My one week in Japan I saw one Ford Explorer and half a dozen TJ Jeep Wranglers. Considering the TJ is huge compared to a Suzuki Jimny, this made perfect sense. Japanese tastes are completely different to American tastes and American OEMs just don’t make cars suited for Japan. Japan, on the other hand, makes cars in…

Why would you put massive drag slicks on the FRONT of a RWD car? It’s just rolling resistance.

We are screwed either way, especially with a GOP controlled Congress. Here in Kentucky, the GOP finally won the Senate, giving them full control of both houses and the Governorship. Literally the first week of the year, they proposed every single conservative piece of legislation you hear about on the news: right to…

“Number 33, Roughing the quarter panel. 5-yard penalty. Single file restart.”

I agree with all your points except for NASCAR’s 2016 season being exciting. Not a single race was under 3 hours last year and that right there is the big problem. They’re just way too long. Drivers have to make it to the end and not destroy their cars. If you flip on with two stops to go, that’s when the race finally…

If this is really true, then this will be the biggest motorsports story of 2017. I’m honestly stunned Liberty went ahead and dumped him, F1 only works because of Bernie and his unique way of setting up deals. While I think this will be best for F1 in the long term, I expect some tumultuous ties in the next few…

Because we need people who can me and fix things. That A/C unit isn’t gonna fix itself. Those robots who build our cars need maintenance. Machinists are still in high demand. And that statistic you bring up of the unemployment rate of college grads? Half of all college graduates are underemployed and for many of them…

Yeah, but it got buried. A lot of people don’t realize Hillary’s “basket of deplorables” speech was all about rural jobs. A shame, as she made some nice points, but all anyone remembers is “basket of deplorables.”

There’s a lot of snootiness there too, partly because three generations of Americans have been raised on the idea that without a college degree, you’ll get nowhere in life. It’s easy to see a college degree and an office job as “making it” while working a lathe is “manual, dirty labor”...even though that lathe…

I agree completely, the trick is to get Democrats on board with this. One thing the Bernie movement (and this election in general) highlighted is that college graduates are very stuck up about college. College is great if you can make it through, but it’s not supposed to be easy, nor is it supposed to be for…

This is going to be the Trump presidency in a nutshell: blow smoke over a minor issue and brow beat (or buy off) companies to keep a handful of jobs in the US over the short term, while doing absolutely nothing to deal with long-term growth.

Ahhh got it. I miss these SWB trucks, in Japan they’re still really popular. But us Americans like our SUVs massive. It’s a shame because the Japs have some really cool little rigs.

Mine has been pretty reliable. Nothing out of the ordinary for its age (15 years, 188K miles). The only major breakdown I’ve had was throwing the accessory belt when the tensioner pulley locked up. The interior is not the highest quality. It’s almost impossible to find one that doesn’t have bad leather in the…

It being a 2-door really isn’t that much of a problem. If the seats could slide forward a bit more it would be perfectly fine. The back seat is very roomy, it’s just tough to get in and out of. The trunk is big enough as well. And the fact that it’s so short makes it super easy to park and surprisingly nimble for…

Parked next a Cherokee Trailhawk at work. Jeep stole some styling cues and did a crappy job of it. The VX hasn’t so much aged well as it’s become beautiful in a sea of ugly. Put it next to some good looking cars and it’s weird again, but put it next to some modern cars and it’s a classic. Especially if you go…

They’re either really nice and expensive, or broken and cheap. I got lucky and found one that was broken and cheap, but not too broken. A little TLC and it’s gone 50,000 miles. It’s a great truck I have absolutely fallen in love with it.

Back in 1999 we didn’t think crossovers could get any weirder than the Isuzu VehiCross. Boy were we wrong. If you want an idea of how messed up car styling has become, I’ve had more than one person mistake my 2001 VX as new. And most people would not be able to date it to 2001.

I spent a week in Japan which is still very much a smoking country. The first restaurant we went to, we could smell it. That was the first thing I noticed. I have very vague memories of smoking sections and after going to Japan, I am really glad of the laws in America.

For 7 grand, I’d lower it, cage it, swap the trunk fuel cell for an under chassis one, and do some track days. Watch the Porsche guys shit bricks when you pass them in a Jeep box.

I hadn’t seen my girlfriend in over a week and wouldn’t be able to see her again until the next weekend because of her work and my school/work schedules. The day we were supposed to meet up, a hurricane swept through the area and flooded a number of roads: rare for our area, but when you get something like 8" of rain…