Merriment, Mopars, and More at the Georgia Cool Cruisers Cruise-In

It was a fantastic afternoon and evening at the Galaxy Diner in Tucker, Georgia. Georgia Cool Cruisers, a new car club with a focus on charity – “Cars For A Cause” is their tagline – hosted this month’s cruise-in and attracted over fifty distinctive vehicles including THOTC’s beloved Dodge to show support and raise funds for the USO. USO is one of the many charities Georgia Cool Cruisers supports, including Hot Rodders Children’s Charity and Toys For Tots — the same two charities THOTC is raising money for while competing this year.

It was an open show, and so featured some great cars from across the spectrum of marques. Mopar was well represented in both the classic and contemporary categories and several took home awards.

Dodge got lots of love from fans new and old, and much excitement was expressed about THOTC competing in the upcoming 2013 Explore The Shore Rally.

Tremendous thanks to Georgia Cool Cruisers founders Rick and Sharon Ellis for having us at the show!

To join in on the fun vicariously, please enjoy the slideshow below.

If you live in Georgia (and even if you don’t!), please visit Georgia Cool Cruisers at their website and on their Facebook page for more photos, information on their great charity work, and information on joining.

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It begins… (again!)

From the darkness rises a new flaming beacon for fans of banger/beater/crapcan rallies everywhere — Asphault Adventures!  They have announced their inaguaral event, a one-day trip into the madness that is the state of New Jersey – Explore the Shore 2013! Those who survive will be changed forever. Those who win will become the stuff of legend. And THOTC will be there!

Follow along as we prepare Dodge for a record-setting (for THOTC, anyway) third consecutive rally run on the way to his new home in Burn’s swanky New York garage. Even better, participate in the event! Asphault Adventures is making it easier than ever by offering not only the traditional banger/beater class, but a “Drive What You Bring” open class and a class for motorcycles too! To secure your own ticket into the annals of history, visit the Explore the Shore 2013 event page on Facebook and sign up today!

As always the team will be supporting two eminently worthy charities — Toys for Tots and Hot Rodders Children’s Charity. Please pledge your support today!

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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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Why THOTC rallies

It is great fun, but it also is an opportunity to raise money for very worthy charities. Clark from our friends at Team Foolswagen reminded us why Toys For Tots and Hot Rodders Children’s Charity (which supports Toys For Tots and many other charities focused on providing for needy children) are so deserving of support.

For those of you who already have pledged your support for those two great charities, thank you. If you have not yet had the chance to do so, please click the Pledge tab at the top of our website and pledge your support too.

Thanks for reading, and see you on the road!

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THOTC 2013 BABE Rally Day 3 Update

Some wrenching on Dodge, the truck, the other truck, and… oh yeah… the *other* truck made for a busy morning. After a quick lunch, the team took Dodge on an unplanned (and ill-advised) little jaunt up and down some gravel and dirt roads and enjoyed a little relaxation by Tannerite. All in all a good day for the team, though Dodge’s power steering pump may require a little attention come morning.

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THOTC take Dodge a little off the beaten path…

True, the 1969 Dodge Dart Custom sedan was not designed for dirt tracking and hill climbing, but the old girl did pretty well with it. Special thanks to Justin (the BABE Rally organizer) for providing the musical cue that accentuates the video.

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THOTC BABE 2013 Night 0 Update

Dodge is in better shape than we thought last night, and certainly in better company.

 

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3… 2… 1… Go!

The 2013 BigApple2BigEasy (BABE) Rally is almost upon us! The countdown officially begins at midnight tonight…

3… Burn arrives in Atlanta (Friday, Day -2)

Burn will arrive on Friday afternoon, signaling the official start of THOTC’s Thrash – a (hopefully short) period of frenetic activity to get the car and the team prepared for its 3,000 mile journey to the starting line, to the finish line, and then home. Past Thrashes have had the team working into (or through) the night. The “known Thrash” list is unusually short this year, but it is important to keep in mind that the team’s third member – Murphy – often arrives only once the Thrash begins.

2… THOTC heads north (Saturday, Day -1)

At some point on Saturday the team and the car will be ready to leave – or as ready as they are going to be – and will begin the long drive to the starting line in Harrisonburg, VA. Many a BABE Rally team has seen their time on the Rally begin and end before the starting line is reached. Keep in mind, 20+ year old cars bought for less than $500 are lucky to make it out of the driveway! Due to schedules and the new starting location this year, THOTC will be making the journey solo without their friends and fellow Georgia Ralliers Foolswagen riding shotgun.

1… The partying, and the repairs, begin (Night 0, Sunday)

Night 0 great joy, great sadness, and often great frustration. Great joy as old friends reunite and admire the decrepitude of each others’ cars. Great sadness at the realization old friends won’t be on the Rally this year (or had cars that met their demise before reaching the starting line). Great frustration as teams scramble to finish up their Thrash lists or fix everything that broke on the drive to the starting line. With all those conflicting emotions in play, BABE Ralliers do on Night 0 what makes the Rally… well… the Rally — start working on each other’s broken down heaps and create a maniacally festive atmosphere in which to do so!

Go… Drivers, start your engines! (Day 1, Monday)

9:00AM (or whenever the organizers drag their rear ends out of bed), the teams gather for the driver briefing, say a silent prayer, pull out the starter fluid, jumper cables, and sledgehammers, and get their heaps running. There is a moment of anticipation… a collective deep breath (of carbon monoxide)… and the horn sounds to announce the official start of the BABE Rally!

Please ride along with THOTC on the 2013 BABE Rally. Updates will be posted frequently to the website (www.thotc.com), to Twitter (@thotc), and to the team’s Facebook page.

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We’re so close to hitting our goal and we need your help!

$875 / $1000

Thanks to some very generous corporate and individual pledges, we are getting very close to our goal of raising a thousand dollars for two great charities. But we have only five days to go before the start of the 2013 BigApple2BigEasy (BABE) Rally and still need help to close the gap!  A $0.01 per mile pledge equates to a $15.00 donation and it wouldn’t take many of them to get us to our goal! If you have not already done so, please visit our Pledge page or use the Contact form to pledge your support for our two great charities.

Please remember that donations to these charities are tax deductible and both charities make a little money go a very long way to serving the needs of needy children.

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BABE8: The Field So Far…

Nobody actually knows which pieces of automotive detritus will show up at the starting line on Day 1 before it actually happens.  There are two reasons for this… First, not every team announces what they will be bringing in advance. Second, not every team that does announce what car they are bringing in advance will actually make it to the starting line.  There is a frighteningly high rate of attrition when trying to get 20+ year old, sub-$500 cars to move out of the driveway much less several hundred or thousand miles to the starting line of the Rally. However, some teams have announced their intentions and most of them have a history of making to the starting line (or catching up with the Rally a few days later) and so we have a sense for at least some of the craptacular vehicles that should be coming along for the adventure.

And craptacular they are!  In addition to our own 1969 Dodge Dart Custom barn rescue, a few of the more… interesting… vehicles expected  at the starting line include:

– a 1971 Ford C-750 Cab Over gas semi tractor

– a 1971 VW Beetle

– a 1974 VW Thing

– a 1978 Mercury Colony Park wagon

– a 1981 Lancia Beta coupe

– a 1985 VW Quantum Diesel (modified to run on waste vegetable oil (WVO))

Peruse the slideshow below to see some of the rust, duct tape and bailing wire holding together the remains of once-spectacular cars competing in the 2013 BigApple2BigEasy Rally!

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