Matt Hardigree
A long-time writer and editor in the car space, you may have read my work in Wired, Jalopnik, and the newsletter for my local Ultimate Frisbee team. I love writing about the car industry, driving minivans, and dreaming about owning various European Fast Fords. I drive an E39 530i Sport (with the stick) and a CR-V Hybrid. You can email me at matt@theautopian.com or follow me
on Instagram. Oh, I'm also the Publisher of The Autopian. That seems less interesting than the European Fords thing, though.
Finnish, blonde hair, 6 foot, 190 lbs…I don’t why I said that!!!
At what age did you Finnish growing?
I married into a Puerto Rican family, so, at 5’11”, I am the token giant white dude in the pictures, even though I am an (Joe Walsh voice) ordinary average guy.
Tis a good thing my 4’11” wife doesn’t mind sitting in the back seat of our Mustang or Mini when necessary, ’cause I sure as hell can’t/ain’t!
Thankfully, height isn’t a component of how much respect one gets, so don’t let your height (or lack thereof) get you…down.
Jason is just tall enough that his legs and feet go all the way to the ground and no further.
Your state still has color pictures for your driver licenses??? Hot damm you can look like poo in color! TX stopped color photos a couple of years ago. US Texan’s get to look like hungover shit in black and white after a visit to the DMV
Tbf they usually are hungover or pissed off after waiting hours.
I’m 5’9″, brown eyes, brown hair, 155-160lbs. I am about as average as average can be. In fact, I would GLADLY stand in as the official Autopian average person on any and all vehicular testing! Just send me a plane ticket, and I’ll be there, bringing the average to, well, average.
Any objections to wearing fiducial markers on your forehead? If not, there may be a job for you.
Maaaaaaaaybeeeee…
I’m thinking crash test dummy. Get him the ticket I’ll donate the car. Lol
I’m 6’4” and it’s the worst being an enthusiast for small, lightweight cars and motorcycles…not to mention finding clothes.
I’m also 6’4″. Pants are easy because I’m all torso with stubby (well, relatively stubby, I’m still tall) legs but finding shirts that are long enough can be a challenge.
I’m the opposite, all leg, haha!
Oh man, I’m in the same boat. It’s great sometimes, but with small vehicles (which I favor) it’s a pain in the arse. First thing I do when I look at a car is sit down in it and try to adjust the seat. If I can’t, then I just move along. That’s what happened when the S2000 came out. I sat down in it and went, “Hm, my legs won’t fit with the door closed, and I have no idea how I could do this. Shit.” and didn’t even drive it because I’d heard how awesome it was, and that would’ve only made it worse to not be able to have one.
Here here! 6’5″ and need both tall fitted shirts and wear a 36″ inseam.
Duluth trading composes much of my work wardrobe, fyi
One wonders if the height stat, like weight and such on a driver’s license often are, is perhaps a tad optimistic or aspirational?
The juxtaposition of Adrian and Torch must look not unlike having Jose Altuve reach first when Matt Olsen is playing first base.
Asterix and Obelix.
We’re twin brothers.
Which one of you is Danny DeVito?
Take a wild guess.
Hmm… my only reference for those two actors besides the movies they shared is the Batman series and I can’t see you running around in neon blue and chrome making ice puns so…
Well, I mean, they just ask you how tall you are. It’s not like they have a doctor there to make precise measurements.
Same height here. I remember sitting in an S2000 when they were brand new. When I could reach the pedals with the seat all the way back I wondered aloud, “who did they make this for?!”
The Japanese obviously.
I’m 6’3” with abnormally long legs and short torso and was in the Honda showroom when it launched or maybe the refresh in the late 90s. I tried to get in.
I remember not even being able to get my leg in. It seemed like the door was unusually short and mounted back from the A pillar more than most cars and my leg just would not bend enough to get in.
Not only could I not test drive it, I couldn’t even test how comfortable the seats were.
Agreed with everyone here. Being tall sucks for being a car enthusiast.
Hah! I just replied to another post above and mentioned my exact same experience with the S2000. It really sucked.
I was the same with my 370z. I’m about 5’7″ on a good day, and I had my seat all the way back. When I first got in, my thought was “This is obviously not designed for the North American market.”
I had no idea they could stack pure talent that high Jason! BTW, his Mom, nor any other relative PAID me to post this comment. I just really enjoy his tail light, amongst other weird car articles, OK??? Been a follower of his talent for years now.
Honestly, being a short car person IS rad. You can fit in all the cool and unusual stuff and generally survive the huge stuff. The down side is when you work on the repair side and have to be the one to drive anything that comes in with the seat stuck forward…
“I look like a gnome falling out of a picnic basket”
Bwahahahahaha!!!!!!
Yeah for the car experience being short helps until the gravity keeps you short and you grow wide. Can’t fit behind the wheel can’t fit underneath the car
Hold up. I’m 5′ 3-to-4″ (seems to depend on how much I’m slouching) and I’m pretty sure Jason is juuuuuust taller than me.
That’s the most reliable piece of information we’ve got right there. Thank you.
Just need a picture of Jason exiting a convenience store.
You, Stef, are no slouch.
Counterpoint: Everything my massage therapist has ever said. (Also, the fact that my back is borked enough to need a massage therapist.)
The ’90s did a number on posture, man. I’m paying for that “slouching is cool, shut up, mom” now.
Its sometimes annoying not being tall. I’m 5 ft 7 and as a guy, people in general seem to take shorter men less seriously. We are always the joke when it comes to movies and TV shows. Oh look! The silly short guy! ha ha! (ironically I married a 6 foot tall woman, which means constant driver seat adjustments forwards and back)
I saw the IG Jaguar Type 00 post, and got “Twins” vibes seeing Torch and Adrian together.
Yesterday I deliberately didn’t wear the same Autopian shirt as Jason because people would have thought we were identical twins.
so glad to hear that Jason has entered his goth era
He remains very much a work in progress.
It’s in the Prelude article: “As you can probably tell, we crammed five-foot-five-inch Jason Torchinsky into the back of this Prelude…”
Jason’s driver license hair color is the same as the reaction to Jason’s hairstyle: BRO.
It’s as if his hairstyle and color had a talk when he was in the womb.
I’m 6’3″ with a long torso and in general I’m happy to be tall, but it absolutely does make it hard to be a gearhead because I simply do not fit in some vehicles and sometimes wish I could. If I sit in an NA Miata I either have to look over the windshield or hunch down in order to see through it.
Yep. 6’2″ with a 32″ inseam over here. But at least I have a 38″ sleeve length. #ChimpMan
I’m 6’5″, and would like to be a few inches shorter. Once you can just reach up and touch a standard 8 foot ceiling, it’s diminishing returns.
Some years back, I got in an ND Miata at a dealership for fun, and it took a couple minutes to just get into a position that I could even close the door. There’s no way I could safely operate the clutch and drive even a short distance. Last time I was in an Audi dealership, the only vehicle in the showroom I could sit in without my head either touching or pushed into the roof was a Q8. Yet a BYD Seagull at a conference fit me just fine, go figure.
Im 6’4” tall and have similar issues. My ex-wife had a Miata and delighted in needing to borrow my car so I had to drive her car that I hated. Just one example of her petty cruelties towards me and why she’s my ex
I’m friends with a Mazda engineer and when the ND came out he was pretty confident I could sit in one comfortably. While I can put the top up, I wouldn’t call it comfortable.
I’m 6’4 and wear 36″ inseam jeans, and believe it or not I can juuuuust fit in a Lotus Esprit, as long as it’s an X180 or newer, but that’s mainly because I desperately, desperately want to make it work. It helps if the sunroof is popped.
I once sat in a Testarossa in a showroom and was devastated to find out it was not going to work for me at all. I have no idea how Michael Jordan drove one.
Jordon money means they build the car around you.
I’m 6′ even. It was my plan to buy a Miata when I retired. In my fifties I just could fit. I wasn’t bendy enough at 65.
6′ 3″ and I do not fit in the ND Miata either without using the inside of my knees to steer. I also don’t fit in a BRZ with a roll cage, which is why I don’t race one of those and instead ventured to the German car aisle.
I had a 6’8’’ co-worker who owned a NA Miata. His head was fully over the windshield. He didn’t care and wore safety/sunglasses to drive it. It might have been the most funny car fit I’ve ever seen in person.
When I sat in an F-type convertible and realized the windshield frame came up to about my eyeballs I crossed one dream car off my list.
Height is to Jason as 0-60 is to EVs – a measure of a thing no longer relevant. As to tallness, why Torch is one of the tallest men alive. In things that matter – humanity, intelligence, empathy, talent, humor, friendship, etc. – Jason is a giant, a man to look up to and to appreciate. A dizzying height, indeed.
As someone who was very much below average height until high school and who currently has a best friend about Torch’s height, I would like to request we put the height joke to bed. It’s like pointing out someone’s receding hairline or beer belly – it’s too obvious. We’re Autopians. We can do better.
Jason has plenty of other flaws to point out and mock.
I love that the license basically says “Hair? Bro…”.
I’m average height but about two Torches wide.
To be honest Hair Bro fits Jason does look fairly hairy.
Torch’s lineup silhouette looks like he has the mad magazine guy’s head
Yeah but does he talk like Fenster? I hope not.
“No car too big for short people”
Probably true for men, but I have known sub 5 foot women who have struggled with driving positions in some vehicles.
Some of the trucks these days are too big for normal-sized people, too – as someone who’s regularly on foot or bike, I’m shocked by how often I find myself trying to make eye contact at a crosswalk with the top of someone’s head.
Well there are pedals extenders my problem is climbing in my brothers Ram 2500. It is jacked and my nose is lower than the seats and he has no step up.
Had a girlfriend who couldn’t reach the pedals on my TR6. She was salty about that…
Oh, there are some cars that are ergonomic NIGHTMARES if you need to move the seat up. The Lane even had some microcars that I was just too short to drive.
Claiming there is no car too big is just factually incorrect.
I do occasionally envy the smaller amongst us when looking at some cars, my love for miata’s is at odds with my 6’0″ frame, but I can make it work. Unfortunately I know deep down that the tiniest, lightest, slowest little JDM imports that fit my brand of Automotive enthusiasm are likely too diminutive for my girthy reality.
If you desire an old LBC try a Jensen Healey. They do have tons of leg room and wider than most lbcs.
The Jensen Healey is remarkably roomy, as is the 914. The Boxster isn’t quite big enough for me.
What we can take out of this is that JT is, in fact, a licensed Bro.