Wacky Racers

I was reading Car Magazine this week and they had a great article about real life Wacky Racers, commissioned by Lord Marsh for the Goodwood Festival of Speed and they are going to be on show this Fourth of July Weekend (2009).

So, I went onto YouTube this morning and wasted about an hour of my time watching old episodes of The Wacky Races. I still want to be Peter Perfect in his Turbo Terrific and Penelope Pitstop is still smoking hot.

I also learned the cartoon was inspired by a 1965 movie called The Great Race, staring Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis, and that lead to another hour of time wasting on YouTube.

So if you are like me and you love cars and cartoons, do yourself a favor and waste some time watching this great classic.

1991 Jeep Cherokee Limited

Impulse shopping is not something I indulge in often, I can walk around a GAP sale and want a hundred things and walk out with out spending a dime, but put $3500 in my hand and point me in the direction of a four-wheel temptress and I'll blow the whole lot in seconds.

My CRX was going fine, no problems at all other than it wasn't a Jeep Cherokee. I started snooping around the classifieds on Sunday mornings and logging on to AutoTrader way too often. I was getting the bug, every time a Cherokee drove past me on the road I was salivating.

I needed some expertise help as I wanted a good, clean, reliable car. My friend Adam was the right man for the job: he was from Iowa and drove an old truck, the perfect Cherokee hunter.

The first one we looked at was a mess, they were looking for $800 for it and Adam said it wasn't even worth $500, so we let it pass. There was another one close by so we headed over there to check it out and the lady at the door said the car would be back in a few minutes. So we waited and ten minutes later the $800 piece of crap showed up again. We jumped into Adam's truck and got the hell out of there.

Half an hour later we were in a much nicer neighborhood and looking at an immaculate 1991 black and gold Jeep Cherokee Limited. I literally jizzed in my pants at first sight.

I should have played hardball and haggled the price down, but I didn't I just told the guy I'd be back in a few day and have all the paperwork ready.

I never got a chance to feel buyer's remorse as the entire KC area got hit by an ice-storm and the Cherokee's four wheel drive proved invaluable. I was an errand boy for my friends and one of the few people able to show up for school at Park. With five seats I was able to bring loads of chicks out to the bars, to paraphrase Swingers "I was so money."

I once came to a road blocked by a timber log and with images of the A-Team van crashing through a secured gate I backed her up and bust through...it was a priceless moment in car ownership.

Fast forward 6 months and the Cherokee is parked outside my new girlfriend's house (this one became The Wife). I got up in the morning to drive to school and looked out onto the street and didn't see it. At first I thought I must have left it at work the night before, but no, I drove it home and parked it right out front. It was stolen, bollocks.

After a lot of BS with the police department in KCK I found her at a wrecking yard, compacted by about 3 feet. I could have cried and the pisser was I'd just paid $300 on new brakes and rotors. It was a short lived relationship with the Cherokee, but not a moment of regret.
Check out this fast Cherokee

Here is the inspiration for most of my Jeep driving