Remember my old Red Saab that got hit, towed and held ransom by Don’s Towing last January?
Here’s something of an update; file this under “One Man’s Garbage Is Another Man’s Gold”-

With all of the body damage and starting issues, coupled with the fact that she had well over two hundred thousand miles on it, I had it on Craigslist for five hundred bucks.

Got a few calls immediately and one of the first people to check it out was a guy named Ben and his wife Chrissy. They told me this grandiose story about a somewhat-underground race which participants main rule is that the vehicle they use in the race cannot cost more than two hundred fifty dollars.

The race runs from New York City to New Orleans over five days of Memorial Day weekend- and because of the start and end points, the trip is known as the Babe Rally- Babe meaning Big Apple to the Big Easy.

Part wanting to just be done with the Saab and part happy knowing that at least my dear car would have a somewhat-glorious and fun filled afterlife, I agreed to their offering price of two hundred fifty dollars.

The only caveat in the deal, however, was that they must keep me updated on the trip and if my favorite little red sun faded orange car wins the Babe Rally this year.

Yesterday afternoon, I got a text from Ben: “www.teambornfromjets.com is our site for the rally. Car is doing great so far, on our way south from new york on day 1″

After typing in the URL, I nearly hit the floor when I saw what my beat up little red Saab had morphed into:

And so it goes. My car- which had become a parking ticket attracting hit-and-run magnet over the course of two and a half years gets a new lease on life- because of four young, eager and fun loving kids who decided to enter what looks like a pretty fun race.

Check out a slideshow of the BabeRally here

Watch Ben and Chrissy’s site for their trip updates here

And this is the official BabeRally website here