Pony up!
The Octane Lounge Oct 13, 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

When Ford rolled out the all-new 2015 Mustang, it was inevitable that the first extreme makeover of the iconic pony car was something of a tease. Sure, the 2015 Mustang is available with a 435-horsepower V8 and what Ford calls the “Performance Package” to optimize handling and braking. But you just knew that Ford wasn’t showing its full hand, and that the ultra-high-performance variants were still to come.

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Profiles, Peter Morgan
Oct 13, 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 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

Morgan, the company, was an institution. Not only was it the oldest manufacturer in history, it also kept its traditions. Business grew and Morgan kept its brand intact, despite an onslaught of niche competitors and the rigors of a cut-throat industry. Through his slow and steady style, Morgan took a gentlemanly approach to business. Everything was agreed with a handshake and there were few disagreements with the union.

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Scrap the SUV, crossover labels. . .
Let’s just call them wagons
Full Throttle Oct 13, 2014

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

Maybe the crossover category was derived because people would rather not call their ride a wagon. They’re thinking about mom’s grocery-getter from 1983. And maybe large sport-utility vehicles are frowned upon because they’re seen as wasteful. Well I say we should call all these vehicles what they really are: wagons. It’s a category that has stood the test of time and they’re obviously more popular than ever.

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Lunar Rover On The Moon
FineLines Oct 13, 2014

Overview

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

Flying a car to the moon 45 years ago presented certain problems. But building one 45 years ago to actually drive in a zero-oxygen environment with no roads? That was quite another.
As odd as it was, the Lunar Rover was one of the most celebrated modes of personal transportation ever to be built. As the star of the last three missions to the moon, the Rover provided the means for six intrepid adventurers – two per mission – to traverse the lunar landscape, collect rocks and soil samples and beam their experiences directly into our homes.

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What were we thinking? Oh, ya . . . nothing.
Oct 13, 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

I was so inspired by Senior Editor Malcolm Gunn’s recent editorial about “firsts” that involved the automobiles in his life that I thought I would add two of my many harrowing automotive firsts that actually involve Malcolm.
We’ve worked together for close to 20 years. Many late nights writing and editing, bizarre test drives and road trips all over the world, sooo . . .

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2015 Mustang – Oct 13, 2014 AutoPilot

Overview

Description

It’s interesting that a 50-year-old brand that sells in relatively limited quantities continues to garner such massive interest. Chalk it up to the magic of the Mustang, a car that first saddled-up back in 1964. Now, a half-century later, the public still won’t let go of the reins.
Ford has high global hopes for the latest ‘Stang since both left- and right-hand- drive versions are being shipped off to Europe and Asia.

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Overhaulit Part 24
Made of mettle

Overview

If you are not a member of the media, you can still check out a limited selection of our stories available on our Web site www.theoctanelounge.com

Description

Good bones.
You’ve heard that phrase a thousand times, but when you’re pushing 400 horsepower through a 50-year-old car, it had better have great bones, because that’s what holds the whole thing together. Looking at a bare frame, it’s fair to say that we’re committed to this project, so we need to be able to think through and handle whatever comes our way.

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Overhaulit Part 25
The Watt’s up?

Overview

If you are not a member of the media, you can still check out a limited selection of our stories available on our Web site www.theoctanelounge.com

Description

This is a huge deviation from the original leaf springs – century-old technology, by the way – but changes that bring the ride and handling quality ahead 50 years while providing the right stance and infinite adjustability. Second time around, it’s perfect.

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Overhaulit Part 26
The Domino effect

Overview

If you are not a member of the media, you can still check out a limited selection of our stories available on our Web site www.theoctanelounge.com

Description

Building 1,000 horsepower power means bringing the rest of the car along for the ride. The first engine was built 10 years ago and while 449 horsepower from our 6.0-liter (360-cubic-inch) engine was completely satisfactory back then, especially given the stock nature of brakes, chassis and suspension, it’s natural that the engine would evolved as the goal of the car evolved using newer and better technology that became available.

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Shift! Oct 6, 2014

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.