AltWheels Festival

The AltWheels festival returned to Boston this past weekend for its fourth annual event. WheelsTV is a sponsor of the four day event that ran from Thursday to Sunday. On Thursday Lehel Reeves, our president of programming, and I took part in the AltWheels Caravan from the Larz Anderson Auto Museum, through Boston, and over to Cambridge where we gathered at MIT's Stata Center. There were over 35 vehicles in the caravan including busses, trucks, cabs, motorcycles and vans powered by ethanol, biodiesel, vegetable oil, hydrogen fuel-cells, hybrid battery/gasoline (our 2004 Toyota Prius on loan from my friend and dentist Joel Ross) and even an antique Stanley Steamer powered by whatever will burn!

The caravan was pretty impressive, complete with a Mass State Police escort that blocked traffic along the five mile route that took us through some of the busiest parts of Boston during rush hour...even past Fenway Park prior to a Red Sox game! I'm not sure of how badly our tieing up traffic set the alternative vehicle cause back but it was certainly fun and pedestrians seemed to enjoy it!

By the way, the Prius that we drove was surprisingly peppy and fun to drive. It gets 50 miles to the gallon of regular and once I got used to the odd layout of the dash and gear shift lever, was no different than driving a traditional "gas guzzler."

We've all probably noticed that gas prices are dropping. It always seems to happen just before an election. Hmmmm. Well, when they go back up, you might want to consider one of the growing list of high-mileage hybrids now available. I am told that GM may have a hybrid Tahoe available in 2008, about the time when I'll be retiring mine.

Back to the AltWheels festival: It ended up raining on Saturday but Sunday was pretty nice and the festival was deemed another big success. We'll have a story on this year's event on WheelsTV soon. If you want to learn more about Altwheels go to www.AltWheels.org.

Thanks and please drive safely,
Jim

Previews of Coming Attractions

One of my favorite parts of a night out at the movies is "The Coming Attractions." I swear I could sit through ten of them. With that in mind I'd like to share with you some previews of what you'll soon be seeing here at WheelsTV Network...

First off, you've probably checked out Automotive Rhythms, our newest channel. AR is programmed by Kimatni Rowlins and his crew. AR currently has four very hot videos on its channel, the Aston Martin DB9, The Ferrari Challenge at Homestead Miami Speedway, The GM 10 Fashion Show from Hollywood and a profile of the new Jaguar XK in South America. These stories are just a taste of what's to come. Kimatni just ventured to Spain to test drive some new wheels out of Europe and promises us a long line-up of powerful programs.

Back at the Top 200 Showroom, we've been testing the new 2007 models. They will be rolling into the Top 200 Showroom this week and will keep on coming throughout the show season. Check back regularly to see the latest iron from automakers around the world.

If you've watched some of our classic car commercials from the '50's and '60's at the Drive-in Theatre, you may have noticed that we are showing lots of Ford and Chrysler ads but no GM ads. Well, next week you fans of the General will get your wish as we roll out a lineup of classic ads from Pontiac, Chevy, Cadillac, Olds and Buick.

We were recently at the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit and Pontiac, Michigan and shot the heck out of it. Got some good interviews with our friends at AutoWeek, shot the cruise and profiled some great hot rods, customs, muscle cars and bikes. Those shows are in post-production and should be on the big screen at Main Street Cruise Night by the end of the month.

Well, that's all I'll tell you for now. Thanks for your comments and enthusiastic support. The Vehix ads that run on various cable networks and feature WheelsTV have been really boosting the network. But, you can do a good deed for your friends by letting them know about the fun they can have at the first broadband television network devoted to our love of cars, trucks and motorcycles: WheelsTV.net. Remember, that's dot NET for Network. We're working to be not only the first automotive broadband network but also the best with literally thousands of quality, entertaining and informative programs, when you want them and where you want them.

Thanks for being a part of the WheelsTV global community! Please drive safely.
Jim