“No way,” they said, “you can’t paint a car for less than $1500.”
Photograph by Tony Geise
Here’s the car that got everyone talking all those years ago. The masses just couldn’t believe Mike Guido’s MG Midget: a build involving an engine swap and a repaint for less than $1500 total? And the starting point was found sitting in a backyard?
Back in 1999 we held our first low-buck triathlon, with the budget capped at just $1500. “This Challenge took the sport back 20 years to where hard work, dedication and a lot of creativity made all the difference to build a winner,” Mike told us. Fitting the Cosworth Vega engine required massive reworking, but choosing the body color was easy: He used a shop’s leftover paint.
Why the drag cars in the background? We didn’t know who or what to really expect for that first Challenge event, so we simply crashed the local drag strip’s test and tune for that portion of our contest.
Make your own low-buck memories at the Grassroots Motorsports $2000 Challenge is Presented by Tire Rack and Powered by AutoBidMaster, held April 18-19, 2026.
The Grassroots Motorsports $2000 Challenge is Presented by Tire Rack and Powered by AutoBidMaster, in Association with HPX Show, CRC Industries, A&A Manufacturing and BendPak.
“No way,” they said, “you can’t paint a car for less than $1500.”
I always like running older values through an inflation calculator.
$1500 in 2025 money? About $2900.
David S. Wallens said:“No way,” they said, “you can’t paint a car for less than $1500.”
Patrick and I will be showing up with a freshly painted Challenge car. I can find paint for $10-12 a gallon.
David S. Wallens said:“No way,” they said, “you can’t paint a car for less than $1500.”
IIRC, that was one of very many claims made against Mike's project.
(and looking back, I wish I knew where one could find a cheap CRX SI powertrain, but that's just wishing.)
In reply to alfadriver :
It was, as I recall, the biggest complaint. People didn’t seem to mention the runs, drips and errors, however.
Is there any more information available on that car? It seems like a good read.
Noddaz said:Is there any more information available on that car? It seems like a good read.
IIRC, there was a feature article about this car back in 2000.
But it would be entertaining if someone could fire up the way back machine to read the board discussions of this car from way back.
"No way a clown could build a car like that, no matter if he's the World's Fastest!"
btw, what's a 'Verga'?
In reply to alfadriver :
Different board then. Might be able to find it on an archive site.
In reply to racerfink :
I was going to ask if this was the clown, though I don't remember exactly how that was connected to him. And did he go by Swarf or Swarfie or something like that on the forum? Doesn't seem that long ago, but a quarter century has passed since then.
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