Never Stop Driving #79: Year in Review

Jordan Lewis

As we barrel toward year’s end, we have so much to be thankful for here at Hagerty Media. I consider myself extraordinarily lucky to share my automotive passion with you every week. To that end, here are some of my favorite things we produced in 2023, a rich mixture of material that will get you through any dull patches over the holidays. (This newsletter returns January 5, 2024.) Thank you, a million times, for reading. Okay, let’s roll.

Since I’m a novice mechanic who fantasizes about turning pro, I loved watching Redline Rebuild host Davin Reckow struggle to resuscitate a long-sleeping Ford V-8. Sometimes the established repair playbook is useless, Reckow points out, and a mechanic must rely on pluck and creativity to solve problems. Reckow’s a master at under-the-hood improvisation. Later, we watched the damaged engine machined back to health.

The V-8 engine came from a De Tomaso Pantera that Tom Cotter uncovered in an episode of Barn Find Hunter, one of our longest-running and most popular series. Another episode from two weeks ago already has two millions views and this emotional episode documents a dirt-track car we restored and delivered back to the owner’s family.

Some 2.3 million folks followed Larry Chen to Tokyo to witness the city’s vibrant car scene. I personally loved when Chen went to Ireland to visit a dealer that specializes in vintage rally cars.

Don’t miss our first feature-length film, narrated by Patrick Dempsey, which documented Porsche’s early racing efforts.

If you haven’t already, take some down time to binge the Jason Cammisa canon. In 2023, he covered two cars that are close to my heart, the Mazda Miata and Ferrari Dino.  My own Dino, by the way, is now in its third year of a largely DIY restoration. It’s not going well. Catch up on the madness here.

Ferrari 1975 Dino 308 GT4 smoking engine unload
Cameron Neveu

We produced over 2500 written articles in 2023, many of which you can get delivered daily and/or weekly for free. Sign up for our newsletters if you haven’t already and definitely bookmark the Hagerty Media homepage. Some of my favorites:

We also produce a printed magazine six times a year and it’s one of many benefits of being a Hagerty Drivers Club member (join here). Most of the articles eventually migrate to the website but for the full lean-back, rich reading experience, you need the printed version.

Crustang Ford Mustang Patina car action pan blur
Cameron Neveu

This past year, we devoted an entire edition of HDC Magazine to driver-quality cars, calling it The Patina Issue. Since perfectly preserved and obsessively waxed cars usually win all the attention, we wanted to celebrate cars that get driven. There’s character and history in bumps and bruises as Aaron Robinson artful explained in the lead essay. We also profiled a group of Detroiters who own cars that proudly wear worn paint and since there are different opinions on every topic, Dave Kinney explained why perfect cars are just fine with him. Hey, I always enjoy a good debate.

In every issue of HDC Magazine, we profile members and their cars. The stories are fantastic, like the one Jody Reeme submitted about driving 2000 miles in her 1924 Dodge or the classic Cadillacs owned by former fashion model Maurice Moore. We’ve published hundreds of Member Stories over the years, and invariably they all demonstrate that we’re all part of a huge community where we have more shared qualities than differences. That’s easy to forget these days.

Don’t forget to try the podcast version of this newsletter. It’s on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.

Happy Holidays to you and your family. See you in 2024!

Larry

P.S.: Your feedback is very welcome. Comment below!

Please share this newsletter with your car-obsessed friends and encourage them to sign up for the free weekly email. The easy-to-complete form is here. And if you’d like to support the efforts of Hagerty Media, please considering joining the Hagerty Drivers Club.

Click below for more about
Read next Up next: Rosso Corsa, Canary Yellow, and the Prancing Little Black Horse
Your daily pit stop for automotive news.

Sign up to receive our Daily Driver newsletter

Subject to Hagerty's Privacy Policy and Terms of Conditions

Thanks for signing up.

Comments

    I just dug into this article, lots of reading for the holidays.
    The first piece that I opened was the story of pouring babbit bearings.
    Brought back my memory of me and my neighbour friend in 1961, both of us 15 at the time. His mom was a widow and she drove a 1952 chevy. One day she started it and the rattle she heard the day before on her way home turned into a staccato. She ended upsetting a ride into town, and we, being super heros decided to fix her car. When she got home that night the driveway was strewn with engine parts. It took more than a week to get it back together, including a well remembered lesson, taught by another neighbour on how to pour and scrape the rod and crank bearings.

    I don’t get it. Hagerty is an insurance company yet it has probably the best auto enthusiast website in existence – thoughtful topics, great writers, a variety of interests. So who’s paying for all of this? I’m pretty sure people who create this level of content don’t work for free.

    “Since I’m a novice mechanic who fantasizes about turning pro….”

    We share that same fantasy. I guess that’s why I easily relate to everything you write.

    Best wishes for a healthy New Year.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *