How to Make a Free Car Cost Twenty Bucks

 I was at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago looking for Redline Hot Wheels, and I found one! Well, it wasn't exactly the best find ever, but you take what you can get. Here it is!

Beautiful, huh? Here are other views...

This is a 1969 (the only year it was produced) Chaparral 2G! In mint condition, these go for 35- 45 bucks. In this condition? Well, as the lady at the sale said, "How does free sound?" It sounded fine, because you never turn down a Redline, but this thing has obvious issues. 

First, the paint is terrible. It's chipped and worn. Then some kid decided to paint it green. Then he decided to clean the green off...mostly... Next, the wheels are almost worn away. This thing did about a million miles, and it shows! 

Third, there is supposed to be a large plastic wing on the back. It's obviously gone.

Finally, the stickers are rough. Real rough.

So what do you do with a tired, beat up old car? You restore it, of course! A quick trip to the old interwebs and I ordered new wheels, stickers, and wing! Total cost, a little under twenty bucks! When the stuff came in, I got to work!

First, I lightly sanded the car and then masked it for painting. The wheels pop off very easily, so I pulled them off and discarded them. I then hit it with four coats of gloss white spray paint, popped the new wheels on, carefully stuck on the new stickers and then installed the new wing. Here are the results!

And there you have it! One of the easiest restorations I've ever done! Now for twenty bucks I have a car that's worth....I don't know, maybe 25-30? But the book value doesn't matter. I did this to give new life to a tired old car. And I think she turned out pretty nice!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!