What's a parts car worth?

[Turbofiat124]

Co-worker says his cousin owns a junkyard and he was up there the other day and noticed he had a Fiat 2000 Spider on his lot. He said it had a hard top on it. Although I sold my hardtop about 10 years ago, I sort of wished I had kept it because now that I have A/C on the car it would be nice to have better insulation so my A/C would perform better.

He is supposed to have his cousin send him some photos of the car. Since the junkyard is about 60 miles from here way back up in the mountains of SW Virginia. So it's like an hours drive from here.

I think it's complete and unwrecked but he said the car was ragged out. Maybe the engine is blown. More likely the 5 speed transmision.

Since the guy who owns the junkyard will probably never sell any parts off it (I mean how many people do you think would walk into a junkyard and ask if they had any Fiat Spiders), I was going to see if he would sell me the entire car and part it out. My co-worker said because the car was so unusual he wasn't going to crush it.

I was afraid that might happen and some usuable (unobtainable) parts might go with it and end up in a new Kia or some other Korean POS made car.

We need to save every usuabl part off these cars as we can to keep them going. Glad I saved the doors on that 81 I parts out. One day I went to shut the door on my 80 model and it didn't close. I think the spring broke but the mechanism was about crapped out when I bought the car in 1992 anyway. But the one from the 81 model was like new. Where you going to find a door mechanism when this happens?

So what is a good price for a used ragged out but complete Spider for parts worth? I know the guy is going to make a buck off this car. I once paid $500 for a parts car but don't know if that was too much.

[spidernut]

Condition and completeness is everything.

Alloy wheels: $250-up
Steering wheel: $50
Transmission: $150-up
Motor: $250-up
EFI System: $150-$450 (mainly for the AFM)
Console undamaged: $150-up
Dash with gauges: $150-up
Header Bow: $50-up
Differential: $150-up

That alone is: $1,350 and I didn't include any sheet metal other mechanicals or cosmetics.

Most parts cars if the sheet metal is good will cost under $1,000.

[narfire]

I've bought several parts cars over the years. $350-$500 has been about it for the complete car. If you part it out, it can take some time to do so and the result is having either a hulk or a shelf of fiat parts hanging about.
To qualify this though, I'm in an area where there are not too many of these cars about. I'm thinking the eastern seaboard has a number of fiats about and parts can move a lot quicker than here.
Chris

[DieselSpider]

Its usually about weight and condition. A rusty 2,000 lb car that has less good scrap metal will be about $150 to $200 while a 4,000+ lb heavy car with little to no rust and plenty of good scrap metal can go for $500. If it does not run or shows signs of gas in the oil or then value would go down. I just went through this exercise in the Tampa Florida area and asked about the values of a 2,000 Chrysler Grand Voyager (fully operational with 68,000 miles on it), 85 Voyager Van (rust but in running condition with 95,000 miles on it) and my 78 Spider and the values came out pretty close to the same being $400 to $500.