Housekeeping

Muscle Car Writing Contest #3: Jarad Petroske Says Rocky You Met Your Match

By Robert Farago
September 27, 2008 - The first time I met an American muscle car, my friend Ben was encouraging me to carve the donut in the Sears parking lot just a little tighter and give it just a little more gas. He wanted to hear the 1977 Chevy Malibu's big block snarl like he knew it could when you pressed the pedal all the way to the floor boards.

Muscle Car Writing Contest #3: Jarad Petroske Says Rocky You Met Your Match editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Housekeeping | 13 comments

Muscle Car Writing Contest Finalist #2: Don Gammil Wants You to Color Him Gone

By Robert Farago
September 27, 2008 - Sounding every bit as superficial as the redneck poseur he portrayed, the expression on actor Warren Oates’ face as he uttered those words in the 1971 cult classic “Two-Lane Blacktop” spoke volumes about what a muscle car was and what it was built for.

Muscle Car Writing Contest Finalist #2: Don Gammil Wants You to Color Him Gone editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Housekeeping | 6 comments

Muscle Car Writing Contest Finalist 1: Frank Rodgers Calls You a Nimrod

By Robert Farago
September 27, 2008 - Yes, you little nimrods! The American muscle car does have a future! Detroit simply needs to stick to a few basic principles. The first thing it mustn’t forget is that any muscle car worth building will have a V-8, expensive fuel or no. To any camel admirers ready to start preaching the gospel of turbonium and other unnatural elements, I’ll just say that no other amount of cylinders or configuration can match the distinctive presence of a V-8 - especially a good ol’ American one. Sound MATTERS. Nothing brings out the hairy chested, knuckle dragging Neanderthal in me faster than a carnivorous sounding V-8. If it's cammed up, it's all over. I'd be ready to run the Mille Miglia after a vasectomy.

Muscle Car Writing Contest Finalist 1: Frank Rodgers Calls You a Nimrod editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Housekeeping | 19 comments

Not Goodbye, Just Au Revoir

By Frank Williams
August 29, 2008 -

Today marks my final day as Managing Editor of The Truth About Cars.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that when I forwarded a snarky letter I'd written to Car and Driver complaining about their lack of editorial direction to some guy at a web site I'd just discovered, it  would lead to this.  It's been a wild roller coaster of a ride, occasionally aggravating, usually entertaining and always educational -  but never boring.  I'm going to miss it.  A lot.

Not Goodbye, Just Au Revoir editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Housekeeping | 41 comments

TTAC Needs YOU! How Do We Add Forums?

By Robert Farago
May 10, 2008 -

All hail Frank Williams. TTAC’s Managing Editor spent the best part of last week speccing-out our new website. Every current and future link, every button, every function, every everything. Frank’s road map contains the kind of “granularity” that code writers adore, that I consider “grit,” whose creation requires true grit. In the course of this odyssey, Frank and I made a lot of strategic decisions. Most were easy (a strong brand makes it so). While I’m completely confident the new TTAC will leapfrog the competition (no Volt comparisons please), there’s an 800-pound feature in the room that we need to discuss: forums.

TTAC Needs YOU! How Do We Add Forums? editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Housekeeping | 69 comments

Is The Truth About Cars Unfair, Anti-American, Both or Neither?

By Robert Farago
September 20, 2007 -

A couple of days ago, we published an editorial taking English auto scribe James May to task for flaming American cars. For this, we were flamed. Despite TTAC’s blanket ban on comments that diss the website, and our ban on [off topic] comments questioning our editorial stance or style, many of you cried foul. How could Mr. Swanson accuse a British writer of an anti-American car bias when TTAC [obviously] shared this same prejudice? After damping down the flames of perceived hypocrisy, I promised to provide offended readers a place to fire at will. And here it is.

Is The Truth About Cars Unfair, Anti-American, Both or Neither? editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Housekeeping | 153 comments

TTAC Site Tweaks: the Return of the Classic Format, Chat and Downtime

By Robert Farago
August 17, 2007 -

When Frank Williams and I launched TTAC’s news blog, we envisioned an editorial gestalt somewhere between Autoblog (dull but worthy) and Jalopnik (wild but wacky). I reckon we nailed it. We’re cranking-out far more (and timelier) hard news than Neff’s product-crazed army, and creating more pithy posts than Spinelli’s electric cool aid acid test troops. In another sense, thanks to our excellent commentators and snarky bloggers, we’ve established our own unique mindspace. Unfortunately, the feature's done sweet FA for our site stats.

TTAC Site Tweaks: the Return of the Classic Format, Chat and Downtime editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Housekeeping | 48 comments

If News Blogging is Wrong, Does TTAC Want to be Right?

By Robert Farago
July 14, 2007 -

The Truth About Cars (TTAC) news blog started on Wednesday. By Friday, we were in trouble. That’s when I posted an item about illegal immigrants getting driver’s licenses in Maine that they could use to purchase a firearm. Some commentators cried flame bait! Others were dismayed that TTAC was wading into political waters. And a few wondered why TTAC was news blogging anyway. In response to the troll accusations, I changed the picture (from a firearm to a gun store) and toned down the text. As for the other questions, well, let’s talk.

If News Blogging is Wrong, Does TTAC Want to be Right? editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Housekeeping | 55 comments

TTAC to Become a Social Networking Site

By Robert Farago
July 7, 2007 -

For over two years, we’ve been telling Detroit to wake-up and smell the homily: everything either grows or dies. We’ve admonished them to adapt and evolve. This they haven’t done. The Truth About Cars (TTAC) will continue to chronicle this slow motion train wreck until the last car derails, and beyond. Meanwhile, we’d be hypocritical if we didn’t follow our own advice. The truth is: we’re not growing. So we’re about to shake things up. Again.

TTAC to Become a Social Networking Site editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Housekeeping | 69 comments

TTAC and TrueDelta: Ready for Takeoff

By Robert Farago
June 19, 2007 -

Welcome to the next step in the The Truth About Cars’ evolution: TrueDelta spec and pricing data. (If you don’t see a button marked “Get Nissan SE-R Spec V Pricing” above the SE-R review, click on “Classic” in the header, and then click on “Improved” in the top right corner of the header.) From now on, visitors can use TrueDelta data to check vehicle specifications, get new car prices and make an “apples to apples” price comparison to other models. It’s part of TTAC’s ongoing commitment to provide the web’s most trustworthy automotive content.

TTAC and TrueDelta: Ready for Takeoff editorial continued »

Posted in Editorials | Housekeeping | 20 comments