Best Lemons Cars (Page 3 of 4)

I have a friend who has a $100 Maxima that he has been Rallycrossing.  I think he will turn it into a Lemons ride for 09.

Wow. The only u-body that could hope to compete would be the China-only Chevy GL8.

I was at an RM auction in Toronto a while ago and one went through the block.  The car had an SBC and a 3 on the floor.  I assumed that someone had put that combo in it post factory.  I guess not. 

Cool bit of info.

None. Bring it

4-cylinder Mustangs get around the track about as fast as the V8 ones.

The main downside is that they are down right sloooooooow no matter what you do. The good things are that they are very reliable, parts are cheap & plentiful in the junkyard, (mustang, ranger B2200 all share the 2.3), and all the V8 mustang chassis parts fit (V8 brakes/springs/sway bars people just throw that crap away). Not the most original or fun car to see at Lemons, but a truely sub $500 shitty car to have to drive everyday on the street that turns into workhorse on the race track.

The Mustang pictured is a 91.  Ours is a 90.  There is a factory 25 hp difference between them.  The 2.3 is a big heavy pig (it weighs nearly as much as the 302) and the 90 and older cars rolled out of the factory with a whopping 88 hp.  Ours worked well in the corners, but was a pig on the straights.  If your on a "fast" track you won't have any fun.  We were in 11th when we cooked the motor in New Orleans, so they can finish well.  Also, there were nine Mustangs out of 95 cars in Houston in March.  I'd hate to see them and E30s being the only cars on track.

We're swapping our 2.3 out for a 302 in the Mustang.  We'll be replacing it with a fox T bird in the off season.  We also built a Fairmont wagon.  Fox Fords can be good Lemons cars, but I can't recommend the 90 and prior 2.3s.

Reliable, almost certain to finish if you drive clean:
Crown Vic, Escort, Volvo 240, Mustang

Winning potential, less reliable:
Toyota Supra/Celica GT-S(80s), Rx7, Neon, Jetta

Epic, unreliable sharts that illicit smiles from the judges' faces:
Anything British, Anything French, Anything Russian, Fieros, ALMOST everything in GM's product portfolio from 1963-1984

Hella cheatin' cop-out cars: E30, Miatas, well, any bmw made after 1993 really...

I think there's 2 ways to truly have fun at a Lemons event, you either bring something that'll keep you on the track turning laps, or you bring something that half of the paddock questions your sanity, the other half laughs, smiles, and offers you food out of pitty.

This all being said, any of these cars listed above are capable of winning as well as keeping you in the paddock the entire event. Develop a strategy, develop a theme, and find team members that are as crazy as you are.

The engine overheats and then melts down.  The brakes are junk and they really just...don't...handle all that well.  The Camaro looks good on paper but its a lousy Lemons car.

I'm bringing an 89 RS to Nelson Ledges I like a challange.

Maybe thats why I like British cars as well.

SVT Contours are great track cars!  The trans is a bit fragile, but otherwise they are a lot of fun assuming they aren't completely clapped out.

We got our Camaro into it's new home yesterday. After doing a little research we discovered that it's a '79. It's an old Enduro car from the short tracks of Florida. It starts and drives. At $500 we got for less than we would have paid for a cage in another car.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rfn026/Cama … Dn0ZJqckg#

Richard Newton

My caltrans/grinch/frogger  has 5 races on the motor in the car with the harmanic balancer welded to the crank .That's bouncing off the rev limiter @7k

Maybe the semi truck radiator helps out the car a bit !!

Just get a real good radiator the biggest  SOB you can install that will help with the overheat issues!!