A few weeks ago, Jesse asked if cheap Ferraris really do exist. Based on how many times the car in his write-up has been re-listed – despite selling at “no reserve” – the seller doesn’t seem to think so. Well, if $3,500 meets your definition of cheap, there’s a 1982 Ferrari Mondial here on craigslist with your name on it. It will need everything, but at least it’s not red like all of those other basketcase examples.

There’s no interior and no drivetrain, and certainly no time for tire-kickers based on the seller’s description. To me, this run on burned-out and broken Ferraris appearing online as of late is a classic case of the rich discarding of their table scraps and some low-level mechanic thinking he’s sitting on a gold mine. Sorry, fellas – the people with the money to buy these things new simply disposed of what they knew to be a worthless pile of junk metal with a fancy badge.

With the wide availability of kit cars from Factory Five and others, why would you bother with the shell of a Ferrari – and a Mondial, no less? It will never be worth more than what you have to put into it, and $30K will buy you a decent one. Unless you are one heck of a shadetree mechanic with a garage full of every tool and part you’ll ever need, I fail to see how you’ll bring this one back for a number significantly less than the cost of buying a running, driving example.

Let’s face a fact we all know well: the real money is in discovering an intact car that has been laid up for years and getting a deal, either because the seller doesn’t know its value or because you’re in a position to barter for a better price than everyone else. Given how the broken Ferraris that have languished in a warehouse for years continue to languish on craigslist and eBay, this is akin to chasing fool’s gold.