Vehicle Reliability: An Automobile Has To Earn My Trust.

February 18, 2024 / Andy Lilienthal / Leave a comment

When I get a new or new-to-me vehicle, it needs to earn my trust. I can’t hop in any car or truck and just assume it’s going to let me go the distance. Vehicle reliability can’t just be assumed. Any automobile has to earn my trust.

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The Winter 2024 Alcan 5000 Rally is Almost Here

February 16, 2024 / Andy Lilienthal / 1 Comment

You know the song “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas”? Well, it’s mid-February in our house and you can change that title to “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Alcan.” The Winter 2024 Alcan 5000 Rally is almost here.

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The Alcan 5000 Rally INEOS Grenadier is in Our Possession!

February 9, 2024 / Mercedes Lilienthal / 1 Comment

The 2024 Alcan 5000 Rally INEOS Grenadier is in our possession! We just picked up our 2024 Alcan 5000 INEOS Grenadier at RTGT INEOS Grenadier from Wilsonville, Oregon. The Grenadier Trialmaster 4×4 still has some finishing touches to go on it. More on that soon, but for now, it’s Andy’s first chance to drive it…

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Alcan 5000 INEOS Grenadier First Drive (Sorta)

February 4, 2024 / Andy Lilienthal / Leave a comment

In case you haven’t heard, we’re running the 2024 Alcan 5000 Rally in an INEOS Grenadier. We just picked the French-made 4×4 this weekend. So where’d we take the INEOS Grenadier (in Eldoret Blue) and what’d we do with it?

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Top 5 Common Sense Tips For Selling A Used Car

February 2, 2024 / Andy Lilienthal / 2 Comments

I’ve bought and sold more cars, trucks, and SUVs than I’m willing to admit. I’d like to think I know how to effectively sell a car. However, it’s moderately appalling how bad some people seem to be at it. Ask me how I know. However, whether selling on Facebook Marketplace, Craiglist, OfferUp, or even Nextdoor,…

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Our 1992 Mitsubishi Pajero XR-II (aka the Ralli Tractor) is For Sale

January 31, 2024 / Andy Lilienthal / 2 Comments

The time has come to part ways with our 1992 Mitsubishi Pajero XR-II, aka the Ralli Tractor. We bought this JDM, right-hand-drive rig stock in 2018 in Houston, TX, and customized it to the way it is today. It’s bittersweet, but we need to cull the herd. We just picked up our go-faster project, a…

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Avants Weird and Wacky Car Show Was Also Wildly Wonderful

January 29, 2024 / Andy Lilienthal / Leave a comment

You know that “Keep Portland Weird” saying? It pertains to cars too. The Avants car club hosted the inaugural Weird and Wacky Car Show on Saturday, January 27 at IPD in Portland. To no one’s surprise, the show lived up to its name and did not disappoint.

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How Does a Super-Wide High-Performance Tire End Up Here?

January 26, 2024 / Andy Lilienthal / 2 Comments

Here’s one of those things that only gearheads would probably notice, but like … how? How does a super-wide high-performance tire end up in the gutter like this? This isn’t a donut spare tire on a wheel from a Toyota Camry or a 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera. It’s certainly not a blown-out carcass from an…

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Team Truck Melanoma Raises Skin Cancer Awareness, One Gearhead At A Time

January 22, 2024 / Andy Lilienthal / Leave a comment

At Crankshaft Culture, we say we’re United By Horsepower; we’re all gearheads no matter what we drive or ride. The power of this bond can be seen in some very unique ways, and sometimes even potentially lifesaving ones. Such is the case with Team Truck Melanoma. This organization seeks to spread awareness of melanoma, one…

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Our New-To-Us On-Roader: 2005 Subaru Forester XT

January 15, 2024 / Andy Lilienthal / 4 Comments

For 23 years, we had a sporty on-road car of some sort. While sporty didn’t necessarily mean fast, it always meant upgraded suspension and stickier tires at a minimum. Whether it was my SR20DE-powered Nissan Sentra SE-Limited or 2001 Ford Focus ZX3, our 1998 Honda Prelude SH, or 2013 Subaru Impreza WRX, we always had…

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