New Roads

AWCom ran across a newly launched web site that may offer opportunity for autowriters: The Good Men Project Magazine (http://www.goodmenbook.org). It went live June 1, “confident that the world needed a new kind of men’s magazine—one that takes men seriously.” It has a Diversions section where Dave Ford wrote about Men Behind The Wheel” .

The Shunpicker Journal Radio Program is now on Saturdays from 7AM to 2PM,web radio www.talklansing.net. . . .Winding Road, the first web-only auto magazine, is now iPad compatible and offers special features for that format. . . .www.michaelalanross.com is, of course, the new website for Michael Alan Ross where he has posted his most recent Bonneville photos. . . . If automobiles are still extensions of their owner’s personality, www.MadePossible.com  should be a fruitful outlet for auto writers. The new site describes itself as, “a multi-channel content network designed to empower men 25-34 to maximize their potential, achieve their dreams and live self-fulfilling lives.” And, it says,” the MadePossible editorial architecture is driven by a strong demand from the target to address the most important parts of their lives, including: money, career, lifestyle, mind and body and community.

Tom Benford, multiple award-winning automotive book author and journalist, is now the publisher and editor-in-chief of www.AllAboutVettes.com, a new free-to-readers monthly on-line e-zine. He rates it “the premier on-line magazine for all Corvette owners, enthusiasts, collectors, restorers and aficionados, AllAboutVettes.com launched July 1. Each monthly issue of the e-zine will have more than 40 long web pages of new editorial material and will be posted online the 1st of each month. The site is advertiser-supported and is entirely free for readers with no subscription or sign-up required. Any news material relating to Corvettes should be directed to tom@allaboutvettes.com

Google is experimenting with Google News to enable its readers to better self-select the kind of news they will receive and how often. Online Media Daily’s Laurie Sullivan says the purpose is to enable marketers to better target their ads. No mention of readers “cocooning” with what makes them feel good. . . . . www.just-Auto.com offers relief from that parochial feeling. Published in England, it claims to be “the auto-industry’s leading online resource” with a stable of well-known writers in the U.K. and the Continent publishing 200 plus stories a day and circulating to 89,000 paid industry subscribers. . . .The Wooden Horse News reports that Forbes will acquire True/Slant, a new “content farmer.”   . . . Larry Edsall, in a special to the Detroit News tells of a firm in Germany offering a billboard for your garage door. Found at www.style-your-garage.com, there are 200 photo murals to choose from and sized for single, two-car or multi-door garages. Included are head-on views of cars, the entrance to a car wash and a wine cellar.  . . . Other auto murals, not for garage doors but office walls are being offered now by Legacy Diecast at  www.automotive-art.com  and by Car Art, Inc. www.carart.us, where murals can be commissioned with the addition of two large art specialists, John Gable and Barry Malone .  . . . Autoline Detroit has made www.missmotormouth.com Michelle Naranjo’s “Open Line” a regular Monday night feature starting at 8 PM Eastern/5 PM Pacific time. Callers set the agenda for the freewheeling auto talk show.  . . .Colin Wilson writes that his all-inclusive Race Tech magazine has gone digital at www.racetechmag.com and free digital versions of last month’s Race Tech and Moto Tech magazines are available there. There’s also a 24-hour news feed covering all aspects of motorsport, a calendar of motorsport events worldwide and other features.

Cars.Com announced it has made its 24- person car news and information editorial staff available to broadcast news outlets 24 hours a day seven days a week by installing Videolink’s Readycam® System in its Chicago offices. Cars.Com is owned by the Tribune Company, The Washington Post Company, Gannett Co., Inc., Belo and The McClatchy Company and is an online car-shopping site. . . . Gary Grant, founder of The Garage Blog, has launched a new web site he terms “uniquely Canadian.” His new Driven Wheels automotive site combines news and reviews relevant to Canadian car buyers and dealers and offers the latter used car classifieds as well as social media training.

Steve Purdy will launch a new web-only (not broadcast) radio show, Shunpiker’s Journal on Tuesday, February 16. The hour-long show starts at 11: a.m. on the new web-based radio network, www.talklansing.net EST, AwCom presumes, for the Detroit area-based journalist. Although the first show will feature a live report of the Hyundai Sonata launch from Torrey Pines, Calif. The network has been created by Lansing business mogul, Chris Holman, and veteran radio guy, Walt Sorg. He welcomes show comments and suggestions at stevepurdy3@gmail.com.

Marty Schorr has launched a new web site: www.SarasotaCafeRacers.com to encourage “car guys” and gals to form “non-club clubs” with no officers, dues or requirements except bonding those who regularly gather to talk nothing but cars. Gatherings such as the enthusiasts meeting Saturday morning at the Do-Nut in Manhattan Beach, Cal., at the Rochester Hills, Mich., Breakfast Club or those seated at the Tuesday Car Table often graced by auto writing luminary Denise McCluggage in Albuquerque, N.M. What she wrote about that group applies to all such passionate colloquiums: “Tuesday Car table is not a club; it’s a fixed place and time and a floating assemblage of people who are keen on cars.” Through the site, Schorr offers “free guidance for serious car enthusiasts to use our model (www.SarasotaCafeRacers.com) and create multi-marquee Café Racers lunch groups where they live. They can contact us (mls@SarasotaCafeRacers.com) for startup information. Once up and running, they can develop a web presence, link to our website, network with other Café Racers and use our logo. And it’s all free.”

Automotive Rhythms has revamped its www.automotiverhythms.com, web site that includes a user-friendlier platform, custom design and innovative features to make it easier for visitors to find everything from auto reviews and car customization to lifestyle trends and travel. The Web site also features AR’s signature broadband video program, ARtv Live.

SpeedReaders.info is a new web site for authors, publishers and readers. The site publishes “balanced, unbiased and carefully written” reviews on a wide range of automotive and transportation books and other media such as DVDs and videos. Speedreaders.info is anchored by experienced journalists/ enthusiasts Kevin Clemens, Helen V. Hutchings, Frank Barrett and David Woodhouse. . . . NASCAR Auto Guide has been launched by NASCAR.com with High Gear Media providing editorial content and AutoTrader.com providing access to new and used-car inventories nationally. . . . In response to electronics “now taking 30-40% of a new car’s value” Rick DeMeis has introduced a new web site, Techbites.com. It offers a weekly newsletter to keep readers up-to-date with the latest developments in electronics and other auto technologies.