zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
Which Car Would You Enter In The 24 Hours Of LeMons Out Of Spite?
Which Car Would You Enter In The 24 Hours Of LeMons Out Of Spite?-October 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:43

Once upon a time, I had a . Unfortunately, it belonged to my parents and got traded in when they finally realized they had spent several running 944s’ worth in repair bills. Had it been signed over to me, there was no doubt in my mind where it needed to go to die: the .

The car was a 2002 Nissan Altima, and my particular example was a miserable bucket of barely-functional bolts known as the Failtima. Needless to say, . I wasn’t sad to see it go. This car had left me stranded in the middle of the sweatiest parts of the year far too often, and the new car I got in its place was .

I come from a long line of people who travel across the country because they can. From my parents

Even after it got traded in, I was still telling people that they should go make an offer on my trade-in and toss a roll cage in it. There were many, many reasons why it needed to end up in the 24 Hours of LeMons. That was how the Failtima was supposed to meet its end. It just was.

It wasn’t because I liked the car, enjoyed driving it, felt it was easy to work on or knew it would stand up to the challenges of budget amateur endurance racing. No, quite the contrary. I knew it must be punished and probably wouldn’t survive. I needed sweet, sweet vengeance at the hands of fellow LeMons geeks.

Of course, I had this car back in the days of Murilee Martin’s on this very site. The dreadful machine even snuck its way into a , photobombing the statue of Robo-Johnny.

BS Inspection - Car and Truck Buying, Reviews, News and More. | Jalopnik

The People’s Curse was still a thing back then, too, although it was starting to be phased out. I wouldn’t want to be voted into the curse because that would (, at least) mean that our team had done something egregiously offensive to the rest of the paddock. That being said, you’re darn right I had just the perfect vehicle to volunteer for cursing if the real winner skipped out, or if nobody deserved it this time: the Failtima.

This is what it deserved for forcing me to walk everywhere in an extremely pedestrian-unfriendly college town in the middle of August. Sweaty, humid August in Waco, Texas.

I tried seeing if anyone in central Texas had my old car up for sale anywhere out of curiosity, because the smart thing to do with it would be to put it up on Craigslist as-is (or better yet, donate it to the crusher) and RUN AWAY. While I didn’t see my exact vehicle anywhere, I saw several , and in the $300-1300 range that would probably fit in the budget after selling off some parts and haggling a bit.

That would be the dumb thing to do: pick up an ‘02 2.5L slushbox Altima for vengeance and vengeance alone. I mean, monumentally stupid. Since I can no longer exact revenge on my own former beater, I’ve long given up on the idea, but perhaps you know of a worthy candidate that needs to be LeMon’d on principle. A car so unworthy of continuing to exist that it must be raced ‘til it ‘splodes, and then either hauled off to the hungry jaws of the crusher or fitted with a much improved and ill-advised drivetrain swap.

914-powered Failtima? Yes. 914-powered Failtima. A 914-powered, rear-engine Failtima should be a thing, because “914 swap” is the answer to all life’s problems.

Which car would you enter in LeMons out of spite? Show us in the comments below.

Contact the author at .

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
These People Had The Most Fun During The Austin F1 Rain Delay
These People Had The Most Fun During The Austin F1 Rain Delay
While many of us were huddling for warmth in the main grandstand, some people took the United States Grand Prix qualifying session that never happened yesterday as an opportunity to do something hilarious. These are the real winners of Saturday “Qualifying.” Many of the best shenanigans happened in pit lane...
Oct 19, 2026
Wet F1 Qualifying Red Flagged This Morning For Most Predictable Reason Ever
Wet F1 Qualifying Red Flagged This Morning For Most Predictable Reason Ever
Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz paused qualifying for the United States Grand Prix with 12 minutes and 46 seconds to go in the 18-minute session after he lost control of his car in the slippery conditions and ate the barrier in Turn 4. I’m sure he wishes we’d have set...
Oct 19, 2026
This BMW Race Car Saved My Life
This BMW Race Car Saved My Life
I looked up and there it was, an Acura Integra pointing straight at me—spun out, stalled right on the exit of a corner. If I had a half second longer I would have remembered to relax, to curl my arms, to prepare for the impact. As it was I just...
Oct 19, 2026
MotoGP's Rossi Kneed Márquez Out Of The Way In Insane Battle For Third Place
MotoGP's Rossi Kneed Márquez Out Of The Way In Insane Battle For Third Place
Every position matters when you’re coming down to the wire in a close, hard-fought season like this year in MotoGP. When Marc Márquez went alongside championship leader Valentino Rossi at Sepang today, Rossi just plain kneed Márquez out of his way. Rossi already was pretty annoyed with Márquez before today’s...
Oct 19, 2026
F1 Boss Bernie Ecclestone Still Unsure On Red Bull's Future And Racing In The US
F1 Boss Bernie Ecclestone Still Unsure On Red Bull's Future And Racing In The US
The businessman running F1 known as Bernie Ecclestone held an impromptu roundtable for at the rain-soaked U.S. Grand Prix yesterday. There are still no solid plans for more racing in America, and the Red Bull team might not even run next year. Incredibly, nobody asked him to detail his ....
Oct 19, 2026
U.S. Grand Prix Qualifying Finally Happens, Nico Rosberg Takes Pole
U.S. Grand Prix Qualifying Finally Happens, Nico Rosberg Takes Pole
After the most exciting thing we saw on track at Circuit of the Americas yesterday was a couple of school buses due to rain, Formula One finally got most of a qualifying session in and Mercedes is on top with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. The in the rain, and...
Oct 19, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved