Auto Almanac
Dec 7, 2015

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

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.

WordSearch
Dec 7, 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
Dec 7, 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 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid
Dec 7, 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

It’s no surprise that a gasoline-electric-powered RAV4 has been added to the Toyota lineup. The only real surprise is that there hasn’t been one available sooner.
The Hybrid – the eighth such model to wear a Toyota badge – joins the RAV4 lineup just in time for a mid-cycle makeover. That includes revised front and rear styling and rocker panels as well as new gauges and an optional seven-inch display screen. An SE trim level has also joined the fold with its own distinctive grille and wheels plus a sport-tuned suspension.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Get real
The Octane Lounge Dec 7, 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

If you needed any convincing that there still is a lot of sorting out to do when it comes to autonomous cars, all you need do is look at some of the conflicting and even confusing headlines about the subject. On the same day that Yahoo.com proclaimed “Self-Driving Cars Are Coming Soon to a Highway Near You,” The Motley Fools Web site, Fool.com went 180 degrees the other way, saying, “Why the Hype Around Autonomous Cars is (Slightly) Premature.”

Please contact us to order this feature.

Squeegee kids might annoy you,
but ask yourself why they’re there
Full Throttle Nov 30, 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

The criminals were at it again, right in the middle of the street. “Yeah, he’s out there,” the officer sighed. “Washing windows illegally.” The cop and I, on foot, picked up our pace. He was going in for the collar. Down the street, a young guy jumped back onto the sidewalk and hastily poured out a bucket of mucky water, stashing the evidence behind a bus shelter. “Oh, he thinks I didn’t see him out there squeegeeing,” the cop laughed. “Now that’s where I have to let him know I know what’s going on.”

Please contact us to order this feature.

Five fantasy picks to top up your toy box
Nov 30, 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

I have one of those jobs where I get to drive all kinds of cars and then tell people about them. So far in February, there has been the new Honda Civic (why is there a huge ‘Turbo” decal in front of the rear wheel?), the Infiniti QX50 (strange proportions and an old interior, but it drives well) and the Cadillac CTS (it took a week to get the seating position figured out). This neverending revolving door of new vehicles gives me a slightly different perspective than the average person, even when it comes to used cars.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Flaminio Bertoni
Legends Nov 30, 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

His biography, reads like a novel: loss; love; success; war; and death. Born on Jan. 10, 1903, in northern Italy, Flaminio Bertoni discovered car design by accident. After his father’s death in 1918, Bertoni was forced to leave technical school to earn a living and support his family. Already a skilled draftsman, he found a job in the planning department at Carrozzeria Macchi, a local body maker. In his spare time, Bertoni studied sculpture and even opened his own art shop.

Please contact us to order this feature.

2016 Honda Civic
Nov 30, 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

Until recently, cars that were charter members of the compact class compromised style, space, amenities and performance for a low price and good fuel economy. Today, the 10th-generation Honda Civic sedan delivers the whole enchilada seemingly without compromise or beating too hard on the list price. For a so-called compact, the 2016 Civic’s exterior dimensions aren’t that dissimilar to a 10-year-old mid-size Honda Accord, especially between the front and rear wheels. Although the 2006 Accord held about a 1.5-inch edge, it’s a dead heat in terms of passenger volume and the new Civic actually has greater trunk volume.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Top Gear
Nov 30, 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.

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.