Each week I bring you the top stories in the auto industry along with my commentary or sometimes amusing thoughts about the craziness that goes on in the world of cars.
Stories you’ll find today:
WANTED: THREE PEOPLE NUTTY ENOUGH TO DRIVE THIS THING
If spending a year driving around America inside a 26-foot-long peanut sounds like your dream job, Planters would like to hear from you. The company is accepting applications through Nov. 1 for three “Peanutters” who will travel with the Planters NUTmobile from June 2027 through May 2028, taking Mr. Peanut to sporting events, festivals, college campuses and community events while also producing social-media and marketing content. The year-long position pays $45,000 and includes accrued paid time off, medical, dental and vision insurance, daily meal expenses and hotel accommodations—which is important because the job listing says you’ll be on the road 100% of the time. Applicants need a bachelor’s degree, preferably in fields such as marketing, journalism, public relations, communications or sales, plus a valid driver’s license and what Planters describes as an appetite for adventure. There’s also a video application explaining why you deserve to become a Peanutter. Here’s a little automotive trivia I didn’t know: Planters says its first NUTmobile appeared in 1935, one year before Oscar Mayer introduced the Wienermobile. The current NUTmobile debuted in 2018 and includes a peanut-shaped door handle, neon-lit selfie station and 360-degree exterior camera. There’s only one NUTmobile currently traveling the country, so competition for those three seats could be tough. On the other hand, if you have a college degree and have always wanted to spend a year explaining to your parents that you’re driving a giant peanut for a living, opportunity is knocking. Just try not to crack under the pressure.
FLOCK LEADS POLICE TO THE WRONG HOUSE AT 4 A.M.
A Kentucky couple got the kind of 4 a.m. wake-up call nobody wants when several Lexington police cars surrounded their home and armed officers came knocking, all because their pickup looked like one involved in a reported road-rage incident. The victim had described the suspect vehicle as a dark-colored Ram 2500 but did not provide a license plate number or even an exact color. Police searched Flock Safety’s license-plate camera system, which produced an image of Will Penn’s truck as a possible match. Officers then showed that image to the road-rage victim, who was reportedly very confident it was the same vehicle. At 3:56 a.m., police began surrounding the home Penn shares with Robin Pen and Penn’s 94-year-old grandmother; by 4:08 a.m., spotlights were shining on the house and armed officers were at the door. Penn and Pen explained that they had just returned from a taco truck, police accepted their explanation and told them they weren’t in trouble. Lexington Police Commander Daniel Burnett defended the response, saying multiple police cars were appropriate because officers were investigating a felony assault and that Flock information was simply one lead available to investigators. Penn wasn’t impressed, telling Lexington’s LEX 18 he felt police were “jumping the gun” rather than doing the investigative work they once did. Flock’s camera network can be a powerful law-enforcement tool, but this case illustrates the danger of putting too much confidence in technology when the original description is basically “dark Ram pickup.” There are a few of those running around Kentucky.
KROGER CREDIT CARD HOLDERS LOSE A PERK AT THE PUMP
Kroger customers who used the company’s World Elite Mastercard to save money at the pump are losing that benefit as Kroger ends its credit-card relationship with U.S. Bank. Cardholders had been getting an extra 5 cents per gallon at Kroger fuel centers, while those spending at least $6,000 annually on the card could qualify for a 25-cent-per-gallon discount when redeeming at least 100 fuel points. U.S. Bank is transitioning those accounts to its Smartly Visa card, and the Kroger-specific benefits disappear when the old accounts are converted or closed. There is some good news: Kroger’s regular loyalty program isn’t going away, so customers can continue earning points on eligible purchases and redeeming them for grocery or fuel savings. Kroger has rolled out a new rewards credit card that takes a different approach, awarding four times the normal points on fuel purchases instead of immediately knocking money off the price of each gallon. The timing of the old discount’s demise isn’t great for drivers, with Jalopnik reporting a national gasoline average of $4.48 per gallon in late September. The old credit-card savings certainly weren’t going to finance anybody’s retirement, but with today’s gasoline prices, every nickel counts. Especially when somebody just took yours away.
JAMES GARNER HATED THE ’79 FIREBIRD’S HEADLIGHTS—SO ROCKFORD KEPT HIS ’78
Fans of “The Rockford Files” probably remember private investigator Jim Rockford roaring around in his gold Pontiac Firebird, but there’s an interesting reason the show stopped updating the car every year. The series ran from 1974 through 1980, and Rockford generally started each season with a new Firebird. Then Pontiac redesigned the Firebird for 1979, and James Garner apparently took one look and said, in effect, no thanks. According to Jalopnik, Garner disliked the redesign and particularly hated the new headlights, so the show simply continued using the 1978 model through its final season. The Rockford Firebird was more than transportation; Garner was known for doing his own driving stunts, including the famous reverse-180 maneuver that became known as the “Rockford Turn.” There was also a little Hollywood trickery involved in Rockford’s supposedly modest Firebird Esprit. Garner believed his working-class character wouldn’t realistically own one of Pontiac’s more expensive performance models, but producers needed enough horsepower for the chase scenes. Their solution was to use the more powerful Formula 400 and disguise it to look like an Esprit. At least one genuine car from the show survived. A Firebird used during the 1977 season was later acquired by enthusiast Pat McKinney, who restored it and even discovered microphone jacks installed in the body for recording dialogue and the car’s V8 sounds during filming. Another surviving Rockford car sold at auction in May 2026 for AU$189,000, roughly $132,000. Plenty of actors have made demands about dressing rooms, scripts and billing over the years. James Garner apparently drew his line at Pontiac headlights.