Never Stop Driving #31: Hagerty’s most popular of 2022

Norman Garrett

This year, we taught 607,835 people how to steal a Porsche 914. That article was the most popular in 2022 at Hagerty.com/media and also the biggest surprise. Who knew so many pined for the budget Porsche?

Hagerty Media produces mountains of material every year. From videos to written words to stunning photographs to engaging social posts, our goal is steadfast: We aim to spread car love, to ignite the passion in the curious, and to engage the committed when they’re not behind the wheel. Hopefully, we also entertain and teach a thing or two along the way.

I’m the lucky guy who serves the folks who make this stuff, so as we close out the year, perhaps I can ask you for some feedback. This newsletter is now six months old and has about 10,000 subscribers, a decent focus group. How’d we do in 2022? By the numbers, it was a great year: Some 14 million people visited our website. We now have nearly 2.5 million YouTube subscribers and about five million social followers. The Hagerty Drivers Club, which is open to all car enthusiasts whether they own a car or not, is the exclusive way to get the Hagerty Drivers Club magazine that lands in more than 700,000 mailboxes every other month.

Our most popular material spanned the car universe, which fits my theory that car enthusiasts are becoming less tribal—I’m a Camaro nut and that’s it—and more automotive omnivores. One of the most viewed videos we produced this year is a time-lapse look at a Jeep engine rebuild. That old tech was bookmarked by a drag race between the new electric Rivian pickup and the high-horsepower Ram TRX and Ford Raptor, which was viewed by 2.3 million.

Cheap speed is a constant theme and some 1.3 million watched a film about a $128 turbocharger. I cite that stat when people ask if car enthusiasm is diminishing. It’s stronger than I’ve ever seen it and, yes, the kids are way into it—they’re the ones interested in the budget turbo. The next generation simply goes for different stuff, like our Subaru WRX engine rebuild. We also profiled a high-school girl who makes money by rebuilding carburetors in her garage and a team of Detroit teenagers who started racing.

Since we now know that the internet was made for listicles—I’m kidding, but those types of articles always perform well—we wrote hundreds. People most appreciate the ones that highlight uncommon cars, like this one on machines that can be bought for under 20 grand and, of course, our annual Bull Market list, which predicts which machines are likely to rise in value. For much of this material, we lean on the data of the Hagerty Valuation tools and our website that is dedicated to the car market, Hagerty Insider, which broke the news of the most expensive car ever sold, the $140 million Mercedes SLR. There’s generally a lot of interest in car values, like this roundup of five hot cars and a handful of Seventies machines that are also on the move. Hollywood usually also brings an audience as evidenced by a piece on cars from the movie Top Gun and an update on Hagerty columnist Jay Leno. We’re glad that so many are concerned for Leno, because we’ve worked with him for years and he is a treasure.

We recognize that we represent a wide world, so we branch out, too. The Barn Find Hunter Tom Cotter visited the oddities at the Lane Motor Museum and the video was a surprise hit. One of my personal favorites is this article about a Canadian fire department that raised money by sinking a ’57 Chevy in Lake Superior. We love prewar cars too, even if the internet generally does not, and covered a lost Le Mans BMW, a 1927 Nash that’s the darling of a Wisconsin town, and an unforgettable wedding and a Model A.

I spend many weekends at race tracks so I’m thrilled about our new motorsports-focused website called Imola. If you’re wondering why we named it for an Italian track, we thought the word was catchy and easy to remember. Say it with me now: eee-moh-la. Check out this piece that highlights a Vermont track that the current governor used to race at. I love Vermont and if it’s now run by a racer, I might have to make the move …

I’m often asked what are my favorite things we produced. The question is a flagrant foul, because it’s like being asked which car is my favorite or which of my three children I like the most. Looking back, I fondly remember taking my son to Tulsa for my first Chili Bowl race and writing about it. I’ve also watched this Pontiac Fiero video two dozen times and always laugh watching Jason Cammisa parody a Detroit executive torn between making the sports car he wants and the economy car the company needs. Cammisa also promised that a video with the world’s fastest cars in a drag race with a Bugatti would go gangbusters and he was right.

Our entire staff and I are grateful to produce this material for you. We hope you help us spread the word and share our material with your friends, and be sure to sign up for our newsletters, which can deliver daily or weekly material right to your inbox.

As for the feedback part, there’s a link below my name that’ll take you to an article you can comment on. Please let me know generally about Hagerty Media and also specifically about this newsletter. I originally thought I’d use this space to keep abreast of autonomous vehicles as well as car love. Have I hit the right balance? Your thoughts are very much appreciated.

This column will take a break next week but will be back next year. Thanks so much for reading! I wish you and your family all the best for 2023.

Hear from me every Friday by subscribing to this newsletter.

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it.

Read next Up next: 5 cars we’ll miss in 2023—and 5 we won’t

Comments

    The interface I am using there is no link below your name 😀

    I miss the Hagerty community forums and think they should be brought back.

    Or at least a “recently commented on” sidebar should be beside the “trending” sidebar list because the trending list can have articles with no comments… and what I am interested in is what people are talking about lately.

    Great thread! I’m a Vette guy, and the U.S. of A. I do like other cars, but America is #1. Keep up the good work.

    I think a couple of countries may disagree with you there Mark. Germany and Japan to name but two. I would say the UK too but our indigenous car industry isn’t up to much and we principally make cars for other people these days.

    I’ve enjoyed your writing since you started at Car and Driver and continue to enjoy it here as well as everything else your team has been doing. I especially enjoy the Vision Thing column (better design analysis than even Robert Cumberford) as well as the auction and market analysis articles.

    My only request would be for a better commenting system, so it is clearer to see who is replying and who is making an independent comment.

    As I’ve said many times, I like anything that makes noise & moves. From antique tractors to airplanes, but I especially love motorcycles. So I’d like to see a bike article or two.

    I look forward to the newsletter the way I used to look forward to car magazines arriving in my mailbox in an earlier time. You tell me about things I didn’t know in an interesting way. Very enjoyable.

    Just keep doing what you’re doing Larry, I read more of your articles than any of the others that arrive in my inbox.

    Keep doing what you and the team are doing! Top shelf in automotive media. I look forward to every form of publication from Hagerty except my insurance invoice 😂.

    I consume a great deal of the Hagerty media material, from this newsletter to numerous articles and of course quite a few of the videos. When you ask what you’re doing right my initial reaction is “all of it!” Honestly. Well done, and thank you. If I were to offer any advice at all it would be to keep trying new things.

    Hagerty is unique among the internet car sites in its combination of deep dives, relevant articles and most of all, keeping it classy. Please continue to avoid the race to bottom that R&T, The Drive, and Car and Driver have become. Motor Trend and Autoblog are thinly veiled shills for the major industry players. Petrolicious is become low quality content for the Insta 1%’ers and Jalopnik is a now a site of vile, politicized trash. The one other player in this space that seems to share to your philosophy is Jeff Glucker and the crew at Hooniverse, but they are appearing to struggle of late. Perhaps a partnership with them would be mutually beneficial?

    Finally, there are still those of us who prefer long reads to lists and videos. Consider more of those!

    I Look forward to reading Never Stop Driving every week, Please keep it coming! I appreciate your unbiased and we’ll written prospective on our hobby/passion. Thanks Larry

    Really enjoy your articles, short, sweet, informative, and sometimes funny. Please keep them rolling so to speak. Wishing you and yours a great Holiday season Mr. Larry!

    Larry, your bio is very impressive. All I can say is that your picture must have been taken 25 years ago!!
    I love your newsletter. It’s that simple. I also love the format which allows me to click on whatever topic, of many, I wish to read. Your selection of topics and style of writing (concise, direct, clear, easy) are masterful. Thanks for all of your obvious hard work.

    Keep up the good work. The monthly magazine is what Road & Track and Car and Driver used to be. I look forward to receiving it every month. I always loved the road trip articles in both R&T and C and D. Which means I enjoyed your recent issue with that type of content. And I would like to see more!!

    I don’t live very far from where Tom Cotter lives. It is very nice here in North Carolina (except for today!!) but he should be on the road even more than he is. I always look forward to his videos.

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