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

While the cohosts are away building bumpers, bullets and blackout tint, Hostus Maximus will play (with Tomahawk, all show long). Gasoline and caffeine. 7mm-08 and .308. Bourbon and coffee. iMacs, iPhones and iCars (win, win and lose). Automakers losing their electric religion as shoppers lose the fad. Integra and Cutlass. Woke fails at 30,000ft and corporates bail on ground-level politics.

Meanwhile, we’ve got some stand-in cohosts: Dave Mustaine, Thomas Sowell, Layne Staley, Mike Patton, Rob Zombie, plus CHUDS, troglodites, morlochs and the lung brush.

Ultra-live new car and truck report from the finest little-big city auto show - it's the Garage Hour goons versus the San Diego Auto Show. Recording live from the floor of the best looking S.D. display in a decade, Hostus Maximus Justin Fort and Majid from Global Source Remarketing (he sells used trucks, folks, lots of 'em) point their remarkably advanced understanding of the auto industry, its consumers and its wherewithal at the cars, trucks, electrics, diesels, innovators and relegators at the show, and killer gearhead talk results. Yes, have some.

What'cha like? We've got it: Lotus Elises, LS'd Chevy SSs and Duramaxed Colorados, Jeep TJs and CJs, the 4Runner TRD Pro, interior quality, Civics, brake fires, station wagons, the BMW 540i, Top Gear versus the Hilux, Dodge versus Ford work vans, coil versus leaf, rattle-can versus 4R, manual versus auto, Subaru CVT versus driving satisfaction, electricity versus ego, M3 versus M4, the Slingshot (from Canuckistan!), Tesla and Lincoln prototypes, hydrogen versus government, and where the hell are our flying cars? (you promised).

There's plenty of the usual Garage Hour subterfuge, so don't worry. We take a fine slice at the auto unions, diesel repowering, yard work, rental adventure, overpriced San Diego, overvalued Chargers, engineers versus effectiveness, and of course, bear attacks.

If you'd prefer the low-fi version of this fine piece of sheeeeow, grab the same date with the "MP3" tag.

The Garage Hour: ready or not, we're coming in! The episode's experimental new Pure Podcast sound-test worked better than expected, so we made a show with it.

It's 100% garage-action in this first-ever Pure Podcast, which was recorded during a night of hangoutery and tool spinning in Hostus Maximus Justin Fort's private garage. This ain't no poseur garage - between swapping rotors on the host's canyon carving STi to a discussion of the value of inch-pound 18-volt DeWalt impact guns, it's all gearhead, all the time. Friends-of-show Chef Jeff from The Hills and Eastbound restaurants in San Diego, Jaime of Off-Road.com fame, and minivan-wielding Surfer Greg join Justin in the garage.

Have no fear, it's all Garage Hour, so there's enough "other" to plug the hole in the Titanic: sci-fi, Made in the USA, the art of podcasting, music called "Garage Hour", hunting dogs, parties with homemade moonshine, probable Sasquatch Runs for fun and buzz, ringing ears, minivan mods, rusty cars, Jewish humor, Tractor Supply Company, BFGoodrich's Nacho and his tire-grooving terrors, the pervy things Disney artists drew into their kids' movies, and, of course, hipster abuse.

It's a podcast, so we warned you (as we do it in the show) - there's one swear word. Just one. You can't miss it, but you might miss the outtakes - this show doesn't end until it ends. Now get some.

So much good stuff... Do you like your gearhead awesomeness covered in political gravy and conspiracy sauce? This Garage Hour has your number. Hell, all of 'em do.

Right out of the gate, it's cohost Crag Maxwell versus La Mesa's Mayor Methuselah (who had the kimchee to threaten the only guy in East County who can tuck in his shirt), but that doesn't last - this episode dives quickly towards the Malaysian Grand Prix and boy-racer Lewis "I'm Such a Dick I Fired my Dad" Hamilton and his silly Ahab beard, and swerves back to how local police are getting MRAPs before the best gearhead show on the air falls off a cliff with Gary Larson versus Mark Larson, and who looks better in a ten-gallon hat.

Important program notes: .45 Phil's Tank of the Week is the M551 Sheridan, which was supposed to float, and putting Not-Yet-Agent-Aya on the same comm channel as .45 Phil does not good mic balance make.

The political questions never end: how did Joe Biden spend half a mil of taxpayer dollars in Paris in one night, is the US gov using "zombie" training to desensitize its agents against shooting the low-info hordes, and why when the government is here to help, it never is?

Back to the good stuff: this episode also has spaghetti westerns, great bad guys (Lee Van Cleef versus Henry Fonda as Angel Eyes), Corey Farley versus John Candy, old versus remake-based cinema, and as promised, moral narcism and its newfound chew toy, the Prius (and Crag's artful analysis of where you can put yours).

A low-fi version of this episode is available in MP3 form if you search for the same date with an "MP3" tag.

True to form, the Garage Hour goons have recorded another ricochet episode: so much topic, so little time. Too many good guests and too many powerful cohosts means what little rudder this episode had won't be enough - beer craft and hop styles, AR-15s and AK-47s (and how to wreck an AK, from someone who did it back when the bad guys wore black PJs), wine versus Prius owners, forklifts, food truck, hipsters versus snobs, weird beers, brewing in barrels, Oklahoma humor, and a first-person dissertation on the defilade angles of the JFK shooting (because who doesn't enjoy a little conspiracy?).

Throw a Garage Hour and a party happens, especially when you do it at Helix Brewing in La Mesa's scenic industrial district. Escorted into the gravity well by Hostus Maximus Justin Fort, none other than .45 Phil and Chef Jeff answer the call, followed by Mrs. Jeff and Mike the Duck, as well as a few long-time neighbors of the show, Mr. and Mrs. Green Beret (John & Gayle).

Everyone's host at this episode of brick-lined excellence was the defatigueable Cameron from Helix Brewing, big fan of the ladies and one-man brewing army. If you listen loosely, you'll even hear Cameron admit that he talks to his beers. The big question is whether they talk back.

If you prefer to listen to this episode in low-fi knuckle-draggin' portable MP3 mode, search for the same date episode with the "MP3" tag on it.