Spannerhead Dot Com

The post title even rhymes; how about that. In the interest of disseminating good content, I present my list of the seven most enjoyable/significant automotive publications of the past year, the Spannerhead Seven™:

• Ate Up With Motor. My favorite automotive history site, it functions as a kind of one-man crusade to provide the most well-researched, in-depth treatments of obscure, rare and iconic cars. Usually updated a couple of times a month, and not to be missed. Great job, Aaron!
• Car and Driver. A pillar of the automotive media world, Car and Driver‘s reporting and features are reliably sharp, frequently impudent and always interesting.
• Jalopnik. For the vehicular omnivore, Jalopnik covers a wide swath of subjects, reporting on everything from the latest concepts to rumors to happenings on automotive forums to marginally-relevant editorials. Quirky and fun.
• Autoblog. A mainstay of the online automotive press, this site’s opinions are always right on the money, and their motorsport coverage (esp. F1) is top-notch as well.
• Top Gear. An institution among car buffs, Top Gear is the standard by which all (and I do mean all) automotive shows are judged. They’ve lost their way a bit with the ever more elaborate challenges, taking some of the focus away from the cars in favor of the inter-host chemistry, but it’s still far and away the best car show out there.
• Left Lane News. Frequently first with breaking developments in the automotive world, Left Lane provides eminent reporting and commentary on political and car industry-wide happenings.
• Grassroots Motorsports. One of the few tuner magazines out there to actually “get it,” GRM seems to channel the way true car buffs think, and emphasize the modification paths the more sober-minded among us would embark upon with our cars. Less style, more substance.

If you’re new (or not so new) to Spannerhead, do yourself a favor and check out the “Headlights” section at the top of the main page. I hand-pick the articles to post there (it’s not an automated feed) and update it more frequently than the blog itself. Happy new year, all!