Most drivers think of their cars as a way to get from Point A to Point B. There’s nothing wrong with that. After all, we all need transportation. On the other hand, there are people like us who regard our ride as a way of life—best lived on the open road or under the hood.

If you’ve been bit by the bug, you know it. There’s no end to the obsession with your whip—making it look cooler, run faster, or give fuller expression to your unique personality.

The eBay Motors blog is dedicated to you, fellow gearhead. Our incredible posse of writers is on a mission to:

• find the coolest car builders and their project cars, and tell their stories
• hunt high and low for the sickest collector cars (whether enduring models or instant classics)
• reveal how others are tricking and modding autos for heightened performance
• clock endless miles to events where car nuts are showing off their fantastic machines

Who Are We?

Our writers don’t just file reports about cars. We live the life.

Benjamin Hunting was pulled over at a checkpoint on the autobahn, during Gumball 3000 Rally.

There’s Montreal-based Benjamin Hunting, who has been obsessed with automobiles since he was child, when he spent endless summers at antique car shows, NASCAR events, and NHRA tracks. He sweats the tough questions, like: “Should I keep my ride stock with period-correct nuts and bolts, or modernize it for modern comfort and convenience?”

Bob Kehoe of Portland, Ore. began his devotion to cars and motorsports with his dad’s 1947 Dodge. Bob has worked as a freelance auto writer, race announcer, and promoter of major hot rod events. He especially loves cars from his youth in the 1950s. “Old cars take your mind off common sense,” he said.

How about Seattle-based Bruce Caldwell? He’s been hooked ever since his parents gave him a subscription of HOT ROD Magazine in lieu of comic books. He would later become the magazine’s Features Editor, and hold editor positions at publications such as Muscle Car Review, Mustangs and Fords, and Mopar Milestones. He attends races all over the country and even drag-raced on the deck of an aircraft carrier.

There’s Phoenix-based Nina Russin, an ASE certified technician, who has been writing about cars for 25 years. “My love of cars has taken me to all corners of the planet,” said Nina, who has driven Corvettes across Russia, Alaska, and Japan.

Kimatni Rawlins (left) and Nina Russin (right).

Give it up to our two Angelinos: Bradley Iger, a rhetoric major who spins poetry about his experiences behind the wheel, like when he took a spec Miata through Turn 8 and into Turn 9 flat out at Big Willow—and Ben Hsu,a founding partner of JapaneseNostalgicCar.com. Ben becomes transfixed when talking about his six-hour pre-GPS drive from Tokyo to Tochigi Prefecture on a pilgrimage to the Honda Museum. “These boxes of metal and plastic can bring people together and teach us about other cultures,” he said. “Cars are more than the sum of their parts.”

Bradley Iger about to head out on track for a qualifying session during an SCCA club racing event.

Gary Lieber agrees. He lives near eBay’s Silicon Valley headquarters. Gary has been showing off his 2002 911 Carrera for more than a decade. “Time flies when you’re obsessed with Porsche classics,” he said. Meanwhile Maryland-based Kimatni Rawlins, and Nebraska-based Tim Esterdahl travel the country, and the world, assessing scores of new cars and trucks every year.

And let’s not forget our Jersey boy, Daniel Gray, whose road to ruin started with a Powerglide-hobbled ’66 GTO ragtop, soon replaced by a four-speed manual ragtop Tri-Power Goat of the exact same vintage. This set in motion, as he puts it, “a lifetime of automotive stupidity: living the dream, driving to the poorhouse, born to run, but stuck in the swamps of Jersey.”

It’s Your Turn. Join the Conversation.

Now that you met the crew, we invite you to join us on a rollicking ride through the world of auto enthusiast culture—whether your particular fancy is with vintage hot rods, American muscle, European classics, or Asian imports. If you read something you like on the blog, let us know in the comments. If you have something to add, speak up and share with your gearhead friends. And if we get the story wrong, set us straight. It’s all about our common love for the automobile.

Nope, we will never agree that cars are just conveyances.