I’ve been around a few 24 Hours of LeMons race cars. I’ve built a few. Raced a few. Blew up a few. Thought about crashing some. I even managed to drive one to the top step of the podium at a LeMons race, and another car saw the chequered flag at a Champcar (previously Chumpcar) […]
Back in 2006 when the 24 Hours of LeMons first launched the world’s craziest racing series, you could actually buy a running car for $500. It wasn’t easy and you didn’t have your pick of the best stuff around, but for 500 smackeroos you could get something that just needed a roll cage and some new wheels to make it to the race track. But inflation marches ever forward…and Cash for Clunkers decimated the population of really cheap stuff on craigslist. Add the fact that anybody can get “cheap” loan money combined with the effect of un-ending random stimulus checks from multiple economic crises, the same amount of cash won’t buy you much. Today, the $500 on craigslist costs $2000, but every once in a full moon, you find something with frozen rear brakes, bald tires, dead battery, and various other problems for under that magical, mythical, and arbitrary $500 price. Time to go racing. Find this 1985 Renault Fuego offered for $500 in Binghamton, NY (or PA?) via craigslist. Tip from ME.
In the Nick Cage classic “Gone in 60 Seconds”, the protagonist (and car thief) hunts his white whale — Eleanor. She is a unicorn, an elusive 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500 that is impossible to capture. No matter how many times he tried, Memphis could not capture it…and I’ve got a similar car. Not one I’m planning on stealing for the Ukrainian mafia, but one I’d like to have in my garage. The E28 BMW 5-series. Sure, I’ve driven a few. I even took one to the top of the podium at the 24 Hrs of LeMons in 2007 (and another to the scrap heap after the first race in 2006, training wheels welded on as penalty, People’s Choice award…good times)…but I’ve never owned or daily driven an E28 535i. I still have the itch and someday I’ll get a manual version before they are all crushed or become victim of hipster price bloat. Find this 1988 BMW 535i E28 offered for $2850 in Petaluma, CA via craigslist.
It might not say in his official autobiography, but I’m pretty sure that Sebastian Vettel started his racing career in a Saturn SL2 with an automatic transmission — and now he races a Fiat in F1, so that could be you for a small hunk of cash. Find this 1994 Saturn SL2 Race Car offered for […]
Who doesn’t love cheap fun? Racing cars and going fast costs real coin, but this is DT where exceptions to the rule are welcome and encouraged! This 1998 C43 has been stripped of the AMG body kit and has bumpers from a similar year C220 so it looks entirely forgettable. Speaking of stripped, this C43 […]
What could be more fun than 1,900 miles in some crummy old car in the middle of August? Doing it with a bunch of other weirdos you just met…and aren’t quite sure about yet. Last year I had the opportunity – uh, the failure of judgment – to participate in part of the very first […]
If you are at all a fan of the 24 Hours of LeMons, you must be familiar with the name Eyesore racing — this is the (only) team to win the trip to LeMans (in France) after winning the LeMons (the $500 junker race series). If you are a DT Radio fan, you might have […]
Installing an ATL Super Cell into the Black Iron Racing Bavarian Brougham (BMW E36 V8) Endurance Racer by CFlo In the constant quest to keep a terrible beater of a vehicle from falling apart during the undue stress of endless hours of endurance racing, the spectre of speed always looms. Sure, the name of the […]
or How to Build a Crappy Race Car out of a $200 BMW and an LM7 by CFlo With all of the V8 swapped oddballs we like to feature here on DT, we had to eventually start practicing what we preach. This build was over 3 years in the making, and we finally ran it […]
The Ford Probe was built based on the Mazda GD and GE platforms in two generations, the first from 1989-1992, and the second from 1993-1997. It was originally planned to be a Mustang replacement, but enthusiasts and rational people demanded that the Mustang remain rear-whee-drive and V8 powered, so the Probe lasted for a few […]