Re: car ideas for a newbie?
ok well since were not looking at being the best anymore, any ideas for somethin super cool or random?
if only i could talk these guys price down 4000 http://www.rockymtnbus.com/index.php?s= … GM91-91220
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Newcomers → car ideas for a newbie?
ok well since were not looking at being the best anymore, any ideas for somethin super cool or random?
if only i could talk these guys price down 4000 http://www.rockymtnbus.com/index.php?s= … GM91-91220
That would be a good tow vehicle. But theres no flippin way I'm getting on the track with you in that bus. Pretty sure Phil ain't granting a weight waiver for that either.
Again, try to think boring, reliable, easy to drive car. THEN THEME IT.
Once you have that down, then you can try to be Speedycop or Marc (doubt any of us could ever be them anyway).
Having said that, some guys on here like wrenching more than driving. I'm a driver. You may be a mechanic. So if you want to wrench all weekend, go look for the obscure POS Citroen that you have to call half the specialty suppliers in America to find that random part 2 weeks prior to the race.
This. Zero BS laps no matter what you do to it.
Invite Jeremy from Top gear to drive it.
Rules state it must have four wheels, so no Reliant Robins (thankfully).
I'll second buying something lightweight and common. Heavy is your ENEMY, that is unless you find something too cool to pass up.
Here's your ideal criteria:
1) Lightweight
2) Common parts availability
3) Unexpected reliability
4) Interesting
5) Good wheel and tire selection available
6) Cheap performance parts availability
...or you can just throw it all out the window and just buy what looks cool.
What about a 1979 528i? Would that be automaticly douchy?
I have a buddy who has one sitting behind his house.
You've got me thinking about the early 90's GM cars. They are a dime a dozen around here. They are all 4 doors though.
Phil forgot to add the legendary reliability of Aircooled Vw's is, well, legendary.
You've got me thinking about the early 90's GM cars. They are a dime a dozen around here. They are all 4 doors though.
4-door = easy to get to your Coolsuit cooler, easy to get to your in-cabin battery, easy to help your driver get belted, etc. Plus, on your way to the event you can load the back of the car with fuel cans, tires, etc.
The 5 and 7 series bmws don't get sweated as much as the 3 series. They seem to run decently, though.
Deawoo
Bring a Deawoo and you will be the coolest 16 year old ever!!!Phil, have we had a Deawoo yet?
I want to run one, but maybe in the 2012 season
I also thought running a Daewoo would be awesome. I would try to find the newest, cleanest example possible within budget to fully exploit the mega-Lemons-grade depreciation. Go through BS with a fresh coat of wax and the window sticker on. Dress up as aggressive, greasy Daewoo car salesmen.
BMWs have been much less reliable than you'd think, because for every E30 or E28 that gets in the top 10 you've got five that crapped out and finished around 87th.
I'll echo this point. We finished down around 140 at Sears Pointless with our e30.
Bring as many spares as you can afford or have room for because something is going to go wrong when you're constantly redlinig your 25yo car for eight hours straight. The only spare part we didnt bring was a transmission. I'll give you one guess as to which part crapped out in less than an hour on the second day. We were effectively out of the race for over six hours on Sunday whilst creating out Franken-tranny on the asphalt in our pit area. We brought an entire spare engine an ended up selling it to team Jaywatch to get them back on the track.
I'm going to assume none of you have alot of experience of working on any particular make or model of car, but are you going to be getting help by other family members that may? Personal experience on a car does make a lot of stuff easier.
If not I would add on to the gm v6's. We ran an 89 with the 60 degree v-6. The car is incredibly basic and all you really need to do anything is a set of metric wrenches and a variety of penetrating oils. Actually we also ended up using hammers, crowbars, and a hacksaw, but none of these are things you should do.
i love the 92-94 Lumina Z34 coupes. Bring one of those done up like the Rusty Wallace TIDE machine. It'll probably break...a lot, but you will probably trip over spare parts on your way to the gas station.
we'd be able to better get an idea of what would suit your team if we knew your car background/learnings from under the hood. we could be totally off-base and for all we know you could rebuild an HR22 prelude in 45minutes, thus negating the curse of the escaping headgaskets with Lemons hondas.
i love the 92-94 Lumina Z34 coupes. Bring one of those done up like the Rusty Wallace TIDE machine. It'll probably break...a lot, but you will probably trip over spare parts on your way to the gas station.
we'd be able to better get an idea of what would suit your team if we knew your car background/learnings from under the hood. we could be totally off-base and for all we know you could rebuild an HR22 prelude in 45minutes, thus negating the curse of the escaping headgaskets with Lemons hondas.
That was Darrell Waltrip in the TIDE car not Rusty!
That said I seriously doubt you will EVER see a Z34 in a Lemons race, a neighbor of mine had one that I ebayed for him and even beat ones go for at least 3 grand. As well the engine parts for them are rare/uncommon and therefore worth a lot. One of those cars that is worth more in parts than complete.
I'll politely disagree. It took me 30 seconds to find this car.
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/2260613892.html
Needs some work, but it is $800.
Or you could buy two for $1200, cobble together one decent car and sell off all the spares.
http://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/cto/2254985797.html
Serj wrote:i love the 92-94 Lumina Z34 coupes. Bring one of those done up like the Rusty Wallace TIDE machine. It'll probably break...a lot, but you will probably trip over spare parts on your way to the gas station.
we'd be able to better get an idea of what would suit your team if we knew your car background/learnings from under the hood. we could be totally off-base and for all we know you could rebuild an HR22 prelude in 45minutes, thus negating the curse of the escaping headgaskets with Lemons hondas.
That was Darrell Waltrip in the TIDE car not Rusty!
That said I seriously doubt you will EVER see a Z34 in a Lemons race, a neighbor of mine had one that I ebayed for him and even beat ones go for at least 3 grand. As well the engine parts for them are rare/uncommon and therefore worth a lot. One of those cars that is worth more in parts than complete.
Here's a clean Z34 in Wichita for $950. The disgruntled wife is selling it for a song.
http://wichita.craigslist.org/cto/2306203692.html
Here's a clean Z34 in Wichita for $950. The disgruntled wife is selling it for a song.
Whoa..the way she's typing the ex-husband must have taken off with all her meth.
Well, not having raced I guess I'm the least likely to have a valid opinion but having driven crap can cars all my life I'd still venture to say that what you want is something that's:
A/ Hard to break
B/ Easy to fix
Try working the hell hole in a VW 914 on a hot day... Or don't. Volvos are both A and B. The comments about GM V6 cars - around here every small town taxi is a 1990 Lumina. Probably no coincidence.
And Judge Phil - why are you surprised about the success of Italian cars? They were designed and built to live as crap can cars with drivers revving the heck out of them in 110F Sicilian heat. They were never at home on the Interstate cruise, but coming to a Lemons event must feel just like home to the Fiats and Alfas. Can't imagine a Southern Lemons race being all that different from the typical daily commute in Napoli?
We need to re-name our Lexus to be "a LF-A" to cash in on their reliability! Matches my kids' GTa brush paint too!!
B/ Easy to fix
...The comments about GM V6 cars - around here every small town taxi is a 1990 Lumina.
My wife had a Chevy Lumina. You have to drop the engine, transmission, and front suspension as a unit to replace any of them. Not the easiest thing to do in the pits.
what, no Subaru love? the old 2.2 is a tough engine, and awd kept us out of ALOT of trouble!
A good car for a Lemons Beginner................PORSCHE 928..................... ALL THE WAY
Hmmm let me count the ways, with just a touch of sarcasm:
1: Common-ish (5k annual production in the early 80's)...
2: Excellent Porsche backed racing heritage: well thats not true either...never did race it
3: Cheap replacement parts: compared to a Ferrari they are!
4: Super reliable engine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm1BlKelA3M
5: super reliable electronics: Whats not to love about 50 fuses, 25 relays, 20 multi-pin connectors and miles of ancient wires as thick as your finger.....(hint buy a multimeter)
6: most are automatics (mine is!)
There have been a grand total of 2 928's in Lemons....mine raced twice (blew up once) and I think the other one back east had issues, but finished....so thats an excellent finish the race ratio of 66%!!!!! I'm still waiting for it to blow up again!!!
Remember a Porsche has never won overall or IOE......
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