Stick Shift, for those who don’t read Vanity Fair, is a column written by Brett Berk that deals with cars and the automotive industry from the perspective of an enthusiast. Sounds like CarEnvy, no? No, because Brett isn’t just any enthusiast, he’s a gay enthusiast. And that means that people listen to him. You see, people are drawn to opinions and perspectives that are different. We all listen to Jeremy Clarkson (or at least I do) because he hates every car every produced outside of Ol’ Blighty (with very few exceptions), so when he says that something is actually good, we all pipe up and listen attentively. The BMW 135i? The Nissan Murano? Both 5/5 stars from the big guy. Ferraris don’t get those kinds of scores, so there must be something special about those two.

But I’m getting side-tracked. Brett Berk is a true car enthusiast, he just happens to like other men. This actually makes his writing better because 90% of his articles are about himself and his life while only 10% is about the car he’s reviewing. See his article on his trip to Key West for Passover with his family and to drive the Merc S550, to see what I mean. This makes for massively entertaining articles. If I wanted a dry, car-centric review, I’d read Consumer Reports. The best writers make a story out of a review, just like Brett. And Jeremy.

Since I’m such a fan of Brett’s writing, I’ll be featuring his articles from time-to-time here on CarEnvy.ca. Today’s feature is Brett’s interview with his high school friend (and current editor of Car & Driver). Mr. Alterman replaced Csaba Csere when Mr. Csere left C&D after 28 years with the magazine, at the end of 2008. Check out the interview between Brett and Eddie! [Stick Shift: Eddie Alterman Interview]