Jerry was having some fun the other day. He writes, “Took this picture the other morning and added the caption “Why soar like an Eagle when you can drive two of the coolest Jeeps on the planet?”” 

He then noted, “The  MB was overheard asking the JK8 — “Who’s you Grand Daddy?””

Thanks to Glenn for forwarding this article. Four Wheeler Magazine reported yesterday from the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) that OMIX-ADA reps had spotted a parts dealer from China named Unity 4WD Accessories selling parts that violated patents O-A owned. They quickly notified authorities, who then contacted the Federal Marshals, who seized the goods and shut down the booth. Read more here:

http://www.fourwheeler.com/sema/2016/1611-video-counterfeit-manufacturers-caught-at-2016-sema-show-u-s-marshals-serve-papers/

This event follows an article I read last week about a guy who developed the Forearm Forklift and has been selling it on Amazon, only to have counterfeiters copy his product and sell it on Amazon, too. They’ve used the same name and even his photographs, ones that include the guy’s family!

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/24/how-amazon-counterfeits-put-this-mans-business-on-brink-of-collapse.html

Maury spotted this story of a guy who built a custom plane. As he considered different engines, he finally sleeted on a L-134 to power it. Learn about his plane and the engine on the Kaiser Willys blog:

http://blog.kaiserwillys.com/a-willys-4-134-l-engine-in-the-sky

[Editorial note … Friday’s updates have been superseded by this piece. It began as a comment on another site, but roiled into a full essay. Most of you eWillys readers won’t care, but it was something I wanted to say and this is a place where I can say it. Next updates will be Saturday morning.]

I have read with immense interest the stories of the MacBook Pro 17 inchers, those folks that are waiting, against all odds, for another 17” MacBook Pro to appear, something that will require nothing short of a miraculous conception (the comments by these folks are just an example).

I have felt your pain for several years. The recent release of the underwhelming new MBPs, better described as Macbook Airs with MBP colored lipstick, added to my growing frustration with Apple. That event, along with other 17 incher stories, inspired me to write this, not for Apple, but for those folks, in solidarity of their anguish. I feel at this point, we are the true crazy ones, not for any genius we might have, but for holding on when hope seems so far away.

I still use a mid-2010 17 incher I purchased in January 2011. It’s one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. At this point I am hard pressed to believe there is a better, more stable, more flexible, and more dependable laptop ever produced. I use it seven days a week (I am a workaholic, sorry honey). I have authored three books (last one over 500 pages), written 30,000 posts on my (not all gloriously rich, but still …), received and answered over a hundred thousand emails (not including spam), manipulated tens of thousands of images, created videos, and built dozens of websites.

I’ve done all this without having a single issue with my mid-2010. Even though my fifty-one year old eyes have aged (I now need reading glasses to see the screen), my laptop still feels as useful as the day I bought it.

At this point, I don’t need another laptop; yet, I would greatly appreciate one that is newer, just for dependability sake.

But, that’s my beef. The product I want no longer exists. I keep asking myself why I came to this dead end. Unsure of how it what happened, I decided that since Apple looked back during their recent presentation, so will I. I’d like to believe that having used Macs since 1986 (my first was a Mac 512ke), I may have some perspective on the history that landed me at this no-man’s land.

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Buz shared these photos from his rounds yesterday at SEMA.

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Scott just bought this Navy CJ-3A. He was hoping someone could help him learn more about its history based on the Navy plate.

He wrote, “Underneath all that reddish paint is a layer of grey then metal or grey and then o.d green. Windshield bracket last coat is o.d green before I hit metal. It has tags and navy stencil on the tailgate. I need some help figuring out what this jeep used to do. Oh and I got it running with little tinkering. Here are the pictures of the tag and tailgate stenciling. I noticed on the tag where it says USN the ” U ” has what seems to be a ” V ” over it, I’m guessing human error.”