I know that many of you regular posters here in CAR CHAT, like me, are independent thinkers and come to your own conclusions based on your automotive reading, your own experience with certain vehicles, and, of course, what you see at auto shows and dealerships. Your many fine posts, even if I don't always agree with them or vice-versa, prove that autos and auto reading are a big part of your lives.
I did a thread long ago on your favorite auto magazines but never really focused on the individual people and journalists that make those magazines, auto weeklies, automotive radio-chat, TV auto-test shows, repair columns, etc..... possible.
I'm sure that there are many people in the field of auto writing that impress (and don't impress) you.....for whatever reasons. For that matter, we all do quite a bit of it ourselves right here on CAR CHAT and in some of the other CL forums.
So...now I'll open the floor to all you car enthusiasts to see who YOU think are the best (and worst) auto writers in the never-ending and fascinating field of auto journalism.................

 

Peter Brock
Jeremy Clarkson

Those 2 are my favorites, I read whatever they write. Honest, sometimes brutal, but really has the experience and knowledge to back things up.

 

Dozens of automotive writers, journalists, and columnists have left indelible marks on the industry, far too many to name here. A few deserve special mention.

Ken Purdy, the late dean of automotive writers set the standard for the profession. From the era of string-back driving gloves and knock-off hubs, he was the first automotive writer to move beyond the nuts and bolts - to understand the soul of the automobile. His books still represent some of the finest of the art.

David E. Davis, Long time writer and Editor of Car and Driver, Founder of Automobile Magazine. I’ve read his columns for well over 40 years and without a doubt, Davis is the definitive automotive journalist. His sense of history and his intimate knowledge of not only the marques but the men who produced them is encyclopedic. His style has always been that of a gentleman enthusiast, with a true passion for the automobile.

Brock Yates, Columnist and Outlaw. If Davis had a wild man for a brother, Yates would be it. Always speaking his mind, for nearly 40 years he has been the gold standard for car nuts worldwide. He still is the "bad boy" of motor journalism. Only Yates would restore a ragtag American rat-racer, "The Eliminator", have the nerve to show it at Pebble Beach - and win his class. The founder of the original “Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash”, and later the "One Lap of America", Davis, like Carroll Shelby, is an American original.

Jean Jennings – Editor of Automobile – the first female in the business to successfully move into the editorial ranks. Jennings is a writer with the proven chops of her spiritual mother, the great Denise McCluggage, sportswoman - one of the finest writers and practitioners of motorsport to appear in the national press. Not only could these two women hold their own in any pantheon of automotive journalists – of any era – they are pioneers in an industry that seldom accepted women, and opened automotive enthusiasm to half of our population.

 

Lil.....I agree with you about Davis, Jennings, and McCluggage...and that Yates is a wild man. Yates, though, is TOO brash in many areas...he does too many wild things impulsively without thinking or using common sense....and gets himself into trouble.
I read both C & D and Automobile cover-to-cover every month....along with R & T and AutoWeek.

More on that later, though.....when I give you guys MY list.

 

if you dont read car or [preferably and] top gear then you never get to read good automotive writing.some of the typical american mags CAN be good at times but most of the time they rely on cliches. I subscribe to car and driver, automobile. road and track, motor trend, and autoweek but they seem to be interchangeable from month to month. I think I am going to puke if those guys dont stop using the worthless term 'teutonic' everytime they write about a german car.

 

Clarkson had so much power in the UK, he can make or break a car.

 

He usually breaks them

 

LOL, also true!!

 

Although he has been gone for years, "Uncle" Tom McCahill's old road tests for Mechanix Illustrated produced some memorable, if now pretty corny similes:

On the 1966 Dodge Coronet Hemi:
"With no exception, the blockbuster Hemi 426 is the hairiest full size stock production car ever tested for these pages..... This family sized rig has all the belt of a 2 mile swim in a whiskey vat...... When you put your foot through the firewall make sure your teeth are well anchored.......It is as furry as a mink farm and as snarly as a bengal tiger in a butcher shop."

See more at: http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/viwpc/quotes.htm


Despite the fact he's often listed as a humorist and political comentator, P. J. O'Rourke is one of the funniest and most perceptive automotive journalists working today. At one time a columnist for Car and Driver, O'Rourke's description of his drive across India in a the new Range Rover Discovery with a group of fellow automotive journalists is a must-read. You'll laugh 'til you hurt! A part of that article appears in Wild Stories : The Best of Men's Journal . Other random quotes:

"[E]very now and then the XJ's car alarm would got off for no reason other than to remind you that Jaguars are made in England."

"Some people say a front-engine car handles best. Some people say a rear-engine car handles best. I say a rented car handles best."

 

what is the attraction of clarkson? when he apprently came back to top gear a couple of years ago he was all over the cover of the mag. I guess he is still a 'presenter' on the top gear tv show but I read that all the other hosts left to become fifth gear and that show is pretty good. I think that clarksons role seems to be 'man about cars' sorta like a man about town who then writes about how his experiences affect himself. I dont get it but then maybe thats just me. I really prefer 'car' and I think thats the best car magazine. somehow they have a relationship with automobile but car is still better.

 

I remember McCahill's tests ...though vaguely. He once got a nasty lesson with rear-engine cars and swing-axle suspensions when he rolled a rear-engine Renault. He found out out unstable and tip-prone they can be when those rear tires tuck under. That lesson had already been learned in earlier-vintage Chevy Corvairs and VW Beetles before manufacturers stopped using the swing-axle design.

 

The guy I'm really starting to like is Craig Lieberman of Modified Luxury & Exotics. JHere's some of his quotes:
"High end luxury and sports cars, the good ones, should not be just about style."
"I take the time to get to know my cars intimately."
"It pays to do your research and consider all the issues...creature comforts, depreciation, reliabilty and dealership experiences."
"I think most of us will agree that a policy needs to be established at the corporate level of Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, etc. about loaner cars. Lexus sets the bar here, no question."

Is any of this extremely profound....no. You have to agree this is a car guy, a real car guy.

 

OK, you want a bad example? Here's a whole genre:

Tim Spell of the Houston Chronicle is typical of many newspaper hacks working today in local papers. Perhaps it’s not Spell, although he barely seems to be capable of composing a complete sentence, it is likely the auto section editor (classified advertising) that, in search of advertising dollars turns every “review” into a love poem. In over five years, Spell has yet to issue a single criticism of any vehicle. His superficial reviews read exactly like a company brochure - in fact it is difficult to tell if he has even seen the car he is reviewing. Now Tim's not alone here, but I believe his weekly valentine is like that of many local "auto writers" in that his column is completely dedicated to drumming up ad business from the local dealers. In that he may succeed, but he belongs on the ad desk, he’s no journalist.

Example: RX 400h "review": http://www.chron.com/class/cars/feat...le/021605.html

 

I just picked up this mag and may give it another try on the way to subscribing. for the higher end cars its far better than dub [better known as scrub since the writing is pathetic and the cars are repeated just changing the low end celebrities that own them] and there really isnt much out there for higher end cars. john jarasa of dub is the worst writer of all time.

 

I quite agree with Davis, Jennings, and McCluggage. And the deletion of Brock, at least sometimes.

Allow me to nominate Don Sherman, Pat Bedard, Thos Bryant, Dutch Mandel (beginning to come into his own), and P.J. O'Rourke. Long gone from the monthlys after his falling out with David E. Davis, but still writing fascinating and erudite prose: L.J.K. Setright.