You know what’s something time does better than over half the cars in my fleet? Moves. Forward, even, unrelentingly, unstoppably. Since the Autopian started, that time has been chugging along for six months, a hemiyear, even. Holy crap. How does this happen? So, we figured we should maybe take a chance to reach out and see how everyone is doing, how you think we’re doing, and what we can try to do to make it better. I’d say you can call us terrible names, but I don’t really think we need a special call to do that.
Since we’ve started we’ve grown both our regular staff and contributors; sadly, today Mercedes and Thomas are out, with Mercedes getting ready for her wedding (Mazel Tov!) and Thomas probably on one of those ayahuasca retreats or some shit. He’s Canadian, who the hell knows what he’s doing?
Oh, and David is still in Australia, where I assume by now some determined koala has made him their lifelong mate.
But I’m here, Matt’s here, and lots of your favorite contributors are, too! So, please, ask us questions! Suggest things you’d like to see! Want more spammers on the site because you love both sexy pictures of willing ladies and making so much money at home? We’ll see what we can do! I can complain to you that I need to find more time to write things! You love hearing me complain, right?
We have more videos coming, more stories, more everything, but what matters is you our Autopian community, so let’s talk, everyone.
We’re just getting started.
UPDATE: To address some things I’m seeing a lot, we’re working on images in comments, comment editing, and notification. Same goes for site loading speeds. We see it too, and we want it fixed as much as you do! I’ve already maxed out our servers at 128K of RAM but if it has to, I’m willing to move it to an Apple IIgs, which can have at least a meg of RAM. Also, 4,096 colors!
I would like to see some more on racing, F1, Nascar, Baja, etc. I really like the showdown articles and Mercedes love of RV’s is fascinating to see. I have noticed the real drop in spammy comments and commend adding more writers to the site. It has been a good mix of the smart with the silly.
I’ve also noticed the decline of the spambots. Great job!
Jason, I want to see you bring more wacky hand-drawn car designs of your own, like you used to do on Jalopnik.
The Bishop should draw some more alternate history cars. Like what if Detroit made a big-block V8 musclecar with streamlining comparable to the 1935 Tatra T77A as a response to the 1970s fuel crisis? What if Mercedes-Benz responded with a 5-cylinder turbodiesel sports car based upon the C111-III streamliner? Or perhaps VW made a New Beetle shaped similarly to the 1943 Volkhart V2 Sagitta(0.17 drag coefficient) and put a VW Rabbit turbodiesel in it? How about alternate history crap-era EVs made out of streamlined cars loaded with a literal ton of golf cart batteries to get 150+ miles range? Lots of directions one could go here.
I also want to see some articles on custom projects members of this site have built. If someone out there did a V8 Miata, I want to hear about it! Or if they swapped a turbodiesel engine into a 240Z, ditto. Something out there and unique. Or if they built something from scratch, even.
On a more practical subject regarding the site, we need a way to see if someone responded to our comments. I might make a comment, and someone might respond a week after the article is no longer on the front page, and thus would likely never see it. Perhaps there should be a way to private message each other, even.
Thanks for starting this site. Best car site on the net, IMO.
I’ll have more goofy car drawings coming! Especially when David gets back and my time frees up a bit. I miss doing it!
Congrats on 6 months. Yes, edit please. I love all the content.
One thing missing is the random/current news we get from your old site, which I assume will come with time. I have no complaints. I like the newer, shorter reviews. Maybe there is a way to combine both? There is supposed to be italics on both there, but alas.
I would love more youtube content that is ~10-15minutes. The hour long stuff is hard to find time for in my day-to-day.
Please keep us more up-to-date with David, that content is too sparse.
There is a mild shortage on tail light and side light coverage, for sure. Needs more.
Torch, are you making any money on this???? Is your wife super pissed cause it’s been Ramen and baked potatoes for 6 months? Where are the ads??? I want you all to become rich, cause that is the path you are on.
Agree totally on the last point. Time to monetize. We can’t all keep living off Beau’s checkbook (although I’m not complaining…thanks Beau!). How about some stickers to buy? New shirts? Hoodies? A couple months ago I suggested making the Autopian cards to be left on cool cars:
https://www.theautopian.com/car-enthusiast-finds-heartwarming-note-on-rusty-mercedes/
Hardigree, where you at on that?
Adrian is a boss – him & the morning dump are my two favorite features on the site and I’m totally digging the podcast. I’ll definitely miss the Ms Mercedes weekly roundup of obscure cars for sale, I’d love to see somebody else take up that torch.
Aww you say the nicest things. Keep saying them.
Seriously though, glad you’re enjoying them, because I very much enjoy doing them. Part of what I’m trying to do is show that car design is not just about drawing cool pictures, and to lift the curtain a bit as to what actually goes on. Most of the car design stuff you see online is either people with no experience, or just puffery pieces that are not much more than marketing, with no real insight, and I think enthusiasts deserve better than that as it’s such a misunderstood area.
Your daily questions are becoming one of my favorite things, in case you haven’t noticed. keep them going, even if they are stupid and non-related.
I assume (and dearly hope!) that Mercedes is just out temporarily to get hitched. I sincerely hope she is back after the honeymoon.
Mercedes is just getting married, she’s not leaving! This isn’t 1950, she’s got a JOB to do here! We’ll give her time to get married then drag her back here to crank out content!
Mercedes is just such a perfect fit here….. Congratulations to her on her wedding!
Good to hear, I totally misunderstood!
All I want is to be able to smell Jason’s old Scion xB via the internet.
All I want is to never have to smell that in any way. Are you trying to rot out your sinuses?
I’m willing to test some USB-based stench-production setup if you are.
It’s hard to please such a broad audience. Personally, I’m here for the cars and the cool miscellaneous ramblings you won’t find on sites like Haggerty. I’ll read anything by Torch, Adrian, and Rex at the Lane. But you know what, there are great car museums and other car related things all over the world. How about leaning on you readership on some pieces covering those? Also, I know he is busy running a gazillion dollar empire, but I’d love to hear more from Beau.
In summary, as far as I’m concerned, when in doubt, WWDEDD? (What Would David E. Davis Do?) Interesting people (definitely not necessarily PC, or even likeable), doing interesting things in interesting cars at interesting places. Can’t go wrong.
Thanks for your kind words, and it’s not all bad on the insurance site *ahem*.
Present company excluded, of course. But seriously, stealing somebody’s perfect word, the ideal car site would be a mix of their gravitas with some of this site’s quirkiness. Come to think of it, a good description of your writing.
This place comes pretty close to that sweet spot, at least in my book.
Hagerty is decent, if often a little too polished (which is expected of course) and I rarely read Grassroots Motorsports anymore b/c it’s just too hardcore (their actual moto), but here, I’ll both learn something automotive-useful AND get the enjoyment of say watching Adrian going into the cheap seats to fight with us. It’s near the golden mean for sure.
Yeah I have to take a different tone there than I do here, but it’s a broad church and there’s room for both approaches.
It keeps me off the streets at any rate!
Congratulations on 6 amazing months! Talking about video, it is great that there is more video content coming, but please don’t overdo it like The Old Site is now. Video is great for some things (Jason Drives!), but the core of the site should be good old text and pictures. My two cents.
Fun stuff, not disappointed. I stopped going to that other site so you fellas must be doing something right. PS at this rate David may never return . . .
I know it’s a huge ask, but being able to embed animated gifs in the comments would be amazing. Otherwise grats on the 6 months!
We have images in comments, and comment editing, in development. Thanks for being patient!
Love everything so far. You all rock. As someone who is still in the intermediate phase learning how to wrench, I am always drawn to the articles that involve wrenching. Anyway, great site.
Torch, when are we getting more Mack Hardigraw? Can I suggest a story where he disappears into the Mojave desert, and his obscure knowledge of tail lights allows him to signal aliens in a manner similar to the movie Close Encounters of The Third Kind?
Or something?
Oh don’t worry, Mack isn’t gone. You can’t keep him down, like spoiled shrimp.
Excellent. Eeeeexcellent.
Keep up the great work! The site can use some improvements but other users have already said this. The quality people making quality content keeps me coming back.
Take care y’all.
Just noticed the lack of spammers (I’m slow sometimes): good job!
Tho, some of your edits to their posts were fantastic.
I have no complaints (know you’re working on us posting pictures). Personally, I’d like to see more actual wrenching posts: revivals, saves, and craft-your-own like today’s.
Another dose of enginerding would be welcome-care to tell me why/how I will die a fiery death because I put wheel spacers on my ride?
More wrenching posts: check.
I hadn’t noticed the lack of AbbyTheSexySpamGal enticing me to click on a link that would inevitably erase all the squirrel-porn from my disk.
Damn good work, guys!!!
Congrats on 1/2 a year! I’d love to see The Bishop do a modern take on the old Willy’s Station Wagon!
T Beam- I could certainly look at that! I have a Jeep one coming up but that is for a much-newer-than-that what-if, but that Willys sounds cool. Maybe if it was a 1980s take on that 1946 original.
Love the site, one of the few that I basically read every article / visit every day. Enjoying how you’re using video & the podcast, which is something that often seems to get screwed up. Anyway, great job!
Minor nitpicks – site is still a bit slow & buggy at times (pics that won’t load is the primary issue, but I haven’t seen that in a while). And I agree with some of the interface issues mentioned.
I like when the staff jumps in the comments too, those are typical fun exchanges.
Content is GREAT. Site UI is good. Comment section needs a little revamp (editable and notifications). On the backend, something needs to be done about the site loading sluggishness. Need to add a link at the top to your YouTube channel
However, keep up the great work! I really like this site!
Congrats on making it 6 months! Whats the most surprising thing you’ve learned so far in that time?
I like the feel of the site. The quirkiness or it and the passion that you all have. The downside is the commenting section needs a way to report spam.
We’ve setup a fairly rigid spam filter and I’ve seen no spam in the last week. Have you?
Depends on your view of some of the comments!
Those changes have been good, and I have not seen spam showing up recently. Congrats on the six month anniversary – the content has been engaging, funny, and motivating me to get to work of some of my neglected projects!
But totally unrelated…I have been making literally dozens of dollars each week with this one easy trick…
I was just thinking to myself today that I haven’t seen any spambots in a while, good job!
More of Mr. Gossin’s save-the-sport-coupes crusade please!
He’s yet to do a Ford, and I have to imagine there’s some dilapidated Probe with a headlight stuck in the up position out there on borrowed time…
They’re dying out there! Won’t someone think of the children? Do you really want them to grow up in a world where they’re no knowledge of quasi-sporty motoring for the masses?!
Ok, now I officially owe you 2 beers should our paths cross, my good man!
The “Gossin Motors Backyard Shitbox Rescue” rolls on. I have a new piece in the oven on my Jag XK8 rescue that I’ve been trying to get David to approve for 2 years now; I think I may finally be wearing his reluctance down.
Thanks for the comment and the kind sentiment, my man. Cheers!
Your work hits a real soft spot for me – I grew up in the heyday of these machines, and as a kid, they always represented something fun and decently cool that I might actually have a chance of owning one day (cf. the era’s Countach poster on my bedroom wall).
The first car I ever bought was a Chevy Beretta (with the rare-by-then manual) b/c exactly that reason. I often wonder what happened to her after I sold her, but hope someone somewhere saw her as worth the trouble to keep going.
The first Beretta I come across that needs saving will certainly be.
Those cars are wicked cool! I too have a real soft spot for anything with 2 doors and a low price tag from ’74-’95.
I appreciate the cut of your jib, my good man.
Jason et al,
Please keep as you are, in my opinion, the only thing missing is moar content! The type content, the writing, the regular features? All top notch!
I’m actually impressed with the amount of content they are generating after only 6 months. I’ve finally weened myself from the gelatinous outdoor meal site.
Of course, just like HP, moar is always better! Especially if they can wrangle a weekend editor/intern to throw us a few bones to read during commercials/after wrenching/while waiting for our s.o. to bring another beer.
Not sure I agree that moar is always better. I don’t need crap content for it’s own sake, that’s what drove me from the other site. Too much stupid click-bait. I find the content here in the Goldilocks zone, not too much, not too little, and all of it well done. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I also like that there isn’t any new content on the weekends. I don’t want this crew to burn out, so a weekend off is important.
I agree on the not wanting to burn anyone out which is why I suggested a dedicated weekend editor. Someone else suggested race/motor sports coverage. That would be perfect for weekend duty.
I also agree on quality over quantity. But I wouldn’t say no to more content. I also have faith that they would only add stuff they would stand behind and not degrade themselves with empty filler and click bait.
I’m happy myself with the amount of new content here. I very seldom breeze through it so quickly that I wish there was more over the weekend.
A richer comments experience would actually enhance the existing content more so than just adding a weekend editor to add more onto the top.
I think it’s a good sign that most of the responses here around are going to be about interface (login, edit button, “older comments” time waster, comment notifications) and not about the editorial content, which I think has been a great mix.
And right on cue, my comment has a typo that I can’t fix.
Site good. Luv Torch.
Congratulations on six months – you guys have been doing a great job. No real requests other than it would be cool if you could figure out a way to allow non-spam images in the comments?
It is a national holiday here in Canada today, Truth and Reconciliation Day, where we educate ourselves about 200 years of colonial genocide and try to figure out ways to mitigate the damage. Or maybe Thomas is just goofing off?
You know what we want, what we really, really want? Yeah, you know. A better user interface: edit button, image insertion, faster site speed, etc.
But them’s small potatoes. I’ll willingly put up with those minor annoyances for the PRIMO content on this site. In 6 months, you’ve become the best automotive site on the web (hell, you were nearly there when you started up). Count me as a life-long fan. The Autopian is the website I visit most often every (multiple times a day) and it’s always a pleasure to read the stories, see the photos, etc. You’ve got a great writing staff and it looks like you’re continuing to add more – no sitting on the laurels for the Autopian!
You’re a peach!
Agreed! Except I really, REALLY want those things DH laid out, so once you fit them in, I’m 100% on board with the rest of what he wrote!
Also: I still want racin’. Coverage of motorsport on other sites I’ve seen ranges from snobbish and biased toward what the editor is interested in that week to just plain biased. If it has a number and goes around a track, I’m interested.
What ExAuto said!
I too would love to discuss everything from the WTF is wrong with the NASCAR next-gen car? to if Colton Herta is really going to jump to F1 to how cool is it that IMSA gets televised sometimes?
Couldn’t have said it better.
Am I the only one having difficulty signing in to comment? I have to sign in and then leave the site and come back to it in order to be signed in and leave a comment.
I have not seen that, however the refresh is really long.
I’ve had that happen too, but usually I just refresh and everything is fine. No need to go out and then back in.
There is some weirdness with the sign-in, though, I’ve even had the system kick me out in the middle of writing a post a couple times.
Sometimes you need to reload the page after logging in, I have to do this occasionally.
I bookmarked the sign-in page and use that to visit the site. An extra click, yeah, but worth avoiding the aggravation of signing in only to be told I’m not signed in.
Or just refresh the page in your browser.