5k: Off Road Only: 1989 Suzuki Samurai V8

The Suzuki Samurai is a small box shaped sport utility vehicle that seats 4 and skips over hills with ease. The little Suzuki is known for its mountain goat like abilities in off road conditions not because it has a big engine, but because it is has decent stock ground clearance and is so light that it won't sink into soft surfaces. Unfortunately, a stock Samurai is oibara seppuku slow and you won't want to drive it on the street for more than a few miles, unless you find one that has been turned into a sand dragster...then you cannot legally drive it on the street.  Find this 1989 Suzuki Samurai V8 currently bidding for $1,000 reserve-not-met with a $7,000 buy-it-now and 1 day to go on ebay, located in El Cajon, CA.

This isn't your average Samurai and to be honest, there isn't much left from the original Suzuki factory floor.  Maybe you could say the body is still Samurai, but everything else is custom, to the point that this car doesn't even wear street plates anymore. It does have the coveted California green off-road sticker that will allow you to drive around off-road...which seems odd because you would expect that anything could be driven around in the vast deserts of California, but the long arm of CARB isn't easily thwarted. 

Under the hood between the fenders of  this beast is a 350 cubic inch (5.7 liter) Chevy Fast Burn V8, rated at 385 horsepower from a catalog.  Mated to some flappy sand wheels out back, it should let the little warrior launch some serious rooster tails in loose sand. 

See a faster sand ready custom?  tips@dailyturismo.com