Loverman's Movin' on Up

Tim Odell

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Good enough!
The excited man on the left

In many ways, Hooniverse wouldn’t exist had it not been for Jonny Lieberman. His writing and presence at Jalopnik 1.0 opened my eyes to a world of car enthusiasm that went beyond Dana 60 swaps on 4x4s and forums with little happy face guys waving rainbow flags. In essence, he is the thinking automotive omnivore’s writer. Also: an even-handed (ha!) LeMons judge and all around cool dude.

It was the experience at last year’s Targa Trophy in the Genesis coupe (and C63 AMG) that got me thinking it’d be worth it to take a shot at this whole automobloging thing, rather than spend a nearly equal time pontificating in the comments. I’ll readily admit to aping his writing style and copying his WRXagon purchase.

The man whose work we’ve seen at TTAC, Jalopnik, Autofiends, Webrides.tv and Autoblog (and even here!) is headed to Motor Trend for the position of Senior Editor. Yup. Well done, Jonny. Well done.
Regrets, I’ve Had a Few – Autoblog

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Tim Odell

Tim Odell

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  1. Hopman Avatar
    Hopman

    Johny, I had the pleasure of meeting you a LeMons New England aka "The Boston Tow Party & Overhead Cam Bake," and wish you well in your next endevour.
    An old Irish proverb for you: "May the road rise up to meet you and the wind be at your back!"
    Hopefully you still find time to be a judge at a Lemons race or two.

    Reply
    1. FuzzyPlushroom Avatar
      FuzzyPlushroom

      I hope we didn't see him at his final race…. Amen.

      Reply
  2. tiberiuswise Avatar
    tiberiuswise

    Johnny's one of the biggest reasons I got hooked on Jalopnik. I will forever hate him for that.
    /JK, congrats to a rightous dude.

    Reply
  3. Smells_Homeless Avatar
    Smells_Homeless

    Oh please. Oh PLEASE, make MT worth reading again. Just stay honest. I'm pretty sure that's all it would take.

    Reply
    1. dukeisduke Avatar
      dukeisduke

      Yes, please whip them into shape, Jonny.

      Reply
  4. FuzzyPlushroom Avatar
    FuzzyPlushroom

    You're one wacky bastard, Lovesabeer. It was a pleasure to meet you last weekend, and it's been a pleasure to read your articles on various sites for years. If anyone can drag Motor Trend back into the realm of relevancy, it's you. Best of luck (here's hoping you don't need it) and congratulations.

    Reply
  5. ptmeyer84 Avatar
    ptmeyer84

    Good to know that MT will be headed up by someone with good taste……in football teams.
    Good luck, Jonny!

    Reply
  6. 1300ccsoffury Avatar
    1300ccsoffury

    Gotta love a guy who inspires you to answer as many questions as possible with the line "8 year olds, dude".
    See you in Chicago, Jonny!

    Reply
  7. ZomBee Racer Avatar
    ZomBee Racer

    Congratulations Jonny! It's just not gonna be the same without you and Phil prowling hotel parking lots at 2am, looking for BMW or Mustang teams to give a hard time.
    Fair winds buddy… I may have to start buying M/T again.

    Reply
  8. acarr260 Avatar
    acarr260

    Jonny was also what attracted me to Jalopnik… then to audition for a commenter account… then to waste hours of my workday reading about obscure French cars and wacky, obscure references to said cars. I can't wait to see what he does at MT! I may have to get a subscription again.

    Reply
  9. engineerd Avatar
    engineerd

    I've already congratulated Jonny elsewhere, so I'm not going to be repetitive.
    However, this is a brilliant…absolutely smashing…move by M/T. I have no love lost for M/T, but this move will hopefully invigorate "the Toyota of car mags", as well as bring in new readers. Jonny has a bit of a following in the online automotive world, and hopefully M/T can translate that to increased subscriptions. Heck, at $10/year, I might just go out and buy a subscription for myself.
    At least it will help when I can't get to sleep.

    Reply
  10. muthalovin Avatar
    muthalovin

    God speed Jonny.
    I always enjoyed your car reviews. I look forward to seeing what you will do for M/T. Then I might actually get a subscription. Maybe.

    Reply
  11. Seth L Avatar
    Seth L

    One of us! One of us! One of us!
    Guess I'll have to subscribe to Motortrend again. Congratulations Loverman!

    Reply
  12. Iron-Balls Minardi Avatar
    Iron-Balls Minardi

    Congrats, Loverman!
    Looks like I'm subscribing to MT.

    Reply
  13. Jonny Lieberman Avatar
    Jonny Lieberman

    My head! My head! My massively swollen head!
    Tim, you're a mensch.
    As for the rest of you, Motor Trend is free — everything's online.
    In fact, here's my first piece on M/T http://bit.ly/bGI1SX
    Again, thanks everyone.

    Reply
  14. Rust-MyEnemy Avatar
    Rust-MyEnemy

    The number of times I offered to employ Jonny as a replacement Dad!
    Back in '05 I was started as a carmonger for BMW, one day I happened upon Jalopnik and my sales productivity immediately dipped by about 80%. Back then 'lopnik was pretty much the Muriel and Loverman show, and I became addicted pretty damn soon.
    It soon became apparent that we had common interests, in Lagondas quite notably. I will always remember when he awarded me my first COTD, I haven't had that many since then and have dropped off the bottom of the league table.
    It is awesome that Jonny should be hoisted to the heights of Motor Trend, let's hope he can kick things over there into touch. Being in the UK I rarely get a chance to pore over a copy of MT, looks like I might be a little more determined from now on. From this side of the pond, Mr Leiberman, my heartiest congratulations and the very, very best of luck.

    Reply