collaboration class for the challenge

Expounding on the idea from the 1000 mile truck drive thread, what about a class for a challenge car built by GRMers across the country who can't get to the challenge for whatever reason?

Basically, buy a beater on the west coast or in New England, and drive or drag it cross country visiting as many different garages and shops as possible on it's way to the challenge where either the staff or a loaner driver will compete with it then sell it off for charity?

I'd suggest that each person can contribute up to a max of $50 or so, with budget proof in challenge style but without any cap on total spent or recouped so that the more people who participate the better it will be. Probably have to give it unlimited budget for transportation too, who knows when or where it will be broken down. Probably have to also stipule that it gets purchased after the challenge and has to be completed by the next one.

Document everything in a big binder with pictures of everyone who worked on the car standing with it, and coordinate the project through a sub forum or website so we can follow along.

I'd totally be in if it came by here, or close enough that I could drive somewhere to help over a weekend. What about it?

I would love to get in on something like that!

Sounds really cool. Don't think you'd need a separate class though. You'd need 40 people/shops each putting in $50 plus their time to top $2000 assuming the cost of the car was near-zero or recouped in the budget.

Id definitely be in as well.

Call it the "Pony Express" or "stone Soup" build. You might get several people to gather at one place for more work in less time.

Example: Stop at a persons shop and invite anyone from the surrounding area to come out for the day /weekend. Might work better than moving 10 miles at a time. Try to keep the moves at least 200 miles or so.

I'm in and can offer garage space in the Detroit area.

I was thinking the same.

The reason I was thinking maybe an exception to the rules is that for this project a contribution cap from each person would probably only work if the recoup rules are relaxed some. One person might be able to come up with a body for $50, but not without using up a sizable portion of the recoup. Similarly for someone else with an engine or whatnot, getting the individual contributions for big ticket stuff under the bar would need a lot of recoup work.

Also, transportation or shipping would easily drive this kind of project out of budget. In addition, if a hundred guys want to get involved do you turn them away because you are saving budget for the guy in GA standing by with the one thing it really needs? The more the merrier, for this sort of thing.

I think that the individual stories for getting those parts, compiled together as a whole, coupled with the fact that the first guy may never see the finished product in person might be interesting enough to slide the rules a bit. I know I would love to read that story in print.

I have a couple of Opel Kadetts I could easily recoup under $50 if somewhere between my place and FL we can get a drive train, better rear axle, brakes, wheels/tires, safety equipment and prettying up....

I think you are on to something, and that it could be a great Challenge entry.

But I don't see why the rules need to be revised.

Your example about recoup and the bodies you have is missing the point of the recoup.

Recoup is a way to measure, quantify, and credit buys that are bulk in nature, and include components that will not be necessary for the build.

You are describing a recoup process that would fail for a single builder, just as it would fail for a group of builders.

You can't view recoup as a way to force a component into the build which was not appropriate for the build in the first place.

If you have a donor shell, but need to claim much of the recoup budget (selling off trim or tidbits- whatever) to make it work in the budget, it won't work in the budget.

The better scenario would be a more complete car to begin with that had a few extra components.

For example- a car WITH a drivetrain, even if it's not one you want. The engine is sometimes worth more than the car, or perhaps I can split the heads from the engine and sell them separately, etc. But that also gives me stuff to trade- I can trade the heads to someone for a SBC, and incur no budget hit.

You can't view the budget as the purchase of a bunch of individual items. It's a more holistic thing- a combination of well bought, well sold, and well built.

Another good example... Most of us know that a running $1000 Miata that came with a hardtop could be zeroed out in the budget by selling the hardtop, and still be competitive, even before adding the $2000 worth of improvements that would fit in the budget.

Your idea could work, but the funds would have to be managed by a single person with veto power over everyone else's (potentially) bad choices.

BTW, some people are already doing something like this.

My $2014 Challenge entry was a collaberation. It was bought in Atlanta. I brought it to Albany, and did some work on it. I then trailered it to Gainesville 2 weeks before the Challenge, and my teammates worked on it for a couple weeks. I then brought a group of people from Albany, and we finished the build in the parking lot the day before the Challenge.

My team for $2015 includes people from 5 different towns, in 3 different states. We will be trailering the car around between us.

I completely agree about the holistic approach, but by the very nature of a traveling car trades and the time they take won't be available.

Using your Miata example, if every contribution is capped at $50, the only way that car could work for this project is if the roof was sold by the original purchaser so he got his portion, the car, under $50. After that the recoup would be used up on a traditional build, and no one else could spend more than $50. So if the build needed a Megasquirt no one person could contribute, because it costs more than $50, and trading won't get you there.

In a one man or team build the cash from the roof sale would be available and that cash could buy something big but since the first guy had to keep it the second guy won't have it available. That difference will force a change in the way the project is funded.

I'm pulling for enough of a difference that it would allow the third guy to buy an unfinished project car with a megasquirt in it, part it out so he only has $50 net into the unit, then he could contribute it as his share. The difference is in the big items, and setting an individual contribution limit makes big stuff unreachable without some concession. Sure it's different, but not beyond the spirit of the event.

In reply to oldopelguy:

One more problem- someone has to own the title.

What you are describing would be unfair to each of the participants because they would each contribute value to a car that someone else owns at the end.

My team's solution has been that the owner also pays the bills. That way, each of the workers only contributes his time, and the owner pays the bills, but owns the car.

This also solves the recoup/ budget problem. If I control the money (as the owner), I also make the ultimate decisions about what will and will not be included on the car, in the budget, and in the recoup.

It's a lot cleaner.

Your system is going to leave a lot of unsatisfied people along the way. 39 different people will contribute money to a project that may or may not ever make it to the Challenge, and the 40th guy gets to make the decision about whether he competes or just sells it all and disappears.

Challengers (myself included) are notoriously bad at finishing projects. The odds of you finding 40 of them who can all uphold their piece of the bargain in a timely manner is frankly, completely impossible. That's pretty much as many people as the entire field of entries the last few years.

Hopefully you can prove me wrong on this!

What if the magazine owned the car? It could be entered in the Challenge as an exhibition enrty so strict budget wouldn't have to be maintained (have a $2015 goal, but if it winds up at $2237, who cares?) Could be a source of a few good articles, the whole point is to sell magazines right?

Car gets passed from place to place, with GRM reimbursing each collaborator as is goes along. No one is out any money and the car gets built on the cheap. Afterwards it could be sold, raced, whatever. Possibly auctioned for charity?

Who on this board knows an 18 y.o. Who will graduate hs this year and won't be starting college till end of the summer?

Have them '"own" the car. They can accompany it around the nation for the summer, work on it, learn everything about it, then they campaign it at the challenge.

Then we could do $100 portions. 50 to the car and 50 to the kids college fund.

After the challenge they can keep the car for college or sell it for tuition.

Best. Summer. Ever.