Opinion of value - Scorpion "Barn Find"..

Boscosz28

Boscosz28

Low Mileage
Hi all!
New to the forum, new to Fiat / Lancia, etc. By no means new to Cars, new,...old..the like.
Ran into a fellow that loved talking about old cars, one thing led to another, and he mentioned he had an old Scorpion he would be interested in selling. Car was purchased non-running nearly 20 years ago. Supposedly, the engine was rebuilt, head re-worked, compression bumped slightly, etc etc. Story goes, it ran for 5 minutes some 10 years ago, right after the rebuild. Subsequently his wife became ill, and he interest lost in the car. After crawling all over it, it appears to be mostly solid, with the floor pans being the worst I could find (Were in the midwest). Rats have had their way with insulation under the carpet, etc, and around 20+ wires down by the drivers kick panel. I think all the major components are present.

Short story long, he's asking $1,800.

I've restored/built many domestics from the 'big three'.. GM / Ford / Chrysler, but have no clue on parts availability, etc for these little cars. My son turns 16 this year, and he has shown lots of interest in buying the little car, and getting it back on the road. Curious, what everyone's take is on this, based on the very limited information I have provided, and the 1 picture I was able to take.... I've looked through the sales section, tried searching Craigslist...bookface...ebay, and the likes, to see if I could find a basis of value. No such luck. Should Dad loan him the $1,800 or keep looking?

Thanks!! 😎
 

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And if he’s “asking “ $1800 he’ll jump at $1500. Also, if your 16 year old is interested it will be a great project for both of you.
 
Having just bought three in the last two years, definitely a deal, parts cars go for more. I will warn you that the Scorpions are thin on ground so there are parts you will have to chase if it is missing anything, but a really affordable "exotic" car that in your case looks like a real deal. You can't find X1/9's that cheap anymore and they made 140,000 of those cars verse the 7798 Lancia Scorpions and Montecarlos built.

Fortunately, there are Fiat and Lancia parts that swap over and some of the suspension parts are Fiat X1/9. Interior parts are difficult to find, so a decent interior is a plus. Rust in the shock towers is a big deal, but if the base car is solid, sounds like you found a unicorn.
 
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twincam69 said:
And if he’s “asking “ $1800 he’ll jump at $1500. Also, if your 16 year old is interested it will be a great project for both of you.
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Agreed on the project. At the end of the day, $1,800 is a cheap price to pay for more father/son time, learning to build something cool.
 
dherr said:
Having just bought three in the last two years, definitely a deal, parts cars go for more. I will warn you that the Scorpions are thin on ground so there are parts you will have to chase if it is missing anything, but a really affordable "exotic" car that in your case looks like a real deal. You can't find X1/9's that cheap anymore and they made 140,000 of those cars verse the 7798 Lancia Scorpions and Montecarlos built.

Fortunately, there are Fiat and Lancia parts that swap over and some of the suspension parts are Fiat X1/9. Interior parts are difficult to find, so a decent interior is a plus. Rust in the shock towers is a big deal, but if the base car is solid, sounds like you found a unicorn.
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Awesome!! I saw very little rust. The floors being the worst - however - they have been glassed over and are solid-ish. Sounds like we need to pull the trigger.
 
Sounds like you can't go wrong. I paid much more for my white 77 and red 76 Scorpions. The blue one I purchased really cheap, but it needed a lot of work and I ended up selling it off. Was similar to your car as it had rust in the floor pan, rust in the hood and battery box, and the interior was rough, but was 100% complete and it sold for much more than what you are paying for this one. Post pictures when you get it!
 
Pete Whitstone said:
1800 would be a screaming deal, in my opinion, provided the car is relatively complete. I purchased mine in similar shape 20 years ago for $3k.
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I looked at one that was repainted but disassembled a little over 20 years ago when I was 18. It was about $3k back then.

If the car is complete, $1800 is a bargain.
 
dherr said:
Sounds like you can't go wrong. I paid much more for my white 77 and red 76 Scorpions. The blue one I purchased really cheap, but it needed a lot of work and I ended up selling it off. Was similar to your car as it had rust in the floor pan, rust in the hood and battery box, and the interior was rough, but was 100% complete and it sold for much more than what you are paying for this one. Post pictures when you get it!
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Will do. Have to make sure any and all “creatures” have been removed before brining it home. The interior needs a lot of help.. the rats have made an absolute mess of things. But I myself am interested to see how it looks when the dust is removed and it’s cleaned up. Doubt I try and get it this weekend with it being Thanksgiving, but next weekend looks promising.
 
Welcome to the forum. I'm certainly no Scorpion expert....but for what it is worth.....

Yeah....they are a fairly rare car. About 8000 or so were made, of which about 1800 of them shipped to the USA in '76 and '77. "Yours" appears to be a '77 model...even rarer as we only got about 400 or so of them. They were visually different as they had glass sail panels. so that is good....

As for parts availability.....it is surprisingly good for a 35 year old rare Italian car. Most all the suspension and brakes were the same as an X1/9. The engine was basically the same as Fiat 124 spider and 131. And the Lancia Beta had basically the same engine and tranny. There are 3 or 4 vendors in the USA who can supply most of the bits you need....and many more in the UK and Europe. Of course some of the Scorpion only parts like trim and sheet metal can be tough to find.....but enough Scorpions have been parted out ...the bits are still out there.

This forum..and there are others and Facebook groups...will help you with parts searches and helpful advise...

As for value......these cars are still somewhat undervalued......but seems to be rising quickly. You really should go to Bring a Trailer...type in "Lancia" in the search box...and poke around. Having said that......I reckon some of the selling results on that site seem to be a bit high.

Tough to say...and so much depends on condition......but maybe ballpark.....a running '77 Scorpion in "decent" shape is worth maybe $10K. A project car like yours......maybe $4K. ? If your is "solid"....I would think $1800 is a great deal. i'd be inclined to offer him his full asking price...as he then might be more inclined...especially if he thinks it is going to a good home...to make extra effort of finding all the bits for it floating around his garage :D
 
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rx1900 said:
Welcome to the forum. I'm certainly no Scorpion expert....but for what it is worth.....

Yeah....they are a fairly rare car. About 8000 or so were made, of which about 1800 of them shipped to the USA in '76 and '77. "Yours" appears to be a '77 model...even rarer as we only got about 400 or so of them. They were visually different as they had glass sail panels. so that is good....

As for parts availability.....it is surprisingly good for a 35 year old car. Most all the suspension and brakes were the same as an X1/9. The engine was basically the same as Fiat 124 spider and 131. And the Lancia Beta had basically the same engine and tranny. There are 3 or 4 vendors in the USA who can supply most of the bits you need....and many more in the UK and Europe. Of course some of the Scorpion only parts like trim and sheet metal can be tough to find.....but enough Scorpions have been parted out ...the bits are still out there.

This forum..and there are others and Facebook groups...will help you with parts searches and helpful advise...

As for value......these cars are still somewhat undervalued......but seems to be rising quickly. You really should go to Bring a Trailer...type in "Lancia" in the search box...and poke around. Having said that......I reckon some of the selling results on that site seem to be a bit high.

Tough to say...and so much depends on condition......but maybe ballpark.....a running '77 Scorpion in "decent" shape is worth maybe $10K. A project car like yours......maybe $4K. ? If your is "solid"....I would think $1800 is a great deal. i'd be inclined to offer him his full asking price...as he then might be more inclined...especially if he thinks it is going to a good home...to make extra effort of finding all the bits for it floating around his garage :D
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Awesome! Good information! I had fully anticipated to pay him the $1,800. I could tell from the way he said it…it was a take it or leave it number. I’ll see if I can squeeze by this weekend and post a few pictures before bringing it home
 
Scorpion requires a lot of fabrication and hunting of parts. If this is for your 16 year old then I suggest a Fiat Spider. Easy to fix, easy to find parts and….. more enjoyable to drive, especially if you are just cruising around. Scorpion is more of a conversation piece than a car. Let him learn on a spider then when he is more advanced get a Scorpion or better yet a X1/9
 
lanciahf said:
Scorpion requires a lot of fabrication and hunting of parts. If this is for your 16 year old then I suggest a Fiat Spider. Easy to fix, easy to find parts and….. more enjoyable to drive, especially if you are just cruising around. Scorpion is more of a conversation piece than a car. Let him learn on a spider then when he is more advanced get a Scorpion or better yet a X1/9
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... and I'm sure @lanciahf would be really interested to get the contact to buy the Scorpion for himself 🤪
 
Nah one is enough, I really liked my car until I jump in the spider. Everything is so much easier in a spider. I enjoy working on the Lancia and solving problems but the spider you just want to drive the hell out of it where Mr. fragilely? is not so forgiving.
 
Me too! My trucks in the shop for a new ring/pinion. Scheduled to be done today. So a few hundred miles of normal driving to break them in, then I’ll hook on the trailer and go load this thing up!
 
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