[trackbird]

I was at a friends house yesterday (440 miles from home) to look at a 3rd gen shell that I can get for a great price. It's not a real desirable car for anything other than a track car. Let me try to explain (since it was dark and we were using a flashlight, I didn't think to try taking pics).

It's a '84-ish Berlinetta. It has the 85 mph speedo with the kmh scale on the other side (the double needle setup). It has idiot lights for temp, oil presure and voltage. The seats are blue vinyl and ripped. The car was purchased for the 6,000 mile goodwrench 350 that was in it, the engine and the automatic are gone (not that I care about the auto, there aren't many things that are worse than an early 700R-4). The body is straight and seem solid, there is slight damage to the fender lip on the front drivers side 1/4 panel. The rubber nose is chipped up (looks like it hit something and popped the paint off), but it's otherwise solid and not torn up. It has a rear and all the suspension is there. Some of the wiring under the hood is stripped and wrapped in electrical tape (I was told that was the distributor wiring), the Y-pipe is still in the car, manifolds are in the hatch, etc.

The bottom line is that this is a fairly straight body in an unloveable car (there is no saving that interior) and it's a hardtop. I'd be starting from scratch, gutting the interior, wiring the car, installing a manual (I've done 5 and 6 speed swaps already), getting it caged, building a motor, etc. The problem is, it's hard to decide to put a 305 back in it since I'll be building from scratch, same for a 5 speed. It's not much more to put a 6 speed in there while I'm already doing it. That would rule out CMC, but maybe I just need a track car anyway, I'll find a class for it later and just do HPDE stuff for a while.

So, do I drag this heap home and likely put $12,000 in it or go buy something that runs?

[CMC #37]

That is my old car, the ass kicker itself! (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) That is a steal!

[johns68]

This thread could go on forever, but Kevin, for what it's worth:

For 30 years I've been an "if you didn't build it yourself, it ain't yours" guy. I bought my 68 Camaro from my dad when I was 15. He bought it new in 68. I've still got it, and it's been through 7 different drivetrains, 5 custom paint jobs, 5 complete suspension change-outs, etc, etc, as I survived my teen street race and NHRA days before being converted to corners. (incidental to this thread, the car currently has full GW suspension, an all aluminum 427 BBC, Richmond 5 speed and Auburn posied 12-bolt) Every bolt turned and part bought by me, for all those years.

Then my wife convinced me that I would never forgive myself if I put the old girl into the k-rail around turn 15 at Thunderhill. So a buddy and I went in halves on a track car with only 4 hours on it for pennies on the dollar. A fox-mustang (horrors) but it taught me the value of buying someone elses project. I have since sold my half of that car to my partner (couldn't handle owning even half a mustang) Wicked fast car, though. $4k custom cage, every high end part Griggs makes, 480hp 351, t56, builder (Bill Kaiser of Apex Motorsports) had over $50k into the car ... without labor costs considered. We bought it for $14K.

I bought a 4th gen A-sedan as a roller, after it won at nationals in '05 but then blew up. Even though I have been re-doing all sorts of hacked, half-assed nonsense, I paid significantly less for the car than the cage and fuel cell alone would have cost if I started with a free donor like you were considering. Is it mine? Hell yes. Building the 68 from scratch almost gave me less sense of ownership than undoing the crap a previous owner inflicted on this car.

Bottom line from my experience: if cost is a consideration, buy a finished car! If adrenaline on track is what you're after, buy a finished car. If you enjoy the build, buy a project with a bunch done already. Love your '02, and buy a good car to thrash at the track.

My wife calls my track car "expendable" ... which says it all if you really think about it.

[nape]

I bought a 4th gen A-sedan as a roller, after it won at nationals in '05 but then blew up. Even though I have been re-doing all sorts of hacked, half-assed nonsense, I paid significantly less for the car than the cage and fuel cell alone would have cost if I started with a free donor like you were considering. Is it mine? Hell yes. Building the 68 from scratch almost gave me less sense of ownership than undoing the crap a previous owner inflicted on this car.

You bought Hein-rocket's Phoenix ride? I'm just interested to know what was hacked up and half-assed (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[johns68]

You bought Hein-rocket's Phoenix ride? I'm just interested to know what was hacked up and half-assed (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Sorry, should have put a "supposedly" in there. There's a story here ... and I've been trying to figure it out without stepping on anyone's toes. Maybe someone here can help. My car isn't Heinricy's, nor was it claimed to be when I bought it. Happy with what I bought, and what I paid for it, so no issues here for me, but...

When I bought the car, the story was it won at 2005 nationals. "2005 SCCA National Event Winner" stickers on the car. Car came from Indiana, I bought it from a guy in Southern California (who bought it from the Indiana SCCA racer) No log book. SoCal guy didn't give me a name. After I got it home and did some research out of curiosity, I realized the car was definitely not the 2005 A-sedan winner (though it was badged AS and was definitely within AS spec) No big deal, not why I bought the car. But I trust the guy I bought it from to have told me the truth, at least as he understood it. So I still mention 2005 nationals, not for any ego related reasons (I couldn't drive near that well, anyway, so doesn't really matter if the car was once that good or not) but hoping I'll stumble across someone who knows some of the history of the car.

From working on it for the past 9 months, it is evident the initial build was very well done. Probably by someone with an aircraft industry connection judging by the latches, materials, and connectors used in the car. A later owner did the hacking. More from a "go fast on a budget without worrying about looks" aspect than anything else. For example: nascar type steering column had a nicely done mounting plate fabbed and welded to the cage dashbar. At some point, someone was confronted about the lack of a stock column so the mount plate was jaggedly, unevenly cut with a sawzall so the plastic stock column cover could be duct taped over it to look stock. Another example: well done plate steel brackets were welded to the steering knuckles to mount 1LE brakes. Car took a hit to the right front at some point and the knuckle was broken. Rather than re-fab the brake bracket, the knuckle was welded back together. Ugly, but effective, I guess, as it is still in one piece. (off the car, I replaced it) Alan Blaine visibly shuddered when I described it to him.

White, LT1 car with an LS1 front end on it. #23 when I bought it in February. Roller, but set up for a gen1 carbureted small block. Sound familiar to anyone?

[Blainefab]

White, LT1 car with an LS1 front end on it. #23 when I bought it in February. Roller, but set up for a gen1 carbureted small block. Sound familiar to anyone?

John - SCCA runs a series of National races in each division that are separate from the runoffs - that could be where its history is. I dug around a bit on the Great Lakes Division website and found no prior year archive, but you might contact the GLDiv national pointskeeper and ask for 2005 results: http://www.greatlakes-scca.org/node/54

I also checked the reserved # list for that division and #23 is currently an AS car - maybe your prior owner:
http://www.greatlakes-scca.org/files/Group%201.pdf

I plugged his name into Google and got a bunch of racing hits - Is this your car?:
http://www.exoticperformanceplus.com/quick...arOfTheWeek.php

Another hit shows him winning a CenDiv National at Gingerman in April 2005:
http://www.inr-scca.org/documents/rev%20gr...20results05.pdf