THOTC 2013 BABE Rally Wrap

The 2013 BABE Rally is over… It was a fantastic experience, as always.  The array of crappy old cars (and one crappy old semi-truck) was staggering, Costume Day the most humiliating one yet, and the parking lot parties in the evenings still the stuff of legend. It also was a bittersweet experience as the 2013 BABE Rally was the last BABE Rally ever.

 

Dodge (the team’s beloved 1969 Dodge Dart Custom) had few mechanical problems… A broken oil pressure switch caused an oil leak of massive proportions that caused the car to be temporarily re-christened “The Exxon ValDart.” A weepy power steering pump at the start of the Rally degraded over four days of hard driving and threw a tantrum (and all of its power steering fluid) all over the Night 4 hotel parking lot. Dodge’s  44 year old un-rebuilt suspension proved strangely unsuited for off-roading and the car has developed a marked list to starboard. Best of all, after off-roading also loosened Dodge’s exhaust system in its mounting brackets, an unexpected encounter with a raccoon corpse in the road separated the muffler from the downpipe and necessitated a challenging (and icky) roadside repair. However, Dodge came through the ordeal with flying (albeit sun-faded) colors and is awaiting transport to Burn’s New York garage where a survivor restoration (and potentially a turbo-charger re-fit) await.

Team Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse successfully completed four of the five stages of the Rally, racked up 1,250 miles, and raised $1,328 for two great charities – the Hot Rodders Children’s Charity ($682) and Toys For Tots ($646). (The team was unable to complete the fifth stage of the Rally due to a friend’s medical issues requiring the team to return home early.)

The Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse would like to thank StreetSafari, Misfit Toys, Allpar.Com, North Georgia Mopar Club, Year One, Leverage Corporation, Pathfinder Advisors LLC, our (very patient) families, our friends, and all our fans for all their support on the 2013 BABE Rally and those two great charities. It isn’t just that we couldn’t have done it without you… we *wouldn’t* have done it without you.

Though the BABE Rally is no more, Team Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse remains committed to driving beat-up old Mopars in wacky automotive events to raise money for worthy charities. Have a look at Asphault Adventures (www.asphaultadventures.com) and 24 Hours of Lemons (www.24hoursoflemons.com) for hints about what lies ahead for Crash and Burn and look for more details in the near future.

Thanks so much for coming along for the ride… See you on the road!

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Allpar.Com resumes coverage of Team THOTC as the 2013 BABE Rally is announced

 

THOTC is honored to once again to have Allpar.Com, the largest online Mopar community in the world, covering the team’s preparations for and participation in the 2013 BABE Rally. Through Dave Zatz’s (the editor) kind efforts, literally thousands of Mopar fans have been able to ride along vicariously with the team in the 2010, 2011 and 2012 BABE Rallies.

Allpar.Com’s coverage even netted an additional classis Mopar team for the 2012 BABE Rally — the awesome Team LooVinLoonies and their equally awesome 1971 Dodge Dart. With the announcement that this year’s BABE Rally is the last and THOTC’s willingness to help fans who want to experience the rally live rather than vicariously, we and Allpar.Com are hoping this will be the year of utter BABE Rally Mopar Domination!

 

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All the 2012 BABE Rally Mopars get some love on Allpar.com

Dave Zatz of Allpar.com spent some time on Night 0 with each of the Mopar teams getting their stories and some great photos. A new feature story posted this morning to share them.

Also check out some voluminous updates to Allpar.com’s coverage of  THOTC in the 2012 BABE Rally,  including new photos and video not seen elsewhere.

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[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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BABE Rally and THOTC in the Woodbridge Patch

Many thanks to Deborah Bell for her kind coverage of the Rally and the team and to Dave Zatz of Allpar.com for the excellent photos.  Click here for the full article and photos.

 

http://patch.com/A-tM1J

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Allpar.com returns as a THOTC sponsor for the 2012 BABE Rally

Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse is delighted to announce that  Allpar.com,  the web’s largest community for Mopar enthusiasts, has returned as a team sponsor for the 2012 BABE Rally!

The team first was in touch with Allpar.com’s fearless leader Dave Zatz in 2011 when Dave spotted a post about THOTC’s 2011 BABE Rally entrant Val on one of the Allpar discussion forums. After doing a little web sleuthing to find out more about the car, our team and the Rally (and picking 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.  Upon learning the team was crazy enough to enter the BABE Rally *yet again* in 2012, Dave once again reached out to offer the generous support of Allpar.com to the team’s charities.

For the 2012 Rally, Dave will be setting up a page dedicated to the team’s exploits, which will be updated before, during and immediately after the Rally. A link to that page will be posted here once the page is online.

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 our hopefully-soon-to-be-announced-Plan-B-Rally-car will be bearing proudly during the 2012 BABE Rally!

To see the Allpar.com coverage of the team in last year’s Rally, please click here.

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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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THOTC entertains Dave Zatz of Allpar.com

Dave Zatz of Allpar.com stopped by the start line of the 2011 BABE Rally. Read the story he wrote for Allpar.com (and some video Dave shot that Crash and Burn will disavow if asked) after he finished laughing himself silly here.

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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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