The Suzuki Samurai has long been a favorite of fans of vintage Japanese cars and the off-road crowd for years, as it’s equally appealing as an affordable trail bruiser and an appreciating youngtimer classic. But one thing it’s never been is particularly fast, as its cheap and cheerful underpinnings negated the use of high horsepower equipment – until now. A shop called the Hot Rod Garage has apparently decided to shove a Dodge 440 engine and 727 automatic transmission into the humble Suzuki, and while the results are mildly terrifying, it’s hard to resist the urge to make a few passes at the local dragstrip. Find it here on craigslist for $2,900.
That’s not a lot of money for something as bonkers as this, and thanks must go out to Barn Finds readers Pat L. and Mitchell G. for the find. There wasn’t much to these trucks when new, and these maniacs have stripped the chassis down even further to ensure death comes quickly should you put this thing onto its roof at 120. The tires are at least much, much meatier than stock, so perhaps traction will be better than what those geniuses at Consumer Reports found all those years ago. This is at least a tin-top model, so your headstands a better chance of staying attached to your body.
As the seller points out, “You don’t need a Hemi, LS or Coyote to have fun,” and I’m one hundred percent on board with this lifestyle choice. It’s a great time to be alive as a car enthusiast, with horsepower numbers ever-climbing and the guys at Dodge still sticking Hellcat drivetrains in anything they have on the lot. The Coyote engine is a monster as well, and of course, you can find any number of face-melting options at the Chevy dealer with their track-ready Camaros. But….that’s just so typical, you know? And it requires a massive car payment if you’re not walking in with a briefcase full of cash. You could pay for this thing with a month of washing dishes at a half-decent restaurant.
Wow. This is basically an engine with some seats and a roof attached. The Super Sammy is a beast-and-a-half, and I wish the seller had included some videos of this thing surprising unsuspecting owners of those $50K and above muscle cars I mentioned. The Samurai has been a respected rock crawler for years, but it was never feared on the local roadways, other than a fear of being stuck behind one on a steep grade. The engine swap likely took some serious reshaping of the chassis and firewall to make it all work, but you’re not expecting a high degree of craftsmanship in a rig like this. So, who’s crazy enough to wing on out to San Diego and drive this thing home?
This looks like the Roadkill car! Magnante found the Suzuki in the boneyard and the Duo jazzed in the 440.
Freiburger and Dulcich then drove it to New Mexico.
thats what it is!
SOOOO many fun possibilities-keeping tires on it thigh might be a challenge if the full potential of this Maniacal Machine is used even to a partial potential!!!
Cool old school type hot rodding-like the local Nash Metropolitan with the old Cadillac motor shoved under the hood, or the guy with the well-built 327 and tuned suspension on his ‘54 Chevy truck running down “sports cars” on the mountain roads for pink slips..
Watch the TV show, then check out the driveshaft. No one in their right mind would ever sit in this thing, let alone drive it.
I’m not sure which I feel worse about: The poor 440 that probably sat in some sculpted Chrysler beauty or the poor Samurai that was a cute, light, economical, fun driver and now is obese and ugly.
Try like a 440 out of a dormant motorhome.
Watch the Roadkill episode.
It is the Roadkill ‘Super Samurai’ as they named it. Looks way too dangerous…..I’M IN!!!!
You could have some real fun in this thing right before you got killed!
Other than the potential to be maimed or killed, I don’t see how you could possibly go wrong for $2900. Thanks for a great find and write-up Jeff! If it’s good enough for Roadkill, uh, well let’s not go there.
Most tracks wouldn’t want that thing making passes, nor would serious racers want to line up next to that thing. When I worked at a local track I would have looked for a reason to fail it. Cars and the people that drive something like this instantly give you an uneasy feeling, it doesn’t take long to realize your gut instinct is right. The small percentage that give off that vibe cause the vast majority of oil downs and crashes.
Steve R
Why would you even think someone would bring this to a track?
Someone had an idea and built it to see if it would work.
I doubt they were figuring to Insure, register and get a state inspection for it.
It’s probably a fun/ scary machine to beat on around the neighborhood.
The author from this site brought it up suggesting it would be fun. You’d be surprised at some of the scary cars and drivers that would show up. Nearly every Wednesday I’d come across 2 or 3 cars where the drivers seat was not securely bolted to the floor, often times with 2 or less bolts holding it in place. That doesn’t include missing seat belts, lug nuts, wearing sandals or flip flops, even having a plastic fuel cell mounted in the interior of the car. The one thing you could count on, the more unsafe it was, the more they would argue when you told them they needed to fix something before you could sign off on their tech card.
Steve R
Great line Jeff: “…, to ensure death comes quickly….”.
I remember watching this build on TV well, highly entertaining. These guys are crazy funny.
Death wish 2000.
I don’t know why I keep picturing Scotty G. and Howard A. cruising together in this!
That’s genius, Tony Primo! Can’t wait for the YouTube video blog entries. Day 3: Ran out of Hydrox. Forced to eat my traveling companion. LOL
Speaking of Howard A., used to seen him commenting on every other posting. Wonder what he is up to, did he find a new girlfriend to keep him busy?
Okay….take a stock vehicle that rolls over easily on
hard,fast cornering,& put a 440 in it.
What could go wrong?
Let’s see. Just turned sixty, Failing health, on disability, owe back taxes, paid up life insurance policy. They will never prove it was suicide. What a way to go. I’m in!
Blaze of glory awaits.
https://youtu.be/j8qAu1fS9ME
Roadkill
No thanks. Think about this tidbit. The old Audi Quattro coupes, that were so dominant in rallying were a handful to drive because of the almost square wheel base and high horsepower. Here you have an example of the same issues but with crap suspension and a top heavy body. Scares me just thinking about it.
Well,Thats scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They’re even using the flimsy looking OEM seatbelts, instead of a three or four point system! And that janky driveshaft set up! And the passenger door doesn’t seal well due to damage, the hood seems unsecured!! No thanks, as an adult, I need a more stable platform from which to act childishly!! :-)
I drove a similar conversion a few years ago, an MG with a SBC, very well done and super quick. It only took me a few miles to realize ,I was in over my head. The temptation to put your foot in it totally outwayed common sense. My destination was still quite a distance away, after a couple more close calls, due to lack of the realization ,that this car was too much for an idiot like me to be driving on the street. When I got where I was going and thought about it, I knew I was probably lucky to be alive. Would I like to have this Suzuki, Hell yes, should I have Hell No!
Reminds of my buddy in HS that used to snap axels.
I don’t know if more traction would be a good thing or not…
Totally looks safe to me. But where the hell are you supposed to put the nitrous tanks?
Loved the write up Jeff. LOL
I had more smiles and chuckles at your descriptions than almost all other things I read these days filled with doom & gloom nonsense.
Don’t think a sanctioned drag strip would let it on the strip, but who knows. Be fun to watch from behind the water box. LOL
Let’s see – short wheelbase, high cg, likely nose heavy weight bias and lots of power. Oh, and apparently no tailgate to help secure what looks like a fuel cell. What could possibly go wrong?
I had a pretty pristine 87 Samurai that I let go in 2009 that had 49,000 miles, still had original tires and spare and nary a scratch. Ran great. Convertible top, but my wife really felt is was a rollerskate with big tires. Just thought it was too unsafe. I got what I thought was an ungodly lot of money for it when an acquaintance paid $2400 for it. He recovered the seats in marine vinyl, put new wheels and tires on it and dropped in a 289 ford V8. I thought that was crazy and made the thing a difficult drive. It was wrecked within 6 months. Can’t imagine a car like this one that requires a bungy cord to keep the sides on when driving.