Well, after seeing all the talk on the GRM $1500 Challenge, I guess it's my
turn to say something. The purpose of this exercise was to see what kind of
cool cars people could build with $1500 cash. As for labor, we really didn't
want to limit people on how much time they could put into it. After all, it's
their right to polish a turd as much as they want. The rules were purposely
left loose, as we really didn't know who or what was going to show up.
For those of you that weren't there, the winning car (the Midget) was
awesome. Without giving the whole story away, this team took a pair of
blown-up, thrown-away Midgets and polished the heck out of them, making one
good car. They fabricated their own engine mounts and put a tired Cosworth
Vega engine under the hood. For more power, a NOS system was concocted that
used a scuba tank as the bottle. They made velocity stacks out of muffler
tubing. The fender flares came off a rusty 850cc Mini. The school bus yellow
paint was found sitting on the shelf of a paint/body shop. (No one there knew
where it really came from.) The tires were junk. They polished the bezels on
the original MG gauges and made them look new.
But the team has the paperwork to back up all of their expenses, down to the
last pop rivet. I believe their out-of-pocked expenses were just under the
$1500 limit. They had several hundred manhours in the project, however.
Would it cost $1500 to duplicate this car? Probably--if someone wanted to
spend the same kind of time and effort. This car was built in an average
garage by average guys (and their kids). Yes they were resourceful, but isn't
that what makes a good story?
So why wasn't this car claimed for $1500? The rules stated that any car could
be claimed for $1500 plus a reasonable builder's fee. This was stated mainly
to keep people from showing up with a Motorola Cup Firebird that was bought
for only a dollar. As for a reasonable builder's fee, we figured the people
should get something for their effort (Wouldn't you?). What's a fair fee? Who
knows. I think Mike Guido (the guy behind the Midget) had fun messing with
people by saying the labor was worth something like $15,000--but he'd take
$7000. Whatever. Truth is the car popped the engine at the event, anyway.
Funny that the MG is being so picked on. One couple showed up with a 240Z
that was beautiful. I asked the guy what shop he worked at. Turns out he's a
salesman in real life and had never painted a car before. But he got his
family involved, and together they restored and prepped the car. Another
entrant ported his own heads. He had never done it before, but figured this
was a good chance to learn.
We put together the $1500 Challenge to get some good editorial, show people
what could be done for little cash and have some fun. I think we accomplished
those goals. Look for the complete story in our Feb 2000 issue, with features
on some of the cars in following issues.
Hope this answers some questions, and I hope the story is as entertaining to
read as it was to write. If we ever do this again, of course everyone will be
invited to participate.
David S. Wallens, managing ed
Grassroots Motorsports
www.grassrootsmotorsports.com
|