That number two contender is the Booby Prize Racing '96 Nissan 200SX, a car that the LeMons Supreme Court picked during the BS Inspection as the Under The Radar Candidate Most Likely To Contend. Looks like we guessed right this time!

In third we have the 1993 Honda Civic driven by Team "Corvette." No, we don't get the team name either.

Right behind the Honda is one of the top finishers from the last New England LeMons: the Scuderia Limoni Alfa Romeo Milano.

In fifth, we have another dominating New England veteran, the Scuderia Testa di Spillo Milano. Oh yes, two Milanos in the top five. Could this be the first-ever LeMons victory by an Italian car? Check in later to find out!

Looking up the Wikipedia entry for this car, I learned a really cool Alfa fact: in Chinese, "164" sounds like "all the way to death." For that reason, the 164 was badged as a 168 in Hong Kong. Of course, Alfa Romeo's profits from North America still went all the way to death by 1995, so this car is one of the last Alfas you could buy here.


In 1991, you could buy a brand new 164L for $27,500. That was about 7 grand cheaper than the least expensive BMW 5 series that year, but 5 grand more than a new '91 Cressida. The Cressida was probably faster, more comfortable, 4000% easier to service, and had an expected lifespan approximately 50 times longer than that of the 164, but who cares? Look at how pretty the Pininfarina car is! Come on, life's too short! Yes, such were the thoughts that doubtless went through the mind of the car shopper who purchased this car back in the days of Gulf War I. And look- it's still running 18 years later!

We all thought it was a pretty good score when Seatbelt123 picked up two Alfa Romeo Milanos for his 24 Hours Of LeMons team for just $299. No doubt many an Alfa lover started eyeballing that empty spot in the garage and began a search for similar deals. Guess what? We've found what (at first glance appears to be) an even better Alfa deal, and it will not only fill up your garage but the driveway and maybe front yard as well! Would you believe an '87 Milano, a '78 Alfetta, and a '69 Duetto (go here if the ad disappears) for the incredible price of $750? No, and we didn't, either; of course it's really a classic Craigslist bait-and-switch arrangement hiding a $9,850 price tag. But still, with the economy melting down and the value of project Alfas melting like reserves in a bank run, we're pretty sure the actual selling price will be much, much lower. There is no information about running condition or any problems these cars might have (other than the ominous statement "Needs a little attention" applied to the Alfetta), but you can count on decades months of Alfa torture fun when you take on these projects! Thanks to Narf, BZR, and UDMan for the tip.

You like those Alfa Romeos but the scam-esque nature of the phony price has you refusing to do business with the seller for ethical reasons? We understand. Besides, Italian cars are so obvious, what with all their histrionics and castor-oil-down-the-throat machismo. French cars! That's what you need! In fact, forget about those Renaults and Peugeots and even Simcas and go straight for the clear-quill, 200-proof goods: Citroën. Normally, even a pretty rough, hasn't-run-in-years Citroën goes for at least two grand, but magical things happen to project-car prices during a Financiapocalypse- how about four 1960-66 Citroën ID19s (go here if the ad disappears) for just one thin grand? The seller doesn't bother to provide any real description, other than "Between the 4 there are 3 engines. You could probably make 2 complete cars or make 1 with lots of spare parts," but who cares? You could make one quasi-nice runner with all this stuff and the first-ever 24 Hours Of LeMons Citroën with whatever's left over! Please, one of you Oregon readers needs to buy these cars!

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.