Think twice before lending your car
Full Throttle October 3, 2016

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.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

Someday the call will come: “Hey can I borrow your car/truck/motorhome/skateboard (or whatever)?”
Chances are it will come from a lifelong friend whom you’ll no doubt find difficult to turn down.
Now, lending a vehicle is not like lending a skirt or a garden implement. It’s like lending money. Friends and money — your money — go together like oil and water . . . or like friends and your car.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Chevrolet Cruze: 2011-’15
October 3, 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

Chevrolet finally found the correct formula for building a smart-looking, comfortable compact car. The interior was spacious, quiet and nicely turned out and trunk room was near or at the top of its class. The Cruze also handled quite competently on twisty and/or bumpy roads. The six-speed manual transmission shifted smoothly with a minimum of clutch effort and the six-speed automatic also performed well. The two available gas engines were thrifty runners, as was the fuel-stretching turbo-diesel.

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2017 Kia Cadenza
Sept 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.

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

Packing an excessive amount of gear into a beautiful design and selling it for a steal of a deal is what Kia does to win friends and influence buyers. There’s no better example of this philosophy than the 2017 Cadenza sedan that’s due to arrive later this year. Not all that long ago (before 2009) few people would have believed that any Korea-based automaker would be selling luxury cars in North America. Today, Hyundai is spinning off the Genesis into a separate upscale brand and Hyundai’s Kia division has both mid-luxury Cadenza and upper-range K900 four-door sedans in its lineup.

Please contact us to order this feature.

AutoCross
Sept 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

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.

The fine line of parking
Full Throttle September 26, 2016

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

Every time I pull into the parking lot outside my apartment, the challenge begins: how close can I get to the car beside me.
It’s a mind game. Actually, it’s more than that. It taps into the deep, primal instinct to mark territory.
And that’s why, every time I begin pulling into my spot, my heart starts pounding, my pupils dilate and, somewhere in my head I fight the urge to leap out and put orange cones all over the place.

Please contact us to order this feature.

The Auto Sleuth
Sept 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.
Use: Voted the best automotive news column available: you need it.

What it is: If you could have only one automotive feature, this should be it. At Wheelbase Communications, we’ve chosen to stay away from providing an automotive-news column until we could do it in a non-traditional way. And here it is: the Auto Sleuth. Our worldly gumshoe has his ear to the ground, digging up the latest news on everything from product launches and updates to names in the news. The column is solely driven by reader interest. No boring statistics or auto-company pap here, just the straight goods peppered with the Auto Sleuth’s commentary and speculative, gossipy-style.

Product specifications

Mac and PC print layout with separate text and art files for maximum work flexibility.
High-resolution artwork suitable for print.
Multi-platform layout opens with either Quark Xpress or Adobe Indesign.
Layout is 8×16 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.

Please contact us to order this feature.

WordSearch
Sept 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

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.

Audi TT: 2008-’15
Sept 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 TT carried plenty of spring in its step due to a low curb weight and a generous dose of power. Even the base 200-horse versions provided sufficient thrust for most drivers, although it remained far out-gunned by the TTS and TT RS variants. Audi’s Quattro all-wheel-drive system helped the car stick like glue in the corners and in slick conditions.

Please contact us to order this feature.

6 from SEMA
The Octane Lounge Sept 26, 2016

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

Here’s a dirty little secret about the automobile business: It’s pretty conservative most of the time.
When companies are designing and building vehicles, they have to appeal to wide audiences and that means not getting too afar afield.
As a result, the public sees vehicles with similar styling cues, similar technology and similar price points. There’s a lot of sameness in the business.

Please contact us to order this feature.

Fine Lines, Lancia Stratos
Fine Lines September 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.
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

How a highly successful race car could be such a poor street car (and an unpopular one at that) should come as no surprise to anyone.
Just image trying to drive a NASCAR stock car in gridlock. In winter.
And that was the Lancia Stratos’ big problem. It was a racing car adapted for the street. As a result, it took years for dealers throughout Europe to liquidate their meager allotments of the Stratos.