'70 Factory 4-Speed Esprit: Fix Up or Sell As-Is?
 

I picked this up as a parts car for my TA project a while back for $2,500 but it's too nice/rare to part out; it's a 1-of-2,104 factory 4-speed 1970 Esprit (have the PHS); California native car.

It's not highly optioned; no AC or PW, it does have PS and PB (front disc). It's mostly all original except for the engine, left fender, wheels & tires; it does have the original Muncie 4-speed. It has 104,000 miles on it; I bought it from a guy who buys and sells cars; he bought it from the original owner where it sat in an outside storage yard for about a year before I bought it. The deluxe interior is complete and very nice except for wear on the driver's seat. Perfect dash with no cracks, has the 4-speed console, original Hurst shifter, door panels, seats, seatbelts, etc... Very minor body cancer; the only body damage is a crease in the driver door.

So...my question is - is this worth fixing up even though it doesn't have the original engine? Trying to find a '70 WU 350 is more difficult than tracking down a WS RAIII; I was in the beginning stages of building a 440 stroker based on a 400 for it.

If I were to put it up for sale (on eBay, etc.) how much do you think I could get for it as-is?

Thanks -

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...veryDay006.jpg

I would restore it to original as a 4-speed Esprit, except with a plain jane (i.e. no chrome) looking 455 disguised as a 350.

It's a neat car. Every year at the T/A Nats there are 15-20 '70 - '73 T/As, and maybe on a good year one Esprit (and likely an automatic at that). I pay more attention to cars like this than to the T/As -- not much new to see with them.

Restore it if you like the car. If you think you want to make some money on it then dont restore it. You should be able to get your money back if you ebay it.

Fix that TA up with it :)
BTW did you buy one of Pats 70's??? IIRC that red one is a 70TA with funky gold interior...

If you "restore" it you're gonna loose a bunch of money. It will cost almost as much as restoring a t/a and won't be worth as much. However, it sounds like it may be a solid car, and if so, you can just fix it up and drive it. If the interior and dash are good then you just need to drop a motor in and go. As for paint, a decent paint job does not have to break the bank. I recently bought a 70 formula 400, 4 speed car. The original engine is missing but everything else is there and it is very solid. I'm just going to build a mild 455 and enjoy it as-is. Get yours running, that way you have something to drive for the next few years while you are restoring the t/a.

If I end up keeping it, I don't think I would do an all-out resto on it; I agree with you, even though it's rare, I don't think it wouldn't bring anywhere near the amount of money I would put into a full-on resto. At best, I would clean up and paint the chassis, rear end & subframe, put in new suspension bushings and just do an overall clean up and painting as I build the engine for it.

It is a very solid car, but I don't like the yellow paint with black vinyl top; I was thinking about putting a Formula hood and rear spoiler on it and painting it gun metal grey with light silver stripes with maybe some 17" Tork Thrust II's. Where would be a good place to go to get a decent paint job? Since it doesn't have the original engine is it okay to "restomod" it or should it be keep as original as possible?

It would be nice to drive something sooner rather than later; I've been getting the bug to drive something and I know I'm lightyears away from having the TA finished - which brings up another question: Is the TA worth restoring even though I don't have the original drive train?

Yes, I bought one of Pat's '70's - the red one with the funky pimped-out gold and black diamond tuck interior and molded spoilers. I feel so sorry for what has been done to that TA. My original thinking was to transfer everything over from the Esprit since it's the same year as the TA...

So the thinking is that I could at least recoup my $2,500 investment?

I could always plain-jane the stroker - depends if I would end up doing a restomod on it or keep it as original as possible. I know factory 4-speed Esprits probably don't show up very often, I just don't know there's much (if any) following/demand for Esprits - even rare ones - other than using it as a donor for a TA project (sounds familiar...)

If I didnt have eight 2nd gens already I would take it off your hands. Of course needing to pay off a repair bill on one of my engines has something to do with it too.

Original doesnt matter much with an Esprit unless it had some rare engine, like an HO or RA. Sure its a cool car, and no dont part it out it isnt bad enough to deserve that. If you want to make some quick cash, throw a paint job on it, a mild 400 under the hood, those TTII wheels you mentioned, a new carpet, ditch the vinyl roof, and sell it to someone who wants an early 2nd gen.

Or give it to me, I will do all that and give you the $2500 back when it sells.. :)

So the thinking is that I could at least recoup my $2,500 investment?




If you are looking to recoup your investment email me. Does the car run and drive?

Based on what I have in my 70 Esprit, $2500 is no problem.

If you do part it out let me know. I need a lot of what's good on yours.

Here's a lead for ya (albeit all the way across the country...)

http://detroit.craigslist.org/pts/857808243.html

Good Luck

One of my favorite Firebirds was a '72 Esprit, 400/2bbl/ 2.73 posi.