Scraplife Garage’s Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 Gamble Pays Off
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It took a lot of gumption to bid more than $50,000 on a wrecked high-end sports car, sight unseen. But clicking the button on a silver 2020 Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 was a smart decision by Lee Carter, chief executive of LeeCParts, a Maryland-based auto dismantler who runs the Scraplife Garage YouTube channel - opens in new window or tab..
While dropping roughly $55,000 on a totaled Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 might raise eyebrows, the car's MSRP started a hair north of $100,000 in 2020. So it wasn't just a solid buy with just 12,732 miles on the odometer. Nope, it was a prime candidate for the eBay Motors Parts of America tour.
Over the next two months, the Porsche will join eight other exceptional vehicles on the whirlwind ride across America. We will set up camp at 10 stops along the way, visiting some of the coolest automotive enthusiast events in the USA.
A First Life Well Lived
For Carter, El Mirage is the highlight destination of the eBay Motors Parts of America tour.
As the LeeCParts team ran the 718 through an initial inspection, it became clear that the car was track-ready. This begged the question, was the vehicle wrecked on the track? The car's navigation showed Road America as its last destination and a Porsche Club of Chicago event wristband lurked in the glove box.
Carter said:
go through between 200 and 400 cars per year. Most of them are part-outs, but we save one here and there. Somebody was having a blast with this car. They were doing it right. Props to the owner of this car. Sorry it ended up like thi
The first video in Scraplife Garage’s Cayman 718 GT4 saga shows that the car took hits to the front and rear, destroying the bumpers, hood, and front fenders. However, the incident was not severe enough to deploy the airbags, and the structural damage was minimal. The pricey rear wing did not fare well and may be the reason this car was written off as totaled.
Carter said:
e GT4 was totaled, but not horrendous. We did the work at our shop. We're not a body shop. But using primitive tools, we got things straigh
After a thorough check of the collision damage and some time on the lift, a quick road test proved that the car was more than just drivable.
The 2020 Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 was a high-revving beast straight from the factory, with 414 horsepower on tap at 7,600 rpm. Car & Driver - opens in new window or tab. saw an 11.9-second quarter-mile at 120 miles per hour in a May 2020 review. Its 300-foot diameter skidpad rating of 1.1g was equally impressive.
Cayman 718 GT4: Take Two
The Cayman 718 GT4's path forward differed from Scraplife's radical Audi R8 GT Kart - opens in new window or tab. build. The car was mostly intact, so rebuilding it to stock form made sense. LeeCParts sourced brand-new parts from Porsche and a slew of used parts from eBay Motors.
New OEM headlamps run $6,500. LeeC bought used mufflers - opens in new window or tab. and headlamps - opens in new window or tab. for $4,500, along with smaller pieces, including the rear duckbill - opens in new window or tab. and under panels.
Carter said:
e goal of this build wasn't to build and modify a car. It was to show that you can get into a car like this without being filthy rich and spending $150,000. At this point, we put about $75,000 into it. That cut the price of admission in hal
Once the car was back to form, A-Plus Auto Styling designed a stunning livery to set it apart from the crowd. As a result, the Cayman 718 GT4 now looks like a race car—created for a fraction of the cost and with no dealer markup.
To follow the Parts of America tour and take a deep dive into the builds, visit eBay.com/PartsOfAmerica - opens in new window or tab..
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