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$3,500 Ferrari: Basketcase Mondial

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A few weeks ago, Jesse asked if cheap Ferraris really do exist. Based on how many times the car in his write-up has been re-listed – despite selling at “no reserve” – the seller doesn’t seem to think so. Well, if $3,500 meets your definition of cheap, there’s a 1982 Ferrari Mondial here on craigslist with your name on it. It will need everything, but at least it’s not red like all of those other basketcase examples. 

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There’s no interior and no drivetrain, and certainly no time for tire-kickers based on the seller’s description. To me, this run on burned-out and broken Ferraris appearing online as of late is a classic case of the rich discarding of their table scraps and some low-level mechanic thinking he’s sitting on a gold mine. Sorry, fellas – the people with the money to buy these things new simply disposed of what they knew to be a worthless pile of junk metal with a fancy badge.

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With the wide availability of kit cars from Factory Five and others, why would you bother with the shell of a Ferrari – and a Mondial, no less? It will never be worth more than what you have to put into it, and $30K will buy you a decent one. Unless you are one heck of a shadetree mechanic with a garage full of every tool and part you’ll ever need, I fail to see how you’ll bring this one back for a number significantly less than the cost of buying a running, driving example.

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Let’s face a fact we all know well: the real money is in discovering an intact car that has been laid up for years and getting a deal, either because the seller doesn’t know its value or because you’re in a position to barter for a better price than everyone else. Given how the broken Ferraris that have languished in a warehouse for years continue to languish on craigslist and eBay, this is akin to chasing fool’s gold.

Comments

  1. Avatar Dolphin Member

    Mondials are 4-seaters and are at the bottom of the Ferrari food chain, or maybe a bit below. The bad joke among Ferrari dealers is that Mondials are sale-proof.

    This is a parts car, nothing more. Someone would need to be completely unaware of Ferraris and the Ferrari market to buy it to fix up. But it probably has at least $3500 worth of body panels and parts, so a body shop that specializes in fixing crashed exotics could probably make it work for them.

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  2. Avatar Charles

    Having rebuilt a couple of common production cars from shells, I can’t imagine how the aggravation and expense of trying to rebuild something exotic like this will yield a nice car, and not far exceed the costs of finding a nice example to start with. With a mass produced vehicle, one has wrecking yards, E-bay, and aftermarket support for many parts. Where would one start with something like this? I don’t have experience with these cars, so others may have different opinions. I agree with Dolphin, that this car is a parts car at this point.

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  3. Avatar Cool Cadillac Cat

    This one appears to be even fire sale-proof.

    It’s a Ferrari, I’m not convinced it hasn’t caught fire at some point.

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  4. Avatar St. Ramone de V8

    Well said, Jeff. Chasing fool’s gold. I’ll bet he finds a fool, though.

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  5. Avatar Mike

    Why would you want to waste your money on anything like this??????
    I got a bridge for sale in New York!!!!!!!

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  6. Avatar Gary I

    Maybe someone with a little creativity could make some cool garage furniture out of it.

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  7. Avatar grant

    It isn’t completely useless. If someone is going to do one of those (imho) stupid car/4×4 hybrids why not this one. Anyone remember the old CarToons magazine? I can see this as a Trosley drawing. Someone build it.

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  8. Avatar HeadMaster1

    I’d go $1,000 and hang it on my wall as an art piece. As a car it’s just not worth it. It looks to have been hit at the left A-pillar, aside from being stripped so it’s a parts car at the very best……

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  9. Avatar Steve B

    Has there been a Ferrari in LeMons yet?

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  10. Avatar Brakeservo

    Doggone, I’m sure surprised that the boys of ol’ Beverly Hills Hair Club haven’t snapped this one up yet . . . they’d certainly describe it as ‘mechanically sound’ but then explain to the hapless buyer that they meant that if you bang it, it will certainly ring with a mechanical sound.

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  11. Avatar MikeH

    I have to take issue with the “at least it’s not red” comment. The only real Ferraris are the red ones. The rest are faux Ferraris.

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  12. Avatar Keith

    I’m always curious when I see something like this what the seller’s story is and how he came into possession of this pile ‘o and what his plans were and what he was thinking.

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  13. Avatar Jubjub

    This used to be a parts car. The money’s already been made.

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