Steve Ford - THE CAR GUY® - holds one of the strongest combinations of hands-on automotive technical expertise and journalism backgrounds in the mass media .   His blend of building on a career based upon mainstream auto service career work and subsequently working as an ASE Master-certified automotive technician-instructor has led to career activity as an award-winning newspaper, magazine and television & radio broadcast journalist, as well as serving as a national-level professional speaker to convention, industry and consumer audiences -- all giving him keen insights into the auto industry and the needs of contemporary motorists.   

        With a career commitment to utilizing blend of technical and hands-on automotive experience, print/broadcast journalism and education/training credentials to assist both the public and the automotive industry, Ford has achieved journalism successes across a broad spectrum of media.  In addition to being a six-time winner of the prestigious International Automotive Media Conference (IAMC) "Moto" award for automotive reporting in radio, television, syndicated newspapers as well as trade, business and industry publications, he has earned the IAMC "Silver Medallion" for Internet Digital Audio/Cybercast reporting on the World Wide Web and the International "Wheels" award from the Detroit Press Foundation for outstanding automotive journalism in broadcast news.  In addition to IAMC journalism awards, Ford's automotive press materials and media campaigns in earlier career work in both national advertising agency and public relations agency work have earned him International Association of Business Communicators 1st-place "Ace" award, Publicity Club of Los Angeles 1st-place "Pro" awards, and the Public Relations Society of America 1st-place "Protos" award.

        As an automotive industry professional, Ford has developed automotive insights and authentic depth from more than 25 years in the industry.  While a youngster his zest for automobiles was so great that his high school auto shop teacher called him a "car-a-holic," and encouraged him to supplement his high-school shop training with night courses in advanced automotive service at an occupational center.  Ford completed the occupational program along with more than 10 semesters (650 hours) of high-school shop class, was voted by his fellow auto shop students as the "Most Outstanding Auto Technology Student" in his graduating year and earned his California Bureau of Automotive Repair  (BAR) "Class A" Automotive Tune Up and Emission Control Technician's License prior to receiving his high-school diploma.   Following graduation from high school, Ford was also recognized by the Pacific Automotive Show as one of the "Top Ten Automotive Technical Students in the Western United States, Alaska and Hawaii."

          TEENAGE HOBBY                                                                 AUTO CAREER                 

        Throughout his subsequent years as a dealership and independent repair shop auto technician, Ford attended college at night. His enjoyment of marketing communications and his interest in sales promotion led him to work as automotive manufacturers' representative in the wholesale auto parts aftermarket.  This experience, combined later with his college studies, enabled Ford to work as an automotive product specialist for the leading national advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi/DFS.  After serving several years in national advertising agency work while continuing college at night, Ford left full-time work to complete his final year of college on a full-time basis.

Cars & Mass Communications

        After earning a bachelor's degree in marketing communications Ford entered the broadcast media.  He began radio broadcasting in at the 50,000-watt Los Angeles radio station 93 KHJ writing and reporting daily automotive consumer features as THE CAR GUY :60-second short-form automotive segments.  In ongoing broadcast and print reporting about new cars, car care, service and industry news, as well as enthusiast features, Ford's media work has since included ABC/KTMS Radio Santa Barbara, ABC/KEYT TV Santa Barbara, CBS radio Detroit, FOX 2 News WJBK TV Detroit, TalkRadio AM 1460 Detroit, The Nightly Automotive Report (PBS Detroit), and newspapers/magazines including The Detroit News, Copley Newspapers, Hearst Publishing's  MOTOR magazine, Green Car Journal, and co-host of the nationwide automotive enthusiast and consumer TV show "Talk2DIY Automotive " on the HGTV's DIY network.   He also has a consumer and industry information web site with multi-media at <www.thecarguy.com>.

Automotive Industry Speaker / Topic Sample:


FOR AN OUTLINE OF A "FUTURE CAR" SPEECH IN STEVE FORD'S "2015" SERIES, CLICK ABOVE