05.15.25: Big Speakers, Old Stereo Equipment, Fresh Four-Wheeling Plans, the Value of a Good Repairman, the Threat of Spies in Modern "Connected" Electronics, & Some Excellent Weirdo R.I.P.s for Joe Don Baker, George Wendt & Bruce Glover
Hank Watson's Garage Hour - Cars, Trucks, Beers & Guns
Release Date: 05/30/2025
05.05.25 (MP3): Hefty Fabulous Shop Raid w/ Chris Hefty - The State of Off-Road Bumpers & Custom Fab, Market Trends, Four-Wheelin' Customers, Neighbor Shops (Keeping Each Other Going), + Bridging the Gap Between Bolt-On & Custom Goodness
Hank Watson's Garage Hour - Cars, Trucks, Beers & Guns
The Garage Hour does good interviews (whether or not Hostus Maximus Justin Fort is any good at interviews), and we did a semi-sneak beer attack on Chris Hefty at the eponymously named Hefty Fab last month. Unfortunately, with the hillclimb and about a gajillion client to-dos on the front burner, we're a little late with the upload. Sort'a sorry! No matter: it's worth the wait - we puzzle out the doin's of keeping a serious shop going when times get tight (as our hero Hunter S. once opined, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."). Chris details the art of...
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05.05.25: Hefty Fabulous Shop Raid w/ Chris Hefty - The State of Off-Road Bumpers & Custom Fab, Market Trends, Four-Wheelin' Customers, Neighbor Shops (Keeping Each Other Going), + Bridging the Gap Between Bolt-On & Custom Goodness
Hank Watson's Garage Hour - Cars, Trucks, Beers & Guns
The Garage Hour does good interviews (whether or not Hostus Maximus Justin Fort is any good at interviews), and we did a semi-sneak beer attack on Chris Hefty at the eponymously named Hefty Fab last month. Unfortunately, with the hillclimb and about a gajillion client to-dos on the front burner, we're a little late with the upload. Sort'a sorry! No matter: it's worth the wait - we puzzle out the doin's of keeping a serious shop going when times get tight (as our hero Hunter S. once opined, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."). Chris details the art of...
info_outline
06.16.25 (MP3): Pike's Peak Hillclimb Pre-Race - Cars & Racers, Tales of Woe & Stuff We Know, History & Schmistory, Turns, Straights, Pavement & Drop-Offs, To-Dos & Planning, Go-Tos & Don't Dos, + a Total 2A Aside - Good News for SBRs & Suppressors
Hank Watson's Garage Hour - Cars, Trucks, Beers & Guns
You can't get this kind of goodness without a prescription (or a warrant) - it's a roundabout look at the upcoming 2025 Pike's Peak International Hillclimb [PPIHC.org (or .com - choose your adventure)], with everything from drivers, racecars (because racecar!), viewing (in-person or on TV and online), spectating (because you're not going to choke on race fuel fumes in your living room - probably), course info (best turns and, well, there are no worst turns here), and a little bit of history (because you can't do 100+ years of racing without having something historic happen). Also, Hostus...
info_outline
06.16.25: Pike's Peak Hillclimb Pre-Race - Cars & Racers, Tales of Woe & Stuff We Know, History & Schmistory, Turns, Straights, Pavement & Drop-Offs, To-Dos & Planning, Go-Tos & Don't Dos, + a Total 2A Aside - Good News for SBRs & Suppressors
Hank Watson's Garage Hour - Cars, Trucks, Beers & Guns
You can't get this kind of goodness without a prescription (or a warrant) - it's a roundabout look at the upcoming 2025 Pike's Peak International Hillclimb [PPIHC.org (or .com - choose your adventure)], with everything from drivers, racecars (because racecar!), viewing (in-person or on TV and online), spectating (because you're not going to choke on race fuel fumes in your living room - probably), course info (best turns and, well, there are no worst turns here), and a little bit of history (because you can't do 100+ years of racing without having something historic happen). Also, Hostus...
info_outline
05.25.25 (MP3): Enable Your Functionality w/ Some Gearhead OCD - Matching Your Toolbox to your Brain, a Place for Everything, Screwdriver VS Plier, Being a Better Human (Fixer of Things), & Red Adair, Dad's Toolbox, CA Basements + Ether Martinis
Hank Watson's Garage Hour - Cars, Trucks, Beers & Guns
Tools are for humans (and super-smart animals, apparently), garages are for cars, countertops are for food, and rollaways are for organizing! This esoteric episode is all (mostly) about embracing the perfectionist - just a little - and making your tools and shop space match your intellect and style. Because so many good projects and necessary repairs get hog-tied by bad organization, and a lack of operable tool enhancement can be submarined by a lack of organization, we want you to scratch that itch and embrace the OCD (if just long enough to put the nut drivers in the correct...
info_outline
05.25.25: Enable Your Functionality w/ Some Gearhead OCD - Matching Your Toolbox to your Brain, a Place for Everything, Screwdriver VS Plier, Being a Better Human (Fixer of Things), & Red Adair, Dad's Toolbox, CA Basements + Ether Martinis
Hank Watson's Garage Hour - Cars, Trucks, Beers & Guns
Tools are for humans (and super-smart animals, apparently), garages are for cars, countertops are for food, and rollaways are for organizing! This esoteric episode is all (mostly) about embracing the perfectionist - just a little - and making your tools and shop space match your intellect and style. Because so many good projects and necessary repairs get hog-tied by bad organization, and a lack of operable tool enhancement can be submarined by a lack of organization, we want you to scratch that itch and embrace the OCD (if just long enough to put the nut drivers in the correct...
info_outline
05.15.25 (MP3): Big Speakers, Old Stereo Equipment, Fresh Four-Wheeling Plans, the Value of a Good Repairman, the Threat of Spies in Modern "Connected" Electronics, & Some Excellent Weirdo R.I.P.s for Joe Don Baker, George Wendt & Bruce Glover
Hank Watson's Garage Hour - Cars, Trucks, Beers & Guns
Catching up with the backup - it's a timely episode of the Garage Hour (not to be cornfused with the usual when-we-can upload freakout). There are still a few more further-behind units to be kicked into production, so don't worry - you won't miss a thing. What's in this 'un? Good electronics versus new, "dumb" appliances versus robot vacuums conspiring with the 'fridge, and the importance of having a good TV repairman up your sleeve. There's a stint with the inevitable: electric cars and why taxpayer dough makes them soft and flabby (and inevitable losers); a possible...
info_outline
05.15.25: Big Speakers, Old Stereo Equipment, Fresh Four-Wheeling Plans, the Value of a Good Repairman, the Threat of Spies in Modern "Connected" Electronics, & Some Excellent Weirdo R.I.P.s for Joe Don Baker, George Wendt & Bruce Glover
Hank Watson's Garage Hour - Cars, Trucks, Beers & Guns
Catching up with the backup - it's a timely episode of the Garage Hour (not to be cornfused with the usual when-we-can upload freakout). There are still a few more further-behind units to be kicked into production, so don't worry - you won't miss a thing. What's in this 'un? Good electronics versus new, "dumb" appliances versus robot vacuums conspiring with the 'fridge, and the importance of having a good TV repairman up your sleeve. There's a stint with the inevitable: electric cars and why taxpayer dough makes them soft and flabby (and inevitable losers); a possible...
info_outline
04.04.25 (MP3): Pure Garagesound - Maintenance Cleaning VS Show Detailing, Truck Bumpers & Trail Tires, Grenadiers & 4Runners, + Old Stereo Equipment, Lousy AI Ad Reads, Karma to Burn, the CA Car Duster & JF Summit #3
Hank Watson's Garage Hour - Cars, Trucks, Beers & Guns
If you've got a year's worth of 'froading fun (ie: dirt) crammed into every corner of your truck, reaching a "perfect" clean might not be a thing. Instead, aim for "maintenance clean" - the body is rinsed off, the two-bucket method is in overdrive, the dirt is gone, and the rig is neat enough that you can go back to work fixing what you broke on-trail (or wash it again to a state of "show detailed"). The Garage Hour discusses how. We also chat about the need for a good fabrication guy, and why a good can of Krylon can be essential to your truckly appearance. There's also fun times...
info_outline
04.04.25: Pure Garagesound - Maintenance Cleaning VS Show Detailing, Truck Bumpers & Trail Tires, Grenadiers & 4Runners, + Old Stereo Equipment, Lousy AI Ad Reads, Karma to Burn, the CA Car Duster & JF Summit #3
Hank Watson's Garage Hour - Cars, Trucks, Beers & Guns
If you've got a year's worth of 'froading fun (ie: dirt) crammed into every corner of your truck, reaching a "perfect" clean might not be a thing. Instead, aim for "maintenance clean" - the body is rinsed off, the two-bucket method is in overdrive, the dirt is gone, and the rig is neat enough that you can go back to work fixing what you broke on-trail (or wash it again to a state of "show detailed"). The Garage Hour discusses how. We also chat about the need for a good fabrication guy, and why a good can of Krylon can be essential to your truckly appearance. There's also fun times...
info_outlineCatching up with the backup - it's a timely episode of the Garage Hour (not to be cornfused with the usual when-we-can upload freakout). There are still a few more further-behind units to be kicked into production, so don't worry - you won't miss a thing.
What's in this 'un? Good electronics versus new, "dumb" appliances versus robot vacuums conspiring with the 'fridge, and the importance of having a good TV repairman up your sleeve. There's a stint with the inevitable: electric cars and why taxpayer dough makes them soft and flabby (and inevitable losers); a possible breakthrough in small trucks (because it's simple), the spy on the counter, the spy in your solar panels, the spy in A.I., and how Carl Sagan called this 50 years ago (and Asimov did 100 years ago). Add on a few thoughts about the freedom to roam (and boat, when you're in Florida (man)), and more from JFS3, and you've got a show.
While we're at it, this episode's got a few Excellent Weirdo R.I.P.s for some high-Q fellows who left us (and it's not okay): Joe Don Baker, George Wendt and Bruce Glover. Make it more: music from Karma to Burn, KMFDM, Deadbolt, Fatso Jetson, I Mother Earth, Dire Straits, Rev. Heat, Clutch, the Allmans and Fun Lovin' Criminals.