About Us

Editors

Edward Niedermeyer Editor-In-Chief

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. His daily drivers are a 2009 Impreza Wagon and a 1972 Honda 350 Scrambler, although a sports car is said to be in his immediate future.

Mike Solowiew Road Test Editor

Hailing from Roswell, New Mexico, Mike’s first word was “Audi” and it went downhill from there. With flying matching his automotive interests, he graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2003 with a law degree and a minor in German so he could fix his Audi properly. Stationed in places ranging from swampy Florida, to glitzy Las Vegas, to Oklahoma City, the good Captain tries to keep busy by organizing outlandish road trips, back country hikes and raids at the local car dealer, racing his Porsche, and fixing his original Audi Quattro.

Bertel Schmitt Overseas Editor

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, Gemany. An assignment for Volkswagen brought Bertel to Beijing, China, in 2004. Bertel liked China so much that he stayed. He is the CEO of Sinamotive, a Hong Kong and Beijing based firm that assists European companies in sourcing private label auto parts in China. His wife is a Japanese import.

Sajeev Mehta Writer

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.

Paul Niedermeyer Writer

Paul was born with the genetic condition obsessionatus automobile. Since he was diagnosed early, he was given total dispensation from school work in order to spend his days at car dealerships sitting in new cars while memorizing brochures. Experimental drug therapies in the late sixties ameliorated the condition somewhat, but it took an intensive meditation regime to finally allow him to pursue a viable career in television. There he became the general manager of several foreign language stations, and a founder and executive of the Spanish-language network, Telemundo. But relapses began again, leading to a mid-life change of careers. Paul eventually found the ultimate therapy: he gave up fighting his condition, and threw himself into writing about cars and the industry at TTAC. He is the resident historian, and writes, among other things, a regular series on found vintage cars called Curbside Classics.

Steven Lang Writer

I can auction two hundred vehicles an hour. Yet I always seem to forget my keys. I’m Steve Lang and besides having to write this ego trip of a bio, I’m pretty much just a middle aged guy. With one weird quirk of course. The auto auction business which has blossomed into a work life that literally changes in size and scope every week.. This week I’m getting ready to liquidate vehicles in South Atlanta. It will be about a hundred vehicle sale. Next week I will be buying vehicles for two lots that I have in the North side of Atlanta. The week after? Getting ready for another live auction and shooting a TV pilot about…buying cars at auction. This life may be Ralph Nader’s nightmare but I enjoy it quite a bit.

Jack Baruth Writer

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.

Contributors

William C. Montgomery

Writing about cars diverts William C. Montgomery from his day job as a financial controller for one of the world’s largest credit card companies. His career rivals that of Forrest Gump, working jobs ranging from general construction to accountancy. He has an undergraduate degree in psychology and MBA in eBusiness. He and his family currently reside northwest of Dallas, Texas, in the shadow of the Texas Motor Speedway.

Alex Dykes

Martin Schwoerer

Thor Jonsen

Robert Farago

David Holzman

Moderators

Jeff Puthuff

Daniel J. Stern