UPDATE – In what could be the single largest price drop we’ve ever seen on an unrealistically priced car, this Fairmont EV went from a million-dollar asking price down to a now realistic asking price of $5,000! It’s definitely an interesting vehicle with some potentially cool history, but we will see if anyone bites now that the asking price is now at least close to the ballpark. Thanks to Scotty for pointing out the price drop!
FROM 5/10/2019 – After featuring this Fairmont, the owner decided to lower the price to a somewhat more reasonable $50,000…
FROM 4/24/19 – A 24-year-old gentleman in Wisconsin just won a $768-million Powerball jackpot. His lump-sum payout is $477-million before taxes, so maybe $300ish-million after taxes? That’s more than enough to plunk down $1,000,000 for this 1980 Ford Fairmont EV. No lie, that’s what the seller is asking for this car. It can be found here on craigslist in Puyallup, Washington and no, you can’t drive it home, at least without raking it off first and bringing 18 6-volt batteries with you. Thanks to Ikey H. for submitting this find!
Ok, here it is all cleaned up and partially sinking into the soft earth whence it came. I’m a wicked huge fan of 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s electric cars, or battery-powered cars. None of them are really “electric” although they’re mostly charged from electricity which can come from several sources. We get most of ours from solar so the “You’re burning coal to power your tree-hugging EV!” argument doesn’t fly with me at all. But, I can see their point, those who hate any technology that varies from burning gas and/or oil.
The Ford Fairmont EV was similar to other 1980s conversions made by companies who were trying to think outside the gas-burning box. Jet Industries in Austin, Texas made Subarus, Ford Escorts – we’ve seen a few here on Barn Finds – and other vehicles into EVs and a company called Electric Vehicle Associates (EVA) made Ford Fairmonts into EVs. There were wagons, two-door sedans, and four-door sedans such as this car.
The seller added a YouTube video showing this car and you have to see it to believe it. You’ll see the extra dozen six-volt batteries hidden in the trunk in the video and maybe other things that you wish that you wouldn’t have seen. I’m beginning to get the idea that he’s kidding on the price, says Cap’n Obvious.
The seller not only has a million-dollar car on his hands, he’s also making money just showing it to people! He’s charging $500 just to look at it. No, really. He says that it cuts down on the tire-kickers and he’s getting so many calls on it so don’t call him unless you’re serious and you have five $100 bills to throw down for a peek. He gives a few reasons for owning this car: A) You want a piece of history. B) You can donate it to a museum. C) You can buy it for your own museum. D) You can buy it and resell it to an electric company for more than you bought it for! I would think that any of those are good reasons and D would be a possibility but maybe at 1/1000th of the current asking price.
As our own Jamie Palmer – one of the nicest guys of all time throughout history – knows, I like these unusual EV conversions. He’s been storing a 1988 Subaru DL EV that I bought on eBay almost three years ago and he’s had it clogging up his shop ever since. Jamie, please send me a storage bill! I would prefer the Fairmont wagon EV if I were thinking about getting a Ford Fairmont EV conversion, and I’m not Jamie, but there are a couple of them floating around on the ol’ interweb. The standard, utilitarian Fairmont interior in this car looks incredibly dirty and there are some cracks on the dash, but maybe it’ll end up being restored? Having standing water on the floor in the back seat area is never good. I may have spent a couple of hours cleaning the heck out of this car inside and out before taking photos, but what do I know about selling million-dollar-cars.
Here’s where the magic happens, or where it happened 39 years ago. The seller says that it’ll need $3,000 worth of batteries which may be on the high side, actually. Unless this car had 50% more range than most other conversions did, which I highly doubt, I would guess that $2,000 would replace the batteries in this car. There should be 18 batteries as with most of these conversions, and at around $110 each, that’s only $2,000 rather than $3,000. However much the batteries cost and the whatever the restoration cost for the rest of the car would be, what’s your best offer on this rare 1980 Ford Fairmont EV? I’m guessing that it’s a bit less than $1,000,000?
Let me be the first to say…this is not April 1st. We all know that sometimes when one spills beer on the keyboard that some of the tabs stick. I’m sure the seller wanted to ask only one hundred dollarssssssssssssssssssssssss no I’m not drinkin’ and typin’ againnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
The million dollar ask is not the most surprising thing about this car. The fact that it is a Craig’s List ad and the seller actually cleaned it up.
“These cars never come up for sale”..
Has anybody been searching for one?
The craigslist ad states “ These cars never come up for sale”…
Had anybody been searching for one?
Scotty, I’m not sure where you live but I live in Arizona and you would think that this would be an ideal place for solar power. Most of our electricity that comes is from nuclear power plants. I am not a fan of electric cars, I do prefer older cars by far but in all honesty, if I were to grit my teeth and have to deal with owning an electric car this is one of the extremely rare occasions that my thinking would be the new the better.
Ha, you’re probably right, David! These old EVs leave a lot to be desired for everyday driving, I just like how unusual they are. For my $1,000,000 I’m buying 526 shares of Amazon.
The asking price is a tad high. If he removes the six zeros, the seller might have an easier time finding a buyer.
Wouldn’t buy it for $100.00
One not so nice Fairmont!
I owned a 1983 Fairmont,wonder if this one has more prep than the gasoline version? To quote P.T.Barnum:” there’s a sucker born every minute”.
I can’t believe you guys have to pay tax on lottery winnings, in Australia all winnings on anything, lotteries, game shows, raffles at the pub, etc. even when the prize is a house, boat, car, etc. are tax free. You win $768,000,000 you keep the lot, the tax man takes nothing.
Sorry off topic but had to comment.
As in Canada – – – eh !
That’s because Australia doesn’t have a “military industrial complex”, an unsatiateable omnivorous beast.
@TC Oztralia: But you guys don’t have a 2nd Amendment, that’s why you had to turn in 95% of your guns… I’ll just pay the tax.. wait, I never win anyway so don’t have to pay anything…
@MB They don’t need a second amendment.
In the USA, low-income people pay no Federal income tax at all. That’s about 45–50 percent of recent USA tax filers. Somebody has to pay the bills, why not the lotto winners? :-)
Yes, I was surprised when I won $1800 AUD on a pokie in a neighborhood ‘casino’ in Melb., and there were no taxes taken out. Certainly different here.
This checks all the boxes on what I hate. A. A Ford Fairmont. It was our driver’s ed car with a 90hp 6 banger. Total junk.
B. It has the baby puke tan interior I hate, and C. It looks like it’s been crapped on by a tree for a few ears. AND D. How good is the electric motor and electronics?
It was bought for $5000 back when it was running in the 90s. He should definitely keep it. With that rate of appreciation, can’t go wrong by holding onto it for another 10 or 20 years.
We had a propane powered Fairmont come in to junkyard I worked at in the mid 1980s . We crushed it without a thought – If this came in to a junkyard today they would do the same thing. A very ugly car design with some old technology that wasn’t that great then and not worth putting money into now.
That 24 year old is no gentleman. He has my money! The woman who sold me my ticket promised me with great sincerity in her eyes that mine was the only winning ticket. Gosh, without my rightful winnings how am I ever going to full fill my dream of turning original hemicudas into slant sixes? I am so depressed, man, that is two bucks I will never see again. Anyone know a good lawyer or other shady types?
Dewy, Cheatum, and Howe,,,
Dewey, Cheatum, Robb, Steele, Rapp, Mame and Howe.
Suem and Screwem?
I didn’t bother to look it up, because I am lazy…. But my father in law has some old beat up elec-trak lawn tractors from this era and he mentioned they used 6 volt deep cycle batteries. I assume this would be the same. Maybe that accounts for the difference in price.
A $500 fee to look at this junked car?
I’m sure his neighbors would shell that out just to NOT look at it.
You know why this car was left sitting in the back yard for all those years ? The batteries crapped out , they found out it cost more money to replace them then it would cost to buy a cheap running used car, and nobody else wanted it – and they still don’t !
I think our man is in for a rude awakening…? Maybe he thinks if he asks for a ridiculous amount he’ll drive the final price up a bit more than the few or 10? Thousand that it’s worth!
Lunatics like this fellow never have have a rude awakening. Once they realise that the statues at the courthouse don’t like them, nothing phases them again. Don’t tell him but the horse in the statue hates him as well.
I bet he is inundated constantly with trespassers wanting a peek at the holy grail. The custom lettering on the door is what makes this classic an eye catcher. The beige paint job and no frills hubcaps give this the look of a detective car.
Fairmonts. Nothing amazing to look at, but they were dependable. With the gas burning straight 6. An electric car owned by an eccentric. He can keep it.
This guy wants to inundated.
Seems reasonable.
I clicked on this link just to read the comments. I was not disappointed.
LOL Me too!
When I saw the listing I thought… Comments! There were 81, and I knew it’d be a fun read.
All I can say is Hahahaha
Dr. Evil will sell it for …. “One mmmmillion dollars”
That’s not right Dr. Evil. You want to sell it for ONE hundred dollars.Oh no sharks with laser beams.
Are we really out of our minds – here??????
Fairmont’s weren’t worth $1 new be they gas, electric, propane, or gerbil powered (the gerbil’s were the most reliable power plant).
I’m a Ford guy but wouldn’t take this if given to me.
I’d rather have my 93 Accord with 194K and runs perfectly
Doesn’t a car that’s listed as a barn find technically have to have been in a barn?
If the fairmont is worth a million. One could only image what the the electric AMC pacer is worth.
Put down the crackpipe buddy. All im going to say here.
not even with Tesla running gear! this thing is a big golf cart!
Elephant dung doesn’t come up for sale very often either. There’s a reason why.
$500 just to look at it?
I will take the Elephant dung
It would polish up a lot better
off topic ; i’m 74fxesuperglide batteries lately only last 3yrs now adays. keep the rubber to the ground!
There’s a lot of meth labs in Pooyloop… :-o
I think the whole thing is absurd including the price. There’s nothing monumental about the car, there’s maybe a bit of the unique, but other than that it’s worth $1000.00. Frankly, I don’t see the point in owning it. A very long time ago I owned a 1980 Fairmont Futura, I think it was called, with a V-8, and it was quick and enjoyable to drive. And I like the square design. Other than that, no sale.
The guy is delusional. There is no way that car is worth 1 million dollars. That car is a boat anchor and it needs to be destroyed.
“But honey, I TRIED to sell it!”
All I can say is this owner must be heavily medicated!!!! What a joke!!!!!
POS fairmont!!!!
SBC conversion for the win
No. 351 Cleveland for the win.
There’s a lot more interesting and more valuable stuff to look at a the museum of natural history or the Smithsonian institute and they don’t cost $500!!!
What a joke!!!
Electric cars, The Scam of the Century.
Need several wrecked Teslas? Coparts in Los Angeles on Alameda St. has some. Was there last Week.
Buy all of them for less than 20% of that thingy.
Yada yada yadda. So many reasons for not thinking about Electricution cars.
Can I plug the cord in the ground or a tree?
How about a tall poll on top of car to attract a lightning bolt for a quick charge? Feasible?
Lets see, just had 2 batteries die after 2 1/2 years. Good thing I carried 2 extra ones because I so trust them.
So, power goes out, and charging station uses a fuel type back up generator. Huuuuummmmmmm
Maybe if you talked him down about $999,650.00 that would leave you enough for a replacement dash pad (same as Mustang ’79-’86) and some custom made sub-frame connectors. (would be the same as Fox body Mustang only 5.5″ longer) That would make the purchase price about $250. Which seems a bit more fair to me. (the new batteries are a given regardless of the price)
My 02 Civic has 94.4% fewer batteries so at his 1 million dollar valuation I figure my Civic is worth a cool 55 grand. Any takers?
Weed is legal in Washington. Looks like the owner enjoys copious amount of high-content THC edibles and smokables
$500 to look at the car? The car itself is not worth $500!
Mrvans did post in;
“$500 to look at the car? The car itself is not worth $500!” My vote for best comment on this example of e-junk!!
why a Fairmont?. why not a Yugo.
or a LADA
or a Pinto
Mulch everything, put in the ground.
Wella, coal. Use to supply energy to charge more electric cars.
I love solving problems.
The price on this car is just shocking!
There’s no way in hell he’ll get that price
for this car. If it’s that rare, he should try
selling it to the Henry Ford Museum.
Maybe they’ll buy it for posterity. As a
fan of electric cars, I could build an
electric Fairmont myself at a fraction of
his price–provided you still can find a
Fairmont with nice enough bones to
use as a starting point.
I believe the ad is just a joke listing. The only thing missing is Bugs Bunny and/or Foghorn Leghorn.
I am sure the asking price is in Venezuelan money. About $2.13 American.
The car was a pile of junk when it was brand new with only a gas engine, I seriously doubt if electric suddenly made it BETTER! I would bet its that much of a bigger pile of junk now! you would have to pay me to haul it to the crusher, seller could not even give it to me thats how much I dislike it!!
In the first pic it’s unclear whether it sprouted from the compost pile or is being buried there. I vote for returning it to earth.
This guy knows nothing about electric cars. BTW the lead-acid battery wouldn’t even be considered. Try Lithium-Ion Ceramic Battery….. but he probably couldn’t even spell it.
Keep it. I’ll have a Tesla instead.
Holy crack pipe, Batman. I would crush this turd in a heartbeat. After removing the batteries which are worth more in scrap than the car. I`ve got 4 Electric Citi cars 2 of which have new batteries. I would take 5000 for one but after seeing this???
The way his speech was slurred in the video if he wasn’t lit I’d hate to hear him when he is!
This guy is beyond eccentric and ignorant. Is that a bad toupee?
It was worth the 5 minutes of my life to see him throw the mummified rat BACK INTO the car! And then to hear him say…fir needles😂 priceless!
In my best Dr. Evil impersonation, with pinky extended to the corner of my mouth:
“Did I stutter? No, I said ONE MILLLLLIIOON DOLLLAARRS!!”
I’ll admit my mind went to the worst place possible when I wondered what was that pile of “stuff” on the hood.
When deciding on a price, he must’ve been watching Austin Powers for inspiration.
The guy was just funning’ ya. If you watch the video, he’s pretty funny. Love the Grass truck !
Yep, they be smokin” stuff in Washington
What a horses ass this guy is. This man is the living truth that there are more horses asses than horses. I will pay him $500 to view the car right after I teach my butt how to chew gum. I am thinking seriously of invoicing him for my critique of his sales video. What??? He can afford it. He is selling a car that Elon Musk was conceived in. That has got be worth $5,000,000. Hiding this car under a huge pile of cow patties is a clever move.
Once you teach your butt to chew gum, blowing the bubble should be easy.
I just realized that Fatty Arbuckle great-grandson failed to mention. Does it run?
If not that will definitely lead to a steep discount of around $1.025 million so he will be paying someone to take the car. I hope someone sprays weed killer all over his truck. Only a horses ass would create a situation that forces you to mow your truck.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA(Taking a breath)HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA(Wiping the tears out of my eyes) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! Someone give me some Oxygen!!!!
I had a 78 Fairmont,i put a 460 engine in and then drove as a 3 season daily driver for 12 years but I am sure the 460 was a lot more fun than electric
I bet the acceleration was shocking.
“Honey, I tried to sell it, but no one’s interested”
Fairmonts are plentiful in Mexico of all body styles, well most.
If I rip out the engines and put in dead batteries, can I ask a million for each?
Of course you can Miguel, this is America where anything is possible!
MB
Yeah but we also don’t have kids taking their parents guns to school and blowing 10 or 20 of their friends away either, ownership of a handgun and most other guns is strictly regulated and we tend to like it that way.
I think the guy is pretty smart. If he charges $500 to view the car, save the money, then build a garage to store it in. Sounds good to me. I have an unrestored 1969 Trans Am that I could charge $500 to view so I can build a new shop. Now, let see…Wood frame, Metal frame and metal siding, concrete block…? decisions, decisions…Might as well make it a big shop to store all my barn finds in.
Salvage value on the batteries is about $6.50 per battery. That equals about $117.00 plus scrap value on the car of $65.00. Could bring the total (you would have to remove the batteries your self) So realistically (nothing real about any of this) you could have a total “value package” of $182.00 minus expenses.
No thanks.
21 batteries and a 240 plug seem too 80s ish 4 me,
I want the 1880s 1 he mentioned…
(again, the most outlandish get the most posts, shoot….score!)
Listing update: the seller now has it advertised for $50,000!
Hahahaha! How low can you go?
And that’s still about $47,500 too much!!
$49,750 too much.
I’m glad I didn’t pull the trigger on this when he was asking $1 million. Dodged a bullet there!
Well, it’s a start. Gonna have to come down a whole lot more before I’d even be
interested. I’d rather buy the Henney Kilowatt Scotty showed us last week. At
least I’d have something my stepdad actually helped design and build. He
supervise the installation of the electric motors made at the Eureka Williams
plant in 1960. Right now, I think I’ll start off with an E-trike instead.
This guy wants fiddy large for this pile of crap, and he’s not willing to throw in two grand worth of batteries? Is the $500 view charge applied to the purchase, or is that extra?
We’ve got some groovy weed here in the Evergreen State, but this dood is most likely partaking of more powerful substances that remain illegal.
Most comments I’ve ever seen..and on this?
I think he was just in the middle of burying it….. he should have finished the job !
What a FANTASTIC INVESTMENT a million dollar vehicle for 50k, how could you go wrong?
Ah, it was built in Austin – it has a history! Having lived in Austin and knowing the city council there – they will buy anything with your tax dollars. We needed a new airport – bought land which would not support the weight of the airport. “Needed” a wood pulp waste-to-energy power plant to make money on carbon credits! Built the plant – which has never generated a single KW and costs millions each year to keep. Spent millions on promotion of a light rail system that the voters continue to reject. Spent money on promotion of a monorail system that voters rejected. Bag bans. Affordable housing initiatives.
Yes, the owner should put this on a transport and sell it to the Austin city council!
A California city in Texas.
Would pay $5 just for the motor. Junk the rest. And the only thing it has in common with a Tesla is 4 wheels and electric powered.
Sorry…still a joke
Still too many zeros.
Yeah……it’s all fun and games until the wife goes into the mall and leaves the lights on…….try asking a fellow shopper if they have a set of jumper cables……
I’d say you need a pretty beefy suspension upgrade with the weight of them batteries.
This really isn’t about selling the car – this is about the owner making a name for himself on social media (and he unfortunately thinks he’s funny and amusing). The car really isn’t for sale – as no one will pay $500.00 to look at it and certainly not give him $5000.00 for the car. It’s all a ploy to give this desperate man some attention he sorely craves and a platform for his “humorous rant” hence the million dollar asking price. Once we look a way in disinterest he will go away…..
It’s just a Ford Fairmont! There are so many other much better cars out there! I don’t care if it’s electric! Who cares? $500 would be a fair price for this.
A ‘realistic’ price would have one or two fewer zeros.
Price a tad high? So is the seller! Who on earth would want it? Elon musk? 500 a trip to see it. So he can buy more weed! Maybe he is giving lsd to everyone who comes see it puts in the grateful dead 8 track and let the good times roll.
Take it to a carnival, and charge 25 cents a whack.
Clearly not a numbers matching car. I suspect that the original motor is long gone. Still, the extra weight in the rear may provide some extra traction on snowy days. I can’t see an A/C compressor so this may well be a car for snowy days. I’m also concerned that brake life may be shortened by the extra traction devices.
Overall, of all of the Ford Fairmonts I’ve ever seen, this is certainly one of them.
I’ll leave it for the more electrically inclined to bid on.
“Overall, of all of the Ford Fairmonts I’ve ever seen, this is certainly one of them.”
A wonderful and very truthful statement if I’ve ever read one, and I certainly read this one!
Haha, you fell for it. The seller merely got everyone worked up about the price being 1 million, so that Scotty would think that $5000 was ‘at least close to the ballpark’. This is a giant piece of junk and the dude in the blue shirt is an idiot.
Crusher bait .
I think the seller is just a lonely guy. It’s not hard to see why.
I hear that the crusher is near the
ballpark.
Had a 79 Fairmont back in the day, actually it was a great, reliable car that we ran all over the country with. Besides brakes, the only thing I ever did to it was replace the water pump, a $19 item back when. Ours was the Futura version, much sportier looking than this one and had the 302 V8!
Hey that price is reasonable, if a certain well known druggie can get half a mil for his chicken scratch art, why not?
Dig a big hole, and bury this turd…of course remove the batteries to be recycled, lol!!
I’m curious as to how often the grass is cut on his truck. Astroturf would save him some time doing lawn maintenance one would think. And what is really missing is a pink flamingo yard ornament.
I think he is still at 10X the real value.
Not sure of the scrap worth of the batteries, so maybe a little more?