One story I’ve only told to a few people (often around a campfire) involves something that happened my first month into landing my dream job as a features editor at Petersen’s 4-Wheel & Off-Road magazine. But with our SUV and Pickup Truck of the Year event fresh in my head and social gatherings still stymied, I guess I can pull up a chair to the virtual campfire and tell this tale of shame and fortune publicly.
It was 1999, and I was the 4WOR new guy. I’d been a voracious reader of automotive magazines since childhood and couldn’t believe I was part of the team evaluating a field of 10 new-for-2000 vehicles for the title of 4x4 of the Year. With some of the biggest names in the publishing world in convoy, Editor Cole Quinnell led the caravan into the wilds of SoCal through dragstrips, mountain roads, offroad trails, and, ultimately, the deserts east of San Diego. And it was there on the last day of the evaluation I almost cashed in my automotive journalist chips.
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2022 Summer Safari
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This fourdoor Ford foreshadowed late-model Broncos
Ddecades ahead of the '20 four-door Bronco, and even preceding the Ford Explorer and Excursion, came an SUV that could have passed for OEM and was built to answer the call for a three-row people-haulin' off-roader.
JEEP OR BLAZER BUILDING
I was hoping to pick your brain as to a couple of different builds. I have a '19 Jeep Wrangler JL and a '74 Chevy Blazer. I'm a little baffled as to what to focus on. The '74 full convertible Blazer is my dream vehicle. She's been a long build and now I am thinking of focusing my energy on my wife's '19 Jeep JL. I recently joined a Jeep club and have been going off-road with a few guys. I'm shopping around for lift kits. Would you suggest that my time be spent and focused on the Blazer or enjoy the Jeep? I really can't do both.
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10 days, 25,000-plus Jeeps, 225,000-plus spectators
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SANDTASTIC!
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