I’ve told you guys about a little bit about my trip to Africa, but I still have more to update on that. What an amazing trip that was!! (Will post more on that later.)

As I mentioned in my last post about my trip to Connecticut, I shot a cool new video course we have in the works on How To Buy a Used Car.

(Make sure to sign up for my email updates so I can give you the heads up on new posts and when we launch the video course.)

Back to summer…

I headed back home after about two weeks. I admit, I had fun up in CT with my mom and sister, even though I thought it would be horrible! But I was sooo excited to get home and get back in my garage.

On the vehicle front, I have been working on a few things. As I mentioned before, I had a 1994 Ram 1500 dually. The big, noisy, flat black truck. I ended up trading that truck for a little Toyota Tacoma. The Toyota was in really good shape. It had a much better resale value than the Ram which is why I traded for it. I didn’t have to do a ton of things to get the Toyota saleable. The first thing I did was give it a good cleaning. Then I fixed the air conditioning and lowered the ride height of the truck two inches in the rear to give it a nice stance.

The funny thing about this story was that the guy who traded me the Toyota for the big black dually came back the next day and asked me a really weird favor.

He said he needed to borrow the Toyota and “replay” the trade for his girlfriend. He said she would kill him if she knew he bought a truck without her.

So he came over and picked up the Toyota…at this point I had both titles and the dually, so I wasn’t too worried…and he drove up to the local high school to pick up his girlfriend, brought her back to our house, looked over the dually as though he was looking at it for the first time. Got the girlfriend’s approval and made the deal happen. Again.

This is when I quickly got to work on the Toyota, and sold it within a week.

After Toyota was sold, I was on to another really cool new project…

Right before I left for Connecticut, I bought a bright yellow 1975 International Scout. It came on a nice car trailer. I paid $1,500 for the whole thing. The trailer itself is worth at least $1,000, so technically, I paid $500 for the vehicle itself.

It was pretty disassembled when I got it, but I knew I could make some good money on it if I could get it back on the road.

The motor and trans were disconnected and on a stand outside of the truck. The truck was pretty much a rolling chassis.

Since I’ve been back from Connecticut, I’ve bought a bunch of stuff for the Scout and it’s getting close to finished. My friend Quyen has come by many times to help me out which has been a lot of fun. It’s been so hot here this summer that we often work at night when it’s cooler.

I hope to have this done soon, so I can sell it and buy more stuff for the Mustang. I not only want my Mustang done, but my mom and dad won’t let me get my license until I finish it. I totally get where they’re coming from, but I reallllllly want my license so it’s frustrating!

This summer I spent two weeks in Connecticut with my mom and sister. My sister was attending a summer ballet program for six weeks in Middlebury, Connecticut. It was beautiful area, but I’m glad I didn’t have to stay there the full six weeks, or I would’ve gone crazy! Staying at a hotel, far away from my car projects with nothing to fix would have been torture for me! Even two weeks would’ve been tough but we turned it into a new project!

People always ask me to help them buy cars and trucks because of my extensive experience doing it myself. I know lots of things to look for and have a pretty good idea of what it costs to fix things that are not quite right on a car. So my mom and I decided that it would be a great ideas to make a video course and offer it for sale on my website.

Basically it’s a video course. It walks you through the whole process of buying a used car. 

I actually had a lot if fun filming all of the videos with mom. We did quite a few. From inspecting the car to the test drive. Long story short we created a nice series of videos to help someone successfully buy a used car.

To do the videos we had to film me explaining how to look at a car and what to look for to figure out if it might be an OK buy, or if it was a piece of junk.

We also had to film me driving a car around and telling what to look for and listen to while driving. My mom was on the camera and I was both hands on the wheel and talking.

This video course is going to be really cool and help lots of teenagers and their parents buy a quality used car.

We’re still putting the finishing touches on the product, but will have it launched soon! If you’d like to be updated when it’s ready, please sign up for my email updates on this page. I’m really excited to launch these videos!

As you all know I have a passion for cars and working on them. Well this spring I was presented a quite different opportunity than the ones I have been so used to. The opportunity was once in a lifetime. I was invited to go on a real live African Safari!! I’m writing this in South Africa right now! I’ve only been here a few days but man, what an exciting trip it has been thus far. I will be here for about two weeks in totality. This particular safari that I am on is actually a hunting safari. Everything we hunt is donated to the locals for consumption. 

Here are some of my emails to my mom… I’ll update more when I get home.

……

Day 1

We are now in Africa. Getting ready to board our last flight. Happy Mothers Day!

…….

Day 2

Been hunting all morning. We took down a water buck. Having fun! WiFi is sketchy. We are going to be changing lodges at some point in the trip. I don’t think they have WiFi there. I’ll keep ya updated.

…….

Day 4

I just wanted to let you know that all is well and we are having a great time! We just got back from a full day out and about. We were able to track and shoot a black wildebeest as well as a zebra. I am getting tons of pictures.

……….

Day 5

We are out at another ranch for the day to hunt a red wildebeest. They have WiFi here so I thought I’d just let ya know how things are. Just a bit ago I shot a spring buck. First shot at 245 yards. Small animal. Everyone is very nice here and we are all happy and healthy. I tried to send you my blog post the other day but I don’t know if it went through. Miss you guys.

Long story short I got the bike all put together and it looked beautiful. But just a day or so after I got all the plastics on the bike, I was walking it down the driveway and I slipped on some pine needles and the bike fell and slid down the driveway putting scratches al over it. It was a really painful moment for me because I had just put all that work into it to make it look good and then it fell, so that wasn’t fun.

I listed it on craigslist and had many people interested. In the end after many people came and looked at it I ended up trading my bike, for a 1997 honda shadow, a set of rims and 500 bucks. I was pretty happy with the deal. The shadow was in really good shape and had a lot less miles.

The plan for the deal was that the buyer would ride his bike here he would pay me and drop off the rims and bike and then take mine. Only a few of those things actually worked. Right as I was about to give the guy the title, I realized the buyer’s section had already been signed. That’s a big problem because this new guy wouldn’t be able to take ownership. So I told the guy I would get it all fixed and when done he could give me the last $500. He agreed and we went on our way.

HabilisBoy Brings a Bike Back to Life

Of course all throughout my 1965 Mustang build I have to be buying and selling things. The idea has been to buy something, fix it up and then sell it for more than my purchase price and fix up costs. It usually starts when I have a little bit of cash and I go out on Craigslist and start looking at things that I can buy low, fix easily and sell quickly although I rarely find one that hits all three of those.

So the project I recently got into is a 1999 Honda CBR600F4. It is a bright red sport bike. I paid just $750 for it. It was advertised as running. The downside was that it needed all new fairings (the plastic body pieces) as well as some other things like a handle bar. Basically, the backstory of the bike was that the owner was riding along way too fast around a curve in the road and he set the bike down on its side. He broke his leg as well as all of the plastics on the bike, the handle bar and a few other small items. I went to the guy’s house with my driver (my dad) and our 5×10 utility trailer. I looked at the bike and it looked a lot worse then I had expected but I decided that I could still make money with it.

This is difficult because you have to figure out really fast what the expected costs are and what it will look like when you are done with it. With that mental picture you then have to figure what it will sell for in the end. I prepare by looking on Craigslist at similar bikes and get an idea of sale prices for bikes. Then I look on sites to find parts for the things I either know are broke or are items that I might have to replace because of its age or other things. I figured with a cost of $750 that there was some room to buy the parts I needed and sell it for more. I also have to allow for that part or two I ‘forgot’ about and I have to make it worth my time.

So I bought the bike and my dad and I loaded up the bike and went home. We stopped along the way to make a small video. When I got it home I got right to work. I tore the bike all apart. Basically I just tore it down and cleaned every little piece. The reason I did this was to make the bike look fresh. There were lots of little things that I cleaned. Its not like I changed how each piece looked necessarily but when I put it all back together it looked less worn. And that’s basically what you have to do when you flip things, that’s the main point, to make the item look less used and more valuable. Which in the end will make you more money — unless I forgot something. With the money that I make I’ll take some of it and buy something for the Mustang and use the rest for the next, yet unknown project. Now back to the bike.

I ordered a ton of parts for the bike all from ebay. I got an entire fairing kit, from China, of course. If I were to have bought the fairings here at a dealership the whole kit would cost about $2,400. There is little chance I could sell the bike at a price to cover that. I ended up paying just shy of $700. I also bought some new brackets, a handle bar, mirror block off plates and a nice LED smoked tail light. I think the hardest part in putting the bike together was the fitment. I had a lot of trouble getting the pieces to fit together. I think it might have had something to do with the pieces costing $700. Nonetheless I got them all to fit with a lot of filing. I had to buy a ton of new nuts and bolts too to get it to come together. Even then, the extra work was sure worth the savings of $1,700 on parts.

I think my favorite part about this project, as well as all of my other ones, is the riding. I really enjoy testing the stuff out. It makes me feel like I can actually afford something so awesome. And while I can — I mean I do own it and everything — I think of it as a tool to be used to reach my goal with the Mustang. I don’t see why other people can’t do what I do. It’s not like I’m a rocket scientist (not yet at least but people would save so much money if they just did work themselves. Of course, I’m happy to do the work and get the fruits of my labor.

The little atv

So today I got myself a new project. Yeah, I know you’re all saying “really Benjamin! Another project?” Well this really isn’t a long term project. This is just a little Chinese atv that I bought to get running, fix some damage and sell quickly to make a little bit of money which aways helps!

My dad picked me up from my friend Lucke’s house where I had spent the night. My dad and I then drove to the lady’s house who had the atv; I talked to her, paid her, then got the atv in the truck in the matter of three minutes. Dad and I were proud of the pickup speed!

I got it home and I immediately started taking it apart. The first thing you need to do when you buy an atv or dirt bike that has been sitting for a long time and isn’t running is clean the carburetor.

The tools you will need are:

Phillips screwdriver

Flat head screwdriver

Crescent adjustable wrench

Brass brush (or a tooth brush)

You go through the carburetor and clean all the ports.

I did this and put the atv back together and it ran great. I rode it around and realized that the suspension was too bent for it to properly turn, so I took apart the suspension.

The problem was with the front A arms. They were majorly bent. So, I cut them and re-welded them to the proper angle and put it all back together.

Now it was time to have some fun with it!

My friend Thomas and I rode it all over, got stuck in the mud, but had a great time!

Now to get it ready to sell!

I cleaned it up and spray painted the spots were I welded so you would never know it had been in an accident.

I ended up selling the atv to a guy that was buying it for his twin boys for Christmas.  He loved it! He worked me down from my asking price of $400 and paid me $375. I was happy. I put a little work into it and I made $175 and got to have a lot of fun on it.

My Dream Car: 1965 Mustang

1992 gmc Sonoma. I traded a go cart I fixed up for it.

So, I made a decision while sitting in the lobby of my dad’s work one day. I decided that I was going to do a T5 conversion. A T5 conversion is where you convert the transmission from an automatic 3 speed to a manual 5 speed. The reason you do this is mostly for the fun factor of shifting gears. The other reason is for the highway cruise-ability. The T5 transmission allows you to shift up to a higher gear so that you can go faster a lower engine RPM. This saves tons of gas and stress on the motor.

I bought myself a 5 speed transmission out of an ‘85 Fox Body Mustang for $200. With a Hurst shifter. I was super excited!

During this time, I have also gotten the 351W from the truck looking beautiful. I bought the truck which was an 89 f250 just for the engine with the idea of putting it in the mustang. I decided not to because the engine was just too big for that little engine bay of the Mustang and I would have to make to many modifications to make it worth it.

I got the intake and water pump all sand blasted and painted silver. I painted the Edelbrock logo red so it will look snazzy! I also painted the rest of the engine black and put it all together and it looks amazing!

351w out of the 89 f250

I put the engine in the car a few times but I decided that the motor is just physically to big for the little engine bay of the Mustang. I ended up selling the engine for $1000 with the transmission that came with the truck. I was looking on craigslist.org and I decided that it would be cheeper to buy a complete Mustang and remove the engine and transmission and everything else that I would need for the swap. I found a ton of candidates but one stood out from the rest. It was an 1986 Mustang with a T5 transmission and a 347 stroker tgat was carburated and had lots of go fast parts. It was only $3500! I called the guy and talked him down to $2800 which I was really happy about. He even agreed to drive it all the why to my house from Mims FL.

1986 mustang

Over the past year I have had to buy and sell a bunch of stuff to keep my 65 Mustang project rolling. I’m going to try to list what I have bought, fixed and sold over the years as well as I can, to summarize how I got to where I am today.

Looking Back

It all started a few years ago when I got an old riding mower from my uncle that someone had left at his house. I was so excited. My dad and I picked it up early one morning and we learned that you should always make sure the seat is attached before you start driving at high speeds. We learned that as we were on our way home when the seat flew off the trailer and almost hit another car. We got it home and I immediately started working on it. I had no idea what I was doing. I bought a new battery and hooked it up backwards, that’s how little I knew. After not being able to get it to start I gave up and put it at the street for $50. I’m pretty sure that if someone came by and bought that mower I wouldn’t be doing what I am today.

The turning point was when my neighbor Mr. Lorenzo came over and offered to help me get the mower running. My brother helped me push it down Mr. Lorenzo’s driveway to his house where we started working on it.

1986 mustang engine removal

I learned so much in the time that Mr. Lorenzo was helping me. He taught me how to clean a carburetor and how and engine works. After some long nights we got the mower running. It was the best feeling I had ever felt. I was so excited. I painted the mower and then I put it at the street once more. I put it on eBay and craigslist and I sold it! I was so excited when my dad and I delivered the mower to the guy in Howey-in-the-Hills FL. I was pretty nervous too. Thankfully the guy who bought the mower was really nice. He bought it and I got the money and I felt great. I was so excited. We drove around the block then headed home past the guy’s house who bought the mower and we saw him on that mower mowing away. It was a pretty awesome day for me. I took the money from this and actually bought my first lawn mower. It was an MTD Yard Machines mower that I bought for $60 that I saw in the paper.

This is what happens when I start a project.

My dad and I drove down to Orlando one night and picked it up. It looked a lot beter then I thought. It was just after Christmas becasue I remember having the mower on the trailer and as we were driving home we were picking up Christmas trees that people had thrown out. When we got home we stood up all the trees in our front yard like a big forest. It was pretty neat. My dad does weird things like that. My mom thought it was cute until the trees started to rot weeks later and screamed for us to get rid of them . . .

Anyway, I remember working on the mower and it smelling like Christmas trees the whole time I had it. I eventually got that running and then I sold that. I took some of that money and bought another one!  I did that 4 more times. What was really funny was that one day I was on craigslist (like normal) and I saw the first lawn mower that I had ever sold. For sale again for only $100 bucks not running. I contacted the dude and he said that he eventually got a lawn service and let the mower sit for a while. I had to buy it!

In a very short time I was able to get the mower running again due to the fact that I had already worked on it before. I sold that mower once again for a little profit. At this point I had leaned quite a bit about engines and cars just from the internet so I took some of the money that I made from the mowers and bought a 1977 vw beetle that had been converted into a truck. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. You can read about that in my older blog posts.

While I was in New York City I found a good parts car for my vw build. I was pretty unexciting in New York for me because I couldn’t work on anything at all so I did a lot of research on Volkswagens and I found tons of parts that I would need. I ended up buying that other VW and used it for parts.

This is my 1996 camaro

During the fixing of the vw I relized that I was quickly low on cash. I decided to step up my selling to the next level buy buying a 1996 camaro. The Camaro was pretty cool.  It was red it had T-tops 5 speed manual transmission a v6 and it was cheap. Really really cheep. I only paid $600 for it. It had some paint fading and the transmission was shot. I painted the front and rear bumper I took a transmission as well as a set of wheels and other parts and a flow master exhust off of a red necks camaro that he was parting out. I got the transmission installed at the local auto shop because I had never done it and I didnt want to mess it up. I got the car all fixed and had some fun driving it and doing doughnuts and burn outs and stuff. I made it look really nice and put it up for sale. I ended up selling it for about $2000. I took that money and bought my 65 mustang that I have today.

Here is the yamaha blaster.

Fixing the 1994 seadoo

All during this time of working on these larger projects I had also been buying and selling many dirtbikes, atvs, go carts and what not. I have sold three honda 100cc dirt bikes. One yamaha ttr 90, two eton 90cc atvs, a couple of 110cc Chinese atvs, three mini bikes, a go cart, a yamaha blaster and I am currently working on three jet skis and a Honda cbr 600 f4 sport bike. So I have been very busy these past few years

Stay tuned this week for some great videos, posts and pictures. Habilis Boy is coming your way!

At the time I was in the process of flipping a 1996 Chevy Camaro. I was able to sell the Camaro for $1900 which was the exact amount for the Mustang I found.

I had been searching Mustangs on Craigslist for a couple months. Every time I thought I found one, something would fall through. Either the car would sell before I had the money or the car wouldn’t be anything like described in the ad.

I finally found what seemed to be the perfect car; a 1965 Mustang 302ci V8.

The car was in Kissimmee, FL, about an hour away from us.

My sister Margo and I drove to see the car one day after my cello lesson since we were already down in Orlando. The car was in Kissimmee so we were half way there. It looked a little rough but I could see potential. It wasn’t running so I needed to do a lot of work to get it going. But I was really excited! I knew I could work with this car and the price seemed fair.

My next step was to buy it and figure out how I would get it home.

When he arrived he was with his dad and his sister. They were from Cuba so it was kind of hard to understand them. They looked at the car and I told them about it. Eventually they were ready for the test ride. I hoped in the driver’s seat and turned the key and nothing happened! Unfortunately the battery was dead so I had to jump it. Eventually I got it started and off we went.

He had told me that he was looking for a fast car that was cheap because he used to race motorcycles and likes to go fast. I started out driving nice and easy and then I really opened her up and boy did that thing go! I was surprised at how much power came out of that V6!

I quickly ran out of road so I turned around and made my way back. When we got out of the car he had the biggest smile on his face.  At that point I knew that I was about to sell my car. He never actually said, “I’ll take it!” Then he just started taking out the money!

I was so happy!

After I got paid I had to make a bill of sale because I had forgotten to bring one. I was so happy when they all got in they got in the car to drive off until the car wouldn’t start!

I was really worried that they would want their money back. I hooked up the jumper cables and boom it started! I was relieved but my relief was short lived when he started to drive and he stalled it because he was unfamiliar with driving a stick. So again I had to jump it. The car started and as he started to pull away he dumped the clutch and it stalled again!

At that point I started to get frustrated. I jumped it again and it started, but this time the new owner let his father drive.

As his father started to pull out he stalled it!

Once again out came the jumper cables.

For sure this has got to be the last time I thought, but I was wrong.

Again he stalled the Camaro.

At this point I was starting to worry that there was something wrong with the car. I decided to jump into the car and see if I could get it going. Sure enough it got going with no problem. I was relieved from thinking that their wasn’t something wrong with the car.

Once more out came the cables. This time I told the guy how to start out so that he wouldn’t stall. I got the car started and hoped to see the car drive away and it finally did!

I was so happy to finally see it go. We circled the block to make sure that they got on to the highway ok and then we followed them down the highway for a little while until we had to turn to go home.

This was my one of my favorite days of this project! I am sad to see it go, but the money earned from it will allow me to start up my new project. A 1965 Ford Mustang!