Hurray for no-bid contracts awarded to big campaign donors.

Welcome to the refrigerated party, overlanders. I’ve lived in a van and wandered the West for almost seven years. I have a Dometic fridge running off of solar power. I have it inside a box made of 2" rigid foam to keep things cooler longer with less power.

I had a Type III fastback during my college years in the Utah mountains. It was handy that the FI adjusted for elevation changes. Other guys seemed to be either trying to find the right carb jets or just cursing how badly their cars ran.

I’m writing this from Quartzsite AZ, which is swarmed by hundreds of thousands of these swoosh boxes each winter. (I, on the other hand, am one of thousands in a plain white van.) Judging from the way the RV owners dress and act, I’m guessing they think the swooshes are the hight of style.

The location of a Holy Grail Jeep is not “the middle of nowhere.” It is the middle of where the holy grail is, making it the Holy Land.

Imagine all the auto designers who used to aspire to designing swoopy, sexy sports cars and sedans realizing it’s now all about putting lipstick on piggish crossovers.

The Ford teh fünf. Such a euphonious name.

Oh, and because it’s ugly.

Whereas I think the new Supra was always doomed because no matter what it was it would never live up to the fantasy.

I helped a friend fix up her old Scamp. We had a hell of a time getting the door to seal all the way around and stay latched. Its curved bottom complicated things. How is yours?

I wonder why vehicles built in the Rust Belt don’t resist rust better.

It’s for pulling your half-million-dollar 5th-wheel travel trailer.

Back in 1971 the company I worked for had a fleet of AMC Hornets (which became the Concord). Two doors, strippers. No AC, no radio, rubber floor covering. There was some strange engineering in those things. For example, the front seatbacks were attached by a pin one side and a bolt on the other that stepped down from…

“...but if it were me,...” If it were you, you’d get the most clapped-out, self-destructing XJ you could find. Again. :)

What’s the skin made of? 

My fellow boomers can be such whiney asshats at times.

I suspect the intent of a small Ford pickup would be to slot into the commercial truck lineup as a companion to the Transit Connect.

There was a period back in the 90s when I had to fly on business about every week. I always parked in the same remote lot at LAX. I got off the shuttle late one night and... drew a complete blank as to what part of the lot I was parked in this time. I wandered around for a half hour, pushing the remote lock button,…

It makes stubby crossovers look less stubby.

Succession dares us to like a show with no likeable characters. Damn, they succeeded.