47: Eddie Alterman
Source: Hemmings
“I walk up to the cops and the guy jumps out of the car with incredible ferocity and I’m like… ‘I’m going to fucking jail!’. And he runs over to me and goes… ‘Is that the new fucking Vette?!’”
About Eddie
Eddie Alterman is the Chief Brand Officer of Hearst Autos, which publishes Car and Driver, Road & Track, Autoweek, and other publications for auto enthusiasts, or, let’s be honest - fanatics.
Eddie was born in Huntington Woods, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit that is, by proximity alone, deeply connected to cars and the stories that come with them. As a young kid, Eddie gained a love of cars from his father, a diehard car enthusiast who taught Eddie that a car isn’t just a car – it’s a story, a collection of memories – like the 1950 Buick that reminds him of that heady time we call adolescence; or the Jaguar E-type, full of stories about his racing heroes and timeless design.
Everyone remembers their first car – Eddie’s was a 1988 VW Golf… mine was a 1992 Toyota Corolla – and just like Eddie’s dad, we associate each of our cars with the stage in our lives when we owned it… the car is forever intertwined with the memories, the physical with the spiritual.
And so, perhaps the most powerful car lesson Eddie’s father imparted was that at the end of the day, more than anything else, cars are more than a pile of metal and leather… they are the conduits to our memories and as such, they are deeply a part of our psyche.
Eddie would go on to absorb this lesson in a big way. While outside of school, his happy place was behind the wheel, in school, he preferred the old fashioned way of storytelling – with a pen and paper. And he nurtured his love of both at the University of Michigan, pursuing a BA in English while working his first job at Automobile Magazine, where he began as a “motor gopher,” responsible for maintaining test cars.
Eddie continued to hone his storytelling skills as a copy editor at Automobile magazine and learned the power of great editing at the New York Times, where he’s been a frequent contributor, penning gems with such pun-tastic titles as “When life hands you lemons, drive them.”
His platform grew in 2009 when Eddie was named Editor in Chief at Car and Driver, the world’s largest automotive publication. Ten years later, he was elevated to Chief Brand Officer of parent company Hearst Autos, responsible for the editorial and business strategies of the entire portfolio. But don’t think that Eddie grabbed that corner office, donned a blazer and hung up the keys.
Oh no - the self-described car freak spends no less time on the road - for most people, a place to tune out but for him, a place to tune in – all the way in. His ideal drive, off into the sunset, so to speak - is the coastal beauty of a road trip from LA to Big Sur - well technically the sunset would be on your left, but you get the point.
And although Eddie may still be adjusting to being an empty nester, perhaps his silver lining is a bit more driveway space for a few more… automotive story vehicles.
Books
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Max Chopovsky: 0:02
This is Moral of the Story Interest in people telling their favorite short stories and then breaking them down to understand what makes them so good. I'm your host, Max Chopovsky. Today's guest is Eddie Alterman, the chief brand officer of Hearst Autos, which publishes Car and Driver, road and Track, auto Week and other auto publications for auto enthusiasts or, let's be honest, fanatics. Eddie was born in Huntington Woods, michigan, a suburb of Detroit that is, by proximity alone, deeply connected to cars and the stories that come with them. As a young kid, eddie gained a love of cars from his father, a diehard car enthusiast who taught Eddie that a car isn't just a car, it's a story, a collection of memories, like the 1950 Buick that reminds him of that heady time we call adolescence, or the Jaguar E-Type, full of stories about his racing heroes and timeless design. Eddie remembers their first car. Eddie's was a 1988 VW Golf, Mine was a 1992 Toyota Corolla. Incidentally, just like Eddie's dad, we associate each of our cars with the stage in our lives when we owned it. The car is forever intertwined with the memories, the physical with the spiritual. Perhaps the most powerful car lesson Eddie's father imparted was that, at the end of the day, more than anything else. Cars are more than a pile of metal and leather. They are the conduits to our memories and, as such, they are deeply a part of our psyche. Eddie would go on to absorb this lesson in a big way, while outside of school, his happy place was behind the wheel. In school, he preferred the old fashioned way of storytelling with a pen and paper, and he nurtured his love of both at the University of Michigan, pursuing a BA in English while working his first job at Automobile Magazine, where he began as a motor gopher responsible for maintaining test cars. He continued to hone his storytelling skills as a copy editor at Automobile Magazine and learned the power of great editing at the New York Times, where he's been a frequent contributor, penning gems with such fantastic titles as when life hands you lemons, drive them. His platform grew in 2009 when Eddie was named editor-in-chief at Car and Driver, the world's largest automotive publication, and 10 years later he was elevated to chief brand officer of parent company Hearst Autos, responsible for the editorial and business strategies of the entire portfolio. But don't think that Eddie grabbed that corner office down to Blazer and hung up the keys. Oh no, the self-described car freak spends no less time on the road, for most people a place to tune out, but for him a place to tune in All the way in His ideal drive off into the sunset, so to speak, is the coastal beauty of a road trip from LA to Big Sur. Well, technically the sunset would be on your left, but you get the point. And although Eddie may still be adjusting to being an empty nester, perhaps his silver lining is a bit more driveway space for a few more automotive story vehicles. Eddie, welcome to the show man.
Eddie Alterman: 3:01
Thank you, max. Great, great intro. I mean I was tearing up there. That was a great little drive down memory lane. There was one gap that I'd like to exploit here, one career phase you didn't hit on. That is core to this story that I'm about to tell.
Max Chopovsky: 3:20
I love it Well, hit on that gap, if you would, sir.
Eddie Alterman: 3:23
Okay, so after Automobile Magazine, I left to start a magazine with American Media which was owned by David Pecker, and you might remember him from the Trump catch and kill stories. So he was the publisher of MPH, which was the sort of Ladmag version of a car magazine that we started in 2004, and it had a criminally short life. But the story I'm about to tell might give you some inclination as to why. So at the time there was really the internet, was very nascent and it was all about car magazines and we had just felt a bunch of us who started MPH, guys from Car and Driver, guys from Automobile we sort of felt like the big major magazines like Car and Driver and Road to Track had gotten very ossified and very stale and very complacent and so we were the proverbial rocket up their ass. We were like the maxim of car magazines, a little bit of spy magazine, if you remember that, a little bit of the irreverence of 1960s Car and Driver. But we were always looking to take the piss and it was really the two most irresponsible years of my adult life. It was really fun, it was great, it ended in tears but led to some good things. But car magazines and the challenge that we had set for ourselves at MPH was to do things differently. We didn't want to have the seven car comparison test in Ohio with the boring picture of the five sensible sedans. We wanted to mix it up, and to me great automotive writing is sort of like great sports writing. The same thing happens over and over again One team wins, one team loses. You drive a car, you tell people how it is, the great writers dramatize it in a way and put the car in a context that really reveals a lot about it. So we were always trying to do outrageous stuff and we had a Subaru Justi. Do you remember that car? It sort of fell into our possession by extra legal means and we would take that car and attempt every automotive myth on it, like if you put baloney on the paint, does it take it off? If you put sugar in the gas tank, what happens? If you put in a tug of war with the Hummer, what happens? And that was ultimately what led to its demise. But we had done a lot of really stupid things and I remember when the Hummer H3 came out, we did a story about off-roading in the suburbs. We would drive, find off-roading opportunities in suburban areas, and that meant, like you know, those areas in off-ramps that are all wooded on the highway. We'd go in there. We had a rock crawling challenge in the lumber yard, so that was fun, but it was about putting the car in a hilarious, cool context and doing it in sort of an outrageous and unexpected way. And so the year is 2000, late 2004. And two of the most significant cars are about to hit the market the 2005 Porsche 911, the 997 series, and then the 2005 Corvette Chevrolet Corvette which was called the C6 internally and so these cars have been going up against each other for 40 years. They were kind of the dominant sports cars and it was rare that their launches or new versions of them happened at the same time. So we had to come up with an idea that really totally knocked it out of the park and we were kind of scratching our heads what do we do with these things that hasn't been done before? And then I remember my friend, al Okay, al, I'm not going to say his last name, but Al was a hilarious guy, huge brain, very, very easy player and lived a lifestyle of leisure, a privilege guy, and he lived in New York City and he once told me you know, because we were talking about driving in New York and how difficult it is and how stressful it is he goes no, no, no, no, no. New York's the best city to drive in. You just have to know where to do it and when to do it. And then he proceeded to tell me about how he had just crashed his father's SL, driving it through Central Park at 3am. What? And he was hauling ass around you know that ring road around Central Park, yeah, and all those kind of interstitial roads under the bridges. Well, he had lost control of the SL and smacked into a bridge abutment. And his dad's reaction to him taking the car out at 3am and driving it around Central Park was no, no, no, al, that's what the M6 is for, not the SL. He was mad that he had chosen the wrong car. So Al is a hilarious, great, great guy and lived life to the fullest, sucked the mirror of life, and I thought well, this is our venue, this is going to be where we take these two cars and drive them. And there was no thought of permits, no thought of well, maybe this isn't a good idea. Maybe we should check with the magazine's legal department. None of that. We just called up our friends in the PR departments of Chevrolet and Porsche, pitched the idea to them and they're like, when do you need the car there? And they love the idea. So we actually kind of set it up and thought, well, this is going to happen. And Dan Pond, who worked with me at Car and Driver and now works at Road and Track great, great guy. We went to New York Food in New York, picked up the cars in Manhattan garage and just sort of sat and waited until the city died down. It was, I don't think, a Wednesday night. We had gotten sort of a last meal at what's that great Chinatown old Chinatown restaurant, I can't remember the name of it, it was just on billions and we were just sort of like waiting until we could strike, until our moment was right, okay, and we were staying up and staying up, and we had a photographer with us and he was napping in preparation for the shoot, and so it's about 2.30 and we say, okay, yeah, let's find our spot, and we drive the two cars to the gate or the in-road to the park, I think at 72nd and it would be fifth on the east side. Okay, and we're sort of setting up this shot of the two cars. You know. We wanted the shot to tell the story, the opening shot of the thing of the story, to sort of relay what was going on here. So we set the two cars up, kind of pointed at each other, right in front of these two NYPD blue saw horses you know that were marking off the entrance to the park. Like don't come in here, the park is closed, right. So we're sitting at the shot, we've got the shot done, we're lighting it, we're trying to be as discreet as possible and we're trying to not attract any, any attention. And it's 2.30 in the morning. We figure, okay, this is fine, this is like we're going to pull this off. And as we're done with the shot and we're getting ready to drive through the park, I start pulling one of the saw horses back and I hear whoop, whoop, whoop and I'm like oh, oh, shit. So we spent all this money to get here. We promised the PR guys at the companies that we were going to do the story and now it's collapsing like in milliseconds, right. And I'm like oh, shit, shit, shit. Just just act. Naturally, dan, just be cool. Like just stain your car, don't get out and I walk up to the cops and the guy jumps out of the car with like incredible ferocity. I'm like I'm going to fucking jail. And he runs over to me, he goes Is that the new fucking van? And I was like, why, yes, sir, why, yes, officer, this is would you like to see it? And he's like, oh, my God, this is beautiful. And I'm like, would you like to get in? He's like, oh, this is the greatest, I'm going to order one of these. And he's like he is so taken with the car and what's happening in that moment that he doesn't realize, or he doesn't, or he turns a blind eye, I should say, to what we're actually doing. And he is asking us questions about the car. We're becoming friends. We're telling him what's going on, we're telling him what we're doing, who we are and where we're from. He doesn't ask for permits, he doesn't ask for anything. He's just like enjoy your evening, gentlemen. And then we were done and we got the story done and I think there's some, some morals here. But I just I wanted to share that because it's one of my favorite stories and at the very least it proves that if you have a bad idea, sometimes you should go for it, but that's not the real moral.
Max Chopovsky: 12:59
Well, I have countless questions before we get into those. We just went to on a Disney cruise a few months ago and there was a guy wearing a shirt on the boat that I was like I must acquire this shirt, no matter where I'm going to get it, no matter how I can get it. His shirt was. That's a terrible idea, when and where. That's what this was right. I mean literally. That's how so many great stories start.
Eddie Alterman: 13:30
We were too stupid to know that we couldn't do it. You know, yeah, I mean so did you end up actually driving? Them through the park, Did the whole thing and Al was right, it was an incredible drive and we turned it into like a big 10 page print story that was called Midnight Run and we documented the whole thing. Probably another dumb idea.
Max Chopovsky: 13:51
So that's also one of my questions Did the people that gave you the green light at Chevy and Porsche keep their jobs? Because I don't see how they green light something like this without even asking a single question.
Eddie Alterman: 14:04
Oh my God. Well, these were different times, but they got in so much trouble when we felt so bad. And my buddy Joe over at GM's, like you know, you've gotten me almost fired like four times and I was like, yeah, but like look at all the stories we did together. They were all great and this one was like it turned out to be a feather in his cap.
Max Chopovsky: 14:22
Oh, my God, this is the capstone that kind of story is the capstone. Totally so. How much trouble did you get into when the story went live?
Eddie Alterman: 14:32
Well they were concerned with other things. I think we flew so under the radar with that magazine that you know they didn't even notice it. I don't think anybody read it. It was great, it was glorious. We're in our own little bubble of delusion.
Max Chopovsky: 14:46
I mean that is literally the definition of glorious. Explain this to me how Did you think that you were not going to get caught Like? What was the rationale in your minds around that?
Eddie Alterman: 15:02
I mean, I think I was nervous and I thought maybe there's some plan B where we drive it someplace else or we do something else. But it wouldn't have been as good of a story. You know, I was sort of stupidly overconfident in those days and just was such an ardent believer in what we were doing. You know how sometimes you create your own sort of reality and your own truth because you believe so deeply in what you're doing that people can tell you that's not a good idea and you don't believe them. And that's sort of where I was, that's where my headspace was at that time.
Max Chopovsky: 15:39
I mean, if I'm being honest, I think that a lot of the greatest accomplishments in history across industries happened because the people perpetrating those crimes, so to speak, were just young and dumb and they just didn't know any better. Like, being naive in those circumstances is actually a strength, because if you talk to those people and you say to them, if you could do it again, would you? They would say, oh hell, no, not knowing what I know now, that shit was crazy.
Eddie Alterman: 16:14
Right, it was a moment that barometric pressure was correct. You know, your LDL cholesterol was low. There were a thousand things that fed into it, the moment being just right, you know, and that was one of them. How fast did you go through the park? You know what? We got up to a pretty sickening speed. That's a great road and it is the best place to drive in Manhattan. I don't know what we were doing on this pedometer, but it was dark, it was late at night, we were driving through horseshit and with the photographers head out of the sunroof, but at the same time, it was just like you imagine that, the freedom of it. You know, when you're in your early 30s and you've got two sports cars that haven't come out yet, the most hotly anticipated sports cars in the world, and they weren't a dealer's guy and we had them, and we're driving around Central Park for our job. Critical distinction you are getting paid to do this. Yes, exactly, I shudder at the thought of it.
Max Chopovsky: 17:21
You're talking about the road that's inside the park, that the horses go on the horse carriages and people run and ride their bikes.
Eddie Alterman: 17:29
Yeah, and bikes are there, there are taxis on that road. You know there's stop lights on that road, which we obeyed. By the way, we weren't going to break that law, we obeyed the stop lights. But no, it was really fun and we saw. You know, we went around the reservoir. It wasn't very well lit, but it was drivable and it was great and we didn't crash. We didn't smash a thing into a bridge abutment like Al did.
Max Chopovsky: 17:56
Well, that's because you didn't get out the M6.
Eddie Alterman: 17:58
That could have been the worst, we had the right cars for it is the point we didn't have, like you know, some doddering SL, like some old man's SL.
Max Chopovsky: 18:08
So in Chicago there's a highway known as the Kennedy which runs from O'Hare to the Loop, and there are these express lanes that change directions, that run between the regular eastbound and westbound lanes, and there is now there's construction, but back when the lanes would actually sort of switch between inbound and outbound, I feel like there was almost an art form around timing your entrance to those lanes to avoid all the traffic in the main lanes, and I went down so many rabbit holes Googling if there's a schedule for these lanes to open up or not, because I really wanted to get in those lanes, not just because I hate traffic but also because how cool would it be to be in those lanes when everyone around you is stopped. And, needless to say, none of that information is publicly available. If it were, then those scheduled open times or switch times would be complete parking lots and it's. It got so bad with people cutting into the express lane entrance right before the entrance that they started to post state troopers there, because people would get out of their cars. They get into fights because they're the left lane of the inbound Kennedy gets backed up for a mile beforehand Right. So I used to drive a G35 coupe.
Eddie Alterman: 19:33
It was a six speed V6, great car, infinity G35 S was an.
Max Chopovsky: 19:41
S. I don't think there was an S designation at the time. It was just I know what you're talking about the next generation of the car, when it got a lot curvier. Yeah, yes, correct. So this is, this was the G35. This is 2005. And I love that car and you're right, it was a nice little six cylinder engine it was. You know, it had just enough kind of get up and go to for you to have some fun, and we lived in the city at the time and so I didn't, you know, have a lot of chances to actually experience the wonderful acceleration, that all of that torque and I say that with sarcasm that all of that torque, the engine, the torque that it provided One time I was coming into the city and the way that the express lanes work is. There's a sign that shows that the express lanes are open or closed, and then there are these multiple sort of arms and obstacles that they just sort of remove these little gates that automatically get moved as the lanes are opening and traffic was terrible coming into the city and as I was coming in, right as I was going past the closed entrance, I saw the gates start to open. So I swerved into the entrance, just barely missing those big yellow tanks filled with sand. And I took off and I got up to it had to be over a hundred in those express lanes because I knew for a fact for a fact. There was nobody in front of me, like it was completely open. And there is a part where, once they straighten out, they sort of stay straight for a couple of miles. And that's where I gunned it. And I looked to my right I just glanced to my right briefly it was a parking lot. I looked to my left and it was a parking lot and I opened all the windows and the sunroof and I turned up the music and I was like this may never happen again and because of that I'm gonna push the envelope a little bit. It's one of my favorite driving memories because that's one of those things that, like you know to your point, the barometer was right, the LDL was just right and I was like this is incredible. I'll never forget it.
Eddie Alterman: 21:51
And I haven't those moments of just pure freedom where you're in command, there's no autonomous anything, there's no lane keeping, there's no advanced driver safety, it's just you in the car, driving it to its peak as fast as situations will allow, as fast as circumstances will allow. There's something just beautiful and free about that, and everybody should experience it that once in their life. Once in their life, yeah, at least once, if not every week or every day.
Max Chopovsky: 22:28
Well, most people don't get paid to do crazy shit like that.
Eddie Alterman: 22:31
Right, right, I've calmed down quite a bit. You know this was at a different company. As I said, two most irresponsible years of my life, mph. We had, you know, we had a mascot. We had a pet monkey that lived at the next door office but would come over occasionally and it was an animal house atmosphere and we may have gotten away from ourselves Like an actual pet monkey. Yeah, there was a pet monkey who's very, very cute and he was on the masthead of the magazine. I don't remember his name. All monkeys are named bubbles, right?
Max Chopovsky: 23:07
I feel like that's about right, or, George?
Eddie Alterman: 23:10
I feel like George, right, george, something like that Dan will remember. But I have this great picture of or Dan actually has a Dan pun has this great picture of he and I that night sitting on the hood of the 9-11, smoking, and you know the youthful joy permeates. It was fun.
Max Chopovsky: 23:37
Yeah, it's the freedom, even when you don't realize it. The freedom of your youth is something that is so precious and so fleeting, and it's something that's really hard to recreate when you're older, because you have responsibilities, but also because you're kind of more jaded, and it's really hard to sort of let go right. So when you're young and you can mash the pedal, so to speak, without really thinking through all the ramifications, there's something so intoxicating about that.
Eddie Alterman: 24:09
Yeah, when you're older, you know all the consequences. You know how bad it can go. You think in three dimensions. When you're younger, you're like oh man this is the best. I'm just gonna pursue the feeling. I'm just going after the feeling, Totally that's exactly right.
Max Chopovsky: 24:27
I mean to your point. There is something so magical about being out there with a car and, all of a sudden, just seeing the road open up, like you've ever been in the left lane and all the people in front of you just merge to the middle lane and you're like thank you, God.
Eddie Alterman: 24:45
Or you find yourself on a twisty two-lane mountain road and there's nobody there and the road is perfect and the day is clear, and I just live for those moments. The right car, the right road phenomenal. The right car, the right road.
Max Chopovsky: 25:02
Oh my God, yeah. So, as you think about that crazy ass story that you told, what are some of the morals that come to mind?
Eddie Alterman: 25:12
Okay, the first one is that there is a difference between the illegal and the immoral, and what we were doing was illegal. I mean, we had a cop sanctioning it, so maybe that was a permit in and of itself. Cop told us, to resolve the evening for its best tidings.
Max Chopovsky: 25:35
Is that how you rationalize what just happened? Because I feel like that wasn't an actual sanction. That was just him being happy that you let him sit in an unreleased car and then going and then looking the other way.
Eddie Alterman: 25:45
He was being super cool and, yes, we were committing an illegal act. I checked the statute of limitations on something like that and we're well clear of it, so we're fine. But it was not an immoral act. It was two professionals engaged in the faithful service of their job, trying to get a great story for the readers. Okay, and I think there is a morality in that. There's a morality in pushing the bounds of legality for something that is ethical and pure and true. And that's what we were doing and that's my rationalization.
Max Chopovsky: 26:29
Your justification is market leading. Also, I don't disagree.
Eddie Alterman: 26:35
Okay, so right. So you know there's a difference between what the laws are and what human morality is and human ethics are. And we were sacrificing our licenses, our reputations, our jobs for the reader, and I think that's the noblest pursuit in journalism. Disagree if you will, but that's one takeaway. That's one moral of the story. The other is cars bring people together. I was an adversary to the cop, the cop was an adversary to me. We were positioned against each other in this game, but the corvette broke that down. The corvette allowed us to share an experience. It was the first corvette this guy had ever seen, first new one he'd ever seen, and he got to sit in it, yeah, and he got to ask questions about it from people who knew what it was about. And the fact that we had those cars there that nobody had ever seen, I think, gave us a sort of credibility with him. You know, these guys must be okay if they've got access to this stuff. Right. They can't be complete miscreants, they can't be total criminals. It has to be something to recommend them, the fact that they got access to this. So that access gave us a lot of pull, but the car did all the work. The car broke down, this guy's defenses and I think if somebody had a Honda Accord trying to do the same thing he would have spent the night in jail. But the corvette saved us, the 911 saved us and, you know, it was only through the kind of the fullness of time that I realized what a powerful moment that was and just how important the bonds are between car people.
Max Chopovsky: 28:31
As a plus, this was before the era of body cams, so he had plausible deniability.
Eddie Alterman: 28:39
Exactly. It was for somebody else to find us and haul us in.
Max Chopovsky: 28:43
Yeah, he'd be like you know.
Eddie Alterman: 28:45
I didn't see those guys.
Max Chopovsky: 28:47
Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, that's smell of new Chevrolet Corvette leather. Oh, my clothes.
Eddie Alterman: 28:53
Oh, no, no.
Max Chopovsky: 28:54
Exactly? What was your take on the two cars? Which one were you a bigger fan of?
Eddie Alterman: 29:01
Well, it was sort of a great era for both of those cars. The 2005 911 was the second watercooled generation of that car and the first watercooled generation so-called 996, was a really, really good car and it was better than the one that preceded it in a lot of ways, but it sort of didn't feel like a 911. It was bigger inside, it, didn't? It felt like sort of a new car Because the 911 had the same doors and same greenhouse since its inception up until 2000 when that 996 came out. So that 996 felt like a substantially different proposition, right. But when the 997 came out in 2005, it was like they had stuffed some more 911 back into it and they had made it feel less feel and sound more like an older 911, yet it was a newer car and I felt like they had made a nice sort of correction to the 996. Now you drive a 996 now and they're great. You drive a 997 now and it's even better. But there was a lot of backlash against the 996 as not a true 911, more of a GT, and the 997 addressed that, I think, in a really, really positive way. So I love that car. The C6 Corvette was incredible too and it was really the second generation of a big reinvention on that car as well. But it was small, it was tidy, it was very sort of European handling. Compared to the C5, corvettes were sort of lightly engineered, big motors sort of spat out of the factory. The C6 felt crafted, it felt like it was really highly engineered and it was great and that became the basis for some really excellent high performance variants like the Z06. So those cars were. They were pretty evenly matched in a lot of ways and they delivered a ton of satisfaction for the enthusiasts. But they were fundamentally different too, like the Corvette, front engine V8, the 911, rear engine flat six, and so they were kind of as different as could be in terms of layout but evenly matched in terms of the kind of joy they delivered and I loved them both. I thought that the 911 was fractionally better, sharper handling. I like the sounds, I like the fact that the engine was hung out over the back axle. I love the fact that they had tried to make that water cooled six sound, air cooled so you could drive it without the you know on sound and nowhere to shift on sound. Those cars are like you don't need to put the radio on. You just listen to them. So I'm kind of a 911 guy as opposed to a Corvette guy. But that Corvette was sweet and I could see the. You know the love in the in the cop size.
Max Chopovsky: 32:13
Well, and the Corvette is phenomenal value when compared to the Porsche.
Eddie Alterman: 32:18
Oh totally Totally. It was like I don't know as equipped it was maybe three-eighths of the price, no, five-eighths of the price, and it's just always been such an incredible value. But by the time the Corvette got to the C5 and the C6, it was a really, really great vehicle in its own right and I like both of them. It's hard to say. I still remember how they feel the 911, because it was steel not fiberglass and some I think there were maybe some SMC like sheet molded compound panels on that car, if I'm remembering correctly. But the 911 felt a little stouter, felt more like you know, this is an Autobahn cruiser, this thing can sit happily at 180 MPH all day, whereas the C6 was like, yeah, maybe some parts are going to fall off, but for our purposes in that sort of relatively low-speed environment on that course they were both great. They just they turned differently, they steered differently. But at the end of the day, you know, you get that beautiful singing V8 up front in the Corvette versus that churning, whirring flat six in the 911, and two really, really great ribs versus fillet Totally.
Max Chopovsky: 33:36
Totally. That's actually a great analogy. So when I turned 40, my wife got me one of those, you know, tickets to go race a few exotics around the track, and I think I was telling you this. It was it might have been like a Mercedes-Benz Cielago and then a 488 GTB and then a GT3 RS. And the GT3 RS there was only one or two of them, and so everybody raced everything else. And then there was this massive line for this Porsche and they started going down the line and offering people two rides in one of the other cars instead of the one ride they had remaining in this Porsche, and the vast majority of people declined that. Nope, because everybody right, they wanted to drive it. And so the Porsche was my last one that I drove around the track, and so by then I started to get a little bit more familiar with it. It's the Milwaukee mile raceway, but you kind of go through the middle of it, so there's some twists and turns there, and I got a little bit more comfortable with the raceway, with the track, and so when I finally got into the Porsche and I took it out, I felt like I wasn't even close to reaching its capabilities, like this thing would hold on to the corners. Probably, you know, not substantially more than you know the Lambo, the Ferrari, but it just felt like it was so different, so solidly attached to the track, that I could do no wrong. It's incredible.
Eddie Alterman: 34:57
They are amazing in having the majority of the weight over the driven wheels.
Max Chopovsky: 35:02
Yeah, of course.
Eddie Alterman: 35:02
Rear wheels. That really helps the physics of the whole thing. But you know, 911s have always been cars that you can drive to the track. Drive for a day on the track, correct, then replace the brakes and tires and drive home and maybe you don't even need to replace the brakes the brakes are so good. But there always has been this really, really strong linkage between the track and the street for 911s and you know it's a legacy of their sports car racing heritage. And you know, when you get into a machine like the GT3RS, it's like it's beyond the racing version in some ways. You know, this new GT3RS that they've got has in-car adjustability for the dampers that the race car doesn't have. Like, the technology is almost a step above the race car. And you know they're incredible, incredible machines and very much race honed and there's a degree of sensitivity. To me, like sports cars are all about sensitivity and how they make you feel and the feedback they give you. And the Porsche gives you a degree of feedback that you really don't get anywhere else, not even a Ferrari, not even a Lamborghini. It's certainly not a Lamborghini. You know Lamborghini's are great for driving into walls and stuff, but the Porsche is really like a scalpel and the body control is so phenomenal. The transitional behavior is so good and that's honed on a lot of race weekends. They're really, really great, great vehicles.
Max Chopovsky: 36:32
And I think that that extends maybe not as much but certainly to an extent to all German cars, or at least let's just take like Audi and BMW, like the one so I used to have. I used to only have Japanese cars, and then I ended up getting a Q7 and then I ended up getting an SQ7. And like to your point the way that that V8 sings. I literally went down a rabbit hole trying to figure out how to turn off the valves, because when you turn on the car the valves are open and then they close, and so the best I could find was you literally have to get a computer, like a piece of hardware that plugs in to I don't know if it's like the OBD and it allows you to control those valves. And there's something so crazy about having a car that has a third row that has like a 3.4 second zero to 60.
Eddie Alterman: 37:27
I know it's a vehicle you can really drive hard right and it shrinks down Totally.
Max Chopovsky: 37:32
We went to Wisconsin with the family and we were close to Road America. You know the track.
Eddie Alterman: 37:37
Great, great course. We went up to that course, totally.
Max Chopovsky: 37:41
And I was like I would love to drive my car around this course. And I told them what kind of car I have and they were like oh, it's an SUV. They were like does it have a third row? I was like yes, yeah. I mean it's for infants basically is the size of that third row. They're like, I'm sorry, we can't allow it because that is a third row. I'm like it's got a twin turbo V8. That is legendary and it puts out over 500 pound-feet of torque. I'm like, all right, there's a third row. It's like really you kidding me?
Eddie Alterman: 38:11
Yeah, I mean, cars are products of their environments, right, and you know, the autobahn system is a high-speed environment and the Alps are a high-speed environment. We do not have a mountain range running through our country laterally the way Europe does, right? So the cars are just set up a little bit differently. And you know, yes, of course we have the Appalachians and the Rockies, but that doesn't dominate the country the way that the Alps dominate Europe. And so the cars, you know, they're built for cruising here and for long straight highways. And it's rare that you get a sports car like the Corvette that truly is capable of super car feats and has such incredible handling and such incredible control. It's just sort of a different environment. And so, like, our three row SUVs are not SQ7s, they're not built for the Alps.
Max Chopovsky: 39:07
Has your opinion of the Corvette's capabilities changed since the most recent model, the mid-engine one?
Eddie Alterman: 39:13
Oh, I mean, I've only kind of grown in my respect for what they've done. You know the current Corvette which switch from front engine to mid-engine and they call that the C8, that is a legitimate supercar and it's it's everyday drivable. This is the feat that they've achieved, like they've really created sort of an American version of the McLaren 720S that is comfortable every day but really really hotheaded when you, when you hammer on it. And they've only done, you know, like the Z06. And then there's, and the e-ray even, and the coming ZR1 are only going to get more extreme. But the base car it's an everyday supercar and that's what it should be. It's not trying to give you the kind of the 30 mile an hour thrill that, like, a Ferrari will give you and it doesn't have the same sort of sing-songy flat-plane crank engine in the base car but the Z06 has. The Z06 is very much a Ferrari fighter Very, very strong, incredible track car. And it's amazing what General Motors has done with that thing and turned it into a legitimate world power on the supercar stage and it's just come a long, long way. For sure it has.
Max Chopovsky: 40:31
Yeah, I mean that when I saw that in the Z8, you can every time you know how you can lower and raise the car because it's so low to the ground that if you go over a speed bump you'll raise it and then it tracks, using the GPS coordinates, the part, the spot where you raised it, and then it'll automatically raise it next time.
Eddie Alterman: 40:50
It's so incredibly sophisticated in a thousand different ways and you know that small block V8 in the base car is still going strong since 1955, but they put a totally different engine, an incredible dual overhead cam engine in the Z06 that just screams and it's flat-plane crank like the European cars and it just sounds amazing. And the Z06 is another level of Corvette that we've really never seen.
Max Chopovsky: 41:19
Yeah, totally. You know. I have to be honest, I was nervous when we started this episode that we would spend no time at all in the story and instead go off on various tangents about cars, and it has fully lived up to that so far. So, let's talk about the story for a minute. So there's this other side to you that is as talented as the side that can discuss the intricacies of the various generations of Corvettes, and that's the side that is a storyteller, a writer. So you've written some really captivating and engaging stories in your day. So what, in your mind, do really good stories have in common?
Eddie Alterman: 42:06
They involve the reader, they put the reader in the action, and that's what we always tried to do at automobile, at MPH, at current drivers, put their butts in the seat, bring the car to life in a cool way. Don't ignore the sounds, the smells, the stuff you're driving by. Ignore the errant thoughts that creep into your mind while you're driving, because that's almost the best time to think about stuff is when you're driving and you're your. Your non conscious mind is sort of just driving the car and your higher brain is free to think about weird shit. We put that all in. Put in your crazy cockamamie theories, you know. Humanize this thing and talk about the benefit to the driver, not just the features. Create a story. Pull people in Car journalism as practiced by the greats like my former boss and mentor, david Davis Jr, and Brock Yates and John Phillips, who I think is maybe the best to ever do it. You know these are new journalism values. Like before Tom Wolf, there was David E Davis Jr doing the thing, living the thing. Before George Clinton wrote paper lion, there was David E Davis driving the car and telling you a story, and that, to me, is still my North Star and it's about connecting with people and making something that is rare and and special and only you get to do universalizing it, making it something that other people can share in because, look, cars have two seats. For a reason, you want to share that experience with somebody and that's what we're so privileged to do as automotive writers is bring those stories back. It's not just a car, it's an experience and for, as you said, you know you're so bonded to your cars, max. You know they're the places where you do your living and we get to bring those to people and that's a privilege and got to take it seriously. So that's always been what's got in me. I always thought of cars as great human stories, great conduits for travel, great. You know, david E, my mentor, used to say we take interesting cars to interesting places and talk to interesting people when we get there, and that's pretty much as good as it gets in terms of an ethos.
Max Chopovsky: 44:42
Totally, that's pristine, I will say not all cars have two seats. There is a certain McLaren that has one seat, right in the center, and that is an experience you're destined to have by yourself.
Eddie Alterman: 44:54
That one has to the speed tail you're talking about. I don't remember which month.
Max Chopovsky: 44:59
I think the F1.
Eddie Alterman: 45:00
The F1 you're, you're in the center position, but there are two outboard seats. But there's a great line. My friend, johnny Lieberman I'm sure you've heard of him if you're into cars, because he's a big personality he was talking about that single seat Ferrari that just came out and he said you know, I've got one seat, don't you? I said no because because if you're rich enough to afford this thing, you have no friends.
Max Chopovsky: 45:27
But there to be shared.
Eddie Alterman: 45:28
There to be shared, Of course always.
Max Chopovsky: 45:31
So you gave me a couple of morals for your story that you've told, but do you think that every story has to have a moral? And if it doesn't, is it still a story worth telling?
Eddie Alterman: 45:43
Absolutely, absolutely, yeah. Morals, no morals, stories are the things that allow us to make sense of the world, and that's how we, our brains, are organized. You know, narrative and stories are everywhere and they're great.
Max Chopovsky: 46:00
Totally. It's funny how that's how we used to pass knowledge on from generation to generation and sort of the fallacy of storytelling which is memories aren't perfect and stories evolve over time. I feel like it's almost becoming its strength because since the stories evolve over time, they can morph and become even more engaging.
Eddie Alterman: 46:22
if if more truthful, In a way right More true Like the details become more false, but the point of it becomes stronger and more true in the telling.
Max Chopovsky: 46:33
Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, you just focus on the sort of takeaway and you know if you have to embellish it a little bit to really make it hit that much harder. Exactly, it's the value. I mean, maybe over time, when you keep telling that story that you told there could be more than one cop, maybe at some point it'll evolve into a chase. Yeah, that's the best of my recollection.
Eddie Alterman: 46:52
What I told. I don't know if it's 100% true Dan will fact check me on it but that's how I remember it, that's how I like to remember it and that's what makes me feel good when I tell it. But you know, we got away with murder.
Max Chopovsky: 47:07
You kind of did Now. You talked about what makes for a good story, what makes for a good storyteller.
Eddie Alterman: 47:14
I think it is an eye for detail, even if the details are wrong. I think it's. You know, a great storyteller has an innate charisma and it extends to more than just storytelling and you know an idea for structure and how to keep people engaged and choice of words. All these. This is the great thing about stories is that the great ones have so many elements and pacing and twists and turns. And the great storytellers I will guarantee you they're good at other things, not just good at storytelling. They're great at life usually and I was listening to the Broken Record podcast with Rick Rubin and Malcolm Gladwell when they were interviewing Robbie Robertson the late Robbie Robertson of the band and he's such a powerful, incredible storyteller and his nuance and his details and his word choice are just so great. You're like this is just a special human being, like he's good at everything he does. You know, and I think that comes out when you hear a great story, there's usually a really fascinating person behind it.
Max Chopovsky: 48:25
Speaking of great storytellers, Malcolm Gladwell being an obvious one, so is. Rick Rubin Incredible. He's one of his stories and he's a. He would be the kind of interview subject that wouldn't let you get away with shit. Like Mark Marin interviewed Rick Rubin on his podcast and Rick Rubin just had his way with him because Marin would try to say something that you know was maybe a little bit of a stretch or trying to identify with Rubin Rubin's like no, like that's not actually correct and I was like damn.
Eddie Alterman: 48:52
And Malcolm is, is very agreeable, but Rick is not. Rick is, you know, these are my thoughts and tastes and ideas and that's all I've got, whereas, you know, malcolm is a true journalist whose ideas change when new facts come in. And Rick is not that way. But I don't know. Rick. Personally, I just know how lateral of a thinker Malcolm is and how exceptional his brain is. Yeah, he's one of a kind.
Max Chopovsky: 49:19
It's rare, so tell me this what is one of your favorite books that just nails the art of storytelling?
Eddie Alterman: 49:28
You know Gatsby. Gatsby is the, to me, the ultimate 20th century novel. Everything is in there, All the longing, and it's only like 10,000 words long. It's like a novella or a long magazine piece, but it's got so much in there and I just, you know, I read it for the first time when I was probably 12. I read it occasionally. I just think it's so economical and so beautifully told and, and you know I, there are a lot of people go, oh, that book shitty, I just don't see it. I think it's incredible and I love it and I love it. I love it, Maybe irrationally, you know, like I'm a sucker for Stanley Kubrick movies, but those aren't exactly. You know feeds of economic storytelling, but you like what you like. You know what I mean.
Max Chopovsky: 50:19
Yes, the great Gatsby, which is 10,000 words divided into 20 sentences.
Eddie Alterman: 50:29
That's right, but I mean it's the whole human condition as we experience it today. To me, and that's what's so remarkable about it I don't have any obscure title to land you. No management book I think Gatsby is is contains multitudes.
Max Chopovsky: 50:46
Yeah, and what's crazy is how much it stands the test of time.
Eddie Alterman: 50:52
Yeah, a jazz age novel, but it's really kind of timeless.
Max Chopovsky: 50:57
Totally Because the human condition right, I mean the world can change, but that doesn't change the things that we struggle with and think about. Exactly, man, this was so much fun. This was so much fun.
Eddie Alterman: 51:10
Great talking to you, Max. Thank you for indulging me.
Max Chopovsky: 51:13
You too, man Eddie Alterman, car fiend and wizard of penmanship. Thank you for being on the show. Thank you, my friend, For show notes and more. Head over to Mosspodorg. Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast on. This was Moral of the Story. I'm Max Tropowski. Thank you for listening. Talk to you next time.