About Us
Editors
Bertel Schmitt Editor-In-Chief
Bertel Schmitt started writing professionally as a Rock’n’Roll journalist in the wild Sixties. He sold out at age 23 and went into advertising. His most loyal client was Volkswagen. Starting with the launch of the Golf MK I in 1974, Bertel served Volkswagen in various capacities, from 1989 through 2005 in his own advertising agency in New York and Düsseldorf, Germany. An assignment for Volkswagen brought Bertel to Beijing, China, in 2004. His wife is a Japanese import. The two divide their time between Japan and China.
Derek Kreindler Managing Editor
Derek Kreindler’s love affair with the automobile began with the Little Tykes Kozy Koupe and evolved into an unhealthy obsession, culminating in his career as an automotive journalist. Derek attended journalism school, with a view to being a reporter or editor, until he realized that involved asking murder victims for pictures of their dead relatives and writing stories about city council meeting. Derek began his career focused on reviewing new cars, but since joining TTAC, he has taken a much stronger interest in the business side of things (while being tutored by Bertel and Ed). Outside of work, Derek enjoys reading, mechanical watches and driving his 125cc TAG Kart at Mosport.
Sajeev Mehta wears the comment “you are completely obsessed with cars” as a badge of honor. His higher education featured an automotive twist: Mechanical Engineering, Fine Art, Industrial Design and Operations Management. These days, if Sajeev’s not studying for his MBA there’s a good chance he’s restoring, modifying or racing one of his obscure Hot Rods somewhere in the Lone Star State.
Steven Lang has been a writer at The Truth About Cars since 2007. Some see him as ‘the used car guy’ here. When in reality, he enjoys auto auctions just about as much as he enjoys the car business. Over the years Mr. Lang has participated in well over a thousand auto auctions. He has been the buyer, the seller, the auctioneer, and even a partner for a sale south of Atlanta. Besides owning a small car dealership near his home, Steve currently contributes much of his free time to helping folks with their car buying conundrums. Have an issue? Contact him at steve.lang@thetruthaboutcars.com .
Jack is the only person in American history to hold both a professional BMX racing license and a professional auto racing license. This, combined with five dollars, will get you a “venti” at Starbucks. He has been writing for publication since 1991 and wrote the unpopular “One Racer’s Perspective” and “BMX Basics” columns for _Bicycles Today_ magazine. In the past several years, Jack has won a few races, lost many more, received multiple disciplinary actions for contact and rough driving, and hit the Armco at Mid-Ohio at approximately ninety-five miles per hour. He races in the NASA, Koni Challenge, and Skip Barber Mazdaspeed Series. In the past decade he has owned two VW Phaetons, a bright green Audi S5, multiple Porsches, and a deeply-missed 1982 VW Quantum Coupe in Harvest Gold.
Murilee Martin Editor
Murilee Martin got hooked on cars in early childhood when he rode in his father’s ’67 Ford Custom 500 with 289, floor-shift 3-speed, and manual overdrive. Later childhood experiences with a pair of Fiat 128s sealed the deal. He has relied on British Leyland products for daily transportation. He has owned terrible Detroit cars, terrible Japanese cars, and terrible European cars; a Competition Orange ’68 Mercury Cyclone vies with a ’76 Peugeot 504 for the position of ex-car he most wishes he could have back. His writer’s resume includes junk mail, transit-bus shop manuals, sadomasochistic pornography, and some other gigs too shameful to mention. He has worked as an Orange County performance artist. Someday he will own a GAZ-3102 Volga, because he feels that the GAZ-21 Volga lacks the requisite Brezhnevian charm.
Alex Dykes Editor
Alex L Dykes hails from the left coast where he combines his love of Silicon Valley technology with his used Volvo and Jaguar habit on a 9-acre organic farm. Alex’s car history includes automotive “gems” like a Ford Aerostar, Eagle Vision, Chrysler LHS, several Volvo and Jaguar models, a 1929 Model A and a GMC Envoy that he insists he married into. When he’s not writing about cars, or fixing his friend’s cars he’s shopping for the perfect X308 Jag. Religious affiliations aside, Alex has a strange and unhealthy relationship with Lucas Prince of Darkness which likely accounts for his relentless pursuit of the perfect used Super V8 in British racing green.
Edward Niedermeyer Editor emeritus
Edward Niedermeyer’s auto obsession started at an early age, with hour-long conversations with his father, Paul. Memory banks well-stocked with paper napkin diagrams of carburetors and engine cycles, he went on to discover blogging in college as Editor-in-Chief of the Oregon Commentator. Upon graduation, Ed suddenly remembered that cars are way cooler than politics, and he joined TTAC as a blogger and writer in early 2008. A year and a half later he was asked to replace the site’s founder, Robert Farago, as TTAC’s Editor-in-Chief. Based in Portland, Oregon, Niedermeyer has found automotive love with a 199 Z3 M Coupe.
Recent Comments
glwillia - Assuming, of course, you can suck up the annual 4-figure repair/maintenance bills. Keeping the car garaged and washed helps quite a bit too.
markholli - It was not related to an impact. If I recall it was an electrical fire. The news story I read indicated that the driver was not aware of the...
markholli - @Mkirk I can’t tell for sure what’s happening in that avatar pic, but it looks like an 80 series restoration or possibly...
Kyree S. Williams - The 2013 Santa Fe looks like it was built better and has more-compelling styling, but then again, this generation of Sorento was developed and...
Kyree S. Williams - Huh. The Kia and Hyundai dealers where I live are very highly-regarded, and most all of them have excellent reputations. And this was even before...
Kyree S. Williams - We had a 2003 Kia Sorento EX, green with beige cladding and beige interior, fully loaded—and kept it until it died in a tragic rollover...
CJinSD - Looking at the JD Power VDS that you linked to, Buick is the only GM brand above Honda and Acura. Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC are all lower, although two of them...
glwillia - I’ve owned both, my current not-quite-daily driver is a 1994 E420. It feels and drives like a modern car for the most part, is comfortable, safe, smooth...
glwillia - My not-quite-daily driver is a 1994 Mercedes E420, and if you’re going to DD something that old a MB or BMW will work just fine.
Derek Kreindler - Thank you for the compliment and the history lesson.