BEHIND THE SCENES AT FOUR WHEELER

Flopped Jeeps, wandering hippos, gas station burritos, hydrolocked engines, active volcano camping, colored smoke bombs, leech attacks, and scooping our competition have all been part of being Four Wheeler staff at one time or another. Through Four Wheeler’s 60-year history many editorial staff have passed through the masthead (though not as many as one might think) and their time at the book has left them with memories. Some are awesome, some are embarrassing, some are entertaining, and some probably still keep them awake at night.

We sent a questionnaire (and request for a current or vintage photo) to a number of former Four Wheeler staff and longtime contributors (some going way back to the 1970s), as well as current staff, to give them the opportunity to share their contributions to the book as well as recount some of their most memorable experiences. Whether you’re a longtime reader of Four Wheeler or a newbie you’ll probably recognize some of these names and you may even have met them on the trail or at an event. This story is a fascinating glimpse into Four Wheeler history, including some behind-the-scenes never-before-told stories.

Jim Allen

JOB TITLE: CONTRIBUTOR

TIMEFRAME: 1987-2020

Favorite 4x4 feature photographed or wrote: One that really stands out is the story on Aaron Kaufman’s Scout build in 2016. One of the best parts of the magazine biz is being able to learn from some of the most intense and talented gearheads on the planet. There are so many that come to mind, Chris Overacker, Stephen Watson, Tom Wood … but Kaufman stood out. An alumnus of Gas Monkey Garage, Kaufman was just about like he is on TV. Intense. Interested. Smart. Funny (in a dry way). Experienced … and a cunning fabricator. Not the least bit pretentious. Going to Texas on that gig was one of my favorites.

Favorite 4x4 event covered: Easter Jeep Safari was a consistent favorite. I love the Moab area and it felt almost sinful to be paid to go out there, play, and shoot stories. I really liked the range of equipment seen, from bone stock to the most radical rigs of the time. Plus, stock vintage 4x4s out there show they still have the right stuff.

Project vehicle(s) built: “Project Blazer,” which may have been the first diesel engine buildup in the magazine. John Stewart gave me the go-ahead on the series in 1995 and when I told him it was a diesel, I remember him saying, “Oh, cool! We can do a story on swapping it out for a big-block or something.” Little did he know my evil plan to slip some #2 diesel into his adult beverage! And so it went. I souped up the 6.2L V-8 diesel in an ’83 Blazer and got over 200 horses at the rear wheels. That doesn’t sound like much these days, but for a 6.2L in the ’90s, it was something. It was also an overall buildup in stages, but part of that project were the “World’s Strongest 10-Bolts” stories. We installed every available beef-up item available, some of it prototype parts for new products, and made them the world’s strongest 10-bolts. It was an engineering exercise that some thought was going to end in abject failure but with tires up to 37 inches and a lot of wheeling, I never managed to break them. Project Blazer morphed into “Project Bum-Vee,” which put a Tatonka Products Bummer-branded fiberglass Humvee lookalike body onto the Blazer chassis, thus turning it into a yellow Hummer pickup. After losing about 2,000 pounds of weight, that Blazer was transformed into something quite different on the trail. It even managed the old Dump-Bump in Moab on the first try.

Best memory of your time working at Four Wheeler: The learning process. There was always something to learn. New computers, new cameras, new ways of getting the job done. On top of that, there were new four-wheeling industry trends, new engineering to learn, new products … it was never ending. And that’s what kept it fresh, new, and fun. Addictive almost.

Jim says: At the end of the day and as old geezerhood descended upon me, my interests and passions ran to the history and development of four-wheel drive, so I created Backward Glances and covered historical rigs from the very first powered four-wheel-drive vehicle, the 1824 (that’s eighteen-twenty-four), Burstall and Hill Steam Coach, into the 1990s. It was probably the most fun I had as a writer and probably my best work as a magazine writer overall.

Ned Bacon

JOB TITLES: CONTRIBUTOR, ILLUSTRATOR OF “CHEAP TRICKS,” TOP TRUCK CHALLENGE HEAD JUDGE, FOUR WHEELER OF THE YEAR JUDGE

TIMEFRAME: 1992-2008

Favorite feature shot or wrote: April 2005 issue; “Test Drive on Cloud Nine” when I got to drive a Porsche Cayenne Turbo up Pikes Peak flat out with Bobby Unser riding shotgun!

Favorite event covered: Head judge of Top Truck Challenge for 13 years/events.

Best memory of Top Truck Challenge: One of the funniest moments I remember was getting sent to Hollister SVRA park with Jimmy Nyland in the spring of 1993 to check out the place as a potential location for holding TTC. We took our Jeeps and were given a tour around by a park ranger. While Jimmy was standing talking with the ranger, I was still sitting in my Jeep (Killer Bee) with a girlfriend. I saw some obstacle I decided to try and promptly flopped the Jeep on its side (which really ticked off the girlfriend)! The ranger later told me he was freaking out as the Bee lay on its side, but Jimmy never broke the sentence he was speaking and then casually mentioned, “Oh, he does that all the time” and went back to finishing whatever he was talking about. The guy just shook his head. He had never come across jeepers like us. It was a sign of things to come.

Best memory of Four Wheeler of the Year: Again, there are so many, but I think one of the most fun rigs I ever drove was a silly little Suzuki X-90 in the sand at Dumont. That thing was a dune buggy. It would go anywhere in those big dunes, jump anything, and never broke.

Project vehicle(s) built: “IFS No More,” one of the first straight-axle swaps on an IFS Chevy; “Plain Jane,” a buildup of a new Ford Super Duty diesel plain jane work truck; “TraiLex,” because after the Lexus GX470 won Four Wheeler of the Year two years in a row we got a lot of heat from readers about picking a Lexus as a top 4x4. I suggested to Editor Jon Thompson that I build one with 33-inch tires and some body armor, leave it mechanically stock, and take it over the Rubicon. Jon ran the idea by Toyota, they gave us a crusher, and I built everything from scratch as no aftermarket stuff existed for it. We did the Rubicon, Tierra Del Sol, Moab, and a bunch of other trails with it. It was such a successful project that Toyota let me keep it for two years as a daily driver. I still get people mentioning it and I see a lot of copycats these days now that the GX470 has come down in price.

Best memory of working for Four Wheeler: All of it! I wrote for all the 4x4 books for about 20 years, but Four Wheeler was always the most prestigious. John Stewart gave me my first break into the industry when he hired me to do illustrations for the Cheap Tricks page in the back of the magazine. I did hundreds of illos for Cheap Tricks over the years. John Stewart was a mentor to me and helped me a lot with my writing and photography skills. Other Four Wheeler editors like Jon Thompson and Douglas McColloch gave me some really cool assignments; Jon the Pikes Peak Porsche gig and Douglas sent me on a Land Rover long lead to England. Other great memories include getting to be such a big part of Top Truck Challenge and many Four Wheeler of the Years.

Stuart Bourdon

JOB TITLE: FEATURES EDITOR

TIMEFRAME: OCTOBER 1985-DECEMBER 1989

Favorite 4x4 feature you photographed or wrote:

It was the time Duane