At what point does an E9 get sacrificed for parts?

WISE9UY

WISE9UY

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Hi All,

So for those that noticed a.) I updated my username and for equally those that noticed, b.) I joined not long ago just prior to buying my 2800CS. It was great to meet some of you at the Vintage and I regret not bringing mine along.

With great enthusiasm I am embarking on my resto-tour and to that end have purchased some donor 6er's to get better mechanicals and move to an injected engine as my car already had an engine swap in its life from the 2800 to the 3L CS engine. Namely I am not hurting its originality as that is long gone.

Today I picked up a 1973 3.0CS that took out a light pole. In fact, the light pole was still at the residence's location... probably as a souvenir! The car has some rust and the spare wheel bay is rusted through, but that is replaceable. The brightwork could be brighter but it is all there and other than taking out the pole the car is straight.

I now have the quandary to decide to part it out OR set it aside for restoration. My fear is that restoration would come at a high cost. It still pains me to contemplate "killing" off one of these fine rare automobiles for the sake of parts. Might the damaged shell be worth anything once done?

I hope to get some images once it is pulled out from the back of the owner's yard.

Thoughts??
 
First register both at E9-driven.com

If you open the hood and see the ground through the shock towers it is bad
If you pull up the carpet on the driver and passenger side and see the ground it is worse
if the trunk (wheel well) is rotted out AND the other 2 things are present, probably a parts car unless you are in the UK, they restore some pretty rough examples.
 
What's the interior color on this potential parts car? I'm looking for a tan interior (the whole thing incl door panels).

John
 
bfeng said:
What's the interior color on this potential parts car? I'm looking for a tan interior (the whole thing incl door panels).

John
Click to expand...

I may have a tan interior out of my 2800CS. This potential parts car has blue interior. Will know more when I go back to start finer analysis of the car.
 
Figure to restore a body w/no rust is minimum $35k. Then w/rust and body work, another $10-30k, depending on how bad it is. Then there is your time devoted to do some of the work.

Add it up...is it worth it?
 
The conditions for automotive euthanasia are:

- An obvious fracture of weight bearing structures
- An obvious breakdown of key supportive soft structures
- Violent self-destructive thrashing
- Evidence of shock
- Internals exposed and/or contaminated
 
Arde said:
The conditions for automotive euthanasia are:

- An obvious fracture of weight bearing structures
- An obvious breakdown of key supportive soft structures
- Violent self-destructive thrashing
- Evidence of shock
- Internals exposed and/or contaminated
Click to expand...

Sounds like me. I better not let my wife read this.
 
About five years ago I took apart a '73 CS and crushed the body. It was rusty, but I still have photos of the it and after seeing some cars that have been saved and seeing the prices go up and up I wish I'd found a place to store it. Post photos of your cars and give us something to talk about...

Dan
 
dang said:
About five years ago I took apart a '73 CS and crushed the body. It was rusty, but I still have photos of the it and after seeing some cars that have been saved and seeing the prices go up and up I wish I'd found a place to store it. Post photos of your cars and give us something to talk about...

Dan
Click to expand...

I feel the same way when I look in my garage. My test is whether the average or even expert restorer could do this type of restoration. You have to remember that someone who buys a car in this rough of shape probably can't afford a better example. You then have to wonder if they have the time, skills, and financial resources to save it. If I sold my CSI next week, I don't think anyone would actually be able to pull off a restoration. If CoupeKing, RonP, or someone bought it perhaps, but that just isn't going to happen. The icing on the cake for me was that someone hacked the VIN off the firewall. Even if it was restored for $100K, the VIN plate and firewall stamping would be a repro. Anyone spending $120K+ on the car would chose another car first. A major black eye IMO.

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I think a better way to look at the car below is; what a wonderful gift it would make for another e9 who is in better condition to be able to continue a happy and fruitful life if another e9 donated its critical body parts. The soul of your car will live on forever. At the stage it's in even if you store it correctly it will continue to decay, parts will be harder to find, labor will be more expensive etc.

Just my opinion-
 
aearch said:
thats not so bad
the number is stamped on the firewall
boyd still has mine
Click to expand...

My CSI has the VIN physically cut from the firewall. If you look it up in the registry I have a warning that the car will be destroyed, and any car with this VIN is bogus. I still have the WA import tag with the VIN on it, but that's it.
 
Peter Coomaraswamy said:
I think a better way to look at the car below is; what a wonderful gift it would make for another e9 who is in better condition to be able to continue a happy and fruitful life if another e9 donated its critical body parts. The soul of your car will live on forever. At the stage it's in even if you store it correctly it will continue to decay, parts will be harder to find, labor will be more expensive etc.

Just my opinion-
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the input. I think this response is ultimately the way I looked at it. The parts from this car will help not only my car become what I want it to be and complete the few parts that are missing, but will help me preserve its conditions with spares or sell them off to help other cars continue to survive.
 
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