the-long-read
A classic-car collector’s first week with Tesla Full Self-Driving
I rented a Tesla for a work trip to Phoenix and came home reconsidering driving, pleasure, and independence. An editor’s firsthand account.
Wisdom & Wrench
Knowledge the bench teaches and the manual never does.
Wisdom & Wrench collects what factory manuals skip, assembled from builders and collectors who went there, made the expensive mistakes, and came back with something worth reading.
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Featured Stories
the-long-read
License-Plate Readers and Everyday Privacy
A license-plate reader outside a store, a home, or a gathering place turns an ordinary drive into a searchable record. The camera can help find a stolen car, but the database also records everyone who did nothing wrong.
the-long-read
The car on the wall
A restoration after-shot can become a visual milestone, a practical design study, and the reminder that keeps an unfinished car moving forward.
the-long-read
Gift maps for automotive enthusiasts
A map can turn a small parcel into a road-trip challenge, a day together, or a route back to a place somebody misses.
the-long-read
The Collectibles Worth Watching
The 2026 middle market is soft while enthusiasm moves generationally: Japanese classics, vintage trucks, analog performance, and preserved originals. What the Hagerty data suggests comes next, and the warning that comes first.
the-long-read
What Makes a Great Classic
Some classics stay with one keeper for 30 years and others get flipped in 8 months, and the difference is visible before purchase: parts supply, mechanical legibility, driving character, significance, community, and the record.
Active challenge
Find This Car — Scarlet Fever
A 1977 Dodge B100 built by Gary Schultze in the 1970s, with hand-cut oak cabinetry, diamond-tufted scarlet vinyl, and the name in gothic script across the rear glass. He sold it, it vanished, and he has posted a Facebook Marketplace WANTED listing for its return. The VIN is known, so one records match ends the hunt.
Open
Status
Case 002
Investigation
July 2026
Opened
Every car has a story
Yours belongs here too.
Wisdom & Wrench publishes the kind of story that takes three years and one spectacularly wrong turn to earn. If you’ve got one, submit it and we’ll take it from there.