A seller on craigslist has been popping up every now and again with all sorts of interesting vintage automobiles that are definitely in project car form. They appeared to be locked away in an abandoned shop, and based on his latest listing, that’s not entirely far from the truth. We’ve see some Citroens come up for sale in the past, but this time we have two Fiat roadsters. One is this pretty 1961 Fiat 1200 with a Nissan powerplant, and the other is a later 1981 Fiat 124. Both cars are projects, but the earlier car in particular looks quite tidy. Find the listing here on craigslist in Oregon, where the ’61 is listed for $4,500 and the ’81 is priced at $1,000.

The seller explains that he has what is called a “DMV Possessory Lien Foreclosure” on the cars, which indicates to me the shop was abandoned and he managed to snag the whole thing and all of its contents. I thought I was doing well when I stumbled upon a cache of NOS car parts at a local dealer that had closed; this is a case of stepping into it on a whole ‘nother level. Of course, it may not be that exciting of a story as the seller may have had to file this sort of paperwork anyway if the property had already been foreclosed on, even if he knew the previous owner personally. But it is curious that the last caretaker didn’t attempt to unload any of his projects if he was starting down delinquency issues.

The earlier Fiat has had its engine swapped with a Nissan drivetrain of unknown origin. The transmission was also swapped at the same time, and I’d love to know if it came out of a hot rod like the Sentra SE-R. Probably wishful thinking, but you see the roll bar and you start to wonder. The seller admits the lack of an original drivetrain does ding the value a bit, but at least it will be easier to find parts for (and potentially to work on if it has fuel injection.) The interior is complete but dusty; regardless of condition, it’s clear this car and many others in the shop have been idle for quite some time. Given its in Oregon, hopefully the chassis remains rust-free.

The later car is cheap but it also appears to be far more neglected. Given this appears to be more of a shop arrangement than a private collection, you do wonder if all of these cars came in as customer projects and were later abandoned, or simply snatched up at local auctions and estate sales and put away for a rainy day. I’d love to know the backstory on this place and what else is hiding in this shop, which the seller says is located in a small town near Corvallis, Oregon. If I were closed, I’d definitely ask if I could get a list of what else is available and make the ride out to buy a few different projects at once – and who knows what else is there for rare, obsolete parts?