Hats off to Scanlan

Times-Union writer Dan Scanlan has been a huge help to the staff here at the BOVB. As the TU's car guy, he's always coming through with car ID's (like I've said: I know Orange, I don't know cars).

Here's just one example of how Dan has helped. He was responding to a post about OVs spotted in Seattle:

The true orange car is a modified 1990 Acura Integra Coupe with front air dam, side skirts, rear fascia and a big-a** rear wing, plus it's been hunkered down and some nice alloys added. This wasn't a factory color, and the factory didn't put an Acura badge on the nose like this one. Seems to be in a bit of bad shape. Behind it, a much younger cousin — the first-gen 2007/2008 Honda Fit sub-compact, the color officially called (you are gonna love this!) Orange Revolution Metallic.

Truly yours..

The Car Guy

This stuff is great.

And then I got this e-mail at work recently:

The Florida Times-Union, reporter Dan Scanlan and videographer/editor Bill Bortzfield won a Gold Medal in the Concours class for “The 13th Annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance" entry. The entry included five on-line video reports from the event, including an exclusive interview with General Motors Vice President of Design Ed Welburn on the new Camaro, which broke new information on the car's then yet-to-be-seen interior. Multiple print stories included AUTOS section and Lifestyle Weekend section advance stories, a Metro follow-up, AUTOS section follow-up and winners list, a Business story on how well a high-line car auction went despite the economy, and specific stories on Trans Am racing cheaters, a story on concours guest Parnelli Jones and the premier of a new sports car called the Iconic Roadster.

The award was one of dozens handed out at the 18th International Automotive Media Competition on Thursday, June 23 at the

Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan. The IAMA's Lifetime Achievement Award went to automotive author and historian Ken Gross, while author Karl Ludvigsen won Best of 2008 for his book, "Ferdinand Porsche: Genesis of

Genius," published by Bentley Publishers.

This is the Times-Union's fourth IAMA gold medal in recent years. Last year, the Times-Union's entry on the 2007 Amelia Island Concours was judged Best of Newspapers.

Magazines, newspapers, television programs and on-line publishers from around the world submit stories on cars, automotive business, classic vehicles and other automotive-related events for review by a panel of judges, who award gold, silver and bronze medals.

Click here to learn more about Dan's work.

In the meantime enjoy the Orange Jeep. These pics were snapped by TU photographer Bruce Lipsky last week. BOVB staff figured this was a good selection for July 4 since nothing says "American" more than a Jeep painted in pure, UT Orange.

Jeff