Quit being a cheapskate and buy her a new escalade already, do you want her to be safe or do you want to be a shitty parent? My dad and I built my first car, I bought the pieces and helped dad put them together. It was a 88 gmc s15 with manual everything. It cost $250 for the cab and the drive train, $80 for a straight frame from the scrap yard, and we built it in the spring.