Author Archives: Tabitha

Top Gear
June 29, 2015

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.

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 check out some of our stories online, visit www.theoctanelounge.com, which is owned by Wheelbase Media.

Please contact us to order this feature.

WordSearch
June 29, 2015

Overview

If you are not a member of the media, but still wish to check out some of our stories online, visit www.theoctanelounge.com, which is owned by Wheelbase Media.

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.

AutoCross
June 29, 2015

Overview

If you are not a member of the media, but still wish to check out some of our stories online, visit www.theoctanelounge.com, which is owned by Wheelbase Media.

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.

2016 Volvo XC90
June 29, 2015

Overview

If you are not a member of the media, but still wish to check out some of our stories online, visit www.theoctanelounge.com, which is owned by Wheelbase Media.

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

The latest luxury-equipped XC90 has been changed in every conceivable way. The sheetmetal is as fresh as you can get, as is the modular platform that can be used for other Volvo models. In this case, the XC90 is roughly 250 pounds lighter than the outgoing wagon (now 4,400 pounds), despite being roughly the same size. The hood, though, is decidedly longer and is fronted by a larger grille and unique LED running-light array that Volvo refers to as “Thor’s Hammer”.

Please contact us to order this feature.

So, what happened to the cruising scene of old?
Full Throttle June 29, 2015

Overview

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 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

Do you remember what it was like to “cruise” when you were a kid?
It was about driving around all night, checking out the sights on $3.78 (the amount found between the seats) worth of gas with four buddies crammed into your Chevy Impala SS. It had to be that way since you were the only one with a working car and driver’s license. Times have changed and so has the idea of cruising.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Ferrari 488 Spider
The Octane Lounge June 22, 2015

Overview

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

Description

When you think Ferrari, what do you see? Red, of course. The very name of one of the most iconic Ferrari models of all time, the Testa Rossa, means “redhead” in Italian. And this August at the Pebble Beach golf course in California, literally tens of millions of dollars worth of vintage Ferraris – most of which are Ferrari’s trademark Rosso Corsa (racing red) – will be sold.
So it was more than a little surprising in July when Ferrari took the wraps of the 488 Spider, and it was . . . blue.

Please contact us to order this feature.

2015 Smart fortwo Electric Drive
June 22, 2015

Overview

If you are not a member of the media, but still wish to check out some of our stories online, visit www.theoctanelounge.com, which is owned by Wheelbase Media.

What is Auto Edit?

Story Intro

Where’s the other half of your car?”
The next-door neighbor snickered aloud as he watched the Smart fortwo Electric Drive silently whirr into the driveway. Pun very much intended, that’s your typical “Smart” remark.
You can expect similar smirky utterances should you acquire this vehicle. Likewise, comparisons to golf carts, fish bowls, lunch boxes and telephone booths will undoubtedly be made by those who wonder what drives this Smart car as well as what drives anyone to buy it.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Mercedes-Benz Gullwing
300 SL
Legends June 22, 2015

Overview

If you are not a member of the media, but still wish to check out some of our stories online, visit www.theoctanelounge.com, which is owned by Wheelbase Media.

Description

Decades ahead of its time in terms of style and technology, the Gullwing was one of the first production cars, if not the first, to offer fuel injection. The Gullwing was a sensation when it debuted at the New York Auto Show in 1954 and quickly became the ultimate automotive status symbol. Nearly six decades later, this legendary sports car is considered one of the greatest vehicles ever made.

Please contact us to order this feature.

I’ve got the fever . . . new-car fever.
June 22, 2015

Overview

If you are not a member of the media, but still wish to check out some of our stories online, visit www.theoctanelounge.com, which is owned by Wheelbase Media.

What is Auto Edit?

Story Intro

A friend and I recently listed all of the vehicles that we’ve owned from the time we were teenagers right up to the present day, which for both of us stretches some four-and-a-half decades.
Since my buddy is not a total gearhead, his list was a relatively short, comprised of no more than about 10 cars. My compendium more than doubled his, which surprised me as I had never previously tallied them up. I even left out a number of cars that were acquired to quench my thirst for muscle cars and other collectibles that fall within the hobby-car category.

Please contact us to order this feature.

“I was in a hurry” is no excuse
Full Throttle June 22, 2015

Overview

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

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

Stop whatever you’re doing and think about what all the rushing around is really accomplishing.
Eventually it all catches up with us — you and me — and sometimes it broadsides us like a pickup truck barreling through a red light. There’s nothing I can write that would make drivers stop speeding. There’s nothing I could say or do. People will continue to rush from one destination to another until something happens to make them change their driving habits.