Thread: Whats a good inexpinsive car for the strip?

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78-81 malibu's 70 and up nova's fox body stangs, 80's camaro's 70's darts u can get duster and etc for a few thousand. ya know whatever floats your boat. dont forget the vega

The notchback Mustangs are a good choice, easy to build one in the 2800 pound range. Lot's of them are being built with SBCs too, including the LSx motors. If you want a couple other late model alternatives that will annoy the ricers, RX-7s, 200SX and Nissan Z cars are popular enough that there are folks building kits to do the SBC swaps. S-10s, both pick ups and Blazers are also popular.

Pat

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

A few years ago my Son and I went to the Mustang Nationals in Bradenton, Fl, and there is this full sized Ford station wagon running there that turned me on. The guy has a sense of humor about it, and has "within budget" shoepolished into the back windows. The announcer says things like " when his wife finds out he is not just out for a loaf of bread, he's gonna be in trouble". The guy was having a blast, and the car is there every week and rarely breaks anything.

So, at the time I was working at a body shop, and an abandoned Ford Granada wagon got towed in and the wheels started turning. It is built on the same Fox platform as the Mustangs, so all the usual parts will fit. I have an unused 466 ci Ford that is built and waiting for some project, so I figured this would be a fun way to go racing. I bought the car for $ 200.00 and began to strip it to the bare bones. Then Hurricane Charlie hit, and our shop got the roof taken off, so we had to move. To simplify the move I scrapped a lot of stuff, including the wagon, so the project never happened.

But the point is, a wagon would make a great bracket car. Good weight distribution, lots of room to carry your tools and slicks to the track, and it would be cool to blow some doors off with an ugly old wagon. I'd even put a baby seat in the back for effect, and leave the roof rack on it.


Don

Don, To my knowladge all Granada's were built on the Maverick/ Falcon platform. Fairmonts were foxbody's

Save your money and buy an old dragster frame and build it. It won't get any lighter or more aerodynamic than that. Old frames can be bought cheap. The time you find a full body car and do a build you can buy and old frame and go real fast. A 100lbs is worth a .10 seconds. So what going to be faster a 3500 lb car or a 1400 lb dragster.

Don, To my knowladge all Granada's were built on the Maverick/ Falcon platform. Fairmonts were foxbody's
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You are absolutely right, it was a Fairmont. What ever it was, it was ugly as h***.

Don

Originally Posted by RPM

Save your money and buy an old dragster frame and build it. It won't get any lighter or more aerodynamic than that. Old frames can be bought cheap. The time you find a full body car and do a build you can buy and old frame and go real fast. A 100lbs is worth a .10 seconds. So what going to be faster a 3500 lb car or a 1400 lb dragster.

I like that idea!

....yeah I also really like the Pinto idea. In fact I once owned a Pinto, believe it was a '70 or '71, don't remember. They are really light, & no smog.... zzz

i know im probably going to get stoned for this, but have you considered a vw bug? light as hell, and parts are cheap and very plentiful, and you dont need that much power to make a bug really scoot down the track. think of power to weight. a stripped down drag bug will weigh in the neighbor hood of 12-1400 pounds. on my old bug, i fabbed up a turbo set up using a turbo that i yanked from an old volvo in the salvage yard and a v-8 carb. then, my grandfather and i built a 2180cc engine. ran in the 12 second region. i made everything myself and the car cost me a total of around 4000 dollars to build. but being a starving student, i had to sell it to buy top ramen. :P another benefit is no smog and unibody construction. and they reproduce every single part that comes on a bug. it is possible to actually build a bug out of a catalog, though not as cost effective as buying one out of a junkyard.

www.thesamba.com this is THE website for vw's. classifieds, galleries, tech forums. how to, wiring diagrams, etc.

bug vs. mustang

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bz89l-ZF5k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3MpngZkBuo

bug vs. trans am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7uCsySy05Q

and how much money do you have to dump into a mustang or comparative car to accomplish this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrXV_Lq9C7g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arc_gFs_CQ4

and if you are still not convinced, here is a street driveable bug smoking a ferrari

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTUGwgEZqtI

these cars are running 11's and 12's and they are street legal and driveable. if you want to head into the 8's and 9's (no that is not a typo) you will need something built along these lines

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...q=vw+bug&hl=en

far from street legal, but fun as all hell







and this little guy is named "quick & dirty. it is an ultra low budget racecar that consistently runs 10.20's



ok, im done. let the stone throwing commence

LOL I like the old aircooled dubs myself and had a 1914 cc - powered squareback in my younger daze. But IMO to go fairly quick in a dub - let's say, 12s, takes $ and they're still not all that consistent for bracket racing. For reasonably quick yet consistent ETs, I'd also vote for a foxbody stang with a warmed-over SBF or 460. I don't like the body style personally (I like the 99-up body styles), but there's a reason there are so many at the track.

Bottom line, find a body style you like, install the biggest engine you can afford, and have fun!

Hank

Ha Ha Ha..you guys are funny. I like the thought of the wagons and the baby seat though. We are supposed to be having fun anyways, and if your not in it for the money, then why not go for the fun part of it.
But in all seriousness, I have to vote for the fox body mustang also. Holy Moly, you can start out with a 4 cylinder and just keep upgrading as time goes on to a BB V8...and the amount of parts out there for those cars is unbeleiveable. If you want to start out on a small budget car...then go with the fox body and a small V8, upgrade next year to a stronger motor, then roll bars...then more power etc. ( we all know the more power thing will come faster then expected...ha ha ha)

Ratty41 that top pic of the red bug isnt that the one that ate the wall on pinks sure looks alot like it.
I was watching some of those videos and really think that herby did all of his own stunts now

Saw a very interesting one yesterday evening at a friends shop. It was a Pontiac Sunbird, maybe a '78 or something, anyway it was one of the last years the Sunbird's were rear wheel drive cars. It now has frame ties, 12 point cage, and a set of front struts off a mid-80's Camaro. 9" Ford rear end with a set of ladder bars and coilovers..... The car is now a roller and very light, can push it back and forth with one hand.... Neat little car that came out of someone's back yard as a freebie!!!!!

It sounds like your friend is getting ready to go fast!

Originally Posted by lowstreet

It sounds like your friend is getting ready to go fast!

Yup, think he's planning on a skinny block 406 stroker with a 5 speed Tremec TKO 600. Should be a ball to drive. Just guesstimating, but I'm gonna say done weight to be around 2400 pounds!!!!!