[Delayed Posting] Allpar.com covers Night 0 of the 2012 BABE Rally

THOTC friend and team sponsor Dave Zatz, editor of Allpar.com, once again met the team in Staten Island on Night 0 to check out the team’s ride and enjoy the traditional pre-Rally party.  He was kind enough to share some of the highlights of his visit in a new article posted today on Allpar.com.

 

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THOTC BABE Rally 2011 fundraising update: $3,500+ (!!!)

Thanks to a very generous BABE rallier deciding to donate double the amount pledged, plus a few other post-Rally donations, the team’s total amount raised for the American Diabetes Association and March of Dimes in the 2011 BABE Rally has now exceeded $3,500!!!

Thanks again to our corporate sponsors (Allpar.com, North Georgia Mopar Club, Polybushings.com, Leverage Corporation), our in-kind sponsors Paul Chambers Mopar Restorations and Z-Alt, and all the very generous individuals who contributed so… er… generously… to these two worthy causes!

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THOTC raises over $3,000 for American Diabetes Association and March of Dimes driving the 2011 BABE Rally!

Thanks to generous individual pledges and the support of our corporate sponsors (Allpar.com, Allpar Forums, North Georgia Mopar Club, Polybushings.com, Paul Chambers MOPAR Restoration and Leverage Corporation) the team raised over $3,000 for American Diabetes Association and March of Dimes. Read on for the details and the team’s official 2011 BABE Rally photo. 

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T minus 30 and counting… to the start of the 2011 BABE Rally!

The 2011 BABE Rally is just 30 days away, at least according to the little ticker on the right hand side of the page.  Team THOTC is eagerly awaiting the start of the Rally, but it is at milestones like this that we are reminded of just how much work there is left to do:

• Install third brake light.  People in the 1970s had much better vision than people now.  Well, that’s the way it seems given the number of concerned citizens who have cried, “Your taillights are out!” when Val has been out during daylight hours. In reality, the taillights are every bit as bright as they were in 1973. However, erring on the side of caution, the team has decided to give Val a little bling in the form of a 14-LED third brake light.
• Reinstall radio, ashtray and A/C vent. A painful previous repair to the windshield wiper motor arm linkages required their removal, and their re-installation is promising to be equally painful.  Apparently one must be 6″ tall and capable of standing inside the dash to reconnect the radio to the speaker (yes, singular) and getting the A/C vent back on requires sockets so deep one can lose their mind staring into their dark depths.
• Install a stereo, three-way speakers, CB radio, 12VDC outlets and USB ports in a car that existed before such things were invented.  As snazzy as Val’s AM squawker might be, Crash and Burn are looking for a little more utility (and a few more stations).  Not wanting to cut into a surprisingly pristine 35 year-old dash to install them, they are doing the next best thing. Kitty litter bucket, anyone?
• Fix the front end… or not…   Many people have looked at Val and said, “No way is this car 35 years old!”  However, they have not been looking at the condition of the bushings in the steering rack, or looking terribly closely at the front shock mounts. The right thing to do would be to tear apart the front end and make repairs.  The MacGyver thing to would be to apply baling wire and duct tape judiciously.  The BABE thing to do…?  Cross our fingers and hope for the best.  Which may be precisely what we do.
• Repair or replace the windshield washer fluid reservoir (and #^@&!  integrated pump).  While this might not seem like a big deal the size, concentration and general ooziness of Mississippi and Louisiana bugs make a working windshield washer system a safety matter rather than a matter of convenience.  Finding a used one in good shape would cost half what the team paid for the car, so some MacGyvering may be in order.
• Install side view mirrors.  Well, first we have to source them. Mopar purists may wish to look away, because there is no way the team is paying the $80(!!!) reconditioned mirrors or reproductions of the correct mirrors would cost.  A few visits to Pull-A-Part hasn’t yielded anything even close, so Val may be forced to sport the dreaded “generic replacement mirror – chrome” on each side.
• Hit our fundraising goal.   Team THOTC committed to double last year’s $1,000 contribution to American Diabetes Association and March of Dimes, and we are getting close to the $2,000 thanks to some great sponsors like Allpar.com and many generous individual donations by family, friends and fans.  But we’re not there yet, and 30 days will go by in the blink of an eye. We might pick up additional pledges while driving the Rally, but every mile would just be that much more special if we know that we hit our goal before we left the starting line.

Stay tuned for updates on these “T minus 30 and counting” items and for additional photos of Val showing off her ink (decals) and her party dress (seat covers) as Team THOTC prepares to compete in the 2011 BABE Rally!

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Allpar Forums members join the fight against diabetes and premature births!

Click the image above to pledge your own donation on Allpar Forums

Allpar.com led the way with a significant corporate donation to the two great charities Team Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse are supporting in this year’s 2011 BABE Rally — American Diabetes Association and March of Dimes. Now, the caring members of the Allpar Forums are jumping on board by making their own individual pledges. Two guys driving 2,700 miles in a $300, 35 year-old Plymouth Valiant to raise money for two great charities couldn’t ask for 28,558 better friends. Thanks to Dave Zatz of Allpar.com and all of our fellow Mopar junkies on the forums for their generosity.

Please consider visiting the Allpar Forums (free registration required) or visiting our Pledge page  and joining the fight against diabetes and premature births.

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Meet Team THOTC’s new corporate sponsor – Allpar.com!

Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse is delighted to announce its new corporate sponsor,  Allpar.com.  Allpar.com is the web’s largest community for Mopar enthusiasts, boasts over 1,700 pages of content read by over 300,000 unique visitors every month and is an invaluable resource for owners of Mopar cars from the earliest days of the American automotive industry to today.

Allpar.com’s fearless leader Dave Zatz spotted a post about THOTC’s 2011 BABE Rally entrant Val (a 1973 Plymouth Valiant) on one of the Allpar Forums and did a little web sleuthing to find out more about the car, our team and the Rally. Once he picked himself up off the floor laughing, he emailed Crash with the offer of a very generous pledge to the two charities the team will be supporting in this year’s rally: American Diabetes Association and March of Dimes.

Crash and Burn would like to thank  Dave and the entire Allpar.com crew for their generosity, and for promoting our team and the BABE Rally on their website.  Look for the Allpar.com stickers Val will be bearing proudly on her rear doors during the 2011 BABE Rally!

Click the graphic below for a brief slideshow highlighting the Mopar contenders from the 2009 and 2010 BABE Rallies.

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