Mister Jalopy on CNN.com

It delights me to no end to see our pal Mister Jalopy as a headline on the front page of CNN.com. The article is titled: “‘Mister Jalopy’ is the reuse, recycle guru.” Jalopy tells me, “A neighbor (that drives a CNG Honda) scolded me for driving a big truck. I told him, “I am the reuse guru!” From CNN.com (photo from MAKE):

Mister Jalopy owns a laundromat and a used-bicycle store, and he operates out of a converted hot-rod repair shop along an industrial strip of land in the shadow of Interstate 5.

He calls his workshop “Hooptyrides World Headquarters.” “It’s my personal shop where I do my writing, think up my crackpot business schemes, repair bicycles and do my auto maintenance … where I build the stuff of my dreams.”

It’s brimming with high-quality tools, odds and ends from 20 years of harvesting garage sales, and machines like a lathe and welder that would delight a working tradesman.

He created the “world’s largest iPod.” It’s housed in a 1950s record console that can now digitize his music off the turntable, and the original buttons control the iPod. He also made an “urban guerrilla movie theater” — a handmade movie projector sitting on an adult tricycle.

His used-bike shop, Coco’s Variety, is named after one of his two dogs. “The credo of my store is ‘Faded champions reborn for another chance at glory.’ “

He adds: “These old bikes, already manufactured, [are] tenderly brought back to life for someone to love anew. The best bike for the environment is one that already exists. Not one made fresh.”

“‘Mister Jalopy’ is the reuse, recycle guru”