AAZCD
HalfDork
8/8/19 12:48 a.m.
I was mowing the lawn the other day and wondered about that. My mind wanders pretty far sometimes when I'm pushing a mower around in 95 degree heat. When I got back into air conditioning and hydrated a lot of my 'best ideas' faded away.
I don't know exactly how it would work, but I'm thinking of: Gambler 500 + Top Gear episode + Forum threads here about cross country adventures picking up marginally roadworthy cars. Some basics I thought of were:
- It should be a competition, but more about the adventure; Getting out of your comfort zone - risking discomfort, but not real danger.
- A top dollar limit on purchase and preparation of the car.
- A day or half-day to prep the car.
- Minimal use (if any) of Interstate-type highways.
- Scenic/interesting/historic checkpoints. Stop and get out, stretch your legs, take some pics - travel speed is not the goal.
- At least one common point for everyone to meet and compete in a few car competitions/trials.
- An actual start and finish would be great, but even a mid-point overnight stop would work.
Maybe have it start at a city with a major airport and run it to the 2020 Challenge. One terrible-awesome idea would be a pool of cars and a 'buy in fee'. Draw a car key out of a hat and you are stuck with that car for the trip (you bought it with your fee).
Is there anything like this that already exists? I can think of a lot of complications that make it impractical and near impossible to arrange, but I still think it would be awesome if it happened. Before I go deeper, what are your thoughts and ideas?
wae
SuperDork
8/8/19 7:55 a.m.
In reply to AAZCD :
I think you mean run it "IN" the 2020 Challenge!
Death run 2020. Start it in Charlotte and run the rally through the smokey mountains with an overnight in Georgia. Then the second day run from Athens, ga to Jacksonville and arrive Thursday night before the challenge. Have Friday to fix up any issues then Saturday and Sunday for the challenge.
Shut up and take my money.
AAZCD
HalfDork
8/8/19 11:11 a.m.
Here's a quick sample of Charlotte Craigslist $2,200 and under. I see a few fun cars there we could work with.
I don't know how tags and titles work there, but for a fly and drive to work well it would have to be a place where out of state buyers can easily pick up a car and drive it cross country legally. Atlanta and New Orleans are probably within range to drive the Challenge and compete too.
Taking it away from the Challenge completely and moving west, good airport cities to start from could be Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver, and SLC. The problem with something like that is people wanting to go in all different directions and distances to get home. Maybe meet up, do a 500 +/- mile (Vegas to Phoenix or Denver to SLC) with some challenges, then split up and head for the house.
TJL
Reader
8/8/19 11:26 a.m.
I was wondering about registering and all. Would be great to clear it to get temp tags and go, call it the temp-tag rally?
maybe good reason to start it in a state that makes makes it easier to a temporary tag that would cover you long enough to do the rally/challenge and get home or dump the rig.
I like the idea. I'd probably consider just selling the car real cheap to someone local before flying back depending on the circumstances.
Somebody had tried to create an event like this as a successor to the now-defunct BABE rally. IIRC, it was called Asphalt Adventures, but it looks like that didn't last long.
Sounds like a cross between a Gambler event, a classic cruise, and the Challenge parking lot build. I like it!
AAZCD said:
Taking it away from the Challenge completely and moving west, good airport cities to start from could be Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver, and SLC. The problem with something like that is people wanting to go in all different directions and distances to get home. Maybe meet up, do a 500 +/- mile (Vegas to Phoenix or Denver to SLC) with some challenges, then split up and head for the house.
Starting in, say, Los Angeles might actually work. One of the big advantages in CA is that most plates stay on vehicles and you have 30 days (IIRC) to register the car in your own name. So all you need to legally drive it is insurance, bill of sale and title, as long as the car has registration left.
AAZCD
HalfDork
8/8/19 2:01 p.m.
In reply to BoxheadTim :
I was wondering about California, but I know that emissions and inspections can be tough to deal with there. If you can just keep the plate and leave the state (as an out of state driver) that would be great.
Another thought: Dealing with FB and CL sellers from long distance is risky at best. How about having a known/reputable used car lot handle acquisition and transfer with a big discount for our bulk buy?
- Sign up and deposit a month or two in advance
- A 'buy here - pay here' lot pick up 'x' number of running, mostly roadworthy cars.
- Select, draw lots for choice, or lottery out the cars.
- 30 day tags, insurance, and a few $ in dealer fees.
- Modify/fix/maintain. Drive. Win.
I'm not talking about a big widely marketed public venture. I'm thinking of 10 to 30 teams having fun with cars, competing, and leaving with a story to tell about the odd looking trophy on the shelf.
Better yet, let's find a junkyard that sells their "nicer" cars. Go through their stock and buy ones that have worse-off siblings in the junkyard to pull parts from. Take 1 day to get the cars "roadworthy" before we set off in 10-minute intervals. :D
AAZCD said:
In reply to BoxheadTim :
I was wondering about California, but I know that emissions and inspections can be tough to deal with there. If you can just keep the plate and leave the state (as an out of state driver) that would be great.
IIRC CA is emissions only, no safety inspection when buying in state. It is (legally) the seller's responsibility to smog the car, so if the seller is above board, there shouldn't be an issue. In general you'd want to buy a car that doesn't have expired registration so you don't have to deal with registration and potential back fees in CA.
As long as the car has registration remaining, smog and not a personal plate the seller wants to retain, you can just jump in and drive it home with the plate that's on the car. Did that a bunch of times as I bought most of my cars in CA when we lived in NV.
Oh man if this ever happened remotely close to me I'd be there now. This sounds like the most fun. I'll keep watching and hoping.
LA, Vegas or SLC would all be very doable for me, depending on time of year something from Vegas to Frisco could be awesome.
It's a very cool idea but to make it a real adventure I say you keep the budget for the car very low.
I mean.....$2000 can buy you a lot of reliable cars. If the idea is to make it a mechanical challenge it should be like.....$750
$2000 ends up being a $750 car with $300 for tires, $200 in fluids, $750 for who knows what. Anything can happen on a long drive.
I've always wanted to do this. So much so that around 8 years ago some friends and I planned on doing a $500 cross-country beater rally.
In my excitement I immediately bought a $450 manual 240D with 350k miles. That was about the time everyone else got too busy to follow through and I was stuck with a ratty old diesel that I drove a total of ten times before something in the motor let go and my supposed 65hp became more like whatever my toro push mower has.
I guess what I'm saying is, I'm in.
AAZCD
HalfDork
8/9/19 1:05 p.m.
There seems to be plenty of interest in the concept. Can it really happen? It still needs to be defined.
What's the consensus on everybody finding and buying a car on their own vs having cars already there and drawing for a random car? Both have benefits and drawbacks, but I like the chaos and potential disparity of everyone drawing for a car. Someone gets the Aztec, someone gets the Mustang - and the Aztec could be the better buy based on condition.
I think the budget can be figured out best based on location. In some areas, you can't find many running, driving cars for $1,000. Other places there are plenty. Price it too high and it really limits who can participate. So, I think that first a start location needs to be decided, then figure a budget.
If it happens on the East Coast, I think it's best to drive to and IN the (2020) Challenge. I also really like the idea of a West Coast, LA to ??? Summer 2020 event though. I'm in the middle of the country and either direction works for me. I can only do the ground work for it if it starts near northeast Oklahoma and I don't see that as the popular choice. Some GRMers on location would have to be willing to put some time and effort into putting the pieces together.
So, Yes it would be awesome, but what are your thoughts on exactly what it would be?
I think you just need to pick a spot North of the Challenge at a large enough distance away to make it interesting. We know there are people willing to go to the Challenge. Other places maybe won't have the IT factor, so you may not get the draw of the type of people that are into this sort of behavior.
Fly in to that location a day or two before the meet up.
Buy whatever car tickles your fancy within the budget constraints. This relieves you or someone else from having to buy and store 5-10 crapboxes and kinda leaves a wildcard scenario in play.
Spend a day getting it up to snuff.
Drive to meet all the other Dingus McGees dumb enough to join the shenanigans.
Etc.
Etc.
