If you have the uncontrollable urge to send it over rad and possibly ill-advised jumps, nothing beats a $300 beater. With one, the Hoonigans made the absolute greatest thing I’ve watched all year: an almost 19 minute supercut of straight-up vehicular destruction that somehow doesn’t actually destroy this Buick.
This is a 1995 Buick Century purchased and run on the Lemons Rally: a big interstate road trip/scavenger hunt for weird, misfit cars started by the same people who run the 24 Hours of Lemons racing series. The Buick has a giant custom handbrake made out of a bathroom rail that was ingeniously made out of the stock parking brake. It’s also slowly rusting in the ocean breeze when it’s at home.
This thing is a survivor if there ever was one. It looks like it came pre-punched-in-the-face, but it’s been running since the very first rally that cut over to Las Vegas and through Death Valley—and somewhat successfully. Here are some of its shenanigans from the last west coast Lemons Rally, if you’re curious.
This aesthetic unpleasantness and overall jankiness—despite the attempt to perk it up with custom and period-correct stickers—is what makes it the perfect hoonmobile. Why spend good money on something to send off the Hoonigans’ dock when you’ve got a $300 Buick?
It does burnouts. It does reverse donuts. It attempts a neutral drop. It hops up on two-wheels. Oh, and it lands a whole lot better than a lifted Alfa Romeo. Is there anything this little Buick can’t do?
This is the joy of a cheap, junky car you don’t care about: it is disposable. Whatever happens, happens. If it dies, you get another. In the meantime, you can have more fun than owners of nicer cars can ever imagine with it.
[H/T Eric for Oregon’s intense fear of gas pumps]