Now that the 24 Hours of LeMons , I find it necessary to present some more evidence to show that the V8-ified Volvo 240 is Your Best Race Car Value, even though it means giving away some tricks to our real competition (i.e., the other teams driving Swedish steel). You see, some teams are coming up with this crazy talk about how they've got the best bang-for-buck with their Cavaliers or MR2s and such, but are there countless MR2s sitting in back yards, just waiting for some kind, trailer-equipped soul to come haul them away for free? As we've seen, perception of the poor brick-shaped Göteborg machine has gone from beloved daily driver to gas-swilling outcast recently, with with 242s, 244s, and 245s. That means that a Craigslist ad with the headline "DEAD VOLVO WANTED, WILL TOW" gets an immediate response.

We had observed that many teams gave themselves a big advantage in the pits (both for parts to use on their own cars and for horse-trading leverage with other teams) by bringing parts cars to the last couple of LeMons races, and we were determined to do the same. As an added bonus, with a parts car you can pick and choose the best shocks, brake calipers, etc. to put on your racer. I figured I'd put up an ad and then offer the standard wrecking-yard 50 bucks to those who responded, but I hadn't banked on the desperation of those who are sick of staring at the immobile hulk of a dead Volvo day after day, month after month. Once my Craigslist ad went up, I had three responses within the same day, one of which came from the owner of an '85 242 Turbo that was in a back yard just a few miles from Black Metal V8olvo HQ. This car had been purchased a few years back by a guy who stripped it of all the turbo goodies and some other pieces, and he wanted it gone from his yard ASAP. The price: free! Needless to say, we had the trailer over there within 20 minutes of talking to the guy.

Yes, the Turbo 242s are highly sought-after cars, but this one was pretty well trashed. It did have three Draco rims, a usable battery, decent shocks, and thousands of little parts that would save us many schleps to the junkyard over the following months.

Doesn't look like there's anything of use in that thoroughly grody leather interior, but we grabbed the steering wheel and the clock for the race car...

... and the wiring harness proved to be incredibly useful when harvesting connectors, relays, and wire

So we solved the throttle-linkage problem on our V8-ized Volvo race car, but what about electrical…

Don't weep over this 242T's fate, Volvo lovers- its shell shall live on in racing glory, for will be gutting this car and turning it into a full-on (Volvo-powered) racer in the near future! Don't you love a happy ending?