Car Warriors enjoy the fruits of their labor

NEWTON — After 48 frenzied hours of car building, Team Plum Crazy finally had a chance to enjoy the car they won on Car Warriors, a SPEED TV show that challenges two teams, starting with near-identical cars, to create the best custom car they can over a two-day span. With such a short deadline, the warriors do not sleep, and barely eat, as they scramble to finish the job. Team Plum Crazy won the contest and were given the car, an early 70s Dodge Challenger, as a reward.
“We got the car for free,” said team leader Jack Struller of Frankford. “We did have to pay for the shipping.” The show was filmed in Burbank, CA, in December 2011 and was broadcast in April 2012 but the show’s producers were slow to release the car. “We started to make phone calls and said ‘look we need it, we have winter here. We don’t have summer all year around,” said Struller. Team Plum Crazy wanted to show the car in New Jersey before winter forced them to put it into storage.
The car finally arrived in Sussex County on Aug. 8 and has been on the show circuit ever since. “It was in Passaic last Sunday at a show in the park,” said interior specialist Tommy Kuka of Vernon. “Yesterday, [Aug. 18] we were at the Franklin Sussex Auto Mall. Then we took it around to the Chatterbox [Restaurant] last night just to show it off a little bit, a little Jersey pride.”
The Car Warriors show typically pits an east coast team against a west coast team. Many of the contest victories have gone to the west coast competitors. “We did bring the win home to Jersey,” said electrical and sound system specialist Rene Vega of Paterson. “We put one up on the board for the east coast.”
Once they had the car assembled, the team had to scramble to find the right fuel. The high-compression engine requires very high octane fuel. Gasoline from a local station may be rated as high as 96 octane but the team needed 114 octane gasoline.
“I was at a car show last Sunday with Tommy [Kuka] over in Hardyston,” said Jim Haggerty of Andover. “He wanted to know where he could get some race fuel. I said ‘I have three gallons sitting at home in a can. It’s 114 octane.'” The custom, big block Hemi motor was not built for fuel economy and the team gladly accepted a second donation of race gas. “United Street Racers gave us five gallons,” Struller said. High octane gasoline is nine dollars a gallon.
Showing the car was more relaxing than building the car. Dave Yuppa of Passaic, team detail and pinstripe painter, is still amazed they finished the car at all. “You should have seen it before it was all painted up and everything,” said Yuppa. “That thing looked like it was dragged out of the river. All the rust and the filth in there. There were animals living in there.”
Other team members appreciated the relaxed atmosphere of the show and interacting with custom car fans. “This is the easy part,” said Vega. “You enjoy people looking at it.” Struller had no problem with sitting in a lawn chair signing autographs. “We’re really having a good time,” said Struller. “It’s like ‘show time!’”
The car is next scheduled to appear at Raceway Park in Englishtown as part of an all Mopar vehicle event.
The Challenger was appearing Sunday in a show on the campus of Sussex County Community College. “This is the 9-11 Memorial Car Show that the Pocono Mountains Corvette Car Club has sponsored for the past 10 years,” said club president and event chairman Barry Worman of Sparta. “Funds we raise today will be donated to local 9-11 memorial here on the campus.” The 30 corvettes were inspected and judged separately, while the other 104 assorted vehicles were competing for spectator favorite and participant favorite honors.

Team Plum Crazy

Jack Struller of Frankford was the team leader and owns Plum Crazy Auto in Passaic. Frank Bedacht of Franklin was the fabricator and welder. John Palazzolo of Frankford did the body and paint and Tommy Kuka of Vernon did the custom interior.
Dave Yuppa of Passaic was responsible for the pinstripe and lettering work and Rene Vega of Paterson was in charge of electric and audio.