In the process of fixing up my car's body and interior work, my brother and I decided that it would be a good idea for me to make some extra money by getting $500-$1000 cars that don't need much engine work and clean, paint and replace some small things on them.

What are some cheap reliable cars or cars that can be profitable?

I'm thinking Civics, Integras, late 80s early 90's (2.3 liter)Mustangs and (v6)Camaros, Probes, and Supras.

How much do you think I could ask for it? (Assuming it has a great paint job, good motor, really clean interior with no scratches or anything, new or spotless carpets and seats, and other little things like that.)

You might be able to add an extra $100 to the price unless you bought a really scruffy car for penuts. Also figure in the amount of time you spend on the cars and then selling them it would make more sense if you got a part time job. Starting a mobile car valeting company would make more money if you can return a car to showroom quality you can charge a fortune. There is a guy in this country who goes around cleaning expensive cars for a couple of days at a time and charges thousands of pounds.

haha

You are going to have to give each one an overhaul to make it profitable enough for it to be your only source of imcome.

Even then its really hard to do it, even if it is done perfectly. The guy that painted my car does this stuff professionally by himself and he usually struggles to make ends meet because of parts cost, profit margins, and lack of customers for high dollar cars that look like they were taken off the showroom floor.

__________________
455FE10422CA29C4933F95052B792AB2

I'm only 15 and can't even get a job at McDonald's; any money is good money and my time isn't valuable at all.

I got the idea because my Mustang was only $650 and it had a newer engine with 10,000 miles on it's rebuild. It needed one hose replaced, new tires, the A/C clutch needs replaced, and it looked like some dumb ass tried to paint it with a paint brush and off-white interior paint. Where I live atleast, some people sell their 2.3 for $1,500-$2,000 in worse condition than mine.

I think if I gave a car a tune up, cleaned it well, and painted it, there shouldn't be any reason I couldn't make decent money off it if I found the right person to sell it to. Someone who is looking for a first car or something cheaper on gas.

I already have a HVLP paint sprayer and a D/A sander. $20 for sand paper, $15 for primer, $60 for paint, $20 for clear coat. The price is not too high really.

I don't know, it seemed to be a good idea to me.

Profitable if you can find a reasonable quality of car for less than your dollar or your in the know with repo yards or auctions.
Free advertising like back packer hostel message boards or local super market bulletin boards (I'm not sure if they're free where you are) we have a T&E which is free to advertise in. Cool for buying as the only ones that seem to sell products in it are those without internet, so they don't compare prices to online.
And I sell online on trademe (kinda like e-bay)
You really need to spend money to make money in this game.
If your doing the work yourself that would save you $$$, but paint will knock you back a shit load, so the less panels in need of paint, the better.
Make sure you take into consideration the price of parts, paint etc.
And as stupid as this sounds your time spent on the vehicle, (give yourself an hourly rate), just so you get a ball park figure of what the vehicle owes you all up.
Theres a market for cheaper cars here and a few low income earners & back packers are after cheap cars.
But thats here and I'd assume the situation would change where you are.
This may help as a basis or scare you off.
Good Luck you'll need it.

Supras? bahaha

Around here, it'd be buying junk mid-80s GMs. Take a $500 Monte Carlo, give it a cheap paint job, big rims, and a shitty [yet boomy] sound system. Just gotta make sure you have a good bill of sale, so it's not your problem when they get it impounded a week later for no insurance/no tag.

No V6 camaro's, i don't know anyone that would by a six popper only to plant a V8 in that engine bay. I really don't like anything that GM makes smaller than an inline 6 i really have not had a good track record with any GM compact car. However back to your question, you would see the highest profit with older jap imports as they have the highest resale value that i have seen for a compact car of those ages.

Volvos dont need much engine work. A bunch of grease and dirt buildup should be all you need to get rid of.