Jalopnik

Jalopnik is a Weblog owned by Gawker Media, covering cars, car culture, and the automotive industry.

The blog began publishing in 2004 [http://jalopnik.com/cars/] , and is known for its mix of automotive news with an "irreverent" style and tone. [http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2006/12/jeep_concept.html] [http://www.italiaspeed.com/2005/cars/maserati/08/qp_jalopnik/2807.html]

As a member of the Gawker.com network, its sister blogs include the widely-read Lifehacker, Gawker, and Valleywag. The site gained prominence relatively quickly upon its founding. Its contributors have been included in media events and press conferences hosted by the major automotive manufacturers (which, prior to the rise of the blogosphere in the 2000s, were limited to traditional media outlets.) [http://jalopnik.com/cars/a-review-in-concept-alone/jalopnik-reviews-camaro-convertible-concept-260966.php] [http://jalopnik.com/cars/news/dream-a-little-dream-of-lincoln-no-mr-badge+engineering-we-expect-you-to-die-215579.php] [http://jalopnik.com/cars/feature/drive-and-learn-bridgestone-horse-track-tire-party-257545.php] Cable television has provided additional endorsement, with one of the site's editors, Ray Wert, making numerous appearances on live news programs including CNBC's "On the Money" [http://jalopnik.com/photogallery/RayWertCNBC/467939] . The site was referred to by Rolling Stone as a "car-geek blog" in their 2007-11-01 issue.

taff

The site's Editor-in-Chief is Ray Wert. Other writers for the site include Senior Editor Andrew Stoy, Road Test Editor Wes Siler, and Associate Editors Matt Hardigree and Ben Wojdyla. Mike Spinelli, who founded Jalopnik and served as the site's Senior Editor, no longer contributes regularly but remains with Jalopnik as Editor-at-Large. In addition to the full-time editors, writers "Murilee Martin" (a nom de plume), Mark Arnold, and John Krewson contribute to Jalopnik regularly.

tyle

Jalopnik's news items are often intermingled with humorous stories highlighting car culture, humorous criminal incidents (in a manner similar to author Chuck Shepard's widely-read News of the Weird), strange cars offered for sale on eBay, and so on.

Indeed, many of the news on Jalopnik includes humorous phrasing and sarcasm within the items themselves. Readers often respond with humorous comments of their own.

A particular hallmark of Jalopnik's humorous writing style is the use of the callback, or inside joke. Some of the humorous references may well be unfamiliar to the first-time or casual reader, and these repeating themes often constitute memes.

Frequent memes

* DAF -- European truck maker
* The Chevrolet El Camino, and especially conversion of other vehicles to have similar pickup truck bodies
* German automotive precision, also known as "Bruce." [http://jalopnik.com/cars/news/flushing-mad-scrill-down-the-terlet-name-your-porsche-214338.php]
* Toyota, often with the phrase "super potential" (mimicing the Japanese marketing trait of naming products with incongruous English words like "Warlord Maximum Daisy")
* Hoon, and Hoonage -- an Australian word for young people who drive in a stupid manner.
* Auto Show live coverage, including the [http://jalopnik.com/cars/detroit-auto-show/ Detroit Auto Show]
* Dragons, stemming from an earlier post featuring illustrations of Dragons mating with cars.
* "Cotomer Sevis" - Reference to remarks made by a disgruntled "customer" attempting to buy a V8 bike frame from the weblog [http://jalopnik.com/cars/novelties/jalopnik-has-no-good-cotomer-sevis-184374.php]
* Malaise Era - Reference to the era after the 1973 Oil Crisis, generally agreed to be 1973-1982, when automobiles, especially American ones, experienced a perceived downturn in style, performance, and quality.
* The poor reliability of cars made by British Leyland, especially those with parts made by Lucas Industries plc (whose founder, Joseph Lucas, is called the "Prince of Darkness").
* SLR Guy, a young lad who crashed a Mercedes McLaren SLR. His likeness is depicted in a picture where he is giving a smug look.

Features

Jalopnik includes several regular features that deal with a specific part of car culture, most of them humorous.

Down On The Street(abbreviated DOTS) - Editor Murilee Martin takes photos of an interesting, usually old car in his hometown of Alameda, California, and includes a short commentary to go with it. The only specific criteria that a car must meet to qualify for DOTS is that it must be parked on the street(cars parked in garages or driveways do not count as they are on private property), hence the name of the article. More recently this feature has included Bonus Editions which feature photos and commentaries submitted by readers of old cars in their hometowns.

Project Car Hell - In this item two equally time- and money consuming restoration projects are picked from the typical second hand websites like craigslist and ebay. Readers are then asked to vote on which car is more "Hellish" to restore, ie. how bad of a condition it is in when initially acquired, rarity and cost of parts, complexity of mechanicals, and how ultimately desirable the car would be in the chance that it would be completely restored. Although this often involves one car pitted against another, every now and then offers will include three or more cars. Additional humor is derived from the optimistic tone of voice most sellers will use when they try to sell their car(s); "runs reasonably well (no 2nd and 3rd gear)", or "This car is anyones dream project!".

Jalopnik Fantasy Garage - Jalopnik keeps a running list of desirable vehicles (usually historically significant, sometimes just very fast, or beautiful, or capable). For a car to get into this list, it has to be proposed by a Jalopnik writer and voted in by readers, usually in a simple Yes/No poll(accompanied by an article introducing the car and explaining its significance) or by having readers choose from a batch of similar cars. If a car in the list is thought to have become unpopular, readers are given a chance to vote it out in a Trimming the Fat feature.

Classic Ad Watch - Posted almost daily by Murilee Martin, this series covers old television advertisements for cars from around the world, mostly focusing on somewhat off-kilter ads (Japanese ads are most famous for this). Most of the ads feature odd voiceovers, heavy usage of stunt-driving or unintentionally hilarious jingles.

Jalopnik Reviews - Jalopnik regularly reviews new cars. Reviews are done typically by Wes Siler. They are typically done in 3 parts, the first featuring a general description of the car as and various humorous references or sterotypes about that car. Part two normally features an evaluation of the car, with ratings given in various categories. Part three is a closer, and has humorous reasons why anyone would buy or would not buy that particular car. Part 3 also has "Suitability Parameters," to decide which type of person that car is right for. Categories include: Euro Snobs, Speed Merchants and Nascar Dads.

POLAЯ - A low-brow humor commenter who twists song lyrics and biblical passages to become car related poopy caca. Claims to be high on life, but most subscribers feel he is heavily into cheap drugs or an alien from a distant planet.

Similar or Competing Sites

* Autoblog [http://www.autoblog.com]
* The Car Connection [http://www.thecarconnection.com/]
* The Truth About Cars [http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/]
* Edmunds Inside Line [http://blogs.edmunds.com/]
* Culture Garage [http://culturegarage.com]

External link

* [http://www.jalopnik.com Jalopnik website]