According to Marti Padgett,  Jon Reep, -- known as "HEMI Guy" for his role as the dude who leaned out of his truck in TV commercials from the Chrysler Group, uttering the redneck idiom/mantra of our times, "That thing got a HEMI?" -- is selling his 5.7-liter V-8 Hemi-powered 2006 Black Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie pickup and donating the proceeds to charity. He says it's because he doesn't really drive it anymore, though who wouldn't wonder if its 11 mpg city, 14 mph highway fuel economy isn't also part of the equation?

He has set a $35,000 reserve, and when I checked, the auction wasn't drawing any bids. According to fueleconomy.gov, based on 45% highway driving, 55% city driving, 15000 annual miles at $3.96 per gallon would cost about $5000 annually. Which just goes to show that even to the manliest of men (not to mention the redneckiest of rednecks), sometimes there IS such a thing as "just too big." The auction ends on Friday, August 08, 2008, at 14:32:38 PDT.

Whoever buys it will also get a bunch of his autographed merchandise, including his CD "Jon Reep, Bless his heart", his Hemi hat collection, and of course, one of each of the T-shirts on his website Jonreep.com.

By Brandy Schaffels
AskPatty.com Editor