For some reason, the world likes to give the Once Hot-Selling a lot of shit, but I for one am a fan of its daring, 1920s hot rod-ish design. So it should be no surprise that I’m borderline obsessed with this lifted one for sale right now on Facebook Marketplace. It is truly bonkers.
I’ve got a Facebook group-message still going with my college friends who were part of my car club at UVA back in the 2010-2013 era. Recently, one of the members in that group-message popped in a to this incredible machine: a jacked-up PT Cruiser for sale just east of Richmond, Virginia for $4,800. The seller’s description reads:
PT BRUISER. Built 340 automatic transmission with divorced tc. 44” boggers on 18” deep bud aluminum wheels. Hydro steering. Mud truck only not street legal located in new Kent price is obo or trade. Mopar power house
I’ll translate that for those of you who don’t speak “off-roader.” The PT Bruiser has a strengthened engine under the hood mated to an automatic transmission and a divorced transfer case (i.e. it’s not bolted to the transmission, it’s connected via a driveshaft). The steering is a hydraulic setup (possibly a common on modified off-road vehicles), and though this sucker isn’t street legal, it’s definitely an off-road beast with 44-inch mud tires on 18-inch aluminum wheels.
I’m exactly sure which truck platform is under this unibody wagon, and really, there’s not a whole lot I can learn from looking at these pictures other than the fact that the suspension is just two leaf-sprung solid axles.
That’s because it’s a bit hard to see the underbelly, since the owner apparently went through some serious trouble trying to hide all the mechanical bits with what looks like, from the sides, diamond plating that’s been spray-painted black. In the front, shown above, there appears to be some black plastic hiding the hardware.
If you want to hear this thing run, check out the video in the comments of the . It sounds burbly and nice.
The transfer case hangs a bit low for my tastes, and $4,800 isn’t cheap, but my god would this thing turn heads in Moab.