Felt like I should give you guys an idea of how the Howdy car came to its current state, so here's a short play-by-play of some milestones in its life.
Here she was the day I found her on Craigslist in Dallas. The guy wanted $1500 but we convinced him the car was only worth $1K (if that).
And the night she came home:
Before long she was in her (tiny) shop being torn apart. I'm standing in the corner holding the camera over my head in this picture. You can see the red, green, and grey the car originally was, as well as the pristine body.
Here she is as a shell ready for bodywork to begin.
Engine teardown day, plenty of help:
Post-bodywork. I don't have any pictures of the sanding, i guess no one wanted to have a camera near all the dust. We used an entire gallon of Bondo on this car.
Here she is back from paint, ready to be put back together.
Nice and pretty engine:
Final Assembly:
On the way to Florida:
And the moment it all began:
This project was one of the most rewarding things I've ever been a part of. We're already working on our 2010 car and will be there again. Thanks to everyone who helped us out.
Great job guys . What is the plan for the car ?
It's a car beautiful guys.
I had the pleasure of taking my ugly piece through concours right after you guys.
The car will be coming back next year with a sister car. It did too well to not compete again.
Thanks for the compliments.
It was a highlight of my weekend talking to you guys, you should be proud of your efforts, achievements and attitude throughout the weekend, I look forward to seeing those who return in 2010
Steve
pretty cool man. I hope you liked the pics i sent you guys. Don't think I got around to talkin to any of ya'll but loved the car. I tried to get something like this started at UCF, but A) they don't have the facilities B) half the people I explained this too didn't understand the concept and C) I wasn't any sort of engineering major so anyone of importance I talked to still scratched their head.
So be very happy you guys got to do this through school, very very very cool!
This is another car I wish I would have taken more and better pictures of. Rats to my brother for borrowing my camera AGAIN.
What did you guys do for tuning, if you don't mind me asking? I'm looking at a somewhat similar build, but in an 89 Accord that I never got around to building for the $2009 challenge.
I really hope to see this car again at the $2010 challenge. It has real potential.
Carson
Dork
10/19/09 6:25 p.m.
Damn Doc, I was 6 years old in '92. 
Unevolved, what did the seller say when you talked him down to 2/3rds the asking price then picked it up in that hauler!? 
drmike
New Reader
10/20/09 12:26 a.m.
Class of '93 here. Proud of you guys, great job!
are you guys bringing drag slicks next year, or should i throw an extra set on for ya?!
if you can, get a bigger turbo on the car, we RAN out of boost , and for the most part, power with that thing.
-at the drags, this car was running NO wastegate. one of the coolest things i've been a part of messing with. SO BAD ASS. it was a great time hanging out with you guys. -adam
Steve, it was great to meet you too. We had a great time and can't wait to return.
DirtyBird, I'd be happy to talk to anyone at UCF about the engineering logic behind why the mechanical engineering department funds this program at A&M. We sold it pretty well.
VanillaSky, we used Crome and an Ostrich ROM emulator to tune the car. Bought it used, but even new it's not very expensive. Works great.
Carson, We didn't use that transporter to pick up the car. That's the Star Mazda team that's based out of TWS. That would have been hilarious, though.
Adam, We'll have our own slicks next time. I'm not sure if we're going to run a bigger turbo, that one was pretty damn cheap. I'm going to make a proper adapter for it and get a few little issues fixed and see where we're sitting then. And besides, how many turbos can you yank the boost controller and wastegate and go run some drag passes?
Can't wait to see all of you again next year.
