When I was in college I bought an 1972 Austin America for $35. It had a four speed auto trans and would only go in reverse. I bought a junkyard trans for $25 and fixed it myself. Later on the crankshaft broke, bought a junkyard crank and bearings for $25. Junkyard parts for this car was not too hard to find and most cars in the junkyard had 50k to 70k miles on them. Although this car was one of the worst cars ever made I drove it for many years.
On a dark rainy night I drove it too fast around a bend and rolled it. At the time I didn't think I could give it away but a guy driving by house saw it and offered me $200. He just bought one and needed an engine and seats. That was a lucky day.

My neighbor had a Rambler station wagon and when he bought a new car they wouldn't take it in for trade. He asked me how he could get rid of the car so I gave him $25 for it, fixed what I could without cost and cleaned it up. Sold it a week later for $100.