I traded a $750 Jeep Cherokee for my Ram. It needed a clutch, rear main, brakes, and tires. I have done a lot more to it, but now I know my truck inside and out, top to bottom. If I were to spend good money on a truck I would make sure it needs NOTHING, or next to it. If I'm not gonna try to get something that looks like new, I look for a good body, and reasonable mechanical problems. If i'm looking for something like that, I will settle for nothing less than a screamin' good deal. I don't buy anything in between.

Vehicles I have aquired:
'72 D100 - Free from uncle, needed a ton of work to get on the road, then the wiring caught fire.
'72 W200 Power Wagon - $400 sitting on 39's, drove it home.
'91 Jeep Cherokee - $700, bought from original owner, was in AWESOME shape.
'95 Ram - Traded Cherokee that had $750 total invested. Drove home 300 miles. Needed previously mentioned items.
'04 Lexus IS300 5spd manual - $12000 Out the door from a dealer, 87K on it, ran and drove like new. Sold it cuz I'm afraid of commitment (aka debt).
'06 Honda TRX 400ex - Traded POS $400 Power Wagon straight across for it ($3000 total into the Power Wagon, wasn't worth half that...) worth over 3k easy.


The deals are out there. Sometimes you gotta look around for a while, sometimes they fall into your lap.

 

indeed.

I bought my old 14' runabout 6hp outboard fishing boat when I was 16 for $700. had it for years and got a lot of use out of it. Traded it straight across like 10 years later for a kawasaki 650 X2 jetski with trailer. sold the jetski the very next year for $1000 cash. basically got 10 years use and traded up and then sold what I traded for and came out $300 ahead