Author Archives: jeff

LaFERRARI – AutoGraph April 1, 2013

AutoGraph

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

What it is: Weekly automotive infographics that inform, enlighten and delight readers. Our high-impact infographics add visual appeal and variety to your auto-section pages. Wheelbase’s designers are some of the best in the business with numerous awards for dynamic newsgraphics and page design. AutoGraph will show your readers, with engaging visual style, what they want and need to know about their automobiles as well as today’s trends. These professional, useful and intelligent graphics will help raise the profile of your auto section.

Product specifications

Designed by Wheelbase Media’s editorial staff using Macromedia Freehand (for backward compatibility for most systems) as well as Adobe Photoshop.
Mac or PC use.
Files included in your download: native Freehand file; Freehand EPS file (which is how to edit the AutoGraph with Adobe Illustrator) and a 300 dpi CMYK low-compression jpg file.
Print size: 8 inches wide, 6 inches tall, scalable about 10 percent up or down.
AutoGraph uses typical system fonts for compatibility.

Please contact us to order this feature.

The Auto Sleuth – April. 1, 2013

Overview

Don’t wait for stories to appear in the store when you can become a member of Wheelbase Media’s weekly news service and save more than 50 percent while gaining instant access to the new features as they’re produced. Click here to get started.

If you are not a member of the media, but still wish to read this and other feature stories from Wheelbase Media, visit www.shiftweekly.com to subscribe to Auto Shift Weekly newsmag, available for your Apple iPad or for your home PC or laptop in pdf format.

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.

Topics Covered

New Z/28 gets the Corvette Z06 engine
Reports of the Durango’s demise were greatly exaggerated
A sleek and slinky Subaru?
How flat can you run
No tricks on your eyes, it’s a Mirage
Market indicators

Please contact us to order this feature.

Shift! April.1, 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

Safe subcompact no illusion, Concept’s influence lends wagon more “soul”, Diesels meet performance mandate, New engine for next Audi A3, New powertrain technologies are cutting fuel bills, and Dealership program covers EVs, chargers, installation.

Please contact us to order this feature.

LaFERRARI – AutoGraph March 25, 2013

AutoGraph

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

Product specifications

Designed by Wheelbase Media’s editorial staff using Macromedia Freehand (for backward compatibility for most systems) as well as Adobe Photoshop.
Mac or PC use.
Files included in your download: native Freehand file; Freehand EPS file (which is how to edit the AutoGraph with Adobe Illustrator) and a 300 dpi CMYK low-compression jpg file.
Print size: 8 inches wide, 6 inches tall, scalable about 10 percent up or down.
AutoGraph uses typical system fonts for compatibility.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Plymouth AAR ‘Cuda – FineLines March. 25, 2013

Overview

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

What it is: Many of you asked if we could put our expertise to work to create a feature that covers not just classic cars, but those vehicles that have left an indelible mark on car culture. The Fine Lines series examines significant vehicle marques, their backgrounds and their contributions to the history of the automobile. All this, with real artwork.

Product specifications

Mac and PC page layout with accompanying text and
art files for maximum work flexibility.
About 850 words: separate text file included.
Layout is 8×21.5 inches (newspaper), but can be
reconfigured by your designer to fit most spaces.
PDF of layout included.
High-resolution artwork suitable for print.
Includes Photoshop layers file of main art.
Multi-platform page layout opens with either Quark
Xpress or Adobe Indesign.
Fonts are not included, but we attempt to stay with
standard system fonts. If not, just change the fonts to
match your style.

Description

The AAR badge painted on the ‘Cuda’s rear flank spelled excitement for fans and generated a healthy dose of respect from those who competed against it on the race track.
From the earliest days of what would be called the “Pony car” phenomenon, the Plymouth Barracuda tried marching in lock-step with the iconic Ford Mustang. Of course it failed to match the Ford in sales, even though, technically, Plymouth’s Valiant-based “fish” was the first such vehicle to appear in public in the spring of 1964. But with each passing year, the Mustang marketing juggernaut grew stronger, even though the slower-selling Barracuda steadily improved in both style and in terms of unbridled muscle.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Remember the “winter beater”?

Overview

What is Auto Edit?

Welcome to AutoEdit, a new and slightly more irreverent weekly feature from Wheelbase Media.
Rather than your pages being a collection of random auto stories, the AutoEdit feature is intended to be the glue that holds it all together. Just as your editorial page is intended to be the pulse of your newspaper, Auto Edit can also be the pulse of your auto pages.

Auto edit runs 500-550 words and is all about your readers becoming more familiar with our key staff members via their personal views on the automotive world. Of all 18 of our weekly features, AutoEdit is the only one intended to provide weekly commentary. Journalistically speaking, this is just common sense since such commentary does not belong in our other news-type features.

Whether your readers agree or disagree with what’s written, they’ll know exactly how the writers of AutoEdit stand on their chosen topics. And, quite frankly, a little spirited debate is a healthy thing and that seems to be missing from more and more newspapers these days. AutoEdit is all about soul, getting back to the basics of solid content and showing readers that there are real people behind the nine-point typeface.

Story Intro

It was sort of a horrifying ritual when I was growing up. Vehicles weren’t particularly durable, or very good in the first place, which meant that if you wanted to make a car that you liked actually last, you pulled it off the road and resorted to the “winter beater.”…

Please contact us to order this feature.

Whoa! – AutoKnow, March. 25, 2013

Overview

Use: Media professionals demanding a variety of automotive topics for broader readership.

What it is: Diversity matters. An automotive print product or Web site largely based on new-vehicle reviews is missing an enormous readership. Auto Know gives us the latitude to explore fantastic auto-related stories outside the realm of mere reviews. Whether it’s about how surround sound is engineered into a vehicle, European cars that will land on our shores, or knowing when it’s time to throw in the towel on your old beater, Auto Know is the perfect tool to capture new readers. . . with solid, interesting stories.

Product specifications

Mac and PC page layout with accompanying text and art files for maximum work flexibility.
Layout is 8×21.5 inches (newspaper), but can be reconfigured by your designer to fit most spaces.
PDF of layout included.
About 800-900 words; separate Word text included if you don’t want to use the supplied layout.
Artwork resolution (200-250 dpi) is high enough for print use.
Includes Photoshop layers file of main art.
Multi-platform page layout opens with either Quark Xpress or Adobe Indesign.
Fonts are not included, but we attempt to stay with standard system fonts. If not, just change the fonts to match your style.

Description

When it comes to braking/stopping/slowing down, reaction time is a major issue, which is why it’s important to not be distracted behind the wheel. Texting/cell-phone use and fiddling with dash controls seem to be the focus these days and rightly so.
But what about the brakes themselves? But brakes are brakes, right?
Wheelbase Media, in conjunction with online tire/wheel store The Tire Rack and Italy-based Brembo Brakes, embarked on a set of tests (stopping distance from 60 mph to zero) that went everywhere but where you might think.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Hyundai Santa Fe: 2007-’12

Overview

Description

Hyundai branched out into the sport utility vehicle category with its new-for-2001 Santa Fe that was based on a much-modified Sonata sedan platform. The vehicle originally featured a choice of front-, or all-wheel drive as well as a base four-cylinder engine or optional V6. For 2007, Hyundai launched a bigger and bolder Santa Fe with two available V6s and optional…

Please contact us to order this feature.

Breedlove – Legends, March. 25, 2013

Overview

Description

It’s 1997 and Craig Breedlove is strapped to the jet engine from a fighter plane and is blasting along at 675 mph . . . in a car.
Actually, the “Spirit of America” doesn’t exactly pass for a car in the traditional sense, but when you’re used to being the fastest human alive — on the ground — practicality and rules are out the window.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Is it me, or is it a Florida thing? – Full Throttle, March. 25, 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

Florida is indeed a lovely place to be in the spring. It’s not too hot yet, which makes outdoor activities very pleasant, which also means that it’s convertible weather. Or just driving weather in general.
Following the winding A1A coastal route is not the quickest way to get anywhere on the extreme right coast, with speed limits of 25-45 mph and stop signs and pedestrian crosswalks every 10 feet, it seems, but it is an eyeful here. Beaches, surfers and really friendly and polite people who have no problem just randomly striking up some idle chit-chat.