I have good news! You found a lamp lying on the ground and after rubbing it, an oil-covered genie appeared! Even better, this ghostly wish-granting broseph just gave you exactly $135,220. Look, I don’t know why the genie didn’t give you an even $135,000. Maybe it started off as $136,000 but he had to take a finder’s fee. Either way, you now have a cool $135,220 in your bank account. You could do the responsible thing and invest this money, pay off bills, buy property, or do whatever is considered to be adulting. However, you’re an Autopian, and you’ve been inspired by David rebuilding his car collection in California or by me and my fleet of aging German disasters.
If given exactly $135,220, what cars and how many of them would you buy? Since I love boats, motorcycles, planes, and trains, those will be acceptable, too.
This oddly specific dollar figure comes from the mind of Matt Hardigree. See, our Publisher has fallen into the trap of playing with a car configurator. Today, he configured a Porsche 911 Carerra T, a lovely sleek sports car with a starting price of $124,900. For that price, you’re getting a 911 992 with a rear-mounted 3.0-liter twin-turbo flat-six good for 379 HP. Spec the car with the Sport Chrono Package and a manual transmission for a sprint to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds, 3.8 with a PDK. Sounds fun!
Matt’s spec would include Ruby Star Neo paint ($3,270), a smooth pink-ish color. He also added in the Front Axle Lift system ($2,770) and picked the manual transmission option and some other bits. Honestly, that’s not important. What’s important is what vehicle thing would you do with $135,220 burning a hole in your pocket?
The first thing I would do is buy a Smart Crossblade, like this one currently for sale in New Jersey for $59,622.
Admittedly, I’d haggle on that price, but mint condition examples of the Crossblade have been selling for around $50,000 for at least a decade. Why would I pay that much for a Smart? Well, it is the Holy Grail of all Smarts. The Crossblade was a concept car put into limited production with less than 2,000 units known to exist. It’s not just all show, either, as Smart waterproofed the interior so you could drive the thing in the rain, or through a car wash.
Anyway, with my prized Smart in possession, I’d next run down the list of my dream motorcycles.
I’ll also want a Honda CBX, which will likely run around $12,500 for one in decent shape. Of course, I have to get a Royal Enfield Diesel. We’ll say that’ll set me back $5,000. No motorcycle collection would be complete without a Hayes M1030M1 jet fuel military bike. And beside them all will be a Suzuki RE-5 rotary motorcycle for about $8,500.
Surprisingly, that leaves me with $49,558 in the bank. A really nice Volkswagen Phaeton W12 will set me back about $20,000. I’d spend the rest of it on imports like an MGF roadster, an Autozam AZ-1, and a Smart Fortwo with a manual transmission.
Matt theoretically would spend that $135,220 on just a single car. I could score four rare motorcycles and five cars for that price. What would you buy with $135,220?
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Honestly probably 2, maybe 3.
What I’d want is a Single Cab 3 seat F-150 Lightning preferably with a 6.5ft bed, however I’d settle for the 5.5ft bed, I’d even settle for a single cab chassis cab variant if I had to.
An Audi A2 1.2L TDI that had no power steering and no A/C from the factory would be pretty slick.
A Land Rover Series 3 Lightweight Diesel with a hardtop would be pretty interesting as well.
Right now I’m pretty uncertain about what the climate will be like where I move to next and whether or not they’ll salt the roads in the winter (if applicable). Because of this I have a newfound appreciation for aluminum bodied and or aluminum chassis vehicles. So whatever else I’d go with would be aluminum bodied at the minimum.
I grew up in the back of a XJ, and then convinced my Mom to buy a Mk3 GTI VR6, so I have an affinity to the sound of a 6cyl engine. So my first pick would be to manual swap stuff.
-Subaru SVX, manual swapped, with headers and free-flowing exhaust.
-Lexus LS 400, manual swapped, converted into a wagon with the back hatch of some 4runner so it can have a power rear window.
-I’d turn my 2003 5spd, regular cab Tacoma into an autocross monster. It’s already lowered and good at autocross, just needs less rust, more hp.
-a really nice conversion van, with a mural, and a matching trailer to tow stuff to track days, go on adventures, etc.
-2 brace of Honda Trail 125 bikes, like 4 of them, so it can be an adventure for the whole family or me and 3 friends.
-I’d buy my 1956 Lincoln back and resto-mod it.
-I’d buy my 1969 Scout 800 back that I let go, and I’d complete it.
That’s probably the whole budget right there.
7k for as clean as possible 1990 Saab 900 Turbo – in Green
8k for as clean as possible 1990 Volvo 240 Wagon – in Blue
Uhhhhh, I have another 120k to work with?
I’ll take a Lexus LC500 in Nori Green. And use whatever is left for some garage space.
I’m going to share with you all a dream of mine which I call the “Legacy Garden”. Which is owning every configuration of 3rd generation Subaru Legacy/2nd generation Outback/Baja. That being said, I’d need a Legacy wagon, an Outback Wagon, an Outback Sedan, all of which 2000-2004, and finally a 2003-2005 Baja. Ideally all manuals except for the Outback Sedan because they didn’t offer one for some reason in the US. So let’s call that $20k assuming I get a few nice examples and a few crappy ones. Then I’d STI swap and repaint my Legacy sedan, let’s call that $15k.
The remaining $100,220 will be a bit less fucked:
New 4Runner TRD Pro
2015ish F150 5.0
Then whatever’s left I’d spend on an E36 track car, dirt bikes, and head gaskets
Garage space would be the first thing. I can buy the lot next door for $30k. No idea as to current costs, but would need a pad poured and I can insulate & run electrical service & HVAC in a metal garage I’d set on it.
If I had anything left, it would go towards a trailer & towpig. Then I’d look around for an old Pinto wagon to become a Lemons car
That’s where i’m at too. Need more space before more cars.
My default lottery win first day purchases have been the same for twenty years: FD RX7 and a pre facelift NSX with the pop up lights. At UK prices this pair used to be 30k for nice cars, now I’m not sure $136,220 would be enough.
I’ll spend any change on a series of BMW coupes to use as winter beaters.
So could I use some of the money to improve an existing vehicle? We our currently fulltiming in our 2011 Born Free 27RSB motorhome. I think Born Free made the greatest class C RV’s ever built. Theyre all fiberglass, wonderfully made, and a little weird. Ours is a lifted 2WD E450 with the 6.8 V10. If money was no object I would do a 7.3 Godzilla conversion to give us some more power and better gas mileage. There are cheap engine/transmission pulls available from brand new vans being converted to EV’s. While we are at it we could even do a full swap to the new updated E450 2023 dashboard and maybe some captains chairs out of a Toyota Sienna. Theyre all the rage with the VanLife crowd.
I would also do a full 4X4 conversion from UJoint Offroad with all the bells and whistles. New stage 3 axles with the big brakes and the dual shock setup, custom front and rear bumpers, onboard air lightpotds, lockers, the whole deal. All that would bring us to around $60-75k and then I’d probably throw another $5-10k into beefing up our solar a little – We have 7.6kwh of batteries and 2400watts of panels, but you can never have too much money or too much solar. Lets double those batteries and get us another 2k watts of panels on a second level slide out.
That leaves us with the car we flat tow, which is currently a 2008 Yaris with a 1.5″ lift and general grabbers. Its neat, but I really could use something better off road and maybe a hair bigger. I’m thinking a JDM 4×4 van – Maybe something like a late 90’s Mazda Bongo Friendee with the pop top and some a nice lift with some ATX tires. We’ll get the bottom 1/3 bedlined to make it more durable and paint it with retro stripes to match the RV.
We arent home much now to have a “real” car, so I guess I’d also just get a couple nice Ebikes to haul around.
An upgrade from the Country Squire of yore to the droit du seigneur wagon for late capitalism: One certified ($135,220 doesn’t buy as much as it used to) Panamera Sport Turismo or Taycan Cross Turismo, with the nicest woodgrain vinyl wrap I can find for the sides.
Two. First would be a ’71 Datsun 240Z. Because properly restoring one and adding in the features I’d want would be at least $60,000 and I’d need another $20,000 to sort out the issues afterwards. Second would be a Mazda Autozam AZ-1. That leaves me with $20,000 to use for stuff like maintenance and insurance and whatever.
Eh, I’d be in a “one expensive thing and a handful of cheaper things” camp.
The expensive thing would be a 9-passenger recent conversion van like these models here, which run in the upper 5 figures. (I am not affiliated with Paul Sherry Conversion Vans; it’s just a reference.)
Other than that…a new hardtop Miata, perhaps? Always wanted to try a Miata, but a van is far more important to me, and I already have a good daily, a 2012 Prius v. Maybe I’d do some upgrades to the Prius (like the $3700 quote I got for soundproofing), but not much else comes to mind. I’ve really been doing all the basic “doesn’t-particularly-affect-fuel-economy” mods I could have so far. Maybe a Project Lithium upgrade for the HV battery in the, too. But again, that’s, what, $2300 for the pack and another $1000 or something to get it installed at a good shop?
So, without doing a ton of research, that’s my answer. Conversion van, Miata, upgrade my Prius. And depending what van I get, still probably leaves plenty of money left over to do upgrades like an Android Auto head unit for the van, subwoofer, multiple dashcams, etc.
I’d say that’s a functionally well-rounded 3-car garage. (…if I had a garage at my apartment complex…)
I’m not sure precisely how many but I imagine I could buy quite a few before anyone could stop me.
Does a brand new 718 Cayman 4.0 and a brand new Sienna seem like it would cover all my bases?
As many Unimogs as possible
O.G. Acura NSX and a 73 Citroen DS
Degrees for auto mechanics & body shop, because when I’m in the garage I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.
Inspired by Motorhead Mike’s “the ones that got away,” and assuming unlimited garage space and mechanic time/capability,
• E36 M3, 4 door, 5 speed in Estoril Blue
• NA2 Acura NSX in RED. Manual of course.
Honestly I’m probably broke after those two but let’s throw in a new Integra Type S for good measure.
This is ironic for that question to appear today. I just tied up nearly 140K in a financial knot this afternoon to prevent me from doing something nuts with it.
That Ferrari will just have to wait a few more years.
2019 Porsche 911 GTS White, sunroof, front lift, heated/vented seats, automated cruise control, PDK (sorry I do long trips) and GTS logo delete on the back and side.
wait I bought that used a while back for less than 135.
ok I am good and happy…. And just did a 6033 mile road trip across the country.. awesome fun.
How many dental practices do you run?
Visit dental practices, rummage through trash, collect gold tooth caps they throw away = used 911.
its messy work and you have to be sly. But can be profitable in elderly communities in So cal.
a pinto wagon -2k
1985 gsxr 750- 5k, 2020 gsxr 750 – 10k (swap the modern parts onto the old one (modern amenities with the classic looks))- 1k
1985 Honda xr350L-4k
Porsche 944- 10k, Ford focus rs (crashed but running)~10k (swap the focus drive into the 944)-3k
1971 Pontiac Firebird Transam -50k
spend the rest on trying to build a bugeye sprite into a prerunner-style off-roader.
the swaps may be more but its what it is. i’d run my money dry
The ideal would be an Xraid BMW X3 CC or VW Race Touareg. I think I would have a very hard time getting it titled though. If I could find one in budget (doubtful) I would get it and then start working down this list till I ran out of money.
Otherwise:
An ’83 Quattro. Perhaps modded like this one. Preferably a cheap ratty one that I could beat on/modify.
GARBAGE E46. Everybody needs an e46. Definitely straight 6. Probably ideally 330 sedan.
Wrecked B7 RS4. To swap drivetrain into my A4 wagon. DREAM daily.
Manual Cayenne GTS.
6.2 Raptor
Parsh? Cheapest running 911 of any age probably. TBH I’m probably out of money this far down the list anyways.
2016 Ford Falcon XR6T manual – $50k
GU Nissan Patrol w/barra swap & touring kit -$50k
Spend the rest on either a clean PX Ranger w/3.2 and manual or a 1996-99 Mitsubishi Pajero 2.8l manual chopped into a ute… with compound turbos and a tipper
I’ve always said it’s a good thing I don’t have a lot of money, because I would have the world’s weirdest, arguably worst, and likely least valuable car collection.
I would buy that Hornet wagon I saw over in Arkansas that had a 4.0 inline six with a five speed and working AC. It was about $2k, but that was a couple years ago.
I would buy that ’37 Chevy on an ’85 Toyota 4×4 chassis. It had a stick and was painted up like it ran the Pan-American Rally. It was about $5k, but again, a while ago.
I would buy that Ford Aerostar that was cut into a pickup, but had a Jeep CJ grill on it, and the front fenders and hood matched to it.
I would buy that trike made from the back halves of two notchback Chevy Citations and a Goldwing front end. Also with working AC! A bargain at a mere $2300!
And so many others! Weird projects! Somebody’s hair-brained idea! A Subaru Turbo XT! One of those convertible Dakotas! And motorcycles!! So many useless motorcycles! With sidecars! Why? Why not!
Oh, and one of those CUCV military Blazers with the 6.2 diesels. Add AC, and that would be my daily driver! Among others.
My wife would straight up murder me if i brought all these orphans home. We have too many pets as it is.. Please don’t give me $135,220. I love her and I’m happy.
Alpine A110 in good-but-not-concours condition.
I’d buy the nicest Citroen SM I could find (about $50k). Then I’d buy the nicest unmolested third gen RX7.
Oh God, I’m becoming my dad…
It all really depends on how much space I have. Do I have a barn out back, or do I have a collection of leaky garage spaces strewn about town?
If it’s the former, I’d probably start assembling a collection of ‘The Ones That Got Away’., starting with a ’72 Citroën SM, or a gray-market ’81 Mercedes 500SLC. …Add an early 80s Corolla, or two, and finish off with as many ’70s 2-stroke bikes as I could afford.