Author Archives: jeff

Not at fault, but does that really matter? – Nov 25, 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.

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

Car crashes often catch us completely off guard. They come out of nowhere to smack us upside the head, figuratively and physically, when we least expect it.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Auto Almanac – Nov 25, 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.

2014 Honda Accord Hybrid – Nov 18 AutoPilot

Overview

Description

When a new hybrid sedan is called for, it appears that Honda is finally prepared to step up and deliver.
But instead of just one version of the Accord, there are two to consider: the Accord Plug In that recently arrived in selected areas; and another with less battery juice that you don’t plug in.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Shift! Nov 18, 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

BMW i3 sales launched in Europe: BMW’s electric city car, the i3, went on sale in Germany and select European markets, Nov. 16. It will begin showing up in dealer showrooms in North America, Japan, China and South Korea by the spring. In Europe, the i3 is available for purchase in dealerships as well as through an online Internet portal, and over the phone.

Please contact us to order this feature.

The Auto Sleuth – Nov 18 , 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.

Keyless, or clueless . . . you help me decide – Full Throttle, Nov 18, 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

I really would like to know what was wrong with the old-fashioned car key.
After all, isn’t one of the upsides of technology that devices get more compact? Like computers and telephones?
Who design’s new stuff that’s bigger than what it’s replacing, unless you’re talking about jumbo jets or the new driver sitting in your golf bag.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Jackie Stewart – Legends, Nov 18, 2013

Overview

Description

Jackie Stewart is one of the few racing heroes of the 1960s who made just as big a name for himself after he hung up his helmet. Formula One racing in the 1950s and ’60s was incredibly dangerous since driver safety was not a major priority.Five decades ago, then-General Motors engineer Zora Arkus Duntov had a dream: to see the Chevrolet Corvette transformed into a serious performance car.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Aftermarket action – Nov 18, 2013

Overview

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

What it is: What’s new, what’s hot! Wheelbase Communications is committed to broadening readership (getting non-traditional auto-section readers into your publication/Web pages) and creating as much revenue potential as possible. Top Gear focuses on the aftermarket by telling your readers what’s new and what’s cool. This column includes four items per week as well as prices (where possible) and Web site addresses.

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.
Multi-platform page layout opens with either Quark Xpress or Adobe Indesign.
Layout is 8×21.5 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.

214 mpg – The Octane Lounge – Nov 18, 2013

Overview

Description

Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the ubiquitous Volkswagen Beetle had two primary claims to fame: it was frugal and it was slow.
But there were some upsides. Cheap to buy, cheap and easy to work on, and parsimonious with a gallon of fuel, the Beetle was about as thrifty a car as there was in its day.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Colin Chapman – Nov 18, 2013

Overview

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

“Simplicate first, then add what you want after,” he once said.
Simplicate. It was Colin Chapman’s own term for making things as easy as possible on yourself. Don’t overdo it. You’ll only end up complicating things more than you need to.