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Bill shared Daniel Strohl’s last article for Hemmings, which is less an article and more of a wish list of articles he had hoped to write, but, for various reasons, couldn’t. One of those article was the FC-150 Commuter Van, but he never uncovered it. You can read his “Untold Auto Stories” below:
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/untold-auto-stories/
Wow, 4 articles per day, 7 days a week, for 20 years.
That would explain why he never responded to my feedback.
I pretty much enjoyed all of his articles except the Jeep ones.
He didn’t know poop about Jeeps and just spewed the same old myths and misinformation.
Keith
If he didn’t know Jeeps, the answer lies in the statistics given.
No one can be that big of an expert on all marques.
Remember the old saying about being a “Jack of all trades”?
I see a lot of writers (and editors) with well known magazines repeat myths and spout biases passed along at bars, car shows and parts counters.
I write for a fairly well known car magazine, I stay in my lane.
When I have to write about a vehicle I don’t know much about I, wait get this…DO RESEARCH!
But it’s hard to do research if you have to do 4 pieces a day, seven days a week.
Sometimes, the time it takes to get it right lowers my hourly pay (amount received for an article divided by the hours it takes to research and write it) is probably less than a kid makes at a fast food joint.
Luckily, I’m retired so I’m not doing it for the money.
Well then I’m glad he was only making fast food wages, but the article I read wasn’t even worth that.
I’m been an Automotive Engineer for 43 years and tried to only present facts as often as possible.
I’ve been wrong before, and tried to correct things if/when I became aware of it.
My motivation to do research is dwindling rapidly.
Sounds like these pay structures are similar to what I have made from eWillys over the years (and that was before I stopped charging advertising)! That said, I’ve been rewarded far more from friendships, travel opportunities, and gained knowledge. Moreover, being able to help folks yields its own rewards and satisfaction.
I’ve also learned that no matter the research, sometimes you can’t know everything about a topic or don’t have the time to become an expert. Lord knows I’ve been incorrect plenty of times (and I appreciate every time someone calls me out). But, just being able to get a conversation going and, hopefully, setting aside ego and being open to being incorrect, often yields more information for us all. In some topics I might be something of an expert (folks seem to turn to me regarding hardtops), but in plenty of other categories I am just a facilitator.
As for research, my motivation has dwindled as well, party due to lack of Tim and life changes and partly due to that fact that I feel like I have explored most threads as deeply as I can. Other than visiting historical local libraries for things like hub history in Colorado, I feel I’ve exhausted most of my research leads.
And, I agree that this final “article” of Daniel’s was pretty weak, I’m pretty sure he’d say the same thing. It felt like he had one-foot out the door and could only drag his other foot out as long as he put any words at all onto the screen for an editor to push onto the internet.
Enjoy your weekend everyone!
WTF, guys. I left Hemmings for multiple reasons, one of which was this tendency of the audience to pick apart everything that I and my colleagues did after we spent as much time as reasonably possible to get things right and to tell an interesting story.
Keith, I don’t know who you are and I don’t know what sort of feedback you think you provided to me, but I did frequently respond to readers who had something constructive to offer or corrections to my errors.
For what it’s worth, I spent long days going to original sources to correct Jeep (among other automotive) myths like the supposed Enzo Ferrari quote. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2020/08/24/did-enzo-ferrari-really-call-jeep-the-only-true-american-sports-car
As far as pay, nobody in this thread knows what I made while working at Hemmings, so your eagerness to comment on that shows how willing you are to make statements not based in fact.
I love Jeeps. I’ve loved them since before I started at Hemmings, and I will continue to love them. But it’s easy to see how some enthusiasts can turn their backs on the things they love because of the nitpickers and sourpusses and gatekeepers in that enthusiast community. Reflect on that before the next time you get the urge to make a blanket, ill-informed, unsympathetic statement.
David, thanks highlighting my farewell, and thanks for making eWillys an entertaining source of Jeep information through the years.
Daniel’s comments and communication about my Jeep Bolide XJ0-002 were always accurate and appreciated. I hope to remain in communication with him.
Thanks for bumping this. I completely missed this news about Dan leaving Hemmings. I heard he had moved west (Montana?) but thought he was simply “working remote”. There have been ownership/management changes at Hemmings so I guess I’m not too surprised.