Craigslist Crapshoot

The World’s Worst Car Is For Sale On Craigslist
Welcome to Craigslist Crapshoot, our weekly search for the most bizarre, awesome, and/or terrible vehicles that the online classifieds has to offer. 
Fun fact, FIAT stands for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, and not, as many of us believed Fix It Again, Tony. Yeah I know, you already knew that, and now I know that when it comes to finding awesome Fiat X1/9s in the classifieds you also know what you’re doing. We’ll see if X marks the spot in a sec, but first let’s AM our G spots.
AMG was once an independent tuner, but is today the in-house band for Mercedes Benz, creating cars that go toe to tire with BMW’s equally muscle imbued M-series of cars. I think that the Bimmers get most of the glory, leaving AMG to bask in that competitor’s shadow. That’s why this week I want us to find some awesome deals on AMG-zed Benzes. Let’s see if we can find the best deal out there – the best performance, and desirability, at the lowest (or at least seemingly best value) price we can.
As always, we want your finds to go down in infamy and not in the site’s spam filter. Since we’ve changed commenting systems, you may need to update your commenter account. Make sure you have a Disqus account – they’re free and easy to get – and then comment away.

Got that? Good, now lets see the X-factor.


I think that the most important take-away from last week’s Fiat-fest was that it’s not a question of if an X1/9 will rust but when. That when might just have started before the car even left the factory. Yes, rust loomed large in most of the ads for Fiat’s fantastic little mid-engine sportster, and its extent seemed to affect asking prices proportionally.
Those which have not yet exhibited significant issues with the tin worm commanded the highest asking prices – cars like this handsome merlot edition found by Jofes2, and this one with silver surfer seat covers located by I_Borgward. Others seemed less Italian and more Swiss – as in cheese – as they evidenced significant reductions in weight and possibly structural integrity as oxidization took its toll. A fine example of that was found by Andrew_theS2kBore, while another came from Manic_King.
The most notable find of last week was neither rusty nor truely a Fiat X1/9. It was instead a pretender that looks like an X1/9 and which was built in Brazil back in the late ’70s/early ’80s. This Fiat Dardo (Italian for Dart) is mostly fiberglass, and sports an X1/9-esque body and a dash out of a Fiat Uno. They were built by Corona S. S. Viatura e Equipamento in São Paulo and are based on the X1/9. This one comes with the larger 1.5-litre mill, asks $32,000 Brazilian, and was found, unsurprisingly, by BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ.
Congrats to all for such a varied and – as pointed out by Jeepster – varied wheeled collection of X1/9s, and especially to BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ for finding something I’ll bet few of us ever even knew existed.
Fiat Dardo Targa 80 - Ano 1979 - 1 km - no MercadoLivre

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33 responses to “Craigslist Crapshoot”

  1. Jeepster Avatar
    Jeepster

    1999 AMG for $2000 https://hickory.craigslist.org/cto/5389269795.html “missplaced title “

    1. dukeisduke Avatar
      dukeisduke

      That left rear quarter looks kinda dodgy.

      1. Jeepster Avatar
        Jeepster

        ” missplaced” title was rebuilt according to the description. Asking two grand so hey why not. According to Edmund’s this car was $70,000, in 1991 munny !

        1. Jeepster Avatar
          Jeepster

          1999 munny

  2. Andrew_theS2kBore Avatar
    Andrew_theS2kBore
  3. Jeepster Avatar
    Jeepster

    2000 CLK 430 asking $4800 https://littlerock.craigslist.org/cto/5420931464.html needs ” Maybe a tune up in Month or so…”

    1. Kiefmo Avatar
      Kiefmo

      My local CL is fraught with these “AMG” cars that merely have an AMG appearance package.
      The proper AMG-ified CL is a CL55.
      Harumph.

      1. Jeepster Avatar
        Jeepster

        That’s Headley ..

      2. CruisinTime Avatar
        CruisinTime

        Two points for the use of “fraught”.

  4. tonyola Avatar
  5. Lokki Avatar
    Lokki

    $2200 for a 97 E420 ? 239,000 miles, yeah but looks pretty good to me….
    https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/5398738625.html

    1. Rust-MyEnemy Avatar

      Pretty sure those wheels should be staggered sizes if they’re kosher.

  6. Manic_King Avatar
    Manic_King

    C43 wagon with the non-working natural gas system, 300 hp, French plates, not sure if kilometrage is real. Running badly. 4500.- http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=221105030
    http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NzUwWDEwMDA=/z/9ZQAAOSwGotWp5Wv/$/$_57.JPG

    1. neight428 Avatar
      neight428

      Does the ad elaborate on the dually hatchback?

      1. Manic_King Avatar
        Manic_King

        Nope. It’s a VW Polo but why additional tire or wheel, no idea.

  7. Tomsk Avatar
    Tomsk

    Aw sweet, an ’07 SLK55 for $8,999! Of course, the 300,000+ miles on the odo have a lot to do with that…
    http://images.craigslist.org/00i0i_41h4vFk8P5z_600x450.jpg
    http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/ctd/5420509047.html

    1. Andrew_theS2kBore Avatar
      Andrew_theS2kBore

      It looks incredibly clean in the photos, if it runs well it’s probably worth every penny. If it goes bang in a terribly expensive way you could probably part it out and make your money back.
      I’m sorely, sorely tempted, it’s only two hours away…

      1. Jeepster Avatar
        Jeepster

        can LSx engines be coaxed in these ? ( they seem to be a common answer for every other maintenance nightmare but neato stuff ) Go get it Andrew …. send us photos !

  8. Tomsk Avatar
    Tomsk

    The legendary 2007 R63, a.k.a. the Draggin’ Wagon, a.k.a. the Vroom Van, a.k.a. Some Other Clever Nickname I’ll Make Up Eventually. Yours for $23k!
    http://images.craigslist.org/00K0K_flurJQqQo0_600x450.jpg
    http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cto/5404202977.html

    1. Dean Bigglesworth Avatar
      Dean Bigglesworth

      I’d love one of those, just for the sheer insanity of it.

  9. neight428 Avatar
    neight428

    On my craigslist ad euphemism decoder, this one’s claim of “NEEDS OIL PUMP SOLD AS IS CAR HAS A KNOCK BUT STARTS” roughly translates to, “this car has admitted on videotape to crimes against humanity and is responsible for reality television”
    http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/5389438424.html – $3500
    http://images.craigslist.org/00G0G_5abNgylHY7n_600x450.jpg

  10. PotbellyJoe★★★★★ Avatar
    PotbellyJoe★★★★★

    I’m posting this one only for the Freudian slip in the listing.
    Mercedes Benz CLK 430 AMG – $4999 (warren)
    http://cnj.craigslist.org/cto/5395227630.html
    http://images.craigslist.org/00K0K_kb5AFgkgJOX_600x450.jpg
    2003 Merced Bens convertible clk 430 AMG, 90,000 miles .Everything work, Good contidions.
    Everything Work. A ringing endorsement of what this car brings…

    1. Vairship Avatar
      Vairship

      That Bens is a long way from Merced though…

  11. Rust-MyEnemy Avatar

    Pleased to see that nobody has yet posted any of the many diesels that deluded owners of Sport-Pack Mercedes believe are AMGs

      1. Vairship Avatar
        Vairship

        “Actually a 1988, had to list as 1980 because of VIN”. Yup, that seems legit.

  12. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    Normally, I hate these. They look stupid with low profile wheels and chrome, cost too much, and are usually driven by assholes.

    This one isn’t too bad, wheel-wise, but the chrome bull bars and wheel cover just annoy me.

    http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NzY4WDEwMjQ=/z/5N4AAOSwYIhWlN-S/$_27.JPG

    http://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/calgary/2014-mercedes-benz-g-class-g63-amg-4-matic-navigation-back/1129141508?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

    However, if I win the lottery, I will buy one of these. I will then proceed to attach proper wheels, and backdate it as far back as possible. The engine in these is ludicrous, and the old school body is pretty sweet.

    Just imagine 563 hp and 561 lb-ft in something that looks like this:

    http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/2612/2501/31528750014_large.jpg

    1. Lokki Avatar
      Lokki

      I totally agree. No one should be allowed to have one of these except me, and maybe you because the people who can afford them don’t appreciate them.

  13. Rover 1 Avatar
    Rover 1

    A long way from Craiglist but worth a look. A real AMG, and one of the last non production line models. Not cheap but worth it. 416 pferdestärke might not be much in these days of 600 hp Audis but it’s a lot in a W124.
    I wonder what this cost new?
    1995 AMG W124 E60 £78000/( $111750/€102500)
    http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C542528
    http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/uploads/cars/mercedes/5186853.jpg
    http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/uploads/cars/mercedes/5186861.jpg

    1. Manic_King Avatar
      Manic_King

      When new, price was approx. 200k DEM = 100k EUR in Germany for the 381 hp version.
      Mobile.de has 3 available for 55-60k EUR, Japan seems like a place where one could get last low-km examples.