MM Does BABE 2011: The Official Discussion Thread

[TorinoCobra070]

i'd second a crown vic. seriously, an ex-police P71 car can be had for cheap, is designed to be abused endlessly, is built upon cheap as hell readily available parts (you probably won't have to wait a day for an odd ball part to ship in to some parts place), and can fit your whole life inside. 25mpg highway, RWD, and left lane dominance thanks to scaring everyone else on the road.

Good idea is good.

[Jake]

An ex-popo Crown Vic would be a great highway cruiser. Get in the far left lane, lights on, cruise set at 75, and watch as everyone moves out of our way.

[SlimKlim]

^Gonna go ahead and stick that one in the "probably illegal" category.

[V1GiLaNtE]

^^ meh... Technically I would say no... You're just working peoples fears to your advantage... Hell for some reason people tell me all the time my car from a distance looks like the Popo..
If not a crown vic who can say no to a 1985 ford escort gt.. Friend has one and for the love of it @ 220k miles that SOB just won't die.. granted nothing else works except for the drivetrain, headlights, and horn...

[Jake]

^Gonna go ahead and stick that one in the "probably illegal" category.

When I say lights I mean headlights... having blues going would get us stopped/arrested/deported before we made it outta town.

An Escort would be a far worse highway car than a P71... but they do run longer barely holding on, than most cars run at all. Same for old GM stuff.

[ViPER1313]

Vulcan V6 Taurus - it won't be fast, it's not sweet, but it will get you there, and parts are cheap and can be found everywhere. I have tried *everything* to kill one of those and it just isn't possible.

[Jake]

Vulcan V6 Taurus - it won't be fast, it's not sweet, but it will get you there, and parts are cheap and can be found everywhere. I have tried *everything* to kill one of those and it just isn't possible.

I've thought of those (and there's a gold 95 LX on Craigslist, Dad would shit a brick if I bought that as he had one for years) but the transmissions are known weak spots. At least Dad's was. Since we'll be dealing with higher mileage what's your take on the Taurus/Sable trans?

[.RJ]

Ok, I'll be serious for a minute.

#1 - Older and/or less complicated cars are good. I remember Pete bought a $500 E36 a while back that he got running without much hassle. Something like that would be a good idea. Fix the known weak points, make sure its got brakes, carry spare O2 sensors and stuff like that.

Dos - Doing this for charity is a good idea and you could get a pretty cool story in the paper but dont underestimate the effort it takes to raise the money. The time you spend on it would probably be more lucrative if you'd just worked a part time job (I know thats not the point, but keep that perspective in mind). You'll need to put in a lot of your own $$ to make it happen, and I bet the alumni would chip in (I would).

c - Dont split up into teams. You will have your hands and budgets full enough with 1 car.

IV - dont underestimate the costs. $500 car, sounds awesome right? Plan on spending another $1k on it to get it 2000+ mile road worthy. Tires, brakes, universal gold paint, etc. Then there's the travel, hotel, food, etc costs in the rally. You can do it cheap but its not free. Make a spreadsheet of all of this and add it up. Its now a lot more than $500

My copper coins.....

[Dave]

I think this sounds like a lot of fun. Anybody interested in making a Richmond-area contingent? (If so, PM me so we don't shit up the thread)

[terdcivic]

Do police auction cars count? Otherwise we could head to one of those with $500 in hand and walk away with a car

[.RJ]

I think this sounds like a lot of fun. Anybody interested in making a Richmond-area contingent? (If so, PM me so we don't shit up the thread)

Dave's garage and backyard motocross track would be an awesome MM sponsor....

Now where did I put that brush hog.

[ViPER1313]

Since we'll be dealing with higher mileage what's your take on the Taurus/Sable trans?

If you stick with a 96->99 with the Vulcan it shouldn't be bad. I threw mine into reverse at 40mph....... still works. Just make sure it's not slipping when you get the car and the fluid isn't completely black, like any other auto. Trans cooler would be a good idea if the special events are track days / autoxs. I like the Crown Vic idea as well. Maybe an older Caprice w/ the 5.7L?

[Mike]

IROC-Z.

And I'm out.

[Jake]

IROC-Z.

And I'm out.

Mullet maintenance would easily put us over the $500 budget.

[V1GiLaNtE]

IV - dont underestimate the costs. $500 car, sounds awesome right? Plan on spending another $1k on it to get it 2000+ mile road worthy. Tires, brakes, universal gold paint, etc. Then there's the travel, hotel, food, etc costs in the rally. You can do it cheap but its not free. Make a spreadsheet of all of this and add it up. Its now a lot more than $500

This was my initial thought.. I could probably chip in for a car but the $$$ it's going to take to put myself somewhere for the night + food + booze + incidentals + emergency repairs = a shit ton more than $500... You could easily spend an extra $1000+ PER PERSON.. And I'll be honest I don't have that kind of cash.. even if it's a year from now.. :dunno:

[Mike]

that is why you get an econoline van.

[SlimKlim]

Well we're going to have to sit down and make a budget once this plan starts rolling. My current guesstimate is somewhere around $1800 per car. Allowing for the car, entry fee, repairs, hotels, gas and food.

[Kaan]

hotel? sleep in the damn car

[.RJ]

$1800 per car is probably way low. I wouldnt be surprised if you doubled that and still came up a little short.

[SlimKlim]

Well we aren't going to restore a car to do this, and its not going tol be a four day retreat of luxury or anything. I've still yet to sit down and make a budget, but that's my ballpark right now based on the research I've done.

Its still a reasonable goal, especially with some big donators in the mix.