re: If you didn’t know much about fixing up cars…

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artompkins

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Nice Trans Am SE

Good advise is this thread. I grew up in a Body Shop my Dad owned. I have always fooled with cars and motorcycles. I will warn you, it’s expensive to do. We had everything needed to do it ourselves and it was expensive. And, this was before things got like they are now.
We still like to go to auctions now and look at cars. We often notice we couldn’t build the cars for what they are selling for.
I also agree that what kids think is cool and what we think is cool maybe totally different. Dad gave me a 64 1/2 Mustang fastback and I sold it for a price of crap CJ-7. Jeeps were the thing then. I have always owned one since then.
Muscle cars may actually be embarrassing to him in school by the time he gets there. If your not rolling electric your a huge dork! Crazy I know.

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Factory 4 speed car, 389ci, 335 hp. 100% original, numbers correct, with a little bit under 100 thousand miles, still wearing factory paint. Never wrecked or even a fender bender. 2 owner car, present owner has had the car since 1971.
Rust free car that has never left the state of Alabama. Meticulous maint. records going back to when the car was new.
It isn't a highly optioned car, didn't come with A/C or power steering. Drum brakes.

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Deal-breaker

Thanks. It's a 77 4 speed car with the W72 Pontiac motor and as you noted the W82 Bandit special edition package. I've owned both since 85. Bought them both when I was 15 from a crack head shrimp boat captain in Golden Meadow I worked a summer for.

get and old Mazda Miata and turn it into an autocross car.

This won’t be a popular answer but if it will be his first vehicle I’d get a 2003-2007 cat eye single cab short bed Silverado. It’ll already have any modern feature you’d like like cruise control, power steering, air bags, a computer, etc. It’ll probably be safer than an old unknown rust bucket. You can get an unlimited amount of LS parts and 4l80 parts delivered to your house any day of the week and you can decide how slow you want it to be, from paw paw to scary fast.

My first truck I bought a 72 Chevy for 900 bucks at 15 years old. Never really done mechanic work and rebuild the engine myself without much help.

Not that anyone could do that. My grandfather was an auto body mechanic and restored classic cars so it was kinda in my blood. I could examine the engine and figure most of it out. Needed help replacing the cam and heads and timing chain since that was more advanced. But if you get a car with a solid block, you can replace carburetor, water pump, plugs, wires, distributor, radiator, valve covers, vacuum pumps/hoses pretty easily. Just buy corrects parts and put them back on how you took them off. YouTube how to tune the carburetor and get the air fuel mixture right.

It will be great for you son and teach him basic mechanic skills that men need especially today with so many men who couldn’t change a tire or their own oil. I remember in high school (around 2007) friend of mine had a fuel pump go out on his bronco and I came over and dropped the tank and replaced it. Blew his mind I could do that he was freaking out because he didn’t have money to pay a shop to fix it. Told him buy the pump and I’d do it for a 12 pack

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You absolutely had your shite together way better than me at 15.

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Not really, if you were willing,a 15 or 16 year old who shrimped all summer from caribel to Texas could make 8-12k in 3 months and crack heads selling cars like these dirt cheap all day. I just never wanted to be that guy who said " I wish I had that back". I also still have every baseball, football and basketball card along with every gi joe and star wars toy I ever bought.

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Jeep YJ. They can be found cheap, and the 4.0 is super easy to work on. For a little more money, get a CJ7. Ain’t nothing cooler than an old Jeep.

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Was about to say, one I did with my dad was an old Jeep. Lots of parts out there and a bit easier to get under.