The latest bit of lunacy to go viral on the Web is very much about trucks, and about the bad boys (and girls, certainly) who use their pickups as a symbol of … something: We here at the global HQ of Fun Trucks Friday just aren’t sure what.
But we do know what Mom would say: “Don’t laugh, it only encourages them.” And we know she was right. We got laughed at a lot.
So, at the risk of encouraging any sort of questionable behavior, this edition of FTF spotlights the knuckleheads who came up with “rollin’ coal,” a cult dedicated to making diesel pickups as obnoxious as possible.
They’ve got Facebook pages (15k+ likes), Tumblers and Instagram (150k+ posts).
For a few hundred bucks for a basic fuel system mod to a few thousand for the fully chromed smokestacks and other accessories, juvenile delinquents of all ages can overcompensate for their shortcomings and ruin the air at the same time.
Indeed, in response to media inquiries over the trend du jour, an EPA spokeswoman pointed out that defeating emission controls is, duh, a violation of the Clean Air Act.
Of course, that just gives your average adolescent anarchist another reason to be rude: He’s battling The Man. And the Prius invasion.
(For those who work to promote responsible use of commercial diesel vehicles, we feel your pain – but we don’t make the news, we just exploit it.)
RELATED: Pickups dominate US diesel market, but light-duty offerings expected to grow
Still, nothing kills ‘cool’ like a CNN report by Jeanne Moos – and again, not to encourage such behavior, but this is a pretty funny clip.
[youtube 3nxgz6rOI_c nolink]
Here’s a roundup of YouTube videos, for those who don’t have enough soot in their lives.
And we repeat, as sternly as possible: Fools’ names and fools’ faces, showing up in foolish places. … Don’t try this at home, kids, please.