Author Archives: Tabitha

AutoCross
Dec 15, 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.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

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
Dec 15, 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.

Porsche 911 GT3 RS
The Octane Lounge Dec 15, 2014

Overview

Description

It’s not the most powerful or most expensive 911 model, but in many ways it’s the best. Million-dollar supercars provide a certain “wow” factor, but when it comes to getting from Point A to Point C when Point B is the Nurburgring race track, most can’t hold a candle to the relatively cheap Porsche 911 GT3 RS. How? Where others strive for a compromise of driving comfort and speed/agility, this newest model from the German automaker lives for one thing: lap times.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Auto Almanac
Dec 15, 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.

Looking for life in the dead of winter
Dec 15, 2014

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

I’m not much of a winter person and for one big reason: the restriction. As the snow piles up, we’re restricted to streets and sidewalks, like mice in a maze. We’re restricted to the indoors unless we bundle up, and even then we can’t be out too long . . . or we’ll become popsicles of the dead flavor. We have to shovel snow to get the car out, and then shovel our way back in after the plow passes. It’s dark at 5 p.m. and that’s incredibly restrictive.

Please contact us to order this feature.

2016 Malibu
AutoGraph Dec 15, 2014

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.

NSX Chromosome
AutoKnow Dec 15, 2014

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.
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

The return and unveiling of the NSX after a decade was one of the highlights of the 2015 Detroit Auto Show in January where Christensen took center stage to introduce this striking 550-plus-horsepower beauty. The 2016 NSX strives for modern styling while protecting the car’s rich heritage from its original run between 1991 and 2005.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Readers help with spring therapy
in the middle of winter
Full Throttle Dec 15, 2014

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

Would it make winter more bearable if I told you that spring is right around the corner? Oh yes, it might be freezing cold outside, but department stores are switching to their spring lines of clothing and their home-and-garden sections are flush with new lawn mowers and weed whackers. So, it’s only fitting that I’m talking about spring music now because, in relation to the department stores, I’m right on time. You see, spring means road trips and road trips mean road tunes.

Please contact us to order this feature.

2015 Nissan Murano
Dec 15 , 2014 AutoPilot

Overview

Description

Above all else, the Nissan Murano was originally created to appeal primarily to the buyer’s heart and not their heads. The eye-appealing five-passenger tall wagon remained true to this philosophy through its 2003 and 2009 model-year iterations, but charts a uniquely dissimilar course for 2015. For the first really major overhaul, Nissan’s designers have left virtually nothing on the table from the Murano’s previous shape.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Saleen S7
Legends Dec 15, 2014

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

One of the most prestigious cars in the world didn’t have aristocratic heritage or an exotic Italian name. Instead, it was the product of Steve Saleen, a California business major turned professional race-car driver who made his reputation primarily by turning stock Ford Mustangs into race-winning track cars. Completed in just 18 months, the S7 made its debut in August 2000.

Please contact us to order this feature.