The one thing I fear the most in life is a missed opportunity. The idea that I’m missing out on something great in the future for a present-day luxury literally keeps me up at night. So, in order to secure said future, I’ve finally sold my ridiculously rare 1999 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4. This sucks.
Bargain hunting is fun. It’s the act of finding something that someone has apparently undervalued and using it for its original purpose, but for a fraction of its original price. However, as is the case with my criminally cheap Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4, sometimes one man’s junk is just junk, no matter how much you…
Wisdom is a product of age and experience. When you get older, you tend to be better at judging something on its merits, rather than your emotional attachment to it. That’s why a while back, after losing money on cars that I initially intended to sell, I vowed never to invest my time, money, and sanity into a vehicle…
A commonly held idea in car culture is that “German reliability” is as oxymoronic as a diarrhea-free Chipotle burrito bowl. “The most expensive car I can ever buy is a cheap German,” people say. To prove them wrong, I bought a broken BMW 540i and planned to have someone other than me fix it, as I had other things to…
When you’re faced with an insurmountable challenge, sometimes the best course of action is a quick and unceremonious about-face, followed by a frantic sprint—but where’s the fun in that? Here’s everything wrong with my broken Porsche 944 Turbo. Make sure you’re sitting down for this.
The main thing I advocate for people to do when purchasing, maintaining, and modifying a car is research until your eyes bleed. The more information you have about something, the more likely you’ll succeed in finishing said project. As it turns out, I am absolutely dogshit at following my own advice because I just…
There’s a saying: money isn’t made when you sell, it’s made when you buy, meaning that it pays to get something cheap if that thing carries future value. This notion also presents a very unique problem in that parting with said cheaply acquired item can be excruciating, especially when it’s a Caracas Red 1999…
When a rare opportunity presents itself to you in such a way that it must be too good to be true, get out - it’s clearly a bait car, you idiot. However, when something comes along that’s just on the cusp of believable, then it’s up to you to carpe the shit out of that diem. This is one of those times.
Small-scale restorations can be therapeutic and sometimes pay pretty damn well, as evidenced by Opponaut and Art Of The Flip fan Alexander LaRocca and his awesome green Ford Ranger, which he took from being a hacked mess to damn near showroom condition on a meager teenager's budget.
Here's the story of one ambitious car flipper bought-and-sold his way from a chewed-out $500 Land Cruiser to the truck he's always wanted... another, much nicer Land Cruiser. He definitely took the long way 'round, but he got some great automotive adventures in on the way.
Buying and selling cars for a profit is a lot of fun - sometimes. In other instances, you're left with a sinking feeling in your gut because you're thousands into a fruitless money pit and your wallet just collapsed in on itself, like a malnourished black hole. This is one of those times.
Follow my train of thought: In a local supermarket, walking through the dairy aisle after picking up a pack of mozzarella slices and whole wheat bread, I wondered how universal my mundane grocery-getting adventure was. Then, I thought about how most car enthusiasts, rich or poor, wanted the same thing for the most…
There are a few cardinal rules when buying a car to resell: Don't buy one with potentially expensive mechanical issues. Don't buy electrically complicated cars without proper diagnostic equipment. And never buy one that needs expensive bodywork. Unless, of course, it's a BMW E39 M5. This is the story of how I…
A cheap daily is usually a car that wears its battle scars with pride, like a soldier having fought several battles in an ongoing war. If you use that as a measuring stick, this Civic is the most decorated Honda in existence. If dents are a sign of character, consider this the automotive equivalent of Nelson…
One thing Honda has mastered without a shadow of a doubt is reliability. It's no small feat that out of the tens of millions of VTEC systems they've installed in their cars, not one has ever failed. This translates into a plethora of 20 year old Hondas on the market. How reliable could they be, and could you have…
There are 3 things you must be when buying and selling cars for a profit: observant, cheap, and above all, sneaky. It's not enough to know where to look and how to get a good deal on some hot metal, you have to be able to stroll into an auction house full of potential bidders and make sure it's taken off the market…
When assessing the practicality of a project, it's important to know the point in which you throw in the towel and admit defeat. I'm a bit of an oddity in this regard, as I was born without the part of my brain that makes sound automotive decisions. This is exactly why I bought a crashed and rusty 16-year old,…
If you asked the Jay Lenos or Wayne Carinis of the world about barn finds, they’d likely say the era when you could find a relatively unmolested gem in someone’s garage is long gone. While that may be true for a ‘30s era Duesenberg J, the time to find modern classics in strange places is just beginning. That’s how I…
There are cars that inspire excitement and promote a sense of status and luxury, and then there are cars that force us to challenge our preconceived notions of what qualities a car should have, and gives us something completely new - for better or worse. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the story of how I bought a…