Uh oh… Sandy’s Sandy experience was worse than we thought…

Apparently, Murphy continues to ride as an unofficial and unwelcome Third Horseman…

Looks like the engine in the Cranbrook has some…er… small… issues contrary to what was represented by the seller. Friend Jim Thwaite at Asphault Adventures  is showing tremendous ingenuity (and patience) in trying to get thing moving again, but drastic action may be required if the Cranbrook’s “freely turning” engine proves to be anything but…

A couple of possible options being explored:

1. Find a replacement running Flathead 6 engine and swap it in. While the most easily executed backup plan, these engines are not as pervasive as the Slant 6 and finding one could be a bit of a challenge. The team is putting word on the street to its many Mopar fans that such an engine is being sought… perhaps Murphy will look the other way for a moment and one will turn up.
2. Rebuild the existing engine. This option looks costly and complicated, especially as compared to swapping in an identical replacement engine. However, if we can diagnose the exact point of failure, it may be a less-ambitious endeavor.
3. Go Rat Rod-lite and swap in something other than the correct engine. On the plus side, this is potentially inexpensive and comparatively easy, especially since conversion kits for both Mopar and Chevy V8s are readily available. Finding a more contemporary replacement engine shouldn’t be a big deal, and would result in a far peppier Cranbrook than the Chrysler engineers ever intended. (For the record, a Slant 6 is not really a viable swap no matter how much we want it to be. We checked.)
4. Go full-on Rat Rod and do a chassis swap. Friend Jim discovered that there is less than a 0.5″ difference in the wheelbase of the Cranbrook and of a Chevy S10 Extended Cab. While not an the least expensive or or complicated option, it would yield a Cranbrook-looking street rod with plenty of pep, modern brakes and suspension and possibly even air-conditioning. However, the team is just not sure how driving a Chevy in Mopar clothing will sit with the team’s Mopar fans…

Stay tuned!

 

 

 

 

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BABE 2013 spec theme announced… and THOTC is in trouble!

 

In past BABE Rallies, there sometimes has been a specified type of vehicle teams are encouraged to bring. While never quite mandatory, bringing the spec vehicle type has been worth both *serious* points and bragging rights, especially when the vehicle brought is not only of the specified type but also a particularly decrepit example of the specified type.

Also in past BABE Rallies, teams have been encouraged (and often rewarded) for theming their vehicle in some way, whether or not it was of the specified type. Teams historically have been very creative with (and occasionally ticketed and arrested for) their themes.

This year, just to make the participants lives a little more miserable, the organizers have specified not a type of vehicle, but a spec theme. For reasons we can only imagine are driven by pure sadism, the organizers have decreed that vehicles in the 2013 BABE Rally should be:

“…identifiable themes of famous rally cars. We will accept racing themes as long as they are famous, and not NASCAR  famous.”

While perhaps not a big deal for the teams that bring VWs and various other Euro beaters, the spec theme presents a rather serious problem for THOTC… How in heaven’s name are we supposed to make a vintage four-door Mopar banger of the sort we usually bring to the BABE Rally look like a famous rally car??? Keep in mind that, due to the late announcement and early dates for the rally this year, we have only about half the time to identify, acquire, repair [sic], and field our rally car. Up until the organizers inserted this particular thorn into our side, we were thinking that Dodge (the 1969 Dodge Dart that carried us to a second place win last year) might just ride again. Unless…

Does anyone have any ideas about how we can make this…

… look like this?

(And on a BABE budget?!?!)

 

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Come meet Crash and Val at the NGMC Mopar Challenge on May 14th!

Val is still a little nervous about being out in public after so many years in backyards and musty garages. So, before her national debut in June at the 2011 BABE Rally , she wanted to make a local appearance and try out the limelight closer to home. With the North Georgia Mopar Club’s Mopar Challenge just around the corner (both geographically- and temporally-speaking), this seemed like the perfect opportunity for Val to re-take the stage.

Come out to Landmark Dodge in Morrow, GA on May 14th between 10 AM and 3 PM for good, clean Mopar family fun, to meet 2/3 of the Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse team, and pledge your support for American Diabetes Association and March of Dimes!

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Hero mechanic saves THOTC’s rear ends (figuratively and literally)!

There is nothing like being less than eight weeks out from the start of a rally and discovering a mechanical problem that might lead to the team having to scrap its car and start over.  That’s exactly what happened to Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse.  Val suddenly developed a power problem accompanied by a low-frequency brushing, whining sound from her rear end.  Never a happy sound, and particularly concerning in a Plymouth Valiant. 

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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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2011 BABE Rally featured on Allpar.com

Allpar.com today published a new story on their website, “Mopars of the BABE Road Rally” that profiles the Rally and highlights some of the Mopar cars run in the Rally in 2009 and 2010.  It also features a profile of Team Two Horsemen of the Carpocalypse and our efforts to raise money for American Diabetes Association and March of Dimes.  The story will be featured on Allpar.com’s front page on Monday and, hopefully, some of Allpar’s more than 300,000 monthly visitors will decide they want to sign up and run the Rally themselves in 2011.

Thanks to Dave Zatz and Allpar.com for supporting THOTC and the BABE Rally!

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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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