Kalani Chapman snags a clean, 12-15ft drainer at Teahupo’o in Tahiti
This time around, Freiburger and Finnegan travel to Santa Rosa, California, to drive a crazy ’74 Mazda REPU mini-truck all the way back to SoCal, where they’ll compete in Optima’s Search for the Ultimate Street Car Challenge.
The Mazda is an oddity, originally powered by a rotary engine but later converted to Olds Toronado front-wheel drive drivetrain sometime in the late-1980s. With a 455ci big-block and ’69 Toronado transaxle slid between the rear frame rails, the seller claimed wheelies and 10-second ETs. However, Finnegan and Freiburger quickly discover their $5,000 mini-truck has more style than substance. Can they hang with the big dogs at the races?