At $3,500, Is This Barn-Find 1990 Hyundai Excel An Excellent Bargain?

Yahoo

10-02-2025

It's questionable as to who might squirrel away such an unremarkable car as today's Nice Price or No Dice Hyundai, but that's just what happened. Let's see if this barn find's price has us telling it to get lost.
The 1988 Toyota pickup we looked at this past Friday only weighs around 2,620 pounds. In contrast, in its most basic form, a modern Tacoma truck tips the scales at more than 3,900 pounds. That's like carrying around almost half another truck. Simple and stout, our pickup came with a rebuilt engine and a sensible $6,000 asking price. Few of you found any issue with that combo, giving the tidy little hauler a solid 71 percent Nice Price win.
Based on present knowledge, the Lloyds Bank coprolite is the largest documented turd in existence. Proudly displayed at the JORVIK Viking Centre in the North Yorkshire city of York, it's a meaty eight inches long and, more impressively, over two inches in girth. Imagine the introductions at smart people parties when your thesis is on the composition and quality of a fossilized dookie laid by an Iron Age Viking with industrious bowels.
I mention this as proof that, given enough time, pretty much anything gains in value, whether monetarily or, perhaps, intellectually, for people lacking better things to do with their time. With that in mind, let's ruminate on what sort of person would hang onto and not allow to fall into disrepair a vehicle of such little initial regard as this 1990 Hyundai Excel.
What's most noteworthy about Hyundai's first offering in the U.S. is how people were able to differentiate it from the Microsoft spreadsheet program of the same name introduced the exact same year, 1985. Hyundai's first car, the Pony, was never sold here, and issues with Ford's naming rights demanded a different name when its successor debuted here.
By the time the second generation Excel hit the market, Hyundai had become well established as a maker of sensible, high-value, low-cost cars here in the U.S.—enough so that Mitsubishi found its cars good enough to sell under its own name in order to circumvent import tariffs on cars from Japan.
This Excel four-door is representative of that second swing on the small car market. These were introduced in 1989 and ran through the 1994 model year, at which point the Excel nameplate was retired upon the debut of the model's replacement, the Accent.
The ad offers absolutely no information about this Excel's history, but does claim it to be a 'barn find' and in 'like new' condition. It's also noted to have a clean title. Mileage is a mere 23,469, which means it's likely still in possession of its factory brake shoes and pads and might even maintain that 'new car smell.' Based on the stickers on the windshield, the last time this Excel passed its state safety inspection was in 2011, so it's been hiding in its barn for a pretty long time.
Specs for the little Hyundai include an 84-horsepower 1.5-liter SOHC fuel-injected four, a five-speed manual gearbox driving the front wheels, and… well, that's about it. Everything else about the car is extremely analog, including Armstrong windows, manual seats and locks, and a sad little fake gauge on the dash where a tach should go.
The positives here include a body that appears solid and without major issues and a cabin that looks clean and unremarkable. The downsides are the presence of motorized mouse belts for the front passengers (pre-airbags) and the fact that it's extremely basic, the automotive equivalent of government housing. Could its uniqueness overcome that and make someone pay the $3,500 the seller asks to hand it over?
To be fair, this is probably the only opportunity to own a 1990 Excel in any condition today, as these were pretty much throwaway cars once they had served their purpose. That makes this a bit of a conundrum since it's obviously still a viable car, but would it be a smart move to actually buy and own it?
What do you say? Is this Excel a deal at that $3,500 asking? Or does it belong in a museum?
You decide!
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Whatsupdohc for the hookup!
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