Ooh boy. These past couple of weeks out here representing The Autopian at the LA Auto Show have been great, but a bit weird. I haven’t wrenched in weeks, so my hands are clean. I’m wearing stain-free clothes. I’ve even gotten a haircut. Now I’m looking for apartments that don’t allow me to fix cars in their garages. I’m driving a rental car that doesn’t leak a drop of oil! Am I living a lie? Or was there always a cleaned-up version of me deep down, below that thick corroded upper crust? Or, perhaps, more likely, is the ol’ me going to be elbow-deep in a Nash Metropolitan engine soon, with parts strewn about my otherwise empty apartment? I can’t wait. Anyway, I’ve missed you all over the Thanksgiving break, almost as much as I missed not having attended the greatest junkyard event on earth: U.S. Auto Parts of Sterling Heights’ “60 for 60” event, which promises a price of $60 for anything you can carry on your back for 60 feet. Here’s a look back at last year’s event:
Since I’ve gone full Hollywood, I missed this year’s wrenchfest, but here are some videos of folks trading cheap parts for a chiropractor visit or six:
There are some absolute beasts in these clips:
Anyway, in addition to mentioning this year’s 60 for 60, I’d like to highlight a haul from longtime reader and auto enginerd Karl Woods. Karl owns a Porsche 924 that started out looking like this:
And after a $2,500 Maaco paint job and lots of other work, now looks like this:
It’s gorgeous. Though you know what isn’t gorgeous? The Porsche’s interior, thanks to these nasty cracked seats that don’t match anything:
Luckily, one of Karl’s friends sent him a photo of a picture that U.S. Auto had posted to its Facebook page, advertising a recent newcomer to the junkyard — this Porsche 924:
Karl and his friends headed out there, tools in hand, on Black Friday for “60 for 60” to he check out what shape the Porsche’s interior was in. Boy were they in for a pleasant surprise. I’ll let Karl tell the story: Imagine that — a beautiful interior, a cylinder head, an entire turbo system, and lights for your Porsche for $300! That’s a deal and a half.
Dollars to donuts, this thing’s got a turbo on it. And it’s properly set up, albeit in a non-factory position. No naturally aspirated 924 ever left Neckarslum with a turbo other than the Turbo and Carrera GT/GTS/GTR models, and only one company seemingly offered an aftermarket turbo kit for these cars.
Here’s a look at Karl’s interior today:
What a huge improvement! I can’t wait to see this thing at the next Detroit-area Autopian event. I’ll be in LA, of course, but I’ve got some roots (friends) in Detroit, and you know I’m gonna have a meetup when I do come back. Detroit car culture is awesome, and a big part of that is thanks to the amazing local junkyards.
