Author Archives: jeff

Mercedes-Benz R-class: 2006-’12 – May. 20, 2013

Overview

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Description

The R-class was developed for North American buyers and built alongside the M-class sport utility vehicle at the M-B factory in Alabama. The vehicle’s platform was loosely based on that of the M, only it was considerably longer and wider. As a result, the wagon offered two rows of twin bucket seats as well as a split-folding third-row bench and a reasonable amount of cargo space. All-wheel-drive was standard, along with a choice of V6 or optional V8 powerplants connected to seven-speed automatic transmissions.

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AutoCross May 20, 2013

Overview

Description

Use: Media professionals demanding top-quality automotive content for their print products and/or Web sites. Professional artwork, editing.

What it is: For the auto thrill-seeker, this is one of the most unique additions to your publication. The International AutoCross will test the knowledge of your readers with trivia that scours automobile parts bins, dealer showrooms and the history of people and places that have made the automobile what it is today. Retain readers and have them coming back on a regular basis for more. Like Wheelbase’s other features, International AutoCross comes to you formatted and ready to use.

Product specifications

Due to the highly complicated graphic nature of this product, we do not yet offer a version that can be played online. Instead, visitors to your Web site can print out the crossword and play it at their leisure. Vote yes to having a playable online version by clicking here.
High-resolution 300 dpi jpg CMYK file suitable for printand Web. Postscript file also included for even higher resolution and no bitmapping of fonts.

Please contact us to order this feature.

The Auto Sleuth – May. 20, 2013

Overview

Use: Voted the best automotive news column available: you need it.

What it is: If you could have only one automotive feature, this should be it. At Wheelbase Communications, we’ve chosen to stay away from providing an automotive-news column until we could do it in a non-traditional way. And here it is: the Auto Sleuth. Our worldly gumshoe has his ear to the ground, digging up the latest news on everything from product launches and updates to names in the news. The column is solely driven by reader interest. No boring statistics or auto-company pap here, just the straight goods peppered with the Auto Sleuth’s commentary and speculative, gossipy-style.

Product specifications

Mac and PC print layout with separate text and art files for maximum work flexibility.
High-resolution artwork suitable for print.
Multi-platform layout opens with either Quark Xpress or Adobe Indesign.
Layout is 8×16 inches (newspaper), but can be reconfigured by your designer to fit most spaces.
PDF of layout included.
About 850 words: separate text file included.
Fonts are not included, but we attempt to stay with standard system fonts. If not, just change the fonts to match your style.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Ego . . . maniac – The Octane Lounge – May 13, 2013

Overview

Description

Sometimes, the stories write themselves.
Lamborghini, the legendary Italian sports-car builder, is doing some incredibly cool things to celebrate its 50th birthday.
Without question, the high-water mark of the birthday party was a 750-mile rally that saw some 350 Lamborghinis drive from Milan in northern Italy, to Sant’Agata Bolognese, the Italian town where construction began on the very first Lamborghini factory in May, 1963.
In between, the largest Lamborghini rally in history, known as the 50th Anniversary Grande Giro, visited Lombardia, Toscana, Roma, San Giustino Valdarno and Bologna, among other picturesque Italian points of interest.

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Auto Almanac – May. 13, 2013

Overview

Use: Media professionals demanding non-traditional and interesting automotive content for print/Web.

What it is: A treasure trove of essential automotive quick hits. After designing a highly successful Almanac for one of our daily-newspaper customers, we wondered if we could put together an automotive version. As a result, your new Auto Almanac contains trivia, concept-car spy info, auction notes and even games. All along the way, we invite readers to interact and submit their own ideas.

Product specifications

Mac and PC page layout with accompanying text and art files for maximum work flexibility.
High-resolution artwork suitable for print.
Multi-platform page layout opens with either Quark Xpress or Adobe Indesign.
Layout is the standard one-column newspaper format, but can be reconfigured by your designer to fit most spaces and shapes.
PDF of layout included.
About 600 words: NO?separate text file included.
Fonts are not included, but we attempt to stay with standard system fonts. If not, just change the fonts to match your style.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Nissan Sentra: 2007-’12 – May. 13, 2013

Overview

Description

For more than 30 years, the Sentra brand has been a stalwart in Nissan’s sedan lineup. With regular content and styling updates, the vehicle has evolved into a size-reduced likeness of its bigger Altima and Maxima siblings. For the 2007 model year, the sixth-generation Sentra came with a bigger body and more thrust from a 140-horsepower 2.0-liter four-cylinder. An optional 177-horsepower 2.4-liter four-cylinder arrived for 2008 in the sporty SE-R (200 horses in the Spec V). The Sentra was completely redesigned for the 2013 model year.

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VonDutch – Legends, May.13, 2013

Overview

Description

Today, many years after his death in 1992, the Von Dutch name is a fashion brand. And who would have
thought it? Probably not the real Von Dutch—Kenny Howard—who was a pioneer of the 1960s custom-car craze. Born in 1929, he transformed pin-striping into an art form. It all began with his father, who was a professional sign painter.
Howard picked up the craft and by the age of 10 was able to letter and paint like a pro. In the early 1940s, he began working at a motorcycle shop.

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Finally, a hybrid system lands at the top of the food chain, where it really matters – Full Throttle, May 13, 2013

Overview

Use: Media professionals looking to diversify their automotive readership with women authors who provide their views on a wide variety of topics.

What it is: Courtney Hansen, America’s favorite Garage Girl and the former host of The Learning Channel’s Overhaulin’ auto makeover show, a new-book author and the host of Spike TV’s weekend “Power Block,” has teamed up with Wheelbase Communications for this exclusive column. If you’re looking to build more regular readership and to bring more women into the pages of your print publication and Web pages with the help of a friendly and outgoing automotive celebrity, this bi-weekly column that alternates with our own Rhonda Wheeler is a must.

Product specifications

About 800-900 words; Word text file plus high-resolution art files for print and Web use.
Mac and PC layout with accompanying text and art files for maximum work flexibility.
High-resolution artwork suitable for print.
Coming soon! Multi-platform page layout that opens with either Quark Xpress or Adobe Indesign.

Description

For the first time in my life, I feel like if I don’t get a hybrid, I’ll be left in the dust.
No, it’s not all the Toyota Prius models running around, or even the electric Fisker Karma that have me feeling this way. It’s actually Ferrari’s fault.
Take one 800-horsepower V12 engine and add a 163-horsepower electric motor, and you have a car that will run circles around the company’s former flagship model called the Enzo. They call the new car the LaFerrari. It’s also stunningly gorgeous.

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WordSearch May 13, 2013

Overview

Description

Use: Interactive content for media professionals looking to bolster recurring readership and increase the amount of exposure time for their products, whether print or Web.

What it is: Why are auto publications so dry and so serious? We’re living proof that car nuts have a sense of humor and want to have a little sugar on their Corn Flakes. Your readers will have fun with the “Driver ’s Seat” Word Search as they unearth people, places and events. Driver ’s Seat is just one step in making your auto product more interactive, which provides more exposure for advertisers and more revenue for all.

Product specifications

Due to the highly complicated graphic nature of this product, we do not yet offer a version that can be played online. Instead, visitors to your Web site can print out the crossword and play it at their leisure. Vote yes to having a playable online verion by clicking here.
High-resolution 300 dpi jpg CMYK file suitable for print and Web.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Shift! May 13, 2013

Overview

Use: Media professionals demanding automotive content on technology and vehicles designed to reduce pollution and save readers money.

What it is: The first “green” feature. One of our most popular new weekly features takes a look at the auto world from the unique perspective of fuel efficiency and technology as it relates to the environment, from hydrogen, hybrids, electric power and other alternative methods of propulsion. “Shift” is exactly that: a shift in thinking. What will the vehicle of tomorrow look like? Your readers can find out today in Shift. This predesigned module can be used as-is or reconfigured to fit just about any space.

Product specifications

Mac and PC page layout with accompanying text and art files for maximum work flexibility.
High-resolution artwork suitable for print.
Includes Photoshop layers file of main “Shift” art.
Multi-platform page layout opens with either Quark Xpress or Adobe Indesign.
Layout is 8″x13″, but can be reconfigured by your designer to fit most spaces.
PDF of layout included.
About 900 words: separate text file included.
Fonts are not included, but we attempt to stay with standard system fonts. If not, just change the fonts to match your style.

Topics Covered

Model S tops Volt in first-quarter sales: Tesla Motors is North America’s rechargeable auto sales leader to date this year, as its new Model S sedan passed the much cheaper General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt in the first quarter, reports the Bloomberg news service. Company founder Elon Musk had said it would be the company’s first profitable quarter, but “no one had quite expected just how profitable it would be.” Most analysts forecast…