At $4,500, Would You Go Topless in This Custom 2007 Chevy HHR?
The most remarkable thing about today’s Nice Price or No Dice Chevrolet HHR is that it comes with a clean title, rather than as the result of a post-totalling reimagining. Let’s imagine what such a custom beast might reasonably be worth.
Some people look forward to retirement. Others chafe at the thought of their working days being over. One thing that most can agree on, however, is that there are certain perks to being of retirement age — early bird dining, suspenders, and driving around in something like yesterday’s 1994 Lincoln Town Car being among the most attractive of them. It’s not just older folks who like these cars — or 4:00 pm dinners — but that is the image the big Lincolns do evoke. At $7,500, that image apparently wasn’t too dear either. That price earned the Town Car a solid 60 percent Nice Price win. Now, who’s up for some lawn bowling?
Ok, we’re not really going to engage in any athletic endeavors. It’s too hot around here for that sort of baloney. Instead, let’s consider this custom 2007 Chevy HHR up for grabs from a dealership in central Pennsylvania, and wonder just exactly how it did fall into that dealer’s possession? Do you think it was traded for something else? Picked up at auction? Purchased on a bet? Were there magic beans involved?
Chevy introduced the HHR in 2005 as the brand’s entrant into the then-wave of retro-mod cars that were popping out at the time. HHR is an acronym for Heritage High Roof, which attempts to describe its throwback nose married to the wagon body style. Old school looks notwithstanding, Chevy plopped the HHR on the Delta platform, meaning it has a modern transverse engine and front-wheel drive.
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This one could logically be called an HNR or Heritage No Roof seeing as it still has its old-school aping nose but lacks any sort of full enclosure. Instead, the rear doors have been sealed shut, as has the portion of the hatch that remains in the back. In place of the greenhouse and roof, the car has a hard tonneau and hoop spoiler. That tonneau looks to be made out of a honking-big piece of plywood and if you’ve been to the lumber yard recently, you’ll know that alone is worth a chunk of change.
It’s all been painted a matte orange with flat black trim and, as odd and seasonally inefficient as it may be, the work converting it to its present custom state does seem to have been pretty well executed.
Mechanically, things seem to be pretty stock. That means a 175 horsepower 2.4-liter Ecotec four, and a four-speed automatic driving those front alloys. That may seem like a lot of “meh,” but what the drivetrain lacks in excitement, it more than makes up for in lack of drama.
The interior looks equally as stock, and this being a 2007 model it wouldn’t have had side-curtain airbags, which might make the car’s computer go wonky in their absence. Everything looks serviceable in the truncated cabin, which is all the more amazing considering the car has 186,000 miles under its belt.
How many of those were amassed in the car’s present state? The ad gives no background on it whatsoever, but does indicate that the dealer is in it for the long game, noting that the car will be “Great for Halloween.” As we noted, it carries a clean title and, per the seller, has passed its Pennsylvania safety inspection while rocking new Uniroyal tires.
Ok, there’s a lot going on here. And, I don’t expect many of you to jump into the comments claiming that this is the car you’ve personally been looking for all your life. That being said, there was obviously at least one person that this spoke to, and it’s equally likely that there will be at least one more for whom this custom car is “da bomb.”
So, how much should that unique and special person pay for this ride? The dealer is asking $4,500 for someone to claim the right to call this HHR their own. Per the interior pictures in the ad, the on-the-lot price may be $3,500. Or maybe $8,500? It’s impossible to tell. At any rate, we’re sticking with the online price of $4,500.
What do you say, is $4,500 a fair deal for so unique a car? Or, is that a sky-high price for a car with such limited appeal?
You decide!
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to 8000RPM for the hookup!
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