Hank Watson's Garage Hour - Cars, Trucks, Beers & Guns

Slather on the Justin powa - from Canadian marionettes to catching up on your Orange Goblins, from dickheads with their high beams (and why is it always a Jeep or a Tesla?) to the rules about passing a snowplow, from Ford's exploding batteries to its self-disassembling front suspension (a case of the Teslas?), from Charles Bronson "fixing Emmitt" to the Israelis confiscating a lot of nice shotguns, from crashing into smaller things than you to Honda buying Nissan (why?), it's classic Garage Hour supersauce - spread it on.

...With Orange Goblin, Dire Straits, Masters of Reality, Soundgarden, Kyuss, Solarized, The Sword, Mastodon, Man or Astro Man and High on Fire. There's also bears, crocodiles, birds and Dad's poor Buick Century.

Slather on the Justin powa - from Canadian marionettes to catching up on your Orange Goblins, from dickheads with their high beams (and why is it always a Jeep or a Tesla?) to the rules about passing a snowplow, from Ford's exploding batteries to its self-disassembling front suspension (a case of the Teslas?), from Charles Bronson "fixing Emmitt" to the Israelis confiscating a lot of nice shotguns, from crashing into smaller things than you to Honda buying Nissan (why?), it's classic Garage Hour supersauce - spread it on.

...With Orange Goblin, Dire Straits, Masters of Reality, Soundgarden, Kyuss, Solarized, The Sword, Mastodon, Man or Astro Man and High on Fire. There's also bears, crocodiles, birds and Dad's poor Buick Century.

Whether you're smart enough to know we're going to have some wind and fires in SoCal (duhh) or it's about a healthy distrust of government (kind'a like "technology", "gov't" is not on your side), a good gearhead just needs a reason not to be the meat in the seat. A gearhead also needs a good soundtrack - how about some Monster Magnet, with drops from Pelham 1-2-3 (one of the best NYC-based caper movies ever made - it nails '70s NY atmosphere).

Take a dive - logic's fine: prepping for disaster is a badge of honor (plus, you get to keep your house and classic cars). You'll also avoid being one of the CA sheeple who 50 years of bad fire-prevention couldn't teach. May you broadcast in interesting times...

Whether you're smart enough to know we're going to have some wind and fires in SoCal (duhh) or it's about a healthy distrust of government (kind'a like "technology", "gov't" is not on your side), a good gearhead just needs a reason not to be the meat in the seat. A gearhead also needs a good soundtrack - how about some Monster Magnet, with drops from Pelham 1-2-3 (one of the best NYC-based caper movies ever made - it nails '70s NY atmosphere).

Take a dive - logic's fine: prepping for disaster is a badge of honor (plus, you get to keep your house and classic cars). You'll also avoid being one of the CA sheeple who 50 years of bad fire-prevention couldn't teach. May you broadcast in interesting times...

Take a cautionary stance as gearheads, geeks and the great unwashed makers look forward to 2025 - it's our year to make great, but some of that tin needs straightening. From the evil of your refrigerator conspiring with the dishwasher to convince the thermostat to drop the house to 42º, to the sloppy software from fool programmers on the wrong side of the wall allowing your data to be hacked by your car before you even get out of the driveway, it's time to get paranoid and understand that bad governance won't fix itself. We've never seen so much of the tail of hidden corruption than we can now, so take a running start.

It's in there: Sagan's theory on why tech without morality can end worlds (where's the stop sign?), why bad governors in sad states will still push failed technology (because it benefits them), and how the companies you shop need to be held to your standard (because Costco won't fix itself).

Take a cautionary stance as gearheads, geeks and the great unwashed makers look forward to 2025 - it's our year to make great, but some of that tin needs straightening. From the evil of your refrigerator conspiring with the dishwasher to convince the thermostat to drop the house to 42º, to the sloppy software from fool programmers on the wrong side of the wall allowing your data to be hacked by your car before you even get out of the driveway, it's time to get paranoid and understand that bad governance won't fix itself. We've never seen so much of the tail of hidden corruption than we can now, so take a running start.

It's in there: Sagan's theory on why tech without morality can end worlds (where's the stop sign?), why bad governors in sad states will still push failed technology (because it benefits them), and how the companies you shop need to be held to your standard (because Costco won't fix itself).

If you want to celebrate your mechanical success before you've succeeded, don't expect much success - Hostus Maximus Justin Fort and Ryan the BMWery Guy test their livers with a debate of all the excellent mistakes they've made when the sips start before the work stops. From the Perrin charge tube that's supposed to take a half-hour to install, not a half-week, to the little things we miss like which way the brake pads go (and what sort of sparks they throw), there's a way to do it and a way you shouldn't (and we've tried both).

Not to get too far afield, there's more gearhead goodness to be had: thinking out tube bumpers, sliding your truck into a snow drift before you crash into it, loud and noisy thug trucks, SVT's good old days, verbicide, Mitsubishi Outlanders, vintage Garage Hour cohosts, plus tasting Bushmills and Breckenridge whiskeys, Peach Crown Royal, Absolut Vodka and High Country Lager. There's also a host of tunes from Karma to Burn, 16 Volt and Deadbolt.

If you want to celebrate your mechanical success before you've succeeded, don't expect much success - Hostus Maximus Justin Fort and Ryan the BMWery Guy test their livers with a debate of all the excellent mistakes they've made when the sips start before the work stops. From the Perrin charge tube that's supposed to take a half-hour to install, not a half-week, to the little things we miss like which way the brake pads go (and what sort of sparks they throw), there's a way to do it and a way you shouldn't (and we've tried both).

Not to get too far afield, there's more gearhead goodness to be had: thinking out tube bumpers, sliding your truck into a snow drift before you crash into it, loud and noisy thug trucks, SVT's good old days, verbicide, Mitsubishi Outlanders, vintage Garage Hour cohosts, plus tasting Bushmills and Breckenridge whiskeys, Peach Crown Royal, Absolut Vodka and High Country Lager. There's also a host of tunes from Karma to Burn, 16 Volt and Deadbolt.

Well, it's that time of year - time for the Garage Hour to cram the episode full of silly holiday fun and outros. How about some good gearhead up-to-stuffs while we're at it? Tesla is facing another recall, but this one's full of shed. Street-takeovers are violent, stupid, dangerous affairs, which we'd usually encourage so long as they are away from people, but crowds tend to get stupid in the worst places. The postal service's electric trucks still suck. Automotive journalist of great repute (and high-Q oddball) Jean Lindamood/Jennings gets a classic Garage Hour excellent-weirdo sendoff. Also, Upslope Brewery's Draft Lager joined in for sips and grins.

While we're at it, there's some fun thoughts about Christmas movies and family time (because it matters), the so-called government eradication of the Chinese murder hornet (and what could happen if they joined up with the desert helicopter wasp), Dennis Farina, Ray Liotta, and a set of chintzy Chinese (is that redundant?) foot warmers that cooked some ice-fisherman's toes.

Well, it's that time of year - time for the Garage Hour to cram the episode full of silly holiday fun and outros. How about some good gearhead up-to-stuffs while we're at it? Tesla is facing another recall, but this one's full of shed. Street-takeovers are violent, stupid, dangerous affairs, which we'd usually encourage so long as they are away from people, but crowds tend to get stupid in the worst places. The postal service's electric trucks still suck. Automotive journalist of great repute (and high-Q oddball) Jean Lindamood/Jennings gets a classic Garage Hour excellent-weirdo sendoff. Also, Upslope Brewery's Draft Lager joined in for sips and grins.

While we're at it, there's some fun thoughts about Christmas movies and family time (because it matters), the so-called government eradication of the Chinese murder hornet (and what could happen if they joined up with the desert helicopter wasp), Dennis Farina, Ray Liotta, and a set of chintzy Chinese (is that redundant?) foot warmers that cooked some ice-fisherman's toes.