Hoopty.co

Hoopty – A barely roadworthy yet lovable automotive blog. News, rants, and ridiculous takes on cars, car culture, and the machines that keep us broke. 🚗💨 #HooptyLife

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Welcome to HOOPTY, where busted knuckles, questionable decisions, and an undying love for all things automotive come together. I’m Greg—a claims guy by day, car nerd by night, and probably overthinking the price of junkyard parts right now.

From the glory days of my first Porsche 944 (which taught me more about mechanics than I ever wanted to know) to deep dives into car culture, repairs, and insurance quirks, HOOPTY is where I rant, rave, and revel in all things on wheels.

Strap in. It might get bumpy.

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Electric Vehicles May Be the Reason AM Radio Dies

AM radio isn’t sexy. It’s not cutting-edge. It won’t stream your curated coffeehouse playlist, and it has the audio fidelity of a soup can duct-taped to a megaphone. But it’s reliable. It’s cheap. And during a tornado, wildfire, or alien invasion, it might be the only thing telling you where to go that isn’t TikTok. Yet that reliability is being quietly buzzed and whined into oblivion. The…

Electric Vehicles May Be the Reason AM Radio Dies

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Electric Vehicles May Be the Reason AM Radio Dies

AM radio isn’t sexy. It’s not cutting-edge. It won’t stream your curated coffeehouse playlist, and it has the audio fidelity of a soup can duct-taped to a megaphone. But it’s reliable. It’s cheap. And during a tornado, wildfire, or alien invasion, it might be the only thing telling you where to go that isn’t TikTok. Yet that reliability is being quietly buzzed and whined into oblivion. The…

Electric Vehicles May Be the Reason AM Radio Dies

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ChatGPT in Cars: The Future Co-Pilot or Just Clippy on Wheels?

The car of the future won’t fly. It won’t run on hopes and dreams. But it will ask if you’re feeling stressed and whether you’d like it to play a chillwave playlist while it books your next oil change. Yep. ChatGPT—and its AI buddies—are making their way into your car. But whether this is a revolutionary driving companion or just the next annoying infotainment upgrade depends entirely on who’s…

ChatGPT in Cars: The Future Co-Pilot or Just Clippy on Wheels?

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The OSI Silver Fox: Italy's Forgotten Batmobile From The Future

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A Civic Lesson: What the Honda Civic’s Design Told Us About Every Era It Survived

When the Honda Civic launched in 1972, it wasn’t trying to make a statement. It was trying to not die in a sea of Malaise-era gas hogs. What followed was 50 years of one compact car doing its best to read the room — sometimes succeeding, sometimes accidentally setting the tone itself. This is the story of how the Civic evolved its look, and what each generation tells us about the tastes, tech,…

A Civic Lesson: What the Honda Civic’s Design Told Us About Every Era It Survived

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Bring a Trailer? I’ll Bring a Therapist: The Emotional Toll of Online Auction FOMO

There was a time when buying a car meant walking onto a lot, haggling until you hated yourself, and leaving in a depreciating asset that at least smelled like victory. Now? You just need a browser, a credit card with questionable limits, and the emotional stability of a Buddhist monk. Because online auctions — especially Bring a Trailer (BaT) — are not for the weak. Scroll BaT long enough and…

Bring a Trailer? I’ll Bring a Therapist: The Emotional Toll of Online Auction FOMO

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Plastic Fantastic: Why GM’s ‘Dent-Proof’ Saturn Panels Still Pop Up in Junkyards Like Zombie Tupperware

When General Motors launched Saturn in the early 1990s, they promised an out-of-this-world car company with down-to-earth charm and polymer body panels you could hit with a shopping cart and walk away unscathed. No dents. No rust. No problem. Except, of course, all the other problems. These cheerful, plastic-clad compacts were pitched as GM’s moonshot—designed to take on the Japanese automakers…

Plastic Fantastic: Why GM’s ‘Dent-Proof’ Saturn Panels Still Pop Up in Junkyards Like Zombie Tupperware

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The Red Bull Mini Cooper: How a Tiny Car Helped Fuel a Giant

The Red Bull Mini Cooper: How a Tiny Car Helped Fuel a Giant

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Monogrammed Mayhem: When KITH Gave BMW a Supreme‑Style Glow Up

Before Kith was hawking $90 socks, founder Ronnie Fieg was bombing around Queens in his grandpa’s E30 M3. That childhood flex became grown‑up reality in 2020, when BMW let him remix the brand’s sacred roundel for the first time on the 150‑unit M4 Competition × Kith. The OG Drop: M4 Competition × Kith Frozen Black, Frozen Brilliant White or Frozen Dark Silver paint, carbon roof woven with “Kith”…

Monogrammed Mayhem: When KITH Gave BMW a Supreme‑Style Glow Up

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Are Porsche Restomods the Automotive Easy Button?

Are Porsche Restomods the Automotive Easy Button?

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So You “Won” a Car Raffle—Now What?

Picture it: you’re doom-scrolling before bed, click on a flashy Win This 700-Horsepower Thing banner, toss ten bucks at an online raffle, and promptly forget about it. Months later a stranger calls saying you just scored a brand-new super-something. Cue the internal monologue: Is this legit, or am I about to wire my kidneys to Nigeria? Below is the fine-print reality of internet car…

So You “Won” a Car Raffle—Now What?

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The Unsung Four-Wheeled Cast of The Studio

When Apple TV+ handed Seth Rogen the keys to its new Hollywood satire The Studio, the pot-loving pottery king didn’t just park himself behind a mahogany desk—he brought two gloriously question-able convertibles along for the ride. They’re loud, leaky, and, according to co-star Ike Barinholtz, borderline homicidal at 40 mph through the canyon roads—but they steal every frame the way a boom-mic…

The Unsung Four-Wheeled Cast of The Studio

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Combat Lear Jet: The Military’s Favorite Flying Hoopty

Combat Lear Jet: The Military’s Favorite Flying Hoopty

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What Your Driveway Says About You

Before you ever step foot inside someone’s garage, the driveway tells a story. It’s the automotive equivalent of palm reading — only instead of lifelines, you’re checking for oil stains, paver patterns, and whether there’s an unregistered Fox-body Mustang gathering rust behind a hedge. So whether you’re dailying a Camry or keeping four cars running with one alternator, here’s a definitive…

What Your Driveway Says About You

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From Screen to Scene: The Jeep’s Role in Gilmore Girls

From Screen to Scene: The Jeep’s Role in Gilmore Girls

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The 1937 Studebaker Extreme Liner Woodie: Art Deco Went Surfing and Got Weird

The 1937 Studebaker Extreme Liner Woodie: Art Deco Went Surfing and Got Weird