Yesterday's Quattro versus Quattroporte Choose Your Eternity poll (in which the Audi emerged victorious over the Maserati) featured two fairly different types of vehicle, but there was still a unifying theme involved. Today we're going to go back to the format of the first few matchups, in which two very different avenues to Eternal Vehicular Torment are offered at the gates of Project Car Hell.
Having a Checker Marathon would be fun, of course, and we've seen one beckoning invitingly at the flaming gates before, but what if you need to drive through heavy snow and up a ravine to get to your Book of Revelations-themed survival compound in the woods? Yea, and the very skies shall rain red-hot brake drums, and only this 4x4 1964 Marathon shall see your load of freeze-dried food through to your acolytes. What we have here is a '74 Blazer chassis with a Marathon body, built to operate in Aspen as part of the Mellow Yellow Cab Company (they'll pick you up at the Trans Love Airlines terminal at the airport). Long story short, it doesn't drive. Supposedly it has "a fresh engine, tranny and lots of other chassis and drivetrain parts," but of course we don't hear much more than that on that boring old mechanical stuff. Best of all is that it will need to be towed away... through several winding mountain passes, which ought to be entertaining. Winter's a-comin'- better beat the snow! The auction ended today with nobody beating the reserve, so you'll definitely have a chance to contact the seller and make him or her see some reason on the price front. Thanks to Akirachin for the tip!
However, maybe you like your car to get attention, but in a more subtle, restrained manner. You want something that causes a "what the heck is that?" double-take from passersby, yet isn't grabbing them by the lapels and screaming "I'm special!" and getting droplets of spit all over their faces. In that case, this 1959 Borgward wagon is calling your name! It looks pretty complete, and it's an Arizona car so you figure rust isn't going to be so bad (unless, of course, it lived in North Dakota for its first 40 years). Not only that, the seller says it will run! For just $1050, you can discover the joys of chasing down parts found in dusty boxes in Bremen basements, fabricating the stuff you can't find all along the way. But hey, at least a Mexican company bought all the tooling and kept making Borgwards after the company went kaput in 1961, so there should be a few parts cars available south of the border. Hmmm... wouldn't a 4AGZE give this car a bit more zip? Or should it stay German?
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