The Open Road is an automotive publication based in Boulder, Colorado. Launched in 1958 at the height of the tailfin era of American cars, the magazine’s attitude reflected the hopeful, romantic aura surrounding cars back then. The title reflected this, evoking the image of cruising down the road for no reason other than enjoyment.
Nonetheless, TOR did quickly adopt a holistic review style, reviewing cars on capabilities and figures as well as looks and feel. The reviews read like a story instead of a set of categories, reflecting the actual pace of the magazine’s road test procedure, while a stats breakdown is included at the bottom. Think a Car and Driver or Road and Track review style.
TOR was sold as a paper magazine for its entire lifetime, though they now have a companion website featuring exclusives like recent road test bloopers, as well as an archive for their old magazine copies (Free access 2000-, paid access earlier years). Apart from the road tests featured in this thread, the magazine itself featured industry news, technical explanations of various new (and old) mechanical solutions in cars, repair tips and a car catalogue listing all cars offically for sale that month. Most issues also featured some sort of comparos; in the Internet Age, those began to be released both in article and video form.
READ THIS SECTION BEFORE SUBMITTING Submissions will be received by DM whenever I flag the sumbissions status as open (Top of this post). I will halt submissions at will, mostly if I get like 8 cars in my queue, if an update drops, or if I have exams; please respect this, as your submission will be ignored and discarded if you send it in when submissions are halted.
I do not require 5-straight-days-of-work levels of effort, because that’s not what makes a car good or interesting to review. However, I would like all cars to have some work put into them. If it’s painted lime green, has an engine that grenades itself, has 5 fixtures and no plates - it’s probably not getting reviewed. An interior is highly recommended, and lack of one will result in a far briefer review. TL;DR, Knugcab-style effort rules apply.
Entries should be more or less realistic; you can get away with more than in a CSR, but don’t run wild. Catalytic converters mandatory after 1985, safety should not be more than a decade behind, and unless you want me to carelessly flip all your car’s pictures, please stick to right-hand-traffic cars (that means steering wheel on the left).
Submission DMs have to include the below template. If yours does not, I will ask you to resubmit; this is not a competition, so don’t worry about getting ‘binned’ or anything. An explanation of the template’s function will follow after.
Car File:
Company Thread (Optional, If Present):
Car Context and Unique Features:
Let’s go over each prompt so it’s not confusing.
The Car File prompt is where you put your exported .car file. The naming schema is
TOR - [Username]
for the car model and engine family; car trim and engine variant are free spaces.
The Company Thread prompt is where you put the forum thread of your car company, if you have one. If you don’t, leave this blank and don’t worry about it. The only use I have for your company thread is to turn it into flavor text.
The Car Context and Unique Features prompt is for you to clarify the significance of your car, as well as any interesting or quirky features that Automation doesn’t let you showcase. You don’t have to write much here, just basic lore like: “Based on upscale midsize sedan. DTM homologation version. Only 200 built.” or “New nameplate for 1992. Marketed as lifestyle item. Equal-length half shafts”. You can also leave this blank, but here’s the thing: The less information you give me, the less exciting the review will probably turn out. The more information you give me, the more creative I can be with the road test’s specifics.
