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.
Washing. It’s either the touchless automatic or a quick soaking with the foam cannon, because foam cannons are fun. I don’t bother scrubbing anything, unless I have especially persistent bugs stuck on the front. No, it doesn’t get as clean a proper washing, but it’s good enough for me.
2000 Land Rover, fixed the valve cover leaks all proper-like, still leaks at the oil pan a little. Does carboard in the driveway count as a fix? I just have to park more precisely than normal.
Am I willing to halfass car repairs?
Well, I recently built an engine using a severely freeze cracked block that I flux core welded back together. I got the engine back in the pickup and got it running, and the repair leaks. Great. So…….. I gobbed JB weld all over the crack. So far so good.
That pickup also has a seriously cactus flywheel ring gear that I seriously should have replaced…….
The battery in my ’64 F100 has a piece of wood straddling it and sort of affixed to the battery holder. Good enough. Dad used a few sections of garden hose in place of the rubber bumpers for the hood to fender closure. Good enough.
I skinched the lower front fender of my ’20 AWD Prius, and to really repair it would be to replace the bumper cover. Eh, some holes, some zip ties, a piece of PVC pipe and it looks good enough. The cost for replacing it? I don’t even want to know.