This may sound crazy, but I’m an auction watcher and addicted to cars. I love them. I was recently on a police auction site here in CO looking at buying a bbq grill, when I saw a 2019 Fiesta ST with 12 hours left to go sitting at $1950. I couldn’t resist and placed a $2500 max bid thinking it would sell for way more. Fast forward a week later when to my surprise I get a call that I won the car for $2350 (Plus auction fees). Did I mention I’m just some dude who loves cars and has only some mechanical knowledge? Gulp. My first thought: yes!! My second thought: my wife is going to kill me. Then I realized I knew nothing about this car’s history except it was a salvage title.
With a stress headache from worrying about what I’d gotten myself into, I drove down to load it on a trailer and assess its future (and mine if it turned into a dud). I arrived at the site, collected the keys, and saw the car for the first time. It’s AWESOME! Looks pretty cool. I think: it won’t start. Boom! Fires right up. I think: it won’t drive. Bam! I drive it right onto the trailer. I get her home and as I’m driving it into my shop, the clutch is slipping, but I get her in. I’m thinking the clutch is fried and the dash is lit up like a Christmas tree. I do some sleuthing on Google and find it’s been through 2 auctions previously and someone just “fixed” it to flip it and somehow lost the car to the police auction.
So, the plan for the car is to build it back to pass inspection and get the title done. Next step is to build a fun track monster that me and my 3 boys will drive it like we stole it (cause I’m feeling like we did at under $2400!).
I removed the front bumper cover, which is why fix is in quotes above, to find a menagerie of really questionable things… the crash bar has been chopped up and then tac welded with 2 spots to hold it together. The mounting bracket is still bent over. The frame is straight though! They used scraps of plastic bits to hold the intercooler in place (only on 1 side) and there is more variety of screws in this thing than one can find at Lowe’s! I have a list of parts for the front…
I then moved to the rear bumper cover. This was a struggle until I realized they used dry wall screws to hold it together! Yup. Dry wall screws right through the cover and into the plastic bracket, then bondo over the head, and a crummy paint job to cover it all up. The back is a bit hammered and I see only 2 nuts holding on the rear crash bar. Good grief. The had every screw known to man for the front and no nuts for the back - insert jokes here. I now have a list of parts for the back.
Last thing I did was remove the tires… 4 stripped lug nuts, 4 different kinds to include 2 different security lugs placed on the rear passenger tire, and one used for trucks. Wow, y’all, I’m going make sure and uninstall those coilovers and make sure its done right. I have no faith in these folks who tried to flip this car!
Enjoy the pictures while we wait for parts to get here!
With a stress headache from worrying about what I’d gotten myself into, I drove down to load it on a trailer and assess its future (and mine if it turned into a dud). I arrived at the site, collected the keys, and saw the car for the first time. It’s AWESOME! Looks pretty cool. I think: it won’t start. Boom! Fires right up. I think: it won’t drive. Bam! I drive it right onto the trailer. I get her home and as I’m driving it into my shop, the clutch is slipping, but I get her in. I’m thinking the clutch is fried and the dash is lit up like a Christmas tree. I do some sleuthing on Google and find it’s been through 2 auctions previously and someone just “fixed” it to flip it and somehow lost the car to the police auction.
So, the plan for the car is to build it back to pass inspection and get the title done. Next step is to build a fun track monster that me and my 3 boys will drive it like we stole it (cause I’m feeling like we did at under $2400!).
I removed the front bumper cover, which is why fix is in quotes above, to find a menagerie of really questionable things… the crash bar has been chopped up and then tac welded with 2 spots to hold it together. The mounting bracket is still bent over. The frame is straight though! They used scraps of plastic bits to hold the intercooler in place (only on 1 side) and there is more variety of screws in this thing than one can find at Lowe’s! I have a list of parts for the front…
I then moved to the rear bumper cover. This was a struggle until I realized they used dry wall screws to hold it together! Yup. Dry wall screws right through the cover and into the plastic bracket, then bondo over the head, and a crummy paint job to cover it all up. The back is a bit hammered and I see only 2 nuts holding on the rear crash bar. Good grief. The had every screw known to man for the front and no nuts for the back - insert jokes here. I now have a list of parts for the back.
Last thing I did was remove the tires… 4 stripped lug nuts, 4 different kinds to include 2 different security lugs placed on the rear passenger tire, and one used for trucks. Wow, y’all, I’m going make sure and uninstall those coilovers and make sure its done right. I have no faith in these folks who tried to flip this car!
Enjoy the pictures while we wait for parts to get here!
