There's a lot of reasons why I've never had a job as great as this one. Companies give me cars to drive, people let me drive their old cars, I get to draw goofy pictures, on and on. But I think the most unexpected and remarkable part is the amazing community here. The one that's now sending a model of my car all over the place.
This started with Oppo member EL_ULY who transformed a little yellow model Beetle into a dead ringer for my Beetle. He then announced, on my birthday, even, that that little model bug would be traveling all over the world, to different volunteer Oppo members, who would photograph it and then send it on to the next one.
Holy shit.
It's already started and with some great shots. The first stop was with MrTheEngineer, who employed the Beetle (Torchbug, it's called) to help out with some Jeep repairs, and let it play on the seat of his motorcycle. Then it went mountain climbing, went to a barbecue, and took it easy in a hammock. It's having a better week than I am, by far.
And this is just the beginning. I hear rumors it may end up at a hillclimb soon.
I'm really delighted and excited to see where it ends up next, and I have to say I'm humbled and amazed by how great our Jalopnik readers are. No one has to do anything this fun and cool. But they decided to, simply because they can, it's great, and, whether they realize it or not, it makes me feel wildly appreciated in a way I'm not sure I ever have before.
It makes me want to keep writing and drawing and doing as much good stuff for all our readers as I possibly can, and I just want to say thanks. It's not the first time our readers have proven themselves to be far beyond the usual standard of internet commenters, and I just want to let everyone know how proud I am to be a part of the community.
So, keep going, Torchbug!