"You actually bought a car!?"

With quite a change from my Craiglist-ways, I still felt this was important to include.

Especially through utilizing the premier classified ads site, you too can find quality running and driving autos for dirt cheap! You just have to know what to look for.

The friend that reached out about this one knew about my car obsession, so from his perspective, it only made sense to ask for my take on what he was being offered.

I was sent pictures of a 2005 Mercury Montego. The hood, bumper and grill were obviously quite dented upon first look. Aside from that damage, and a couple of dents and scratches that would lead one to believe its driver had to be elderly, she looked in pretty damn-good shape.

"Should I buy this lmao," read his message. Of course, before giving any kind of answer due to its condition, I had to ask how much. "$250 lol," was his humble reply.

You read that right, folks.

A fully loaded luxury vehicle, complete with all-wheel-drive, dual-power heated leather seats and a CVT transmission... for the cost of a tire.

He explained that an elderly patient (I called it!) of his mother's went to warm the car up for his wife. He'd forgotten he put it in drive, and slowly rolled the massive full-size sedan into a small tree at the end of his driveway. That explained the front end damage, but aside from what was seen, the drivetrain remained untouched as well as the frame.

"If you don't buy it I will right now," I jokingly-yet-seriously replied. He asked if I wanted to split it with him and since I just couldn't pass up getting involved with this deal, I agreed.

We checked her out and purchased her for the whopping amount of just $125 each. It was a one owner car, not too far over 100k miles, and meticulously maintained at the dealer and a local Meineke.

We had plans to change the front end parts and flip her, but we were both pretty busy. We let her sit for a while, starting her up ever so often to keep her running strong. This was until the trans started going on my beloved Zuki.

"Bro, can I fix her up and drive her for a bit? My car is screwed."

Luckily, he was totally cool with it. He recognized we hadn't done crap with it, and the initial excitement quickly came and went. I swapped the hood and bumper reinforcement with a buddy in my driveway. We reshaped the bumper and grill a bit, realigned the hood latch, and she was road-worthy once again. Nowhere near perfect, but man, what a tank.

I had plans to drive her to the ground before her life was cut short after being deemed totaled in an accident. She had great safety ratings, so she kept me safe.

You too can find deals like this. Believe me, they're out there. Check out the Bang for your Buck section to see what I mean!