Back in May, a bunch of us went to the open house at Ragtops & Roadsters in PA. A lot of great cars showed up, including a bunch of Lotuses (photos) like my old '83 Turbo Esprit that I sold to Art to help pay for the Evora. Anyway, Kyle, Art, and I were about to leave when another gent told us there was an effectively abandoned '86 HCi out back, exterior photos below. According to the shop owner, it turns over and holds pressure. He's selling it on consignment and asking $5K. The general opinion is that it could be nicely fixed up for $12K-$15K, so if you're interested in an HCi project and in sparing it from the horror of being parted out, give 'em a ring. Plus it's got the rather rare squashed lozenge logo (read this for why that was particularly short-lived on Federal Esprits).
From what I recall, windshield is cracked, engine needs a complete overhaul/tune-up, but as I mentioned, he says it passes a compression test. No idea about the electrics. The interior is very dried out. I'd say half could be saved/restored and the rest would need to be replaced. The shop owner said he'd send a PDF with all the inspection and testing results he did to any prospective buyer. I just think it would be a damn shame to see a car that's within the realm of salvageability lost to the shredder, so to speak. I didn't see anything on the exterior that didn't look like it would clean up or patch up easily.
When I talked with the owner a few months back he wanted way too much for the car, I explained that I would actually save the car and bring it to its original glory but he seems firm on his price.
Was he still sticking to $5K? Meantime it's been sitting outside for another year. At least that's where it was out back of R&R when I stumbled across it last year.
Was he still sticking to $5K? Meantime it's been sitting outside for another year. At least that's where it was out back of R&R when I stumbled across it last year.
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