Forget The Ford F-150, Buy This Green Mazdaspeed Protege Sema Build Instead

eBay Motors

We whitethorn person a committee connected purchases made from links.

If you hate outward visibility but love sidesplitting small aged ladies conscionable crossing nan street, nan U.S. has plentifulness of elephantine trucks and SUVs for you to prime from. However, if you want thing smaller and easier to thrust that still has a motortruck bed, your options are really conscionable the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz. Both are still beautiful big, though, and neither 1 offers a two-door option. The bully news is, you request not despair. Instead, you tin conscionable bargain this Protege-based Ballistic Unlimited MazdaSpeed TranSport that was primitively built for SEMA and is now listed connected eBay.

Now, you astir apt won't beryllium capable to tow a train up a upland pinch this build, but really galore group really tow trains pinch their trucks? Exactly. And yeah, nan furniture is beautiful mini and presently filled pinch NOS tanks, truthful you won't beryllium capable to put overmuch backmost there. Nor would it beryllium easy to load worldly successful location anyway, pinch nan helping successful nan measurement and each that. And without a backmost seat, there's besides only room for 1 passenger, but travel on. This is America. We don't bargain trucks to do motortruck stuff. We bargain trucks to look cool, and this build is infinitely cooler than immoderate Dodge Ram ever was. 

OK, possibly nan Ram SRT-10 was almost arsenic cool, since it had a V10, but moreover nan coolest SRT-10 still looks for illustration a regular Ram pinch a cool engine. This Protege, meanwhile, doesn't look thing for illustration immoderate different Protege you've seen connected nan road. It's besides astir apt greener than immoderate Protege you've ever seen, and if there's 1 point Jalopnik loves, it's greenish cars. 

eBay Motors

As acold arsenic nan build itself goes, you're looking astatine a 2002 Mazda Protege5 that Pro Design HotRods turned into a athletics motortruck for nan 2005 SEMA show. And it isn't conscionable painted green. It's painted House of Kolor Limetime Green. Inside, nan compartment is truthful mid-2000s SEMA, it hurts, but connected nan different hand, who couldn't usage a small nostalgia these days? Also, I stake "American Idiot" sounds unthinkable coming retired of that sound system. You know, because nan set is Green Day, and nan car is green? No different reason.

Sadly, I can't find a circumstantial horsepower figure, however, 1 of nan listing's images does opportunity it has "an exhaust statement that sounds arsenic if it is emanating from thing pinch doubly arsenic galore cylinders and 3 times nan displacement." So that's beautiful neat. I don't cognize if I judge them, but you ne'er know. Maybe they really did fig retired really to make a turbocharged 2.0-liter Mazda four-cylinder sound for illustration a 6.0-liter V8. Even pinch nan NOS, though, don't expect this front-wheel-drive Protege to hit a batch of nan latest EVs disconnected nan line. The early-to-mid 2000s was a different time, and moreover 300 hp was a batch of powerfulness backmost then.

Of course, this is simply a 20-year-old SEMA build, and SEMA builds aren't precisely known for their value erstwhile they're new, truthful there's nary telling really overmuch activity will request to beryllium redone aliases what will request to beryllium fixed. The seller does opportunity it "is not successful pristine show condition" and "is sold arsenic is and needing immoderate work" but promises "it could beryllium restored to its show value reasonably easily." So astatine slightest there's that. It besides isn't cheap, pinch a Buy It Now value of $28,900, but you could astir apt low-ball them and spot what they say. I mean, what's nan worst that could happen? You extremity up owning a saccharine 2000s Mazda Protege truck? Oh no, that sounds terrible.

H/T: CarScoops

eBay Motors