The AutoBird Mission:
AutoBirdBlog is an automotive blog for enthusiasts built by enthusiasts. What AutoBird is not is an RSS feed or a press release factory. We are a community of like minded individuals who have well thought out opinions. It is here where we try to decipherer the latest automaker, union or government talking points and give you an easy to understand analysis of the truth behind the headlines.
AutoBird will have an industry/economic slant to it but will also feature “gearhead” content and vehicle reviews. By combining all our talents, we will try to construct an understandable narrative of the week’s most important car news.
Staff
Colin Bird – Founding Editor:
Colin’s was born in San Diego, but besides a 13 month stent in Australia, has spent most of his life living in Chicago, IL.
Colin graduated from the University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana where he burnished his journalistic credentials at the Buzz Magazine (a local Champaign tabloid; with a circulation of 22,000). At the Buzz, Colin wrote front page features and news reports about the community, as well as published music and cinematic reviews.
In addition, Colin was a radio reporter and news caster for WPGU FM 107.1. Additional radio experience came from an internship at the News-Gazette’s WDWS AM 1400 and WHMS FM 97.5 where he reported on local area news pertaining to Champaign County. Colin also developed online media expertise at the217.com – by contributing exclusive online content and developed an internal blog that focused on cinematic media. For the past two years, Colin has worked at Cars.com, in various aspects, which currently include dealer customer service.
Justin Loyear – Managing Editor
Justin Loyear was born and raised in Fresno, California. At 16 and until the start of college, Justin wrote about Auto Racing and was published in newspapers and online racing websites. After graduating from the University of California, Davis, he traveled thousands of miles and visited over 40 States and Canada. Traveling the country was a great benefit of working in marketing involving Minor League Baseball and automobiles. In addition to traveling over 100,000 miles across the country by truck, Justin has worked for Jeep at the Texas State Fair, Phoenix and Los Angels Auto shows. All of these on the road experiences have allowed him to get a pulse for the car culture of America.
Justin has strong passions for driving and the automotive world. Throughout his life he has experienced driving antique London double-decker buses, semi trucks, performance cars, and anything in-between. Currently, Justin is attending law school while living and working in Fresno. With his personal hallmarks of being analytical, through and honest, he intends to explore cars and the businesses that surround them for the benefit of Autobird’s audience.
Nicholas Fay – Writer/Contributor
Nick Fay is a car enthusiast, avid world traveler and a lover of beer. He particularly enjoys carving up back roads in any vehicle equipped with a manual transmission, including his ‘07 BMW 328i sedan. To support his leisure activities, Nick is an Information Security Engineer in the Financial Services industry.
Will Maley – Writer/Contributor
William Maley is a car enthusiast who can’t drive a manual transmission (if you decide to teach him, he recommends a new clutch and transmission just in case it goes bad). When he is not studying at College for Information Systems or at his job being a Production Assistant for a local public access station, William can be seen driving his 95 Volvo 850 around the Chrysler Headquarters looking for Alfa Romeos. Also, William is an avid Craigslist watcher, reads everything including the side of cereal boxes, and loves technology.
Mirko Reinhardt – Writer/Contributor
Mirko Reinhardt is a twenty something engineer from the northern part of Germany where no American tourist (intentionally) ends up. He has a fetish for numbers (childhood idol: The Count) and will have an alert eye on the German new car market, producing blog posts best suited as a cure against insomnia.
Tyler Lipa - Writer/Contributor
Tyler Lipa was born in Elkhart, IN. Although he didn’t exactly grow up around cars, he always watched his dad work on the family vehicles. It wasn’t until he got his first car that he finally started to really appreciate them. Tyler also became an avid reader of Auto Magazines where he would keep up with the latest trends. Tyler is a small car fanatic in a family who loves big cars. He is always willing to chat about cars. If he isn’t talking about cars then he is probably under his hood tinkering with some part he thinks might be broken. Miles per gallon and utility are more important than horsepower and 0-60 times to him. Tyler currently lives in Bloomington IN where he works and writes.
Guss L. Tsatsakis – Writer/Contributor
Given his European ancestry, Guss Tsatsakis’ fascination with classic Japanese sports cars might define him as an anomaly. Having a 1990 Nissan 300ZX as his first car might explain the love affair. When he’s not up in the wee hours of the morning trying to catch the latest live broadcast of Formula 1, he’s busy designing logos and developing brand identities as a Graphic Designer.
Andrew Walensa – Graphic Designer
Andrew Walensa’s creative point of view has been called such renowned things as “Raw,” “SICK!” and “Awesome.” This award winning Chicago creative genius is an Art Director at the legendary Ad Agency, Wilburn Thomas. Andrew loves to get fully invested in ground breaking projects like Autobird, even when he is void of any prior experience with the product (such as car experience or even a license). It’s all about discovery and of course, fun.
Kristen Althoff – Web Designer
Kristen Althoff is a workaholic designer, coder, and artist. She keeps busy as Interactive Director at the Ad Agency Wilburn Thomas but still finds time to co-own and operate {fill in the blank} Gallery, work on rad projects like AutoBird, and spend time with her partner, Bill. Oh yeah, and sometimes she sleeps too. She loves meeting and working with new people and is always up for the challenge of making each project better than the last
More Info: Comments and questions can be directed to colin@autobirdblog.com. Visit our twitter for more up to date information.
Join Us! If you think you have what it takes to write for AutoBird please shoot me an email and we can certainly discuss that prospect.
