Top Gear
December 26, 2016

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.

Honda Civic: 2012-’15
December 26, 2016

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

The Civic sedan was sleek and comfortable with more than adequate space for four passengers (five, if you didn’t mind a tight squeeze in back). A flat floor and sizable trunk also made for agreeable long-distance travel. The base 140-horsepower four-cylinder engine worked particularly well with the smooth-shifting five-speed manual transmission (a continuously variable unit (CVT) was optional). For performance-seekers, the fully loaded Si’s 201-horsepower four-cylinder engine turned the Civic into a lively sports machine.

Please contact us to order this feature.

2017 Honda CR-V
December 19, 2016

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

Even before the arrival of the new model, the Honda CR-V compact utility vehicle was the most popular of its type in all the land.
Its position will be cemented with a new 2017 model that’s larger, more refined and burns less gasoline.
Visually, the new fifth-generation CR-V remains recognizable for what it is, even though the redesigned sheetmetal more closely resembles the larger Pilot, especially from the front and sides where bolder fenders figure in a wider, more planted stance.

Please contact us to order this feature.

WordSearch
December 19, 2016

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.

The near future
AutoKnow December 5, 2016

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

Strict emissions standards in the state of California and an elevated West Coast eco-consciousness typically turn November’s Los Angeles Auto Show into the premier showcase for electrified vehicles.
But during this time of cleaner burning engines, low fuel prices and budget-wary buyers, pricier electrics gave way this year on the L.A. stages to a robust lineup of more affordable and popular small trucks and utility vehicles.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Surviving the drive means
managing the risk
December 5, 2016

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

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.
One moment you’re sailing along minding your own business and in the next instant your world is turned incomprehensibly and surreally upside down.
Fingers crossed and knocking on every available wood surface, I’ve never experienced a really serious car crash. But you never forget your first one and mine occurred in late 1967 when I was not quite 18.

Please contact us to order this feature.

AutoCross
November 28, 2016

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.

Toyota FJ Cruiser: 2007-’14
November 21, 2016

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

The FJ was a true-blue, crevice-crawling, boulder-bounding, body-on-frame retro-warrior that was enjoyed by off-road enthusiasts. Design touches linking the FJ to its past included circular headlights, wrap-around rear glass and signature two-tone paint. The rear access doors opened clamshell style for easier cargo loading/unloading and the flexible fender trim was damage resistant and provided door-ding protection.

Please contact us to order this feature.

2017 Infiniti Q60
November 14, 2016

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

In recent years, coupes such as the Infiniti Q60 have undergone a renaissance of sorts to become a basic requirement for an increasing number of premium automotive brands. And there are more all-new or updated models coming soon.
That’s welcome news for buyers who prefer the sportiness of a two-door model in place of the roominess of a four-door sedan. These are folks wanting something that’s noticeably different in personal-luxury transportation.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Fine Lines: Bricklin SV-1
Fine Lines November 14, 2016

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 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

On paper, the Bricklin SV-1 should have been a dream car, but for dealers, owners and the tiny Canadian province of New Brunswick, the car ended up being a total nightmare.
Much has been said and written about just how big a failure the Bricklin actually was, but the idea behind this GT-style sports car was actually ahead-of-its-time brilliant (hence the dream part). It was in the execution that things went south (the nightmare part).