24 Hours of LeMons Year-End Tent Sale Event Blowout!

LEDE3
[Disclaimer: Neither Hooniverse nor the 24 Hours of LeMons is selling these cars. They are being sold by private owners. It’s only a headline.] 
Autumn brings about many changes in the year, but perhaps the most important change is that 24 Hours of LeMons teams turn over a new leaf, shedding their cars just as automotive writers toss out so many overwrought story ledes. Yes, the end of a racing season finds LeMons teams moving up, moving on, or sometimes just plain moving, leaving the budding crapcanista to benefit with a reasonably priced, already-built racecar. Of course, “reasonably priced” means different things to different people, but the general agreement among racers is that building a first car with all the required safety equipment requires an investment of at least $3,500. Consequently, a used-hooptie price usually reflects that builder’s investment.
I’m not nearly the used crapcan salesman that Spank Worthington is, but follow the jump for a list of tremendous LeMons cars up for sale right now for you to buy with American (or Canadian, in some cases) dollars to take racing. Or you could just look at them, I guess. Or park them in your yard to drive down property values. Whatever.
It’s time to clear these owners’ lots for next year’s models, so follow the jump to find the crapcan that fills your needs and Save, Save, Save!

Nutjob
What it is: Nutjob Racing’s 1991 Honda Civic Wagovan
How much it is: $500  or best offer
Where it is: Albany, NY
Its provenance: A small pile of Organizer’s Choice trophies.
Why it’s worth owning: We will start cheap and cover this Wagovan that has never been trailered to a race. That’s right, this team—who built the car on the street of Brooklyn—drove this car to every single one of its races from New York, including Chicago and Florida (among others). Of course, people street-drive their racecars all the time, but not usually when it’s a Civic Wagovan adorned with the New York skyline or the Bluth family Staircar (Hop-ons not included). The car comes without those accoutrement, but for the money, you’ll have a hard time simply buying the tubing to build your own cage. This one’s a steal.

Listing Here
 
Festiva
What it is: We Are Not Really From Iran’s 1993 Ford Festiva with a Mazda 1.8L BP engine swap
How much it is: $2,500
Where it is: Chicago, IL
Its provenance: A Class B win and an Organizer’s Choice trophy
Why it’s worth owning: This car wears a one-off bodykit built by Darren Besic, who also built the Opel Breadwagon and did some of the work on the Launcha Splatos. The mechanical builts were built mostly by a computer programmer who is currently trying to build and sell his own programmable ECUs and by GT Academy finalist Bill Fisher, who we interviewed last year. It’s reasonably quick and pretty well sorted, having won Class B at Road America last fall by just a few seconds. The sale price includes a hefty spares package.

Listing Here

 
Wonderment_Quantum
What it is: Wonderment Consortium’s 1987 Volkswagen Quantum Synchro Wagon with a turbocharged 20V Audi engine from an early S4.
How much it is: $3,000
Where it is: Aurora, IL
Its provenance: An Index of Effluency and a couple of Class B wins…with the stock drivetrain.
Why it’s worth owning: This one is kind of cheating, as the seller isn’t completely dedicated to selling it. Years ago, Popular Mechanics editor Mike Austin owned and ran this car, collecting an Index of Effluency and a couple of Class B wins. He sold it to its new owners, who promptly nuked the naturally aspirated 20V engine and dropped in a honking turbocharged S4 motor. It goes like stink now and it’s all-wheel drive, so it’s primed for poor weather domination. Worth noting: This car is being sold so the team can build a Hyundai Scoupe.

Listing Here

 
Bad_Decisions
What it is: Bad Decisions Racing’s Mid-Engined, Chrysler 440-powered Mercedes 300
How much it is: $1,000 sans engine. 
Where it is: Santa Cruz, CA
Its provenance: It’s the craziest V8 swap in LeMons history and an I Got Screwed award.
Why it’s worth owning: This team cut away the firewall and passenger footwell and stuck a big-block Mopar where the passenger would normally go so they’d have a mid-engined racecar. They’ve had some “teething” issues in the car’s two races, but if it were to ever get sorted, it could be a seriously fun racecar. The owner wants to reuse the 440 in another project and so would like to sell it as a roller, but a motivated buyer could probably cover the cost of replacements for the owner’s future project and take home a complete car.

Listing Here

 
Red_Shirt_Pulsar
What it is: Red Shirt Racing’s Nissan Pulsar with Sportbak!
How much it is: FREE!
Where it is: Southwestern Ontario
Its provenance: A Class C win.
Why it’s worth owning: This is a free racecar and it’s an awesome one: The Pulsar is a rare duck in the U.S. and the Sportbak to make it a “wagon,” well those are virtually impossible to find. This is a LeMons car of serious provenance, having lived much of its racing life in a parking garage underneath Toronto and having sent the team on an international quest to find a Sportback to make a proper racing car (Aerodynamics and stuff, eh?).

Listing Here

JagV12
Rover
Imp
What they are: Most of The Flaming A-Holes stable – A Jaguar XJ12, a Rover SD1, and a Hillman Imp.
How much they are: Jaguar – $3,000. Rover – $2,000. Imp – $6,000
Where they are: Southern California
Their provenance: A Class C win and an Index of Effluency
Why it’s worth owning: I’m not sure there’s anything more LeMons than a team who owns three British cars of questionable repute, but this team is associated with the one and only Spank, so it all makes sense in some cosmic LeMons way. The ad posting below sums it all up quite nicely, but here are the fine points: The V12 Jag sounds amazing, makes more than 300 horsepower, and is probably still a Class C car! The Rover is certainly Index of Effluency material, even though it probably needs some serious TLC (but it does have a cage that passed tech inspection at its last race). The Imp is powered by a 39-horsepower engine originally designed to be a fire pump, but good lord does it look like fun to hoon and it’s in good-enough shape (despite some exterior issues) to be a vintage racer again some day.

Listing Here

[Source: 24 Hours of LeMons Forum, Cars for Sale section | Photos: Murilee Martin]

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17 responses to “24 Hours of LeMons Year-End Tent Sale Event Blowout!”

  1. Green_PEAs Avatar
    Green_PEAs

    need someone to clarify how you buy a car for $2k plus and then qualify under the $500 limit. Do you pay the guy $500 for "the car" and $2000 for his safety gear?

    1. Eric Rood Avatar
      Eric Rood

      That's exactly it.

  2. nanoop Avatar
    nanoop

    The Hillman Imp, with sorted suspension, is doing well in oldtimer racing, biting ankles of the Mini fleet. Rear drive rear engine, switching between over- and understeering by throttle position – poor man's 911!

    1. stigshift Avatar
      stigshift

      The utter destitute man's 912 fits a bit better…

      1. Eric Rood Avatar
        Eric Rood

        Nah, you can get buy that through the Hooniverse Marketplace.
        http://hooniverse.info/2013/11/12/hooniverse-marke

        1. stigshift Avatar
          stigshift

          Thanks. Now I want a Skoda…

          1. Tanshanomi Avatar

            I've contemplated driving to Canada to get it. Them. Seriously.

      2. nanoop Avatar
        nanoop

        It's twice as expensive as the Jaguar. Impoverished nobility, I guess?

  3. John Pagel Avatar
    John Pagel

    The Jag has one of my cages in it and sounds, well, like a V12… Very cool car.
    -John from Evil Genius Racing.

  4. derekste Avatar
    derekste

    Just FYI- the Quantum ideally would be sold to someone and include the running, driving, non-caged chassis/parts car.
    BECAUSE QUANTUM PHYSICS AND UNOBTANIUM

    1. derekste Avatar
      derekste

      And it has a 10v/5cyl stock! (-:

  5. Van_Sarockin Avatar
    Van_Sarockin

    What a sad, pitiful parade of questionable life choices. I want all of them!

  6. mdharrell Avatar

    The Imp proved itself perfectly capable of trouncing my 96 at Thunderhill last year, should that fact sway anyone.

    1. nanoop Avatar
      nanoop

      Mrs nanoop is lucky, us living on an other continent…

  7. Zaxbys Avatar
    Zaxbys

    *Reads about the Festiva narrowly winning class B at RA"
    Huh, I was at that race and don't really remember that
    *sees the text links to a Hooniverse article*
    Huh, I read Hooniverse all the time back then but I don't remember that article
    *see the article starts out with the class A race*
    Huh, I do remember reading this article, but I still don't remember the close class B race
    *gets to the end of the article and sees the class B story is for a future (non-existent) story*
    WHAT?!?! HOW ROOD!

    1. Rood the Mobile Avatar
      Rood the Mobile

      Damn. You're right.
      It has to be the K Car's fault.

  8. LTDScott Avatar

    I've given some thought to selling The Homer. It's getting harder for me to put the effort to get it ready and take it to races, and it hibernate in the garage for most of the year. I'm genuinely curious about what kind of money I could get for it – would the "Star Car" status and celebrity autograph actually increase the value at all? Even without that, it's still a legit competitive car.
    But it doesn't cost anything for me to keep, and even when I can't race it, it's still a hell of a conversation piece – it may be in the Hollywood Christmas parade this year! So it'll remain a garage ornament for the foreseeable future!