Author Archives: jeff

Avanti – FineLines March 17, 2014

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 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 creation of the futuristic-looking Avanti set the world on its collective ear and put the ailing Studebaker Corporation back on the path to financial health. Not really, but at least that was company president Sherwood Egbert’s fondest dream.
However, as with numerous good intentions, poor planning combined with quality problems meant failure for Studebaker, consigning it to history’s automotive scrap heap.

Please contact us to order this feature.

WordSearch March 17, 2014

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.

Mazda3: 2010-’13 – March 17, 2014

Overview

Description

The Mazda3 sedan and hatchback wagon supplanted the ProtegŽ sedan and ProtegŽ5 wagon for the 2004 model year. This was followed by a sportier Mazdaspeed3 hatchback that arrived for 2007. Following six successful years, an all-new second-generation Mazda3 and Mazdaspeed3 were introduced for the 2010 model year. Under the hood was your choice of a 148-horsepower 2.0-liter four-cylinder or optional 167-horsepower 2.5. The Mazdaspeed3 continued with a turbocharged 2.3-liter four-cylinder that made 263 horsepower. For 2012, Mazda introduced a 163-horsepower version of the 2.0 under its “Skyactiv” banner. Mazda’s third-generation sedan and hatch models arrived for the 2014 model year.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Is the end in sight for the collectible car? – March 17, 2014

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

A recent magazine article written by Rob Sass, a vice president with collector-car insurance company Hagerty, warns of a steadily declining interest in the hobby as a whole.
Sass points out that the core baby-boomer demographic – the one that has fueled the demand for post-World War II vehicles from 1946 to the mid-1980s – are losing interest due to their advancing years and/or shifting priorities.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Auto Almanac – March 17, 2014

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.

AutoCross March 17, 2014

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.

WordSearch March 10, 2014

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.

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.

Kia Forte: 2010-’13 – March 10, 2014

Overview

Description

Kia’s answer to the Honda Civic, Chevrolet Cobalt, Hyundai Elantra, Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla arrived for the 2010 model year, replacing the company’s Spectra sedan. The Forte was first available in sedan and two-door “Koup” body styles, with the Forte5 hatchback joining the fleet for the 2011 model year. All three versions came with a standard 156-horsepower 2.0-liter four-cylinder powerplant, or an optional 173-horsepower 2.4. Both engines could be had with either five- or six-speed manual transmissions, or optional five- or six-speed automatics, but the Forte5 could be ordered only with the automatic. After four seasons, the Forte family was completely renewed for the 2014 model year.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Apple’s “CarPlay” is a first step to bigger things – March 10, 2014

Overview

What is Auto Edit?

Story Intro

Being brought up in the publishing biz in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was a given that you were going to get your work done on a Macintosh computer.
The best thing about Macintosh computers at the time, relative to other brands, was that you didn’t need to be a computer person to use them. You were a just a graphic artist or a designer who happened to create stuff on a computer.
The iPad, iPhone and iPod epitomize the company’s mastery at what I would term as elegant technology.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Auto Almanac – March 10, 2014

Overview

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

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.