This Volkswagen Beetle Engine Rebuild Time Lapse Makes It Look Way Too Easy

I return to you people from air-cooled Volkswagen Project Car Hell, only to find Hagerty’s video of a Beetle engine getting re-built. It looks so simple! It’s such a tiny engine! Everything fits together like Legos! HA! The camera lies. Either way, watching this engine get completely torn down and...

Sep 13, 2025

Becoming A Good Amateur Mechanic Means Embracing Your Stupid Mistakes

While wrenching on my this past weekend, I made a major gaffe that could have cost me hundreds of dollars. But it was just one of many blunders I’ve made over the years, and it’s the sort of thing I’ve come to embrace. And if you want to get into...

Sep 13, 2025

All The Craigslist Shitboxes Jalopnik Readers Have Been Tempting Me With Lately (Vol. 2)

Another week, another pile of emails filled with Craigslist links to extremely tempting shitboxes. Here are a few of my favorites from readers who know I have a “problem,” but who simply don’t care. I don’t need any more cars in my life. Seven is enough for a single dude...

Sep 13, 2025

Replace The Shocks On Your Busted Old Car, You Won't Regret It

Finally, after way, way, way too long, I replaced the shocks on my car. I would have done it sooner if I had known just how busted my old ones were and how much better the new ones already seem. It’s hard for me to break the mindset that if...

Sep 13, 2025

Is It Time To Send My $600 Jeep Cherokee To The Junkyard?

There’s this Jeep Cherokee that I love dearly—one that I bought for only $600, fixed up using junkyard parts, and . But ever since that epic trip, the XJ has been falling apart, and now I’m wondering: is it time to send the to the ol’ off-road park in the...

Sep 13, 2025

My Stupid Volkswagen Annihilated My Clothes And I Hate Everything

There are few things I loathe more than shopping for clothes. Maybe dental work and gynecological exams, but that’s it. Buying new clothes lies somewhere in the deepest circle of hell, and cleaning them? Not much better. It’s the extra cost of wrenching no one seems to mention, but I...

Sep 13, 2025

I Just Traded My $1 Oldsmobile For A Terrible 2003 Kia Rio

I never thought I’d say these words: I now own a 2003 Kia Rio. And my god is it a gigantic pile of garbage that I will thoroughly enjoy destroying in an upcoming video series. But first, the thing has to somehow survive winter-beater duty. I initially bought my because...

Sep 13, 2025

A Video Reminder That Rally Mechanics Are The Best In The Universe

We are well aware that , but we must also not forget that their mechanics are among the toughest, fastest and most resourceful in the car world. This is the Audi Quattro A2 of Saeed Al-Hajri and Steve Bond on their way to a second-place finish in the 1988 Rothmans...

Sep 13, 2025

My $100 Nissan 300ZX's Problems Are Weirder Than I Expected

Last month I sort-of inherited this with more than 200,000 miles on the odometer. It’s in remarkably good condition for an almost-free car, but the issues it does have are not things I’ve ever encountered in other old cars before. Here’s the thing about my old $100 Z: it’s weird,...

Sep 13, 2025

What Are The Worst Conditions In Which You've Ever Had To Fix A Car?

December is here, meaning Michigan has shifted into a wintry hellscape. And, because of some poor planning on my end, I’m now wrenching on my in my rock-solid, snow-covered backyard instead of in my garage. It’s true misery. One hundred yards. That’s all that’s separating my 1986 Jeep Grand Wagoneer...

Sep 13, 2025

That College Kid Whose Jeep I Saved Wound Up Stranded On The Shoulder With A Blown-Up Engine

Last summer, I that a reader had offered to give me for free. But instead of coming home with the extra iron, I fixed the college student’s Jeep and returned home happy to help. Lots of people read that article—heck, even Adam Savage from Mythbusters about it. But as pleasant...

Sep 13, 2025

Please Help Me Decide If I Should Buy This 1979 Jeep Cherokee Golden Eagle

Yesterday I drove over 500 miles to take a peek at a 1979 Jeep Cherokee Golden Eagle and a 1987 Jeep Grand Wagoneer—both of which Jalopnik reader Tammy offered me as a package deal for $3,400. Somehow I resisted buying them on the spot, so now I come to you—my...

Sep 13, 2025

Michigan Man Forced To Sell 20 Cars A Month Has Resorted To Scrapping Some Cool Cars

, a Michigan man whose township is forcing him to rapidly get rid of his enormous car collection, is selling them off as he’s required to do. But it’s just not quite enough. Now the 70-year-old is resorting to just scrapping some seriously cool cars instead of selling them, and...

Sep 13, 2025

All The Craigslist Shitboxes Jalopnik Readers Have Been Tempting Me With Lately (Vol. 3)

I’ve been tossing and turning in my sleep these past few days trying to decide if I want to add an eighth car to my collection. But that hasn’t stopped Jalopnik readers from tempting me with even more vehicles that could send me spiraling down a dark, dark path. I’m...

Sep 13, 2025

Fuel Injector Failure Is Just Another Day Of Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo Ownership

Nobody ever claimed that the Z32 was a reliable vehicle. Here’s one of the reasons why. Imagine a perfect, sunny, 70 degree day. A faint breeze caresses the air while the surrounding foliage is beginning to give way to fall’s beautiful hues. What a wonderful opportunity to take the old...

Sep 13, 2025