Author Archives: jeff

The Octane Lounge – Cheap street – March. 25, 2013

OCTANE_LOUNGE.qxdOverview

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.

The Octane Lounge – Cheap street – March. 25, 2013

Description

When you think of the Barrett-Jackson Collector-Car Events, you typically think of high-end, original muscle cars that command six-figure prices.

And then there are the classics that sell for millions, like the former Clark Gable-owned 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL that fetched $2.035 million in January at Barrett-Jackson’s flagship event in Scottsdale, Ariz. There, sales for the week totaled an astonishing $107 million.

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Shift! March. 25, 2013

Shift.qxdOverview

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: 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

“Super truck” yields 54 percent better fuel economy
Detroit Electric rises, phoenix-like
First Subaru hybrid a tall wagon
Toyota plans shift in battery systems
2012 fuel economy highest ever
Refreshed Optima Hybrid gets more power, space.

 

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Auto Almanac – March. 18

Almanac.qxd

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: 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.

AutoGraph 2014 CTS – March 18, 2013

AutoGraph_2014_CTSAutoGraph

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.

Coo Coo Marlin

ProFiles_COOCOO.qxdOverview

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: Media professionals demanding top-quality automotive content for print/Web.Professional artwork, editing.

What it is: Cars are nothing without the people who create them and those who own, collect and preserve them. Profiles is designed to bring prominent, interesting car people to your readers’ attention. Fun, informative and masterfully designed, like most Wheelbase features, Profiles comes to you as a Quark Xpress/Adobe InDesign module that is completely editable for any space within your print pages or automotive Web site.

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 art, where applicable.
  • Multi-platform page layout opens with either Quark Xpress or Adobe Indesign.
  • Layout is 8×21.5 inches (for newspaper use), with some depth variation from week to week, 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.

Description

Long before big money and sponsorship, there were guys like Coo Coo Marlin, digging and scratching for wins, week after week, and always coming up empty handed.

After all that time in the racing spotlight, he never lost sight of his roots or who he was. Marlin was basically unaffected. He was still the same man who still lived in the same modest farmhouse on the outskirts of Columbia, Tenn. The same man who still thought that herding cattle was just as important as harnessing horsepower…

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Are you worried about the rough ride ahead?

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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.

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

Recently I relinquished my 2009 Mini Cooper that proved an efficient commuter vehicle, although feeding it expensive premium gas partially offset that advantage. Ultimately its diminutive size and stiff ride on frost-heaved streets required a replacement.

The Mini’s “it’s-a-girl’s-car” rep might, however, did not influence my decision. It could have, though, since I couldn’t help but notice that the vast majority of Mini drivers are women. Also, it was almost exclusively women who commented on the car with their “oh, how cute!” or “I’ve-always-wanted-to-own-a-mini” remarks…

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2013 Honda CR-Z

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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.

Description

If there’s a standout in the Honda 2013 lineup, it’s the CR-Z, but not for the reasons you might expect. The car’s true purpose remains masked by its contradictions, even after receiving a modest makeover and powertrain upgrade.

Visually, the car appears as sporty as all get out and a modern interpretation of the cute little CRX buzz-bomb of the 1980s and early ’90s. That Civic-based two-seater was the ideal dance partner for drivers of modest means who wanted something that was light on its feet, looked cool and could perform magic zipping around town or over twisty highways.

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BMW 8 Series

FineLines_BMW_8_SERIES.qxdOverview

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: 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

Germany had no clue was about to hit it during that unseasonably warm fall afternoon in 1989.

It was the second day of the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellun in the middle of industrial, ultra-chic Frankfurt. Big news was on the auto-show horizon. A beefy BMW was ready to be rolled out of the automaker’s lair, direct from Dingolfing, deep in the heart of the Black Forest.

With testing still in progress and with Bimmer executives unaware that demand would quickly outstrip supply, the BMW 850i took the main stage for the world press…

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AutoCross March 18, 2013

CrosswordOverview

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.

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.

 

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Mitsubishi Eclipse: 2006-’12

AutoFile_ECLIPSEOverview

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.

Description

The Eclipse had been a sporty mainstay for Mitsubishi ever since it was launched for the 1990 model year, along with the similar Eagle Talon and Plymouth Laser. At the time, all three were built at the same Illinois production facility that was jointly operated by Mitsubishi and Chrysler and all were available in front- or all-wheel drive. An all-new coupe arrived for 1995, with…

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