At a time where recycled ultra-light Japanese velodrome cast-offs have become Fixed Gear badges of honor for indie kids form Silverlake to Brooklyn, I have chosen the path of Dutch and Swedish bike commuters, and made the Kronan Steel 3-Speed my daily rider. I was introduced to Kronans by my friend and tastemaker Natas Kaupas. Natas was at the cutting edge of the urban fixed gear phase, and in making an esoteric trade that included first-edition architecture and furniture books as well as an ’80s vintage surfboard, his old Kronan became mine. That ’70s era black beauty was from the time when Kronans were manufactured in Poland; they’re purportedly now made in China—but more on the recent models to follow. I took the Kronan to my commuter home in Palo Alto, and it has served me well, as my office commuter, grocery getter and yoga transporter.
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My transportation choices are contrarian at best, and sometimes ridiculous. I often fall in love with a concept, notion, romantic vision or even a passionate expert who is as crazy about the “thing” as I am.

This is how I found the Jeep Grand Wagoneer. Norbert of grandwagoneers.com was the catalyst that pushed me over the edge on my 1989 Jeep Grand Wagoneer, that had just gone through a complete body off restoration by Norbert of Grand Wagoneer.com.

I’ve always been smitten by the late model, end of the era Grand Wagoneers. These were the first SUV’s and at the time (late 80’s through 1992) were the most expensive domestic cars available to US buyers. According to the maestro, Norbert, mine had a window sticker north of $32K when new. No matter where in the country you were from, everyone from my era, had a buddy or buddies, whose family ride included a Grand Wagoneer. Although generally associated with East Coast preppies, they were just as plentiful in SoCal as surf families found them as practical for ski trips to Mammoth Mountain as they did for trips to San Onofre.

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My daily driver is in many ways impractical, kinda noisy, not super comfortable, with the aerodynamics of a cardboard box. But, I love the Defender 90. The 1997’s are unique in that they were the only Defender 90’s imported into the US for 3 years between 1994 and 1997 that had factory hardtops, full carpeting, automatic transmission and air conditioning. A lack of air bags other quite worthy safety features ended the Defenders life in North America, and the NAS designation, is what’s given to these mid-90’s models that have factory roll cages as a safety accommodation. The basic comforts pale in comparison to what we’ve become accustomed to in event the least expensive econoboxes, and the same passengers who have never owned a vinyl record, find the hand crank windows, at first puzzling, then quaint. If you’re the guy pulling up on the passenger side making international symbol to roll the window down, and now knowing I have to do gymnastics to lean over and crank, don’t think I’m rude for pretending I didn’t see you.

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