Vandal-Torched Saleen SMS gets Rebuilt for only $15k

Amie Williams
February 17, 2012

Lately it seems as if some Saleen Mustangs have had it pretty rough. We just brought you the Saleen that was rebuilt after surviving an F5 mile-wide tornado that pretty much leveled the city of Joplin, Missouri and killed 160 people and causing $3 billion in damages.

Another bittersweet Saleen story has been brought to our attention. Last year, a brand new 2010 limited-edition Saleen SMS 460 Mustang (#005) Firefighters were called to the scene to extinguish the flames but the poor Mustang was considered a total loss with only 900 miles on the odometer.


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The torched Saleen made it’s way to eBay where a buyer paid $3,500 for the poor car. The winning bidder repairs cars for a living and has owned/repaired over 400 Mustang GT’s in his lifetime. When he did purchase the torched Saleen, the engine and interior were burnt to a crisp, and it definitely needed some extra parts to restore the body as well. Believe it or not, he rebuilt the original engine! He used about $10K of new Ford parts that he purchased to fix the Mustang and another $5K worth of used parts from recent wrecks.

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He spent $15k to get this Saleen 460 SMS back to pristine shape and that’s not a bad deal at all! Considering he bought the $60k car for $3,500 and then spent $15k total in parts making the total purchase plus rebuild only about $18k and you would never know that this pretty Saleen was saved from the parts bin.

Check out the finished product! Not too shabby for a lucky Mustang that didn’t meet the crusher!