You know, if you had asked me to predict this year’s winner, I can honestly say I would not have guessed correctly. I may have had my hopes, but I would certainly not have guessed it. With all the flashiness, the show, the look-at-me attention-grabbing of most of the other nominations, I would not have guessed that the most Hooniverse of all the nominations would actually take home the green participation ribbon coveted trophy.
But there we have it! With a solid number of votes cast — although not as many as in previous years when the forum trolls came stomping through, and I’m just fine with that — the solid, surprise victory was not just verifiable, but decisive. Going through the logs, there was no funny business (except for one vote for the Hellcat that somehow snuck through after the voting closed. Jeff.), and all looked well. There were the usual bugs, possibly due to Defective User Error, but for those who indicated in the comments that they were unable to cast their vote, I added their selection to the tally. None of it made any difference at all.
For 2014, our come-from-behind (tee-hee!) winner is the Hurst Gremlin Rescue Vehicle!

I can’t even hope to express how thrilled I am by that. What with some tempting targets trying to lure your votes away with grumbly exhausts or come-hither glances or giant WWI-era dreadnought engines, it’s satisfying that the most Hooniverse car won. Now in fairness, as some pointed out, this car’s claim to relevance in 2014 was… a bit weak. But you know what, sometimes the claim to relevance is just that this is the year it earned its 15 minutes of fame, and we can allow that. After all, you kind of have to grant a bit of lenience to a car that so embodies Hooniverse. It’s old, it’s rare, and it’s not desirable at all. It’s a work vehicle, built for a singular purpose. It’s an orphan brand, an unloved model, from the Malaise Era, without a whole lot of due care and attention paid over the years.
In short, it’s perfect, and I’d welcome it into my home in a moment.
Congratulations to the Gremlin, this may be the only real award it’s ever won.