Disclosure: This site may receive compensation when you click on some links and make purchases.

Wrecked Supercar At Insurance Auction!

2005 Saleen S7

The other day we featured a story about a D-Type replica that one of our readers scored for cheap on Copart. Well, this find may not be as affordable, but when was the last time you saw a Saleen S7 at an insurance auction? All the carbon fiber on this American Supercar must have made the repairs less than financially feasible so it is being auctioned off instead. That means it probably won’t be financially feasible for the next owner either, but it sure is fun to dream! Find it here on Copart where bidding is set at about a quarter of what these normally sell for (without crash damage of course). Thanks goes to Cory T for the tip!

Comments

  1. Avatar Joe

    Nice car. Low milage–Strange “collision” damage. Looks like it may have hit something, bottomed out, hit curb, and spun out through a bunch of bushes or saplings maybe in a different order. Damage is 360 degrees around the body, yet side view mirrors still connected? Odd.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Richard Prokopchuk

      To me looks like a victim of vandalism….like a scorned wife …er ex wife, getting even for his indiscretions.

      Like 0
  2. Avatar Chris

    Check out the repair estimate – $365k. I would not know where to begin….

    Like 0
    • Avatar skloon

      Those figures tend to be the black book value

      Like 0
  3. Avatar 64 bonneville

    bidding is already at $152,000. way to rich for my blood, but sure would like to have the drivetrain out of it.

    Like 0
  4. Avatar Healeydays

    I love the fine print. This has a crashedtoy premium fee attached to it which equals 10% of the selling price as an extra payable to Copart.
    http://media.copart.com/c2cms/C2-Website/C2-Member/Member-Fees/PremierFees.pdf

    Like 0
    • Avatar skloon

      yep plus the towing fees to get it out of their lot

      Like 0
      • Avatar Toast54

        Gate fee…whiskey tango foxtrot?!?

        Like 0
  5. Avatar Don Holt

    kind of funny if it was old and banged up and rusty PEOPLE ON HEAR WOULD say make it safe to drive and live the body the way it is .PLEASE DONT KICK ME OUT OF THE GANG I do like this sight and to be able to joke a little bit

    Like 0
    • Avatar ydnar

      You are comparing apples to oranges. Bid is over 100K, there was only one other that was this expensive, and we all jumped on it hard. Can you guess which “car” I am referencing? This car is so far and above anything else listed here, that there is no comparison, and it is worth the money.

      I would fix it with fiberglass or resin, but the price is already way out of my league. I imagine the bidders already have one, and this will be for spare parts.

      Like 0
  6. Avatar mtshootist1

    nothin’ a little silver duct tape wouldn’t fix. but I think I would use camo duct tape just to be different..

    Like 0
    • Avatar Don Holt

      I don’t no I think some supper glue and cardbored would be better

      Like 0
  7. Avatar Gary

    Expensive and exclusive. ..but not an F40

    Like 0
  8. Avatar Nessy

    I bought some salvage cars from both Copart and IAA auctions. Believe me, anything that is really a good deal is already spoken for. After 2+ years, I was lucky enough to sell off all but one of my salvage cars from IAA and I was just happy to break even. I’m still stuck with one Mercedes that I can’t move and it’s pretty nice except the salvage history scares everyone off. 95% of people run when they hear the word salvage. Never again will I buy a salvage auction car. Many of the cars are picked apart while sitting in these muddy holding pens, some with the windows either down or broken.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Jeff Staff

      Nessy, this is good feedback. I often am tempted by Copart but I recently saw a car I was following pop up on eBay. Needless to say, I don’t think the seller was happy with what he found, especially since the interior was junk. On top of that, you have to try and sell a car with a junk title (may not be a problem for those of us who drive salvage cars, but definitely tricky when trying to sell it).

      Like 0
  9. Avatar krash

    ….superficial damage…

    we can fix this…my dad is a tv repairman with an awesome set of tools…

    I love the Copart auction description mentioning the low coolant level that they addressed before starting it….

    ….so how bad is the motor…

    run for your life…I smell a vehicle that will bankrupt you…

    Like 0
  10. Avatar Jason Houston

    Even not wrecked, this redefines ugly.

    Like 0
  11. Avatar William H

    Well, you could always grab this and transplant the chassis and drive train into something completely stupid and inconspicuously random with the same wheelbase like, say, a late ’70’s Chevy Blazer. lol

    Like 0
  12. Avatar Karol

    220 k $ sold

    Like 0
  13. Avatar Dolphin Member

    I think Joe and Nessy are right, this Saleen has a real odd bunch of body hits, and it’s an ultra high performance Saleen that’s got a salvage title. That tells me to stay right away from this deal. It’s not like it’s cheap, like the burned D-Type reconstruction from the other day. This Saleen is about 500 times more expensive already.

    Why would a 2000 mile car have a pattern of damage that involves almost every panel on the car, but not have a major hit anywhere? Vandalism? If yes, what else did they trash that we don’t know about? And why would the car run OK once they added coolant (from the video)? Does not sound good.

    It’s already very expensive, and getting more so. You could maybe fix it and run it—-if it runs OK—-but this car will always have way too many stories attached to it with superglue to ever be sold easily for the money you’re likely to have to put into it to get it to be reliable and looking good.

    Life is too short to have to deal with this car, especially for the megadollars it looks like it will take to buy and fix.

    Like 0
  14. Avatar OA5599

    Looks like it was serially tortured and pinwheeled at high speed with curbs, speed bumps or medians thrown in for good measure. Sad way to treat 850 ponies.

    Like 0
  15. Avatar pat k

    little duct tape and no one would even know. or maybe rebody into the ultimate sleeper.

    Like 0
  16. Avatar junrai

    pat k I like your thinking if I had that drivetrain I would DEFINITELY put it in my 72 mercury comet
    BUT the only problem is besides it costing $200k is it wouldnt make my comet worth $100k

    Like 0
  17. Avatar C brand

    Maybe owners wife got ticked off and decided to do her own customizing ? lol

    Like 0
  18. Avatar james

    Hindsight is 20/20 Rowan Attkinson paid over a mill for repairs on a car that cost a mill when new, kept it 20+ yrs and sold it for a mint. So who after asking the “Magic 8-Ball” it said yes, But the savings account said NO.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Joe

      Thanks James for the info. Read that the million dollar repair bill was the most expensive bill ever paid in Britain by an insurance company for an automobile repair. In 2010 it cost 15-20K dollars/year just to keep a McLaren F1 insured in a garage and off the road. Mr Bean’s insurance increased to the equivalent of $87,000 /year after his insurance company paid for that repair. That’s about $250/day for insurance.

      Like 0
  19. Avatar Matt G.

    Says that it’s being sold with a “clean” title and not a “salvaged” one. I’m surprised with all the talk about the title, no one picked up on this fact.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Nessy

      Yes, I saw that too Matt. This could mean that if they claim it’s going to cost 365g to repair the car, the insurance company wrote it down a little under that figure to keep the car from being a total loss write off. With a big buck car like this, they will do what they need to in order to resell it so they can get a big chunk of their money back because as we know, the word “Salvage” on a car’s title drops the value sooooo far down. Either way, the damage history will be known on this car for good.

      Like 0
  20. Avatar OhU8one2

    Ok time to chime in with my two cents worth. I was employed at Saleen when the S7’s were unveiled. I think it was 2001 or 2002.The carbon fiber raw bodies complete with door’s,trunk and hood’s and a few small pieces had a cost of “wait for it” $85,000.00 per car. They were manufactured in the U.K. by a company called Ray Mallock Inc. I think that also included building a shipping create,freight to Long Beach,Ca? If I remember correctly. They were just a raw unfinished carbon body. Best thing about seeing the body like that was you could see the quality workmanship. That shop did fantastic work. Working there at that given time was a great experience. Meeting professional race car driver’s,celebrities,etc. The thing I still remember learning about running a business was ” Image is Everything”,second best was hammering a car that wasn’t mine,didn’t have to buy and fuel was paid by Saleen,didn’t have to even wash and clean it up afterward’s. The local police would just follow us back to work and advise those of us driving at that time,to slow it down,take it easy. With 500 plus HP,and a 6 spd trans,and 3:56 gear’s. Once you got the hang of them,they were a blast to drive. Never got bored with any of them,cause a new one was right around the corner😜

    Like 0
  21. Avatar Dougm

    guessing it was a #44 Louisville Slugger, standard duct tape should match close enough, at least she didn’t ‘key’ it!

    Like 0
    • Avatar Paul

      I had the same thought initially except none of the windows nor rear view mirrors are damaged. I can’t imagine a batter would omit those from their target list.

      Like 0
  22. Avatar Mike D

    While I can appreciate the odd auction find, between this and the replica D-type, can we not go about turning this site into a bunch of salvage car auctions? Next it will end up as an actual auction house much like the demise of BaT.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Josh Staff

      Don’t worry Mike, we won’t ever go that direction! I get where you coming from and we aren’t trying to turn into a salvage car site either, we just post interesting stuff as it comes along! It just happened that people sent both in in the same week and we thought they were both just too interesting to not post.

      Like 0
      • Avatar Mike D

        Fair enough Josh, thanks for the response and consideration.

        Like 0
  23. Avatar Bob
  24. Avatar PRA4SNW

    The first thing I thought of when I saw the pictures was “Hey, let’s take my Dad’s Saleen out for a cruise, he’ll never know.”

    This was definitely not vandalism but a full-on “Oh Sh*t” moment.

    Like 0
  25. Avatar Mark-A

    This is why I would Never Own a car like this over a £500-1000 one, at least if mine is in a collision with something like this I just go & pick up another Cheap Banger as long as its got an MOT test in the UK it’ll be fine at least until the retest date & if I did have a Collision with something as expensive as this I know for certain my Car will 90% of the time be back on the road before the insurance has even paid the owner of this machine also people who buy cars like this never seem to make the connection that it’ll probably cost more than my Home to do even servicing over it’s lifetime never mind any Major Collision damage!

    Like 0

Leave a Reply to skloon Cancel reply

RULES: No profanity, politics, or personal attacks.

Become a member to add images to your comments.

*

Get new comment updates via email. Or subscribe without commenting.