Some of you may know what the Gambler 500 is: an offroad event centered around 3 core values of land stewardship, scientific research to discover the true meaning of "full send", and beer. For those of you that are unfamiliar, edumacate yourselves here: https://www.gambler500.com/https://www.gambler500.com/
A few buddies and I have been doing the OG Gambler 500 in central Oregon for a few years now. With 3 vehicles over the last 2 events (one didn't even make it to the start), we now consider ourselves veteran Gamblers. Here our our past steeds:
The Wu Tang Van (blew a head gasket a few weeks before the event):
The Wu Tang Van was hastily replaced by the Jeepinator. A Hemi-powered Grand Cherokee that had it's passenger side removed by a drunk driver. Yes, the headlight was replaced with a glowing red eye and it was super duper sweet.
And a few of you might remember the RallyBenz from my regular build thread. This car was a blast. RWD with some power proved to be the most fun option over the previous years full-time AWD.
So, that brings us to this year's victim. We hadn't really started to car shop yet but a rolled E30 showed up in my local FB group and I couldn't help myself. Apparently the owner of the car rolled it on a windy mountain road. The shell itself is toast but I was told it ran and drove just fine and all the damage was essentially on the passenger roof/pillars. The car was a shitty primer gray and the guy kept his exhaust and driveshaft but was otherwise complete. My timing lined up perfectly with a certain car addict named Julien's desire to pick up a V70R (that he's already replaced a few times over) and off we went with a flatbed in tow. We figured (hoped) at least one of the cars would get home under its own power. We showed up with a driveshaft in hand, installed it in the dude's driveway, and drove it onto the trailer.
So $800 later and we brought her home. I know, "$800, are you crazy??" Well, I did the mental math and it all worked out. The car has a decently fresh 2.7i stroker with a Schrick 272 cam, headers, S3.73 diff, H&R Sport springs w/ new Bilsteins, bottle caps with new tires, and a few other items to get our money back on. Anyway... trailer shot!
Aaaand in her resting place where she sat neglected while I did turbo things on my other car for a while.
A few buddies and I have been doing the OG Gambler 500 in central Oregon for a few years now. With 3 vehicles over the last 2 events (one didn't even make it to the start), we now consider ourselves veteran Gamblers. Here our our past steeds:
The Wu Tang Van (blew a head gasket a few weeks before the event):
The Wu Tang Van was hastily replaced by the Jeepinator. A Hemi-powered Grand Cherokee that had it's passenger side removed by a drunk driver. Yes, the headlight was replaced with a glowing red eye and it was super duper sweet.
And a few of you might remember the RallyBenz from my regular build thread. This car was a blast. RWD with some power proved to be the most fun option over the previous years full-time AWD.
So, that brings us to this year's victim. We hadn't really started to car shop yet but a rolled E30 showed up in my local FB group and I couldn't help myself. Apparently the owner of the car rolled it on a windy mountain road. The shell itself is toast but I was told it ran and drove just fine and all the damage was essentially on the passenger roof/pillars. The car was a shitty primer gray and the guy kept his exhaust and driveshaft but was otherwise complete. My timing lined up perfectly with a certain car addict named Julien's desire to pick up a V70R (that he's already replaced a few times over) and off we went with a flatbed in tow. We figured (hoped) at least one of the cars would get home under its own power. We showed up with a driveshaft in hand, installed it in the dude's driveway, and drove it onto the trailer.
So $800 later and we brought her home. I know, "$800, are you crazy??" Well, I did the mental math and it all worked out. The car has a decently fresh 2.7i stroker with a Schrick 272 cam, headers, S3.73 diff, H&R Sport springs w/ new Bilsteins, bottle caps with new tires, and a few other items to get our money back on. Anyway... trailer shot!
Aaaand in her resting place where she sat neglected while I did turbo things on my other car for a while.
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