I had a '73 Pontiac, I can't remember the model--same as a Nova, that I bought for $30. It was rusted, the driver's door didn't open, and it had this crappy orange color. It burned oil, the water pump leaked, and once I ran out of gas because the fuel filler neck came off of the gas tank.

The muffler fell off when I was on my way to court, ironically for a loud exhaust ticket (on another car). Going over a speedbump, I flattened the remaining exhaust pipe so it made a hissing noise instead of a loud roar, so I left it that way and didn't replace the muffler.

Once the brakes on the car went out, and I stopped it by driving over a foot-high median. I wrecked all four tires and rims, but it ran fine after I replaced them. (We used to go dumpster diving for the throw away tires from tire stores, so I had plenty of spares.)

I used that car for nearly a year to deliver pizza, and it never let me down. When it finally was leaking too much, I sold it to my friends at the gas station for $30. They took it out in a field behind the station and did some hill jumping until it died.