Teen trades cellphone for Porsche

An American teen has earned the nickname “jack of all trades” when he used the online classified ad Web site Craigslist to trade in an old cellphone and ending up with his dream car.

When 17-year old Steve Ortiz received an old cellphone from a friend two years ago, he decided to use the “barter” section of Craigslist to trade it for a better phone. When he managed to accomplish that, he traded the second phone for an iPod Touch, which he eventually swapped for a dirt bike.

Ortiz continued using Craigslist to trade up on the dirt bike ladder. Eventually, he swapped a dirt bike for a Macbook Pro, which he then swapped for his first car: a Toyota 4Runner. Since he was only 15 years old at the time and therefore too young to legally drive, he went back on Craigslist and swapped the 4Runner for a custom-made, off-road golf cart.

He swapped the golf cart for a much more expensive dirt bike, which he swapped for a street bike, which he traded in for a car again. After several cars, he ended up with a 1975 Ford Bronco. By this time he was old enough to drive, so he actually kept the Bronco for a while.

But Ortiz wanted a Porsche, so he went back to the Web site. Two years and fourteen online swaps later, after spending hours per day on his iPhone scouring the web for good deals, he finally traded the Bronco for his dream car, a 2000 Porsche Boxter S.

…more