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

Racing, racing, everywhere, but not a drop left to spend because it's a great way to make a small fortune (out of a big one)... We've got a pile of left-right road-racey sticky tire preambling from some of the most legendary automotive races in the world (until we start racing spaceships) - the 24 Hours of LeMans is on right now, and the Pike's Peak International Hillclimb comes up next weekend. We've even got a look forward at some good racing happening down under (once it cools off a little) at the Lemans-On-A-Mountain known as Bathurst, and Targa Tasmania, which races on a whole island. While you're in there, take a gander at another electric car recall because of minivan batteries that like to catch fire when being charged (nice work, Chrysler), and at the request of the Baron, rolling nothing but Z-Trip tracks and turntable behavior in the background.

It's a leftover episode (or an episode made of leftovers) - who's hungry? This here Garage Hour is a delicious assortment of parts that'll put your mother's goulash to shame. Made with the finest ingredients we could find in the back of the 'fridge (and/or on the cutting room floor), we've got trucker skills, Tesla fails, drinking ideas versus sobering wrenches, gas prices, beer tourism, estate sale chemicals, thoughts on mass-air sensors, why so many reverse-cameras are being recalled (rightly so - turn your head already), and how to avoid the dreaded doom-loop of bad-idea layering. Meanwhile, there's the random outsourcing with the Walkin' Dude, Mr. Intolerant, White Mark the Diversity Hire, Tony Sawaya, Homer Simpson and Henchman 23.

A surprisingly gearheadly episode for something served with a side of dried apples - it's time to tighten your belt and peel your ears. We've got someone spoofing The Hoff's Knight 2000 so Mr. Someone can speed through school zones, tunnels falling apart in big cities (not always fatal), tales of tickets and fees that no one earned (and some tolls that no one deserved - talk about incompetence...), trucks on mountains at night, Porsche selling off properties because they overreached again (some more), and many more auto manufacturers (including the guys at Porch) taking yuge losses on electric cars. There's also some thoughts on bad radio ads (beta much, you incompetent boobs?), good beans, and a septic tanker that parked in the second worse spot in the world. Also, a the Unida/Dozer split album...

Ever look up and wonder what you're looking at? Well, this time it's the Garage Hour. We're too busy to pull a Strangelove, however - there's a space station (international), a satellite (train or track), and a semi that got punted into orbit by Ktulu's little brother, Bl'Slyu. Pile them in with a mess of auto manufacturer recalls from the likes of Ford, Porsche, Tesla and BMW (just in case your driveshaft is separating, your cameras are shorting, or your fuel pump ain't), a few robot semis (those that escaped Bl'Slyu's wrath), an out-of-control tram (a trolley, but for fancy people), the return of the Bodycount Conundrum, some sporty urban shooting and a few deranged urban robot cars, and it's definitely good gearheadness. Just for sport (more of it): Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails, Ray Liotta, bad drivers, bad kitties, excellent cops, tactical gun training, terrorists, sinkholes, cloud seeding and more pinko spying.

When life gives you all sorts of junk and a few cups of coffee, you get a smoothie episode (ie: it's in there)... It was kicked into gear when we watched a dude in Queens bury his neighbor's car during the last snowstorm because their dog won't shut up. Seems reasonable. ...Maybe they parked too close to his driveway as well. Neighbors. Be considerate and bury the car they use less. There's a report on alien technology: an app that warns us about glass-holes and their Fakebook spy glasses, concerns that our constant car shopping has gone mental(ist), and a guy in Norway with so much T.D.S. that he Havana Syndromed himself. Also: Kalifornistan's fuel island is so desperate they're importing gas from the Caribbean, but their highways are so good that the state has four of the five most dangerous superslabs in the country. Nice work, CA. More in there: Rob Zombie's forgotten hit "Living Dead Tree (Laying on the Roof)", not pulling a Sagan, plus lots of Red Fang, including tales from Pacific Beach at the Doc's and why "Wires" is a gearhead must-see.

Don't shy away from the junkyard when it's time to find a part. Whether you're a hardcore salvage builder looking for a door skin or it's your first time and you just need a head rest, outfits like Best Foreign Used Parts are ideal - lots of stock, lots of knowledge, and lots of tetanus shots. Hostus Maximus Justin Fort and Ryan The TBD may be a little biased (It's in there!), but there's a lot to learn from this episode: what parts move fastest, the cars that junkyard shoppers like the most (and where), what to do first when you're heading to the junkyard, and a little bit about this business as a whole. There's also Dodge R/Ts (Dakota and Caravan), Toyotas, Panteras, Typhoons, Cyclones, Renaults, an MG and a Volvo 240, cars with guns, 'fridges, violins and money, and so many Subarus. The master of this demonstration of disassembly at Best Parts (Don), also has excellent stories from four decades in the business - crazy finds in the 'yard, what goes on after the gates close, airbag "testing", walking catalytics, hail (No!), junkyard magic, the price of steel, and structural recycling. Soup for you: The Allman Brothers, faces for radio, Colorado Springs and Gold Hill history (schmistory!), R-rated junk car finds, and Johnny Cash's forgotten song about Deloreans. ...And don't trust your lyin' eyes - the Garage Hour is always PG, so the "Explicit" rating that occasionally appears on episodes is just some 'bot that was too drunk to do its job.

Some Garage Hours are on the gearhead nose, and others (ahem; this one?) start lost in woods and get even loster. This episode is heavy on the 2A and stupid human tricks, with tales of Big Gov't trying to truncate your right to bear arms, drones being weaponized by faceless white-collared tweakers, and some fool bastard in France with a WW1 shell jammed up his Peugeot. What else? A bunch of snowmobilin' outdoorsmen gather forces to rescue a lost pony named Mouse, an inquiry of what your privacy is worth, and a deluded twit in China who thought it would be a good idea to take a selfie with a hungry leopard. You were warned... What's more: English accents ain't what they used to be, Virgina won't be worth much for long, laws that ain't worth what they're printed on, and about four tons of Puny Human.