Past Projects

Route One Media, LLC

Colleague Mark Ducker and I formed Route One Media, LLC to support a variety of projects including a pilot for a new TV show based on a formula of combining automobiles, travel, personalities and art. While we have developed the concept in some detail we’ve not generated enough support to take it to the next level. Mark and I continue to partner on video projects including an artist profile of Tom Hale being edited now.

Detroit Knows Cars

Another project under the banner of Route One Media was the Detroit Knows Cars automobile fine art exhibits presented two consecutive years at downtown Detroit venues during the North American International Auto Show. We gathered art from a dozen fine artists for whom the automobile is a central theme and created a gallery-style exhibit, first in the Chase Tower Building and then in the lobby of the Compuware Building, both along Woodward Avenue. The exhibits were well received and stayed up for about a month each. Those familiar with automotive art will recognize the names of our artists: Tom Hale, Charles Maher, Jay Koka, David Chappel, Camilo Pardo, Buck Mook, Gerald Freeman, Alex Buchan, Jason Watson, James Haefner and Michael Goettner. My photographs were also featured in both exhibits.

 MACA Michigan Grand Tour For Children

A project I’m most proud of is this major long-distance road rally – a fund raising event for the Michigan Association of Children’s Alliances. It lasted 11-years and enjoyed varying levels of corporate sponsorship from Michelin, Buick, WJR Radio, and others. Modeled after the epic One Lap of America rallies the MACA Grand Tour integrated about a dozen residential child welfare agencies into the project resulting in remarkably gratifying synergies as we brought disparate groups of people together, that is, sports car lovers and the child welfare community. MACA office manager Ann Jack I created the event. We enlisted the support of the MACA board of directors, the Sports Car Club of America, a West Michigan sports car club and many volunteers to put on this event that included time-speed-distance competitions, autocrosses and long transits while visiting residential and out-patient child welfare agencies all around the state.

Feature Writer

Producing features with photos for a variety of magazines, mostly of the collector car genre. I have been published in Corvette Magazine, MOPAR Enthusiast, Collectible Automobile, Car Collector, Old Cars Weekly, Southern Gentleman and Automobile Quarterly. Many of these features can also be found on TheAutoChannel.com.

Radio Correspondent

Covering the Detroit Auto Show and Michigan International Speedway for WJIM-AM NewsTalk Radio in Lansing, Michigan, I also have a long history with WJR in Detroit as correspondent for JP McCarthy and other programs from a variety of events including the Cannonball One Lap of America, MACA Michigan Grand Tour and the North American International Auto Show

Cannonball One Lap of America

Seven times around the county – including once in a Yugo GVX – competing in this epic, nearly non-stop, 8,000-mile-plus endurance road rally – a sequel to the old Cannonball Runs. I was J.P. McCarthy’s (WJR – Detroit’s 50,000-watt radio station) correspondent from the rallies. Many other One Lap media projects grew from that competition.

The Cars On Campus Charity Concours d’Elegance

An invitational classic car show and related events presented on the Michigan State University campus from 1999 to 2003. I was the event director and later chairman in charge of all aspects of this large show. I was also host of the Cars On Campus Automotive Fine Art Show and one of the featured artists with my photography. I provided words and photos for the poster, brochure and other materials as well as writing press materials and providing stories with photos for Car Collector Magazine.

The Michigan Bond Journal

Created and published The Michigan Bond Journal, a weekly trade paper for the municipal bond industry, designed to efficiently publish their legal notices, circa 1992.

Automotive Art Marketing

Paul Lowis’ Silver Pencil – Marketed automotive fine art by this talented Detroit artist with an unusual style via an AUTOMOBILE magazine ad focused on mail order.

Travel Words and Pictures

Words and pictures from 20 years of travel covering dozens of locales comprise the journals of this dedicated Shunpiker: narratives, profiles of people, places and automobiles, notable eateries, cultural explorations, event descriptions, ruminations and commentaries. I have generated an average of between 4 and 12 travel narratives/year for the past 15 years.

Mascots of Motion Gallery Exhibit at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn

Automotive Hall of Fame director, Bill Chapin, took some unused space in the museum and developed it into a dramatic, beautifully lit gallery. The AHoF had featured automobile artists in its main atrium but this became a more specialized space. I was the first artist invited to fill that space for a one-man show that lasted about three months. We had about 40 images of hood ornaments from a wide variety of vehicles. The show’s title was “Mascots of Motion.”