Rabid Sloth Racing
Active Member
Ever since I was a little kid I've wanted to build a kit, but I was never able to find something that fit. While I have turned a few wrenches over the years, I've never done anything to the extent of soloing a full build. So for a first go at it I didn't want anything too expensive or complicated, but I still wanted something zippy with good handling and aesthetics. Yea... cheap, easy, fun, fast, well made, and nice looking. I wasn't asking for a lot. Then maybe 3 years ago YouTube's shuffle god, in it's infinite wisdom, decided to show me a video of the Goblin prototype on a track. An Atom-esque kit that wouldn't break the bank and wasn't so ugly that I would be embarrassed to drive it without a tinted visor over my face? The Goblin was everything I wanted for a toy. Fast forward a couple years, grad school a couple relocations later I find myself in West TX with a garage and some spare time. On a weekend trip to Dallas we swung by Red Oak and met Lonny and Adam. Awesome guys, great to talk to, do excellent work, and took us out on a joy ride. I was sold.
I started lightly browsing IAAI, Copart, and Craigslist to get an idea of what an SS/SC donor would cost by the time it got to my door. There were a bunch of other house and car projects I wanted to finish before I jumped into a full build... but then an 06 SS/SC went for sale about 30 miles from me for $825 so I pulled the trigger. Four days later I'm ripping a smashed bumper off of a shiny red Cobalt before I left the Copart yard. After ~45 minutes of playing "Ahhh what the hell are you doing!" with sand haulers and frac trucks I get to my driveway. As I'm backing in, the tire, rim, and brake drum fall off the trailer onto the sidewalk and brake fluid dumps all over the road. The expression on the lady who was kindly waiting for me to back in was almost worth the four hour hassle with U-Haul. But I finally had the car home and in a bay of the garage. The car looks promising. While it was filled with cigarette butts, partially empty energy drink cans, unopened boxes of condoms, quasi-legal fishing gear, and smelled like bad life choices, it appears that nothing I'll need for the Goblin was damaged. I'm not 100% sure of the subframe or drivers LCA yet but they passed a cursory inspection. The battery took a charge and I picked up a new belt so hopefully I'll fire it up this weekend and maybe start the stripping. Then it's probably down payment and rush to get my other projects done before it's time to go pick up Stage 1.
My goal is to have a full cage street car with a stock engine to enjoy in the almost always sunny skys out here by September. Occasional trips to the twisties in Big Bend, the Davis Mountains, and New Mexico are also in it's future.
I started lightly browsing IAAI, Copart, and Craigslist to get an idea of what an SS/SC donor would cost by the time it got to my door. There were a bunch of other house and car projects I wanted to finish before I jumped into a full build... but then an 06 SS/SC went for sale about 30 miles from me for $825 so I pulled the trigger. Four days later I'm ripping a smashed bumper off of a shiny red Cobalt before I left the Copart yard. After ~45 minutes of playing "Ahhh what the hell are you doing!" with sand haulers and frac trucks I get to my driveway. As I'm backing in, the tire, rim, and brake drum fall off the trailer onto the sidewalk and brake fluid dumps all over the road. The expression on the lady who was kindly waiting for me to back in was almost worth the four hour hassle with U-Haul. But I finally had the car home and in a bay of the garage. The car looks promising. While it was filled with cigarette butts, partially empty energy drink cans, unopened boxes of condoms, quasi-legal fishing gear, and smelled like bad life choices, it appears that nothing I'll need for the Goblin was damaged. I'm not 100% sure of the subframe or drivers LCA yet but they passed a cursory inspection. The battery took a charge and I picked up a new belt so hopefully I'll fire it up this weekend and maybe start the stripping. Then it's probably down payment and rush to get my other projects done before it's time to go pick up Stage 1.
My goal is to have a full cage street car with a stock engine to enjoy in the almost always sunny skys out here by September. Occasional trips to the twisties in Big Bend, the Davis Mountains, and New Mexico are also in it's future.