don’t have room in my lifestyle for a second car. I think my apartment would give me another parking spot for $50/mo, but all cars have to be running, and they frown on working on them in the parking lot, so in order to actually keep a second car I’d have to be willing to spend a bunch of money on insurance and parking, and then have a huge extra pain every time I move.
If I’m allowed to resell it, then it just needs to drive onto a trailer.
If I have to sacrifice garage and driveway space (or god forbid a current car I paid real money for) my standards are probably higher than most people’s.
This. I don’t really have room for another car, don’t really want to pay for insurance for one, so unless its an easy flip it would have to be something I’m ok with replacing something else in my fleet.
Totally with you. I have no space or need for another car so if I can’t sell it, it better have a prancing horse or raging bull on it for me to keep it.
I mean I took Jason’s Yugo, and that was a couple hundred miles away. Clearly I don’t do well at saying no.
I’ve found a new potential project that has me considering a serious reduction in my fleet (bye bye, Autopian xB), but part of me is still hoping I’ll end up with Ski-Klasse one day.
Interesting. What’s the new project? Do you know what ever happened to Ski-Klasse? Is it in that region somewhere? I keep hoping we’ll see an update on what the final state of that poor thing is.
Must be able to roll onto a trailer and have no more than surface rust. I’d take anything else!
Edit: and no biohazards inside (sorry Copart taxi)
It 100% depends on the car. A free Nash Metropolitan like the one pictured? Something esoteric and interesting and not just another cookie cutter? So long as there’s continuous steel from one end to the other, I might say yes. A free Hyundai Excel with some shine left in the paint? How much shine? It’d have to be a lot, otherwise I’m leaning hard toward no.
I mean, I already have a vehicle with grisly rust-through affecting a notable percentage of its sheet metal, and I’m not about to give up on it, even though I could walk out today and find something with more power, more capacity and more parts availability without having to dip into more than one of my sub-accounts. No problem. But I already have this one which is pretty much the same as free, and I know this vehicle well and after all this time, there aren’t that many of them on the road anymore. That counts for a great deal.
I am old, It has to be running and not be some barn/field find. Big projects are not worth my time and space anymore.
Not too bad at all, considering I have absolutely no need for another car at all, so it would have to be both something I really want, and something that isnt going to immediately be a huge new project or money pit, and nobody gives stuff like that away, so I don’t think its a dilemma I’ll run into anytime soon.
Even if its a car I don’t want, but is at least saleable, I’d probably say no, because selling cars privately is a huge hassle and annoyance that I only do when I absolutely have to
Where:
Scrap value < cost to have it towed to scrap yard
Correct answer. Also, it’s really hard to picture any car that is offered “free” on the open market as something I would be interested in. I’d love to rescue a derelict air cooled Porsche someday, but I can tell you that even a rusted out 911 body shell isn’t going to be free.
People give away all kinds of things for all kinds of reasons.
I have a racing jet boat I was given free.
No plans for it. I just like looking at it.
Description was ‘free boat’.
I just recently said no to a free car. It was my ex’s 200k+ mile 2005 Passat wagon. I did a ton of work on that car in the five years we were together (and even some after). He said it was almost entirely trouble free, but issues started cropping up and he was quoted $3k to fix. It still runs and drives but has been sitting about a year. It’s also aged a lot, clear coat is toast, interior falling apart…just not something I want to deal with. Besides I’ve already got my 2014 Sportwagen, I don’t need another VW wagon. Especially one that needs a lot of work.
I suppose I’d take almost anything for free, but I’d have to think long and hard about it if the engine was seized or had such bad rust that it was falling apart structurally. If that was the case it would have to be a duplicate of something I’m needing parts for. Otherwise I don’t really want to bother with the hassle of taking it to the scrap yard, even if I could get a few hundred bucks out of it.
I have minimal wrenching skills, so my answer would be different from a lot of you. It would have to be pretty damn special and at least rescue-able with help from (unfortunate) friends.
If I would refuse if either
A) I have to pay someone to eventually haul it away.
Or
B) My wife gives me “that” look.
Otherwise, I’ll probably say “How soon can you get it to me?”
But be forewarned, my wife unholsters “that” look frequently.
1) Cars are great. They’re interesting and fun.
a) Cars take up a lot of space
b) Cars take up a lot of money
2) Domestic tranquility is valuable beyond price.
“My wife gives me “that” look.”
Like this?
https://i0.wp.com/media3.giphy.com/media/xUOxf60LnwVrh70jO8/giphy.gif
I feel sorry for you guys .
I courted my Sweet in a bondo – bucket Nash Metropolitan convertible, she still talked to me after two weeks on the road, I knew then she was a keeper unlike my ex wife whom I don’t miss one bit .
My Sweet knows I drag home old pieces of junk and then get hurt (ever more scars) making them road worthy again before selling them on and repeating .
She know to never say “no !” nor give me “the Look” .
Unlike you guys I’m broke and have incredibly limited space, work out side 24/7 / 365 .
-Nate
“I feel sorry for you guys .”
Don’t feel sorry for me… I’m divorced but have a GF and am doing okay.
If I wanted to take on a project, I could and nobody would stop me.
But I’ve seen other guys get ‘that look’ from their partners.
“Unlike you guys I’m broke and have incredibly limited space”
I’m not broke, but my space will become more limited after my daughter graduates and needs her own car… which would likely need to be parked where a project or fun car might go.
Yeah, me too, why I don’t miss my ex one bit .
I too have a fantastic lady in my life now, she gets me so no hasles about vehicles .
-Nate
I mean, it depends on a bunch of factors.
The logical way is looking at the delta between what it would cost to get it fixed-up and what it could sell for when fixed-up.
But that being said, I have taken ownership of 2 free cars. One was a 1984 Nissan 720 4×4, and the other was a 1996 Nissan Pathfinder 4×4. I sold the 720 for a profit, and my old apartment complex towed the Pathfinder because it didn’t have a tag.
As long as it rolls on a trailer and isn’t too far free is free. Worst case scenario is a ton or two of scrap metal.
That’s the correct attitude =8-) .
-Nate