What’s next for Curbside Classic in wake of Paul Niedermeyer’s retirement?

(EXPANDED FROM 11/27/2022)

The retirement of Curbside Classic founder Paul Niedermeyer (2023) raises questions about the direction of the pioneering auto history website. He announced his retirement, effective immediately, only a few weeks after the death of a family member (W. Niedermeyer, 2023).

Daniel Stern and Rich Baron were named co-executive editors. This is in keeping with Niedermeyer’s (2022) previously announced goal of not selling the website or handing over the reins to “someone that is not already a CC insider.”

The stepping down of a founder can be a sensitive time for any media outlet. Those who haven’t worked in journalism may not fully appreciate how much time and varied skills it takes to run a website of Curbside Classic’s size. My sense is that Niedermeyer has succeeded where others have not because of his extraordinary level of commitment and an unusually eclectic background. I suspect that it would be very difficult to find one person who could fill his shoes.

Also see ‘Should auto history websites only say nice things?’

This is why it makes sense that Niedermeyer has put together an editorial team. The challenge is that a team can be harder to maintain over time. Thus, I wouldn’t be surprised if Curbside Classic ended up downshifting in some respects, such as by reducing the number of posts per week. If that occurred, it wouldn’t be a bad compromise if it kept the website’s vast repository of content online.

Another big question is whether Stern and Baron take Curbside Classic in new directions. When Niedermeyer (2019a) previously announced his retirement, his successor Jim Klein (2019) sounded like a caretaker editor. Niedermeyer (2019b) returned a few months later from what was relabeled a sabbatical. It was only then that a number of major changes were made, mainly to put the website on a more solid revenue footing (2019c, 2020).

I hope that Stern and Baron feel empowered to do more than caretake. Curbside Classic may have almost single-handedly redefined what an auto history website can be, but it has become dated in some respects.

Niedermeyer created a neighborhood pub of websites

When Niedermeyer launched Curbside Classic in 2011, one of his best ideas was to generate a significant amount of content from an army of volunteers. As a result, the website’s volume of daily postings rivals that of established media outlets such as Hemmings and Collectible Automobile.

As might be expected of a website that relies so heavily on volunteers, Curbside Classic may sometimes lack the journalistic depth of media outlets produced by professional writers, such as Ate Up With Motor.

Also see ‘Does the Internet dumb down auto history?’

Another one of Niedermeyer’s good ideas was to throw away the rule book on what kind of content an auto history website should include. Curbside Classic has been unusually eclectic, analytical and playful, particularly compared to older media outlets run by larger companies.

Curbside Classic’s comment threads have the quality of a friendly neighborhood pub. They are among the more lively, thoughtful and civil of U.S .auto media outlets. The threads sometimes include important nuggets of historical information that I draw upon in my own writing (go here for an example).

A fresh approach that can be rough around the edges

Curbside Classic is unusual in showing the human side of cars. One of my all-time favorite posts is Niedermeyer’s (2012) poignant “auto-biography” about a youthful road trip. Another favorite is an essay that weaves together a pun-filled discussion about an impending colonoscopy and a 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass colonnade (Niedermeyer, 2018). I bet you’ve never seen anything like that in Hemmings or Collectible Automobile.

Curbside Classic has also tended to have more “guy talk” — despite a rare female commentator offering an eye-opening critique (go here). Niedermeyer seemed to see his target market narrowly. For example, a headline for a story he wrote on 1970s vans announced that it had a “racy” ad — which included a young lady with bare breasts (Niedermeyer, 2021). Racy for whom?

Also see ‘What would happen to auto history media if they outlawed clickbait?’

Niedermeyer apparently had relatively little training and experience in “print” journalism prior to launching Curbside Classic. The positive side of the coin is that this undoubtedly helped him come up with a fresh approach to a car buff website. The negative side is that Curbside Classic has appeared to be “unprofessional” in some respects, such as how it has dealt with copyright issues.

If I could wave a magic wand and change one thing, it would be the website’s design. I get eye strain reading longer pieces because the body text is so small. And how about some social-media share buttons?

A case study of the value and challenges of small media

Curbside Classic postings sometimes challenge Detroit groupthink, but political topics are understandably avoided and industry analysis can get overshadowed by personal stories — which is arguably as it should be for this type of website.

Although a goodly portion of the content has tended to be analytically light or even clickbaity, over the years Curbside Classic has published a number of writers with terrific historical chops, such as Roger Carr and TATRA87.

Nevertheless, for me Niedermeyer’s writing has always been the top attraction. His longer pieces can be sprawling affairs, but they routinely offer a more provocative analysis than found in the big-time auto history websites. A good example of this is Niedermeyer’s epic exploration of the origins of the downsized 1962 Dodge and Plymouth (see link below).

Also see ‘Did a rumor cause the downsized 1962 Plymouth and Dodge?’

A steady flow of content from volunteers has apparently been crucial to Curbside Classic generating enough ad revenue to stay in business. One downside is that people can be difficult to manage. It thus strikes me as inevitable that a contributor would leave in a huff. That occurred with Laurence Jones (2021), who went on to post a public critique of Niedermeyer. This conflict is a good example of why Indie Auto has no aspirations to move beyond being a solo operation.

Like other small-scale media outlets, Curbside Classic has had ups and downs that have raised questions about its future. Go here for further discussion about how the advertising industry has influenced the website’s finances.

I hope that despite Niedermeyer’s retirement, Curbside Classic manages to generate the revenue needed to keep it online for years to come. This is a uniquely valuable website that, in its own quirky way, has made important contributions to automotive history. Indie Auto wishes Stern and Baron well in their new roles.

Curbside Classic

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RE:SOURCES

• Jones, Laurence; 2021. “(Dynamic Divergence) Whatever Happened To Laurence Jones at Curbside Classic?” Dynamic Drive. Posted March 4.
• Klein, Jim; 2019. “CC Update: The More Things Change, The More They Will Remain The Same.” Curbside Classic. Posted, Aug. 1.
• Niedermeyer, Paul; 2012. “Auto-Biography: 1968 Dodge A-100 Van — the Dreammobile.” Curbside Classic. Posted, April 21.
• ——; 2018. “Curbside Classic Lite: 1977 Olds Cutlass — Better a Colonnade Than a Colonoscopy.” Curbside Classic. Posted Nov. 26.
• ——; 2019a. “Time For a Change at CC: I’m Retiring and Handing Over the Keys to Jim Klein & Co.” Curbside Classic. Posted July 30.
• ——; 2019b. “CC Housekeeping: He’s Back! – When “Retirement” Turns Into a Well-Needed Sabbatical.” Curbside Classic. Posted Nov. 21.
• ——; 2019c. “Housekeeping: About Those New Ads, An Ad-Free Alternative, and The Future of Curbside Classic.” Curbside Classic. Posted Dec. 23.
• ——; 2020. “Become a Curbside Member and Get a Premium Ad-Free Version.” Curbside Classic. Posted Jan. 16.
• ——; 2021. “Seventies Vannin’: Vintage Ads (Including A Racy One) Mixed In With Some Curbside Finds.” Curbside Classic. Posted Aug. 14.
• ——; 2022. “Happy Thanksgiving – I Am Thankful For…” Curbside Classic. Posted Nov. 24.
• ——; 2023. “Niedermeyer Retires (Once Again): Daniel Stern and Rich Baron Take the CC wheel.” Curbside Classic. Posted May 24.
• Niedermeyer, Will; 2023. “COAL: Daewoo Leganza — The Korean Lexus.” Curbside Classic. Posted May 11.

This review was first posted Jan. 22, 2018 and expanded on Nov. 22, 2022 and May 25, 2023.