5 Picks From The #5kChallenge

A week or so ago I threw up a challenge for people to find awesome cars for under five grand in the online classifieds. And boy, did people deliver!

@Bring a Caterham To MARS unearthed this little gem for just €3000. Of course you’ll need at least that again to keep it running for a year, but you’ll be driving a Lancia Beta Coupe.

Some will tell you it’s a FIAT in Lancia clothing, but that really doesn’t acknowledge the amount of bespoke engineering that went into this car. Yes it had the Fiat DOHC engine, but let’s remember it was originally designed by Aurelio Lampredi - a man who built engines for Ferrari until Fiat employed him. It was in fact one of the most advanced 4-cylinder engines in Europe at that time.

Five-speed gearboxes, rack and pinion steering, fully independent suspension using MacPherson struts, both front and rear, with disc brakes on all four wheels in the early/mid seventies was nothing to sneeze at and the coupe had a shorter wheelbase than previous models.

Raregliscor1 put forward a Mazda6 MPS, AWD - 256HP with just 65,000 miles. I like to think of these as the thinking mans Impreza. All the fun but with extra comfort. Weighing in at £4,700 that’s a lot of car for the money and going to be fairly minimal on the upkeep.

It’s not as dramatic as some other finds but it is an absolute peach for someone with the money in their pocket looking for a daily.

Via @Michael Masin…

If you’re Australian and not sensible, how about a a 1980 CM Chrysler Valiant ? This lovely looking example has a 245ci (4.0L) Hemi-6 engine and three speed auto. It looks like 4,500 of your Australian dollars spent well on some not-too-old-school muscle.

It’s a later model so it should have the computer-controlled Electronic Lean Burn system which put them at around the 30 miles per gallon mark in fuel aconomy- perfect for those open Australian roads and sheep counting expeditions.

@Turbobrick940 came up with this Ford Fiesta RS1800 for £4949. Fords New Edge styling with a simple yet great handling and fun little package. The only addition seems to be RS Turbo alloy wheels which can probably be straight swapped for originals if you’re a purist. I’m not so sure about the seller advertising it as a collectors car rising in value daily (it’s been the same price for a week now…), but as a back lane bomber that isn’t going to cost much to keep I can’t think of much better for the money.

What kind of list of cars would this be without an MX-5/Miata on it? Thankfully @MikeTheMiata delivered with this unmolested 1992 manual optioned $1,224 beauty. With 239,998 miles on it’s 1.6 litre engine it’s barely even broken in. That’s some inexpensive fun right there!

So, those are my favorites… but let’s give a “cool car bro’” head nod to this captivatingly modified ‘72 Monte Carlo:

@Deadpool delivered an absolute beau…

Wait.

I honestly didn’t know how do describe this wondrous monstrosity until the words “wondrous” and “monstrosity” popped into my head.

From what i can gather this car was vomitted out by an upholstery specialist company in a style I can only describe as “definitely not mine”.

However, if I had a few grand to spare, hated my neighbours and wanted to seriously punish my daughter when picking her up from school, I would be on this like a shot.

There are quite a few more great finds by CTzens so you should click this hashtag and check them out:

#5kChallenge