Articles

  • One Camera, One Map, and Two Turbos: Pt. 2 Cape Palliser, NZ

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    Alright, we’ll start off with the elephant in the room first.  Those wheels.  As noted in Pt. 1, when I bought this car, one of the rims had a crack in it.  That cracked rim, after a week of spirited driving, was now leaking air fairly steadily.  My search on Trademe.com, local to Wellington, came…

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  • Project Cars: International Scout 810 – The Beginning Of The Scout II, And The End Of My Social Calendar / Savings Account

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    I have this unfortunate character trait.  I love purchasing a downtrodden vehicle.  Much like a bad choice in a relationship, or a rescue animal that bites and vomits on your carpets, I have a hard time starting off with a project that’s easy work. Instead, I gravitate toward hulks that have been used without maintenance,…

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  • Black Oil & Night Soil: More Fiber For Your Friday

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    Kit cars – most of which were based on the Volkswagen Beetle platform, usually consist of fiberglass body and doors, and then you are to provide the VW pan and drive train.  Craigslist versions however, offer way more.  Buying any used classic can be a roll of the dice, but Kit Cars in particular seem…

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  • One Camera, One Map, and Two Turbos: Pt. 1 Castle Point, NZ

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    In the middle of 2015, I took a six month contract job in New Zealand.  Was my wife thrilled about it ?  No, but we agreed it would be my “semester abroad”, and that I should do my best to not get laid while I was there.  I was hired to work for Weta, which…

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  • Bunker VS Clunker: Magic in the Mohawk Valley

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      Welcome to the inaugural edition of Bunker VS Clunker, where we here at Hooniverse locate some real estate for sale, and pit it against a vehicle on offer in the same neighborhood, and in the same price bracket.  It’s for you, the reader to ponder which one you’d brake off that American dollar on.…

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  • Black Oil & Night Soil: Jam Master J-Series Jeeps

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    The J-Series Jeep pickup – versatile, capable and short on soft edges.  A full sized pickup, based off the Jeep Wagoneer platform that began in 1962 and stuck around all the way through the mid 1980’s.  Starting off as the Gladiator, this marquee ran till 1972 and then was changed to the J-series pickups.  Several…

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  • Black Oil & Night Soil: Hoon Hard & Prosper

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    Today’s batch can be best described as a fat crop of nonsense.  There are some projects that didn’t quite make it to fruition, some meaty street machines, and even a flight simulator in a school bus.  Kit cars, mud boggers, a Doodlebug, and finally a MAN 8×8, strong enough to drag an entire forest up…

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  • Black Oil & Night Soil: Grocery Greatness

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    When I was a kid, we had a 1971 Ford Country Squire wagon.  It was white, with wood panel sides and a cloudless, blue sky interior. I remember Battlestar Galactica combat in the rear facing seat, huffing exhaust fumes, and sweating from the greenhouse effect of being surrounded by glass and sunlight.  Regardless of its…

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  • Black Oil & Night Soil: Weekday Sundries

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    This edition of Black Oil is going to be all over the map.  If you are in the market for a Tempo Matador, Datsun F10, or Unimog snow destroyer, you are so in luck. There is a Willys Americar in here, a General Lee made from a ’65 Impala, and a RV crafted from a…

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  • Black Oil & Night Soil: Shag Carpet, Meet My Friend Wood Paneling

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    Upon arriving in Berkeley, California, December of 2000, I moved into a small house that my brother, Randy, had been living in on the cheap. Our landlord, Gene, was a junk man. He lived in the back among a dozen or so used cabs, sandwich bread, and mannequin limbs.  I needed transportation, so Randy struck…

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