ETRNL | A Hood ZINE

Hailing from deep in the heart of the Appalachian mountains, from my home, if you travel an hour east or west, the terrain only gets flatter. I like to say that I live in the Land Of Dragons. Because any self respecting car guy knows the DRAGON, right? Where I'm from, we laugh at the hype of the Dragon. Where I'm from, police cross the mustard, your grandmother crosses the mustard. Nobody bats an eyelash. We drive a Dragon to work. I grew up and cut my teeth on a road that was 22mi long and has 85 turns. I know, that pales in comparison to the mighty 315 turns over 11mi that the Dragon-goers claim. Go pull up a map and count the turns, there's not 315. Not unless you count the tiny kinks and treat every corner like the racetracks of NASCAR(a continous turn being counted as turn one and two). But that is just one of easily a dozen speakable roads within a 30mi of my home growing up.  I terrorized them all. From the early 2000's onward, I was chasing apexes in washed-out ...

     Ever bought a shitbox? Most likely you have. However I’ve maybe bought a worse one — but sometimes they are truly the best. Let me set the stage. Spray painted pink, a shitbox with only a driver’s seat, basically no brakes or clutch, rust holes in the floor and so much more wrong. This wasn’t just any shitbox — it was a 95 Zenki 240SX, or S14 Zenki for short. This one was probably the least special, most stepped on, overworked 95 S14 the world had seen. You would have thought it was a no-title drift car.      Well, it wasn’t. This was my third car. I drove it everywhere and it was a breath of fresh air from my previous Jettas (yes I had 2) . A real car — rear-wheel drive, 5 speed manual, a 95 so no ABS, OBD I, no traction control, and no power steering. This was a driver’s car. Well, all besides the cheeky pink color. This thing drove. I easily put 2,500 miles on it in the first three months of ownership. Couldn’t verify because the odometer was broke...

     A journey I've been on since age 5 — loving engines and all things that move, especially the quick ones. So at the beginning of this year an opportunity arose for a solo trip to the 12 Hours of Sebring in Central FL, where I happen to already live. A short hour and a half drive from north Tampa in the 2UR beast I call my car. Not bad, not at all — and even better, the 2UR powered Lexus RCF GT3 was on pole. My lack of commitment led me to wait until the night before to purchase a ticket, having been declined by Lexus Hospitality initially. But even still, this would be something I had dreamed of since maybe age 10, or thereabouts 12..           Saturday March 21, 2026 would open to a mist filled dark morning. Firing up my car excited to indulge in Pure American sportscar racing. I got out the door just past 6:30am and proceeded to drive a short two hours — and even the drive didn't disappoint, for Florida. It's relative 😅. The drive f...

     A swift almost 10 years ago I recall a faint memory. One of thunderous V8s and Japanese luxury in the mountains of West Virginia. I wrote a small snippet on Facebook some time ago featuring what was at the time the pre-production LC500. In 2026 this beautiful machine is being discontinued and an era of that thunderous Japanese V8 glory is closed. An era sparked by the glorious LS400 in the US and the creation of Lexus altogether.      In 2016 on a routine day picking up gear from my unit in Parkersburg, WV — shout out 119th Sapper Company, lol — I took a back road on the way back because this time, time was no concern. I lived in Lewisburg, WV at the time and decided to take the scenic route back, and boy was it worth it. I spotted something strange — a car covered poorly with a car cover meant to hide its shape, exterior features, and detract from being noticed. Little did I know it would turn out to be an early production LC500 being tested in...