The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Newcomers → 500$ budget
Hi,
I have been reading about this race and have thought of a cool truck/car thing that I could build. I am wondering if the 500$ price limit is in USD? Does a 500$ truck bought 20 years ago and left outside count as a 500$ truck now?
Thanks,
Daniel
Theoretically yes, if you can show that you paid $500 for it 20 years. I don't think there's any consideration of inflation. If the truck looks and runs like it's been sitting outside two decades, you may not get a whole lot of grief in BS Inspection anyway.
Theoretically yes, if you can show that you paid $500 for it 20 years. I don't think there's any consideration of inflation. If the truck looks and runs like it's been sitting outside two decades, you may not get a whole lot of grief in BS Inspection anyway.
Okay, thanks
The amount of grief that they give you over the price is inversely proportional to the crappyness/wierdness of the vehicle. If you pay $5000 for a Dacia 1302 pickup, then nobody will care, but if you pay $300 for an E36, then prepare to get sweated a bit.
The amount of grief that they give you over the price is inversely proportional to the crappyness/wierdness of the vehicle. If you pay $5000 for a Dacia 1302 pickup, then nobody will care, but if you pay $300 for an E36, then prepare to get sweated a bit.
Pay $1200 for a 1948 Plymouth, sell $650 in parts then DEMAND your penalty laps...make judges smile.
The amount of grief that they give you over the price is inversely proportional to the crappyness/wierdness of the vehicle. If you pay $5000 for a Dacia 1302 pickup, then nobody will care, but if you pay $300 for an E36, then prepare to get sweated a bit.
That has been my experience, not that I would doubt Steve. The crappier the car, the less crap you get at BS. We got grilled more when we brought our Saturn SL2 to its first race than the 1969 Rover and 1970 BMW 2800 combined.
I guess you could call this is a "confession" post, but I can definitely speak for the benefits of bringing an interesting old car over one that's new and has actual racing provenance.
When I emailed Judge Phil to ask what starting value to use for my slant six-powered, automatic, 1964 Dodge Dart that I'd owned for 10 years, which ran when parked and basically just needed a carb rebuild and new valve stem seals, he told me $2.25, or "one penny for every CID." We spent most of our budget money on shock absorbers and new leaf springs.
After our first race, which was remarkably trouble-free except for ludicrous oversteer caused by stiff new rear springs and squishy old front torsion bars, he gave me a residual value of one penny for every lap we turned (something like $1.60). We responded by replacing our leaky radiator with a used one from an unidentified Toyota truck. And also by putting $600 worth of aftermarket suspension parts under the front end.
At our second race we still got Class C, zero penalty laps. I didn't even bother to ask for a residual value since nothing major needed to be done, but I expect it would've still been in the single digits.
Of course, Phil wasn't giving us much of an unfair advantage with all the budget leeway; the car was still slow as hell. (It turns out the judges mostly know what they're doing). But it's been really nice not having to worry about keeping track of nickels and dimes. If something like a water pump or alternator is doubtful, we can just replace it without worrying about getting sweated at the next race.
Per the rules you have to add in all the money you have spent on it in the last 20 years. So say you bought it for $500 20 years ago and then spent $20,000 to redo it, then its worth $20,500.
In reality they are pretty good at valuing a vehicle so you bought it 20 years ago and just did minium maintance to keep it sort of working they probalby won't sweat you too much, unless they are bored
If you paid $500 for it 20 years ago, chances are it's the perfect Lemons car, and nobody is going to even ask how much you paid for it, nor how much you spent on it.
Welcome to Lemons!
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Newcomers → 500$ budget