Mr. Dresden

Hello All,

Popoften checking in.

We had an addition to the family recently - a 1987 Pontiac Bonneville. It is our most recent success in saving money on cars. Yes, you really can get a good used car for $999.00 or less.


I bought it this past March with 45,000 original miles on it. It is in great mechanical condition according to my mechanic. The interior and the exterior look great. Purchase price: $200. That is not a typo. Just two hundred dollars! Ladies, the car is a beautiful burgundy red inside and out. Guys, it has the 3.8L Chevy V-6 with the 4 speed/overdrive automatic transaxle. It gets surprisingly good 26 mpg, more if you are careful.

When I was evaluating the car for purchase the owner disclosed to me that the only problems he knew of were that the serpentine belt was slipping a bit and getting rather hot, and that the car had a slight electrical power fade which I suspected was a worn alternator. I had a look under the hood and determined that the belt problem was due to a worn a/c compressor clutch. My mechanic confirmed the bad alternator.

I saved a ton of money on the parts by purchasing both through www.rockauto.com. I am a very happy customer of rockauto. I have bought parts from them several times. The a/c clutch was about $70.00, which was about $60.00 cheaper than I could get it from any other source. The rebuilt Borg Warner alternator I got on a closeout special for $55.00 also from rockauto.com. This was about $110.00 less than I could get it from any other source. My mechanic installed both for about $100.00 labor. Total cost of repairs: $225.00 parts and labor. So, all told, I thankfully was able to acquire an excellent car for a total of $425.00 in acquisition and reconditioning costs.

I figured I was going to give the car to one of my daughters or sell it to one of my sons (I’m old fashioned, I admit it).

My 22 year old daughter commandeered it. She loves it.

She has named it “Mr. Dresden”.

Popoften