A few years ago I bought a 98 Ford Ranger 2.5L 2wd for $600 for the purpose of competing in the Detroit Gambler 500. If you don't know about the Gambler 500, it is a series of events around the US where people buy $500 cars and take them on a 500 mile journey on and off-road. This was the 3rd vehicle that I'd bought for this purpose and the first that rear wheel drive. Little did I know when purchasing that even though the truck run and drove, it had a HUGE amount of problems. The water-pump was so destroyed that it overheated the car and blew the head gasket, and later discovered it also blew the 4th cylinder piston ring to bits! For the amount of problems it has given me I still love this truck and love working on it. This is the first car I've ever swapped an engine out of on my own, and I've learned an absolutely huge amount from working on it. Last year (2020) I drove it from FL to MI on 3 cylinders (the 4th was completely unplugged for the whole trip). This year was the first year it was actually running on all 4 cylinders for the Gambler, and we had a blast. I just finished putting together a recap video of my Gambler adventure and figured with all the help @RonD provided me on this forum, I may as well share back the excitement this truck has given me thanks to his expertise!

 

Thanks for sharing! Was an enjoyable watch.

 

That looks like a fun event, thank you for sharing it with the community. I enjoy the short tour, and there are a lot of great cars on this video.

 

This sounds like a blast!! There is also a similar event with motorcycles. Read a few stories and it was epic fun and hilarity.