Not to be confused with...

Those of you who know me know that I am prone to getting arguably crazy ideas into my head about some random thing I want to do from time to time. I'll jump right in and get started, then lose interest/motivation at some point before completion of said task. Fun, no?

So the latest crazy thing is fielding a team for next year's 24 Hours of LeMons. get it? Lemons? Hah! In a nutshell, this is a weekend event comprised of a couple of full track days running wheel to wheel endurance style in cars that are documented to have cost no more than $500, excluding wheels, tires, and safety equipment. How could that not be fun?

I definitely have the skill set necessary to purchase a cheap heap of a car; I've more than amply demonstrated this ability at several points in my life. Hell, some of them have even been halfway reliable; a partial list can be found further on down the page.

So the event calendar for next year hasn't been published yet (mid-November), but I'd guess that it will be about the same time, the end of July. All I need to is get a team of about 4-6 drivers-cum-crew workers, and maybe $3-5K in capital to fund this undertaking? Stranger things have happened, to be sure.

Here are a few links to Jalopnik articles (they're the best coverage I've found of the events so far) with galleries of the entrants in recent races, starting with this year's South Carolina event:

"South" - Kershaw, South Carolina

"New England" - Stafford Springs, Connecticut

"Detroit-ish" - Toledo, O-hi-o

Who knows, if we do well, maybe we can even go on the road with it.

Anyway, that'll do it for now, in the meantime, here are a few words on my addiction to car buying.

My first car, a turd brown '75 Firebird Esprit was $400, IIRC. I bought it before I had a license or even a permit, and never got it registered as a result. Don't remember if it had the 350 or the 400, but I lean toward the 350 hooked up to a TH400. This would have been...1987 maybe? 1988? Drove it around for several months until the brakes went out and we just ditched it on Addison Ave. in Chicago.

Next came the '76 Audi Fox, which was a hand-me-down heap from the 'rents. Drove it around for a while until it got to be too crappy even for me. Sold it for maybe $800? That number seems to stick in my head for some reason. It apparently died on the guy who bought it soon thereafter, and he crank called threatening my life for a few weeks after. Fun.

My first car legally purchased with my own money was a '67 (base) Cutlass convertible. Talked the guy down to $1600, and it came with a decent top, cracked rear plastic window, 330 cubic inch 2bbl "Jetfire" engine, 2-speed PowerGlide auto. The PowerGlide died driving a friend back from Wheaton?, so it got swapped out for a TH400, and I had another one purchased plus a 455 for an eventual rebuild that never happened. Not a bad 30-foot car, and it was great for a summer or two.

There was a '64 Triumph TR4. this was a true POS, as there were no original body panels without gigantic rust holes; the drivers side floorboard was nonexistent, and you had to drive squinty eyed, or get rust flakes in your eyes from the constantly-disintegrating "steel" beneath your feet. One item of note was the purchase price, which started at around $3500, but was negotiated down to $1100 through a perfect storm of good cop/bad cop/worse cop put on my my parents. Asian negotiating skills at their best.

A more complete listing, in almost chronological order of attainment:

'74 Pontiac Firebird Esprit

'83 Datsun 280ZX 2+2
'89 Toyota Supra Turbo Targa
'88 Toyota Supra Turbo Targa (ebay)
'88 Toyota 4Runner SR5 V6 (Auction)
'96? Chrysler Sebring JXi Convertible (Auction)
'93 Toyota Tercel (Auction)
'91 Toyota 1/2 ton Pickup (Hilux) (Auction)
'90 Toyota Celica GT Hatchback (Auction)
'97 Toyota Land Cruiser (ebay)
'98 Lexus GS400 (ebay)