Like T.J. Hummer.
Yup. Snow is a huge reason. And higher cars are a heck of a lot easier to get in and out of. I just step out of my 4Runner, I have to climb out of cars low to the ground.
Yeah I got that.
I now live near San Francisco but I’m from Upstate New York, from near Albany, and we’d get some bad winters out there. I’m glad I learned how to drive in some bad winter weather. And, ever since driving the old M151 Jeeps in the Marines I’ve wanted to explore the off-road trails.
I now drive an OBW, a ‘24 Subaru Outback Wilderness Edition. That humble station wagon is really capable out on the trail. I almost miss not having a lo transfer, but with the OBW’s higher torque transmission, not really.
Before the OBW I had a 2014 diesel JGC, Jeep Grand Cherokee (WK2). When talking with people who have a JGC you have to be careful because they come with at least 3 different 4x4 or AWD systems. Mine had the QD2 with rear ELSD, the most capable 4x4 system available for the WK2 generation. I learned a lot taking that Jeep out on the trails and that’s why, 10 years later, I went with the OBW. I don’t need to rock crawl.
Not far from where I live is Hollister Hills, an off road park with trails that are rated like ski runs: easy = green circle; medium = blue square; and hard = black diamond. It’s a great place to practice and build your skills. I recently took the OBW up 3 tough climbs there, Truck Hill, Fremontia Drive, and Hector Heights. The Jeep would have handled those more easily, but I was impressed that the humble OBW could do them.
On imgur I have some pictures + 2 videos for these hills, with some commentary.
➜ https://imgur.com/gallery/jsqWXIo ■
Before the JGC I had a 1st generation Honda CR-V, and I put that little crossover through its paces.
Yes, sometimes I do beat the crap out of my cars.
And when I got the OBW I transferred some of the Jeep “Trail Rated” badges to it.
My best friend and I each had a 1976 Chevy short bed pick up. No extra cab stuff. With decent tires they where very capable off road. Later in life it made a very good platform for a plow truck. Good ground clearance and a tight turning radius. I loved that truck.
That’s a good combination. As I was reading your post I was envisioning a short bed Chevy pickup out on the trail with you in it, bouncing around and climbing some rough trails; and also high up in the Rockies winters plowing some heavy snows.
My Jeep had that combination, surprisingly a tight turning radius, and it was great. The OBW has that combination too and I like it. The OBW actually has more ground clearance than my Jeep did (but the Jeep had the air suspension and I could raise it to higher than the OBW).
I do miss my Jeep, …
…but I don’t miss its unreliability, and also (and this is a macho shit statement coming) it’s a bit humbling to be driving around in a station wagon let alone one that (more macho shit coming and also quite a bit of homophobe in this phrase although in truth I do love LGBYT people, really I do) has an image that many lesbians love them, besides all of that I’m really liking the OBW! My Marine Corps friends jokingly tell me that with what I’ve built on my OBW that it looks almost masculine. LOL.
But when we’re out camping and shooting in the Nevada desert BLM lands they are impressed by what it can do on the trails and even more so about its good fuel economy compared to their V8 American pickup trucks.
Some of my trail pics — OBW tackles Fremontia Drive, Hector Heights, and Truck Hill at Hollister Hills. 35 pics + 2 videos on imgur:
➜ Tackled by OBW on 2025-05-14: Fremontia Drive ▲ 36.75, -121.415 and Truck Hill ▲ 36.7515, -121.4076! - Album on Imgur ■
We were using a (rental) Kubota RTV yesterday. All four tires were different. How much has that thing been beaten up that they don’t have a matching replacement tire?
Yeah. My Wife had a Grand Jeep. It did really well, but it spent pretty much time in the shop.
I’ve a 4Runner now.
Colorado Jeeping trip right when we graduated highschool. Me and three friends. There was another truck and an FJ 40. 2 weeks following our noses and camping every night.
This’ll go both in this thread and the vanity plate thread.
Fiat 124 Spider Abarth, essentially a rebadged Miata, otherwise known as the Fiata. Note the license plate.
Oooh, I almost forgot, i saw the rarest if vehicles - a Cybertwuck with a large crate in the bed so it was being used as a pickup, not just a large sedan. 
First time I’ve seen that!
Cybertrucks are still rare here but I did see one in town yesterday being driven by a very short, very petite young-ish woman. I guess toxic, insecure men or wannabe dude-bros aren’t the only ones buying these fugly things.
Speaking of Cybertrucks, I saw one parked in front of a house a few blocks from mine a few days ago. I’m not sure if it was merely a visitor or if my neighbor actually bought one; I haven’t been down that street since then.
This is Northern California, so Cybertrucks are more or less an everyday sight for me now anyway, though.
Missed the edit window; sorry for the double post.
Here’s a Cybertruck actually being used as a work truck. Ironically, the owner’s job is servicing underground fuel storage tanks. In the comments, the poster says he spoke with the owner, who said he looked at the Rivian and F150 Lightning, and concluded that the Cybertruck was simply the electric truck that was best suited to his needs.
Fiata. I like it.
California’s current serial format of 1ABC123 will soon run out.
Yesterday I spotted 9VBL187 on a Hyundai Ioniq 5. With that plate number, California is nearing the end of its serial format which will be 9ZZZ999. When that is reached the current serial format of 1ABC123 will be flipped to its mirrored format of 123ABC1. That is expected to happen sometime next year, 2026.
The 1ABC123 serial format began in 1980. That is the year I bought my first car, and its plate was 1ALW422, early on in the sequence. That was on my blue 1979 Fiat X1/9, pictured here from 1983 in San Francisco. That’s my brother and me, about to depart on an epic 12,000 mile cross country road trip in my Fiat.
I replaced 1ALW422 with personalized plates RPT X19. Here is my brother when we were crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel on that road trip.
Immediately before the 1ABC123 serial format, California used the 123 ABC format, and in the first picture can be seen my parents’ 1977 Chevrolet Caprice Classic in the garage with plates 233 YJY. Those plates were issued in the fall of 1979 when our family moved from Connecticut (that Caprice Classic was purchased and initially registered in Connecticut in 1977).
Sometime in 2026 the very last plate in the current serial format is expected to be issued: 9ZZZ999.
The 1ABC123 current serial format began in 1980.
1AAA001 was the first plate in the current serial format and was issued in 1980.
In 2026 when the final plate in the current serial format is issued, the serial format will flip to this format, 123ABC1.
When that happens the very first plate issued will be 001AAA1.
Beginning in 1964, Oregon began using an ABC 123 license plate format. I still remember my parent’s cars’ plates: on the '87 Supra (a seriously drool-worthy car that would be at home in this thread): SMR 406. On their '89 Toyota van: QTN 766.
In 2004 Oregon switched their system to a 123 ABC format. I don’t know when they’ll run out because a coworker has a plate that starts with 99 and another, who just got new plates this year, has plates that start with 40.
Whenever the state does run out of numbers and letters for the current configuration they’ll have no choice but to use a 7 character format, which will likely mean redesigning the basic license plate, one that has been in use – albeit with slight color changes – since 1988.
A quick Google search shows that the Supra, which my parents sold 25 years ago, is still registered and still has the same SMR 406 license plate. I don’t know why I find that really cool, but I do.
Edit: I currently have a vanity bee plate on my car. It was a stupid, expensive mistake (it says PFJ, a Monty Python reference that nobody gets and just kind of looks dumb). I want to get a different plate but I’m not a fan of any of the other Oregon plates. I’ll probably just go back to the basic tree plate when this registration cycle expires in December. Sigh.
Well, that’s 'cause you’ve got the People’s Front of Judea, when everyone knows you should have the Judean People’s Front.
I had a custom plate frame made with Romanes eunt domus printed on it and people still don’t get it, so I give up.
I’ve seen two VW diesel station wagons recently – I was behind one last night on my way home, and I saw another while I was out running errands today. Neither was brown, and I couldn’t tell if either had a manual transmission (If you didn’t get that reference, it’s a running joke that the typical Jalopnik reader’s ideal car would be a brown, diesel, manual transmission station wagon).
Oh. And today’s interesting car: a VW Type 2 pickup. Split window. It was pulling out of the parking lot as I was pulling in so I didn’t get a picture, but it looked like it was used as a work rig. Not exactly beat up, but far from pristine. Very, very cool though.