It’s been our tradition to commemorate CC’s birthday (number 11 this year) by expressing our appreciation to all of our contributors who continue to make this seemingly-endless journey possible. Without them CC wouldn’t be what it’s become: a place where everyone is invited to share their car-related stories and of course their dazzling automotive history brilliance.
Let’s start by thanking all of those that volunteered to write a COAL series:
Chas Glynn, Daniel Stern, davidjoseph, David Devereaux, Dutch1960, Jeff Sun, RichP, RetroJerry, Rich Baron, Sam, SajivW, xtalfu and 012700sALT.
I don’t give out grades, but I will say that this COAL class of 2021 (and beginning of 2022) has been superb, with some real stand-outs. It’s been both humbling and immensely satisfying to read all these great series. I’m honored to be able to host such immense and diverse talent. Thank you all!
And there’s the rest of our contributors, some very prolific (I’m looking at you, T87), others just with a one-time submission. Here they are, so take a bow:
Aaron65, Bernard Taylor, Carlsberg66, David Devereaux, David Skinner, David Saunders, dman, Eric 703, Hannes69117, Importamation, Shafer, Jim Brophy, Jim Cavanaugh, Jim Grey, Jim Klein, Jon Stephenson, Johannes Dutch, Joseph Dennis, LostDog, PeterN, piersona, Pikesta, PioneerFox, Roger Carr, spongebob squareback, Stanislav Alexeyev, Stephen Pellegrino, T87, tbm3fan, Tim Finn, Tom Halter, Triborough, Vince C., yohai71, and Will Stopford. My apologies if I left someone out.
The best way to show your appreciation for all the hard work our contributors have shared here with us is to leave a comment at their posts. Commenting is not as prolific as it used to be, as the great majority of readers use their phones and habits change. That’s understandable, and I make a point to tell our contributors that there is no correlation between the number of comments and the number of views of any given post.
There’s thousands of readers out there we may never hear from, or only once in a great while if a subject has a particular relevance to them. I read all the comments, and it never fails to surprise me how random new commenters appear because a certain post has relevance to them. The “Silent Majority”.
FWIW, CC set an all-time high in January, with 1.1 million page views. Some of our posts get picked up by referrers and go viral. But there’s usually very few comments associated with that. It’s just how it works.
And of course we need to thank all of you readers, both the familiar regulars and the thousands of others out there. Your readership is what keeps all of us going.
Didn`t know about this ! Let me tell you all Curbside`s editorialistts and Mr. Nieder best compliments for this international outstanding automotive website . Yet saying Argentinian readers are so recurrent, well, i`m sending my warmest Happy Birthday`s from capital Buenos Aires, Argentina .
Then if Curbside Classic was born 13 February , it`s an Aquarius , no wonder one of the best signals of your success not only in USA but also in the rest of the world`s readers.
Cheers !!!!!!
Thanks Paul! Glad to play a small role in sharing our love for automotive matters. Yes, I’ve myself been part of the “Silent Majority” for a long time and can attest to the many hours of entertaining readership all these years. Keep up the good work you all.
From your list of COAL authors, all fine in their own right, one is missing, who to me best represented the merging of cars into the continuum of a life well lived: RLPlaut.
I have read and re-read his series several times. It is THAT good.
We have not heard from him in a long time. I hope he is happy and still doing well.
I do this every year, so this list–as clearly stated– is from the past 12 months. Did I not make that clear enough?
Yes we have heard from him; he leaves comments from time to time, including quite recently.
Ah, I see. “COAL class of 2021…”
Glad to hear that Mr. Plaut is still alive, happy and well.
G. Poon, thank you for mentioning RLPlaut!
I am a relative newcomer to CC, having stumbled on Paul’s excellent engine article (Engine Tech 101: How Displacement Per Cylinder Affects Torque and HP) a bit over a year ago, but had missed Mr Plaut’s COAL series completely. Your comment piqued my interest, so I had to dive into the archives.
Have read it all over the past day, and thought it was absolutely brilliant. Informative, funny, tragic, moving, inspiring … it’s all there. I could relate to so much of it (though fortunately not to all aspects of it)! And of course I love a happy ending …
Mr Plaut, it took much courage to write, and share publicly, some very personal stuff. Should you read this, please accept my sincere and heartfelt thanks!
Congratulations on another Birthday Paul! I send my thanks to you, and all those that contribute to making this such a great site. It’s the first site I check on my daily round of my forums. ( I am now retired!) Maybe I can work up the nerve to submit my own COAL experiences, though the early years are primarily two wheeled. My own enjoyment and appreciation for the site has only grown throughout the years.
A birthday party? Let’s have cake! In 2016 the SAE Lighting Systems Group had their Spring meeting in Portland. On the drive down, I mentioned it was the 30th anniversary of the requirement for every car in the US and Canada to come with a CHMSL (the central 3rd stop light), which is specified in SAE standard № J1957. Bill, with good-natured snark, said let there be cake, and…yeah, why on Earth not? Took some doing to find a bakery with a cake printer, but I found one at a Safeway across town. I had quiet words with the hotel where the meetings were taking place to arrange an exception to their no-outside-catering policy, then at the right time I unveiled this what you see in the photo. The cake itself was fine—as a carrot cake, it came as close as possible to meeting the colour requirements in J1957, but nowhere near meeting the durability requirements.
Happy birthday, Curbside Classic!
Only you would think to do that!
Congratulations on 11 years. This site is my daily moment of zen, and I have learned so much from the contributors and the comments here.
Unless he has another alias I don’t see Mr. Dennis in your contributors’ list…
Oops. I knew I’d leave somebody out. I spent almost an hour going through every day in calendar to make sure I picked everyone up, including one-time contributors. Of course he was on my handwritten list, but somehow his name didn’t make it into the post. Fixed now.
Congratulations on CC’s 11th birthday! CC is the first “fun” site I check daily, and it’s been a real pleasure over the last decade plus one.
Like Corey, I’ve learned so much through the years, and it’s been great as well for rekindling personal memories of both people and cars that are no longer with us.
Yep ;
The great vehicles and stories connected to them plus endless how-to technical info and added free history lessons make this the best place yet .
Long may it continue .
-Nate
Cheers. 11yrs ago I was freshman in college and by now I was in various OEMs and suppliers. I wrote very few pieces and later on I came across few persons who either built them or engineered them, designed them in the past!
Congratulations all. There have been some amazing stories this past year. I’ve passed on a few referrals to groups I’m in, and pleased to do so. Great to have such a reliable source of information on the web.
A ‘housekeeping’ question, if I may – how do I insert an avatar picture? Can’t seem to find where to go…..
Congratulations, and thanks to everyone who contributes both postings and comments. And of course none of this would be possible without Paul. Some mornings I go to The NY Times first, other mornings CC gets the nod. Pretty distinguished company for the volunteer ramblings of bunch of car guys.
Congratulations Paul, for this terrific site and your continuous improvement. I don’t remember how i found CC several years ago (I realized that I’ve read most of your re-runs when first posted); I come here at least once a day, whether I leave or not a comment.
I thank also everyone writing here. It’s really THE place for those of us who like cars, but also the stories associated with them, and the emotions that go beside them…and sometimes, personal stories that are equally moving with a Falcon or an MGB.
Long may you write!
Thanks for this excellent site, it is well maintained, nurtured, and cared for. I came across this in about 2015 if I recall correctly. I too have been busy working this past year and have many many writeups waiting to be written to accompany photos taken.
Long live CC!
There is nothing I can say, that hasn’t already been said, so I’ll just say “Ditto” to all! One thing that I can say, is that one of the highlights of my discovering CC was to meet the esteemed Mr. Niedermeyer (& cohorts) at the CC meet up in Nashville a few years ago! 🙂
Happy Birthday to CC!
Thank you to Paul and everyone for building this wonderful corner of the internet for car people. Having been a reader since the site started (although I never really commented much), it was really great to be able to tell my COAL stories and I hope to write more from this side of the world whenever possible.
Roll on the next decade of CC!
Thank you to Paul for hosting and editing CC, and a really big Thank You to all the contributors in 2021, and in the past. This is a great place and once I retire in a couple of years I hope to contribute a few COALs.. I am one of the silent majority who only posts once in awhile but I read pretty much every post.
I forgot to mention, but a special shout out to Dave Saunders as it was a post of his on a Canadian automotive forum that got me here.
One question, as I travel a lot I was reading CC on my phone but the mobile version does not show up anymore. I am I missing something?
Thanks.
It still works on my iPhone. There should be a menu option to switch between the two versions.
Thanks Paul. Works on Chrome, but not Samsung Internet anymore. My problem, not the sites.
Thank you Paul for all your hard work while operating on a shoestring budget. Thank you everyone for sharing your interest and knowledge regarding all types of conveyance. Your writings on the common and the quirky have made Curbside Classic a part of my daily diet for some years now. Above all it’s when you take us along on your road trips and various travels that I enjoy the most. Cars are just cars. Your personal stories provide the context that bring them to life.
11 years! Doesn’t time fly. I remember day one, have contributed over the years, and enjoy CC so much that I’m still here, reading almost everything and loving it all. CC is my daily treat, and that’s down to you Paul, and to all the fabulous contributors. Thank you so much to all of you, and here’s to the next 11 and beyond!
Thank you for making this website a place where I can improve my writing and tell my stories, I appreciate it, I hope I can continue writing on here in the years to come.
It has been eleven years which seems a long time. I had little kids in those days and had to work like a madman to keep them all fed. I did most of my CC writing in those days. It was a way of blowing off steam talking about something we all like, cars and most specifically old cars.
I still enjoy putting up the rare post and hope to continue as long as CC is around!
I’d like to echo the thanks to Paul for keeping the site going for 11 years – not just as a lead contributor but for all the back office functions he covers as well, and for allowing and encouraging us to write about what we want, when we want. And for keeping the content fresh and interesting.
+1
Thanks to all contributors over the years. Curbside Classics has been in my favourites folder for years now.
My first time on here. Being a long time car guy, I have really enjoyed reading all of the interesting articles and stories for quite a few years now and have expanded my knowledge considerably. Many thanks to all of the contributors for their hard work, and continue the great job everyone is doing !
I LOVE YOU GUYS!
All hail the great and magnificent Niedermeyer!
Congratulations on 11 years! I elect to receive the CC summary every Monday and it’s one of the things I look forward to about beginning each week. I generally read it “cover to cover.” Thanks for the good work and wonderful stories.
Hear, hear! I’m not being facetious in saying every piece is worth at least what I pay for it, and some much, much more. It’s all appreciated. Cheers!
Mr Niedermeyer, thank you so much for this site! As said in an above comment, I blundered upon CC a bit over a year ago, loved your Engines 101 post (about how the number of cylinders for a given displacement affects torque and HP), and was then fortunate to read Daniel Stern’s 1st COAL installment shortly thereafter.
I really don’t care at all about exotic supercars, but am thrilled with CC’s emphasis on the cars real folks drove back in the day, and the wonderful stories that ensue. (This anecdote perfectly illustrates my weirdness: Perhaps three or so summers ago, my wife and I walked over to DQ for an ice cream treat. I was thrilled to see a battered ’67 Biscayne or Bel Air 4-door sedan (pillared, not a hardtop). Talked to the owner, who popped the hood for me. A big inline-6 with a 1-bbl carb and a 3-on-the-tree manual transmission – be still, my beating heart! My wife finds such behaviour on my part boring and inexplicable, but is used to it.)
And now having read RLPlaut’s wonderful COAL series, it’s time to delve deeper into the CC archives.
P. S. Read a W.E.B. Griffin novel recently – one of the minor characters was a Niedermeyer – though a German national taking refuge in Argentina in 1946, he was one of the good guys. That was only the 2nd time I’d come across your surname. Some sort of literary CC effect, no doubt.
Thanks, and a belated welcome.