Over-Drive offers an unusual mix of qualities for an auto history multi-media venture. Its website includes a digital repository of information about old cars such as brochures, specification sheets and even paint codes. In addition, a glossy magazine has lengthy feature stories that are targeted at car enthusiasts.
Bob Gerometta is the editor-in-chief of the magazine, which is published by the Over-Drive Materials Preservation Foundation. Gerometta’s LinkedIn page (2023) says that before retiring last year, he had been the Automotive History Preservation Society’s archivist and director of operations. Prior to that, he was the owner of Wild About Cars, LLC. Gerometta’s photograph looks like the same one I had previously seen posted on the society’s old website. Might the recent — and rushed — switch of their URL have had something to do with Gerometta’s departure and the launching of Over-Drive?
Also see ‘Automotive History Preservation Society’s new website isn’t always better’
I question whether the auto history field can support another digital repository but am impressed with some aspects of Over-Drive’s website. Its repository struck me as being structured in a more accessible way than the society’s. Also cool is how the magazine’s print edition has scan codes that allow the reader to quickly look up with their smart phone information on the website.
The magazine has a high-end look, with lots of big photographs, artsy typography and lush graphic treatments. The content primarily focuses on collectible cars, but some articles link the old with the new. In the first of two issues, which came out in Winter 2022, there is a long — but decidedly puffy — piece on the Ford Mustang, from its very beginning to the 2024 models. I would imagine that Ford’s p.r. people really liked it.
Story on Packard’s demise sets off my bullshit detector
The only story in the magazine’s first issue that attempted to offer somewhat serious historical analysis was titled, “Why we lost two exciting 50’s brands — Packard and Hudson” (2022).
As with the rest of the magazine, this unbylined story was visually appealing. Alas, this was undercut by the repetition of the first four paragraphs.
More problematic was the story’s shaky historical analysis. It didn’t cover Hudson as the headline promised, and the story stated that:
- “Finally a lower-priced Clipper line was offered [in 1955] to compete with DeSoto, Mercury, and Oldsmobile” (p. 71). The Clipper nameplate was reintroduced in 1953 — and was similarly priced to its predecessor, the 200.
- Packard bought Studebaker because management “thought they would have access to Mercedes Benz engineering, something Studebaker touted, but had had no contact to use that service” (p. 72). Really?
- “Curtiss-Wright Corporation acquired Studebaker-Packard as a tax write-off” (p. 73). Actually, they had a management agreement that stopped short of a purchase or merger (Ward, 1995).
The story did not include any sources, so it is impossible to figure out where its more questionable claims came from. And given its target readership, perhaps the quality of the analysis doesn’t matter. However, if this story is any indication, armchair historians might want to be skeptical about using Over-Drive magazine as an authoritative source in their own research.
NOTES:
Product specifications were from the auto editors of Consumer Guide (1993, 2006) and Gunnell (2002).
RE:SOURCES
- Auto editors of Consumer Guide; 1993, 2006. Encyclopedia of American Cars. Publications International, Lincolnwood, IL.
- Gerometta, Bob; 2023. “Experience.” LinkedIn. Accessed July 25.
- Gunnell, John; 2002. Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1946-1975. Revised Fourth Ed. Krause Publications, Iola, WI.
- Hamlin, George and Dwight Heinmuller; 2002. “Let the Ride Decide: The Fifty-Fifth Series 1955.” In Kimes, Beverly Rae, ed., pp. 582-601. Packard: A History of the Motor Car and the Company. Automobile Quarterly Publications.
- Over-Drive; 2022. “Why we lost two exciting 50’s brands — Packard and Hudson.” Winter issue: pp. 63-73.
- Ward, James A.; 1995. The Fall of the Packard Motor Car Company. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.
Thanks for sharing this and your analysis.
Unfortunately the double edged sword that is the Internet enables unverified or unsubstantiated claims to be spread over the globe and picked up by well published but sometimes lax “researchers” who use the sketchy information as fact. The originally unsourced material then gains ground as a source for future use and attribution.
An example of this is a biography of architect Frank Lloyd Wright written by Brendan Gill in the 1980’s. In his book, Gill claims Wright’s birth name was Franklin Lincoln Wright. No source for this new information is given, and none can be found by subsequent fact checkers. Yet, this “fact” has been picked up by more than a few subsequent biographies and other works. The internet has further spread it.
Footnotes and sources matter in scholarly work. If they are not used misinformation can spread and cause confusion or loss of a datum in fact.
Well, at least “Lloyd” and “Lincoln” are both automobile brand names!
The spread of inaccurate automotive “facts” has driven me “around the bend” for years, but l finally realized that it will never stop. Maybe l can make a difference in the little corner of the subject l know most about. Sometimes l try.
Thanks for the heads-up, Steve. Studebaker having significant access to MB engineering in 1954? Yeah, right! MB even protested Studebaker’s use of a tri-star emblem (upside down to the Mercedes logo and no ring around it) on the ’53 cars !
It will take a lot more then a couple people thrashing away at scanning images and documents and putting together a flashy looking publication to ever make headway into the historical record of all things automobile.
That record currently resides in thousands of libraries, archives and inaccessible collections that refuse to recognize how important it is for the major enthusiast organizations to form up a comprehensive effort to preserve and protect automobile heritage. I think it’s called cooperation.
This article points out a major problem that I doubt we’ll ever overcome. Too many “experts” claiming their expertise outweighs everybody else. No verification. No truth seeking. No honest research. I’m afraid we’re doomed.
What I find curious about Over-Drive is that people don’t typically retire from an organization and then launch a competing one with a somewhat similar name. That suggests a power struggle. Whatever the specifics of the situation, it’s hard to see how having two similar digital repositories is a sustainable situation for the auto history field.
At this point I’m more inclined to support the Automotive History Preservation Society because it is an established 501c3 organization and has more resources directly useful to Indie Auto. I also get a little nervous when an organization is too closely associated with one individual, e.g., what happens when they pass from the scene?
Regarding the Packard story, I wonder whether it was one of the last ones pasted down before the magazine went to press. If so, as a journalist I can have a certain amount of empathy if the editing process had been rushed. That said, one of the big advantages of having an electronic edition is that you can fix problems — which hasn’t happened. This makes me wonder whether Over-Drive might be better off steering clear of historical analysis and focusing on nuts-and-bolts coverage that builds upon their repository of product specifications.
You may be right, Steve. Over-Drive Materials Preservation Foundation doesn’t show up in a simple search of Michigan non-profits, even as a subsidiary of the Automotive History Preservation Society which appears to be still active. Ken Shubert is still listed as president and a director. No mention of Bob Gerometta, Matt Lucas or Alex Lucas who appear on the magazine masthead.
Over-Drive’s LinkedIn page lists its location as Chicago. So does Gerometta’s Twitter page and personal LinkedIn profile.
(As an aside, note that the magazine’s media kit says it publishes six times a year; that pace hasn’t been maintained thus far. Could this be because ad sales haven’t met expectations?)
I have assumed that the Over-Drive Materials Preservation Foundation does not have 501c3 status because here it calls itself only a “not-for-profit” (which has a different legal meaning). In addition, the magazine’s copyright is held by “Over-Drive Magazine, LLC” — which, for legal purposes, is a for-profit entity.
I did not find the foundation in databases for the IRS, Illinois or Florida (the states where a Michigan corporation database listed Gerometta as having home addresses when he was director of the society).
Might Over-Drive be using a different legal name or is registered in another state? Whatever the situation, an established 501c3 would be more transparent about its legal status because that would help with fundraising.
If Gerometta did leave the society in the wake of a power struggle, I could see him potentially wanting to avoid the governance restrictions of a 501c3, which could result in him maintaining less personal control of Over-Drive.
Several years ago I entertained working with the Automotive History Preservation Society to help with a planned newsletter. The discussions were a bit tedious and I questioned why scanned materials didn’t include metadata and keywords which would augment the searchability of what they claimed they had. There was talk of a Michigan warehouse holding hundreds of thousands of documents, magazines, images, marketing materials and all sorts of industry related information. I was intrigued, of course, but the issues related to where the archive was domiciled and why metadata wasn’t part of the scanning process pushed me away. Now there appears to be a slick magazine that’ll cost 40 bucks for a hard copy and the plea to “send us money!” An effort like this requires some heavy credibility. I’m afraid they don’t have it.
https://picryl.com/search?q=cars
An interesting archive resource.
That looks like a helpful resource for public-domain images. Thank you.
Are automobile marketing materials, factory images and documents (tech manuals, etc.) public domain?
I’m not a copyright specialist, but one obvious way to tell if materials are copyrighted is to look for that designation on them. When that is the case, one option for digital repositories would be to get written permission from automakers before posting their materials. Perhaps I’ve missed it, but I haven’t seen anyone who has stated that they have done so. Instead, what I’ve seen are statements about how materials are posted for educational and research purposes only. That has been Indie Auto’s approach as well.
Overdrive smacks of being written by AI. There is much freely available data out there that such publications are inevitable.