Three (or more) cars and no cash

[Roadkilled75]

This post will be updated as I get around to writing it, i.e. when I don't want to do homework. Pics will be added more slowly, as I sort through years and years of digital photos.

My first car was an inherited '78 Olds Cutlass Cruiser. No pictures of it, but it was a beast. My dad's former tow vehicle. Primer red with rallye wheels. 350 with an Edelbrock intake, a shift kit, and an air bag stuck in the right side spring to get me some traction at the track. This car got single digit mileage, ran low 16's, did wicked one-wheel burnouts, and when I decided to run a full season of points at 75-80, it got me a 9th place finish for the season. Severe gas tank rust led to its demise at around 320k miles.

The Olds was replaced by a '75 maverick purchased for $526 on ebay. Drove down to Virginia about a week after the D.C. sniper was captured to pick it up. It was sunken in a mud and gravel driveway and took far more effort to free it than the car was worth.

Still a jr in high school at the time, my dad supplied various engine parts, mostly from the hidden corners of the garage, on the condition that I had to build it myself. After a failed attempt at a high rpessure oil pump (it held 90 psi while spraying out the rear main seal), the resulting 302 based on the block from a 200k+mile mustang does in fact fit in the engine bay albeit with a lot of hammer work to get the full length headers in along with it.

The transmission disappeared to the magical world that is ATI Performance Products, my employer at the time, and returned as a beefed up reverse manual unit with a 3500 stall converter. It also liked to leak and it went through three sets of bands. By the 4th trans swap, I was doing it in 25 minutes.

Drove this, when it was running, for the remainder of high school. Went to the bracket finals only to break out first round on a .509 light. Never had much bracket success with this car because it tended to run 14.15, 14.16, 13.88, 14.15, etc... Probably my fault somehow, but we never did figure it out. It now sits at home in MD, occasionally drive it on weekends. Still pulls a nice 1.9 60'. Some asshat backed into it when it was parked on the street. Pics, more to come:

Miles @ purchase: 28251









Miles @ 3-10-08: 38722 (less, actually. 4.11 gears will do that)

After my freshman year of college, picked up the second $500 car. It too was stuck in a gravel and dirt driveway. It doesn't have a mod list, but an OEM repair list:

Gas tank
Rear calipers, discs, pads, lines
Front calipers, discs, pads
Fuel pump
Windshield
Timing belt
Valve adj.
K&N filter
all drive belts
Falken ziex 512s

Pics in chronological order:
Miles @ purchase in Jan 05: 108,000

First pic ever, with its big brother:


Went to skyline drive a week after getting it on the road. Ended up driving home in 4th gear after the clutch cable went. 3 hours up I-81 and across I-70, coast to a stop 5 minutes from my house and call for my dad to come out with the trailer, only to find that the stupid adjustment knob on the cable was loose. It is still duct taped in place 4 years later.

The original paint in all its glory, summer '05:


fall '05


Not-Quite-Rice


Deer ran INTO me, Feb '07


Started autocrossing in this car:


First taste of cones:


More autox:








Holy Body Roll Batman! Stock springs ftw!


Then I decided to play in the dirt and beat 30+ subarus to place 8th overall. Joined TST shortly after the large turnout to this event.






Rear ended a minivan, Jan '08. No pics of damage, but it was bad, car would have been totalled. However, it was deemed my fault, and I don't carry collision on the car, so I got to keep it! A few hours at the junkyard, a few more with a hydraulic ram, and the radiator support from hell is back into shape...or close enough. This car has served me well and after one more season of autox, it will serve as the DD until it gets too expensive to fix or I find a good deal on a clean one.



Took a second trip to skyline drive with better results this time:


Miles @ 3-10-08: 157,023

To come: the pimpmobile, the taurus that replaced it, and the upside-down T-Bird. Teasers:

[DelCoTuninG]

the yamaha sho engine is awesome. the rest of the car isnt hah