73 TC FS

[Grumblebuns]

Looks like this poor puppy is up for auction again on Crankyape. It was first listed about three months ago, didn't meet reserve. If anyone is interested in this project, contact me, I can give you some info on it. No financial interest, I just have some details on the car.
FYI, the reserve was $8500 when the car was first listed, be curious to see what it is now, second time around.

http://www.crankyape.com/default.asp?pg=DisItems&Cat=11&locID=20

JT

[cal44]

CrankyApe..............what the........never heard of it.  SALVAGE TITLE !!!!  This looks like the car that was in San Diego County and the poor fellow drove into ditch.   

JT, it didn't dawn on me you posted this........not enough caffine.  For the rest, yes. this is the one. 

I would be curious what amount the seller thinks a wrecked Europa with a Salvage Title is worth?

Mike

[Bainford]

Oh, what a shame. Looks like it was a pretty decent car in need of only a little love prior to the damage. I wonder how bad the frame is damaged. The damage looks curious; doesn't appear to have been hit by another car. Driven into a ditch, you figure Mike...

[LotusJoe]

I guarantee the frame is toast. The front of the frame is just to fragile. The entire front suspension is done. About all it's good for at this point is parts. There are a lot of good parts though. If some one was doing a spider frame this would be a lot of good parts. It's a shame. Good tranny and engine, that has some value.

[3929R]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lotuseuropa/message/113008

[Grumblebuns]

Yep, same car. The auction ends tomorrow and unless the insurance company lowers the reserve to a more reasonable amount, the car is not going to sell. It would be a real shame if the car got parted out by whoever gets it. Got a close look at the car before it got picked up by the auction house. Everything forward of the windshield got smashed or bent. The car is repairable, it's just going to take a lot of labor.

JT

[Grumblebuns]

In case anyones interested, the yellow TC met reserve and sold for $1600. Far cry from the initial $8500 reserve. I guess the insurance wanted to cut their losses quickly.

JT

[EuropaTC]

Gee, if that were in the UK, I'd consider it a massive bargain.  Just to get the hard-to-source parts is worth more than that over here and although no doubt it would need a new chassis & front bodywork, it's certainly worth re-building.
Brian

[pboedker]

  In Denmark, one would have to cough up above 20k$ just to get started with a Europa. So definitely a bargain here too. I also seem to remember that the actual car, before the accident, had some work done and was in an overall good shape. I hope the buyer will find it worth a rebuild.

[cal44]

In the U.S,  a car that has a salvage title........... might as well have typhoid fever.  Most folks stay away from them.  Although, my buddy only buys salvage title trucks, he figures if the damage is not bad it is a darn sight cheaper than buying new.  Since they haul construction items the trucks get pretty beat up.

I agree.  The parts alone on the Europa were worth twice the cost of admission.

[3929R]

Wow.  Seems like a bargain.

In the U.S,  a car that has a salvage title........... might as well have typhoid fever.

This spring I got a replacement title in Utah and it wasn't that hard (not easy but nothing insurmountable).  My car was last registered (and titled) in California in 1993.  The state of California had long ago purged any and all records of the car.  My car was never wrecked but if it had been, no one would have been the wiser and the title would not be salvage.  Unfortunately I do not think it would be very difficult to get a clean title for the car pictured above. To start with, Europa VIN tags are not very sophisticated.