Philosopher's very cheap cars (8)
I believe the answer is:
socrates
'philosopher's' is the definition.
(Socrates is an example)
'very cheap cars' is the wordplay.
'very' becomes 'so' (both can mean 'extremely').
'cheap cars' becomes 'crates' (crate can mean an old vehicle).
'so'+'crates'='SOCRATES'
(Other definitions for socrates that I've seen before include "sage from Greece" , "Plato's teacher, d. 399 BC" , "Gk. philosopher, took hemlock" , "Wise guy" , "Coarsest sort of Greek philosopher" .)