Ten years ago Jalopnik founding editor Mike Spinelli was interviewed by car vlogger Freddy “Tavarish” Hernandez. The wide-ranging interview, which was conducted in Hernandez’s car, included the story about how Jalopnik got its name.
Spinelli had heard that Gawker Media wanted to start a car blog and he was looking for a ticket out of an IT gig. So he sent an email to the head of the company, Nick Denton. “And he was like, ‘Yeah, here, just write a bunch of posts on cars.’ And I was like, ‘Really?'” (Hernandez, 2015a).
Spinelli proceeded to pump out some stories. And Denton said, “That’s good enough.” However, the website still needed a name.
In the second installment of the six-part interview, Spinelli described a brainstorming session. “I don’t know who the hell it was. I like to think it wasn’t me, but it probably was . . . and we had been drinking a little bit. And so somebody says Jalopnik. And I laughed and go, ‘What a weird word — Jalopnik‘” (Hernandez, 2015b).
Spinelli tries to talk the boss out of Jalopnik
Denton, who was part of the brainstorming session, said, “‘That’s it, I’m registering it. We’re done.’ And I said, ‘What do you mean we’re done, we’re not done. That’s not a name — Jalopnik.’
“He said, ‘No, no, no, it’s perfect.’ I said, ‘It’s perfect — that’s perfect?’ And I was like ‘Jalopnik, God I don’t know.’
Spinelli eventually agreed to go home and think about it. But then he concluded: “I’m going to write for a site named Jalopnik. I’ve got to call people and say I’m from Jalopnik. And I’m like no.”
So the next day he sent Denton an email that said, “We’ve got to come up with a better name.” Denton refused, saying, “‘No, no, it’s the name. That’s it. There’s no more thinking about it. It’s the perfect name.’
“I was like, ‘Okay. Alright. I’m screwed — totally screwed'” (Hernandez, 2015b).
Spinelli doubles down on his ‘inside wacky voice’
Spinelli proceeded to shift into problem-solving mode. “So how am I going to make a site called Jalopnik any good?” he wondered. “I was just like, ‘Alright, I’m just going to wing it. . . . I’m going to use my inside wacky voice . . . and make sure that every post is insane but also has the details right.'”
Spinelli’s initial goal in developing content was merely to observe the automotive landscape and make comments about it. “That’s all it was. We weren’t really looking to help replace Car and Driver, Road & Track or the other traditional media because we couldn’t — we had no resources,” Spinelli said, noting that early on he was the sole writer.
“All I wanted to do was create a place where car guys could sort-of hang out,” Spinelli said in summing up Jalopnik (Hernandez, 2015b). How he did it is worth a listen. Hernandez is a good interviewer and Spinelli is endlessly fascinating.
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RE:SOURCES
- Hernandez, Freddy “Tavarish”; 2015a. “Mike Spinelli: A Jalopnik is A Man Who Cars — Part 1.” Offtrack. Posted May 20.
- ——; 2015b. “Mike Spinelli: Peanut Butter Guts! — Part 2.” Offtrack. Posted May 21.
- Spinelli, Mike; 2025. “Experience.” LinkedIn. Accessed Sept. 20.
The Autopian is now what Jalopnik used to be. Some of the other writers who didn’t wind up there have scattered to other car blogs. (Kristin Lee and Andrew Collins are two who ended up elsewhere.) I still look at Jalopnik but I never go there first.
I will cruise through Jalopnik’s Facebook page when looking for links for Indie Auto’s Facebook page, but I rarely check out its website. There’s just not that much I find interesting anymore. That said, on most of the stories I have paid attention to, the comment threads have been much more intelligent than at, say, The Truth About Cars. Like you I’m more inclined to hang out at The Autopian, although it’s hardly The New Yorker of the automotive media.
Right now I can’t point to any automotive website that I am consistently inspired by as a writer/editor. That may partly be a product of my age, but I think it also reflects the state of the car-buff media — there’s a fair amount of enshitification going on.
Oh TTAC has been awful lately. Didn’t used to be. I like reading Aaron Severson and others on Curbside Classics but those are quick hits. Dean’s Garage, depends on the article (though I think that’s where I found Ate Up With Motor.) Peter De Lorenzo is too curmudgeonly, though I will read Autoextremist every Sunday. I watch a few You Tube channels, especially Adam Wade but others too (usually with more European cars) but I prefer to read.
I stopped monitoring TTAC’s Facebook feed a few years ago when the rhetoric got too shrill. However, when I have occasionally stopped by the website recently, my impression has been that Posky may have been put on a shorter leash and the comment threads have been cleaned up somewhat. So an improvement — but not enough to read regularly or link to.
With the departure of Strohl from Hemmings, I have pretty much given up on them besides occasionally seeing what Patrick Foster has to say in his column. Hagerty’s strikes me as currently publishing the best longer-form writing of the auto history sites, but it tilts too much to collectors to be of huge interest to me. Mac’s Motor City Garage has more professional standards than Curbside Classic, but newer articles tend to be so short that they usually don’t tell me much that I don’t already know.
In general, I think that the American auto history media has gotten a little stale and could use some new entrants to shake things up. I was hoping that this would come from vloggers, but so far their journalistic standards have tended to be lower than traditional websites (with partial exceptions, such as Adam Wade).
I regularly check out Auto Extremist because it will occasionally say something important that everyone else in the automotive media dances around. DeLorenzo could have a much bigger impact if he had a copy editor who reined in his bloviatory excesses.
I’ve been so busy of late that I haven’t had much time to read for enjoyment. The main way I learn about other writers is when I am doing research for an Indie Auto article. Often I will find more interesting content at websites that cover autos only peripherally.