So, What is Turnpike?

Hi, I’m Mario Christou. I’ll be your host for the next 1000 words, and well…we’re not so sure what Turnpike is yet, because we’ve not started it for us – we’ve started it for you.

It’s no secret that we’ve spent time in the industry writing and shooting for giants such as Speedhunters, but the unfortunate way in which it and so many other iconic outlets have either wound down or slipped into obscurity has left a massive hole in the world of car culture.

The fact is, car culture needs a home. A permanent one, bringing you a wide range of features, beautiful photos, behind-the-scenes content and stories from the lesser-heard voices that we think deserve to speak to the world. It breaks my heart to see the state of the industry as of late.

I’m proud to say that I’ve had some pretty awesome experiences in my time, yet the best have been when I’ve shared them. Either with friends in person behind the scenes at a shoot, or when writing articles to give a moment of entertainment to an audience who otherwise wouldn’t see what I’ve seen.

When Alec Pender and I had a phone call back in January ‘25 and sparked the idea of Turnpike, we knew that we needed the right team to scour the world; bringing you the widest possible variety of car culture that we can – to the widest audience possible.

But what does that actually mean? It’s one thing to get out and shoot as much as we can, but in Alec’s own words, “No matter what the platform, without an audience, it ceases to exist. Audiences create readership, conversation, and provide valuable insight into not just trends, but what the content that we all really care about is.”

AP: “Audiences lack a voice at the minute, but community involvement will be at the very heart of everything we do in Turnpike. We want you, the reader, to be able to contribute, and share the same privilege we’ve had for our stories to land on your screens. Whether it’s a backyard build, crazy collection or anything in between, we’d love your story to be shared.”

And while it’s all well and good for us to say that on our high horses, with easy access to mainstream car culture, it’s Alen Haseta who’s really pushed for the inclusion of the rest of the world on Turnpike.

AH: “Car culture is global, but most of the stories we see come from the same places: America, Germany and Japan. While those regions have earned their place in the spotlight, there’s a whole world of passionate builders, racers and enthusiasts whose stories go untold. We’re changing that.

By shining a light on lesser covered regions like Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and even South America, we’re going to uncover parts of the world filled with unique subcultures that break the mold. This isn’t just about adding variety. It’s about broadening the vision of what car culture looks like, and who gets to be a part of the conversation.”

Now I know what you may be thinking, ‘Who the hell are these guys trying to tell us what’s what?’ – and to a degree, you’re within your right to do so. This may seem like the dreaming of three over-enthusiastic nuts, but you’d be wrong. There’s five of us over-enthusiastic nuts, so let me introduce you to our car culture veterans: Dino Dalle Carbonare and Larry Chen.

LC: “I started my journey in the car culture world over 20 years ago. I’ve seen countless incredible builds, witnessed authentic moments, and become a part of a community I genuinely love. It’s my life, my passion, and I am committed to doing everything I can to help preserve this culture moving forward. That’s why I believe it’s important for Turnpike to exist.”

DDC: “We’re not just chasing trends, we want to keep our finger on the pulse when it comes to creators in the broadest sense of the word. It’s the passion driven content we want to share and highlight.

You can be a budding photographer, an amateur racer, an artist exploring new techniques or a weekend mechanic putting the final touches to an engine, we want to hear it all.”

That brings us to the elephant in the room: social media. Instagram killed the forum, and took a huge chunk out of the modified car world online, but it’s cold and soulless – something Turnpike isn’t, and will never be.

LC: “In today’s social media landscape, these beautiful pieces of content can be fleeting moments in time. They’re often shared in low resolution and become nearly impossible to find again. Once they’re gone, they’re gone for good.”

Turnpike is the exact opposite of that. It’s a permanent home for documenting and showcasing the beauty of car culture. It’s our history; a growing archive of photos, stories, and memories from decades of capturing this world of racing, car meets, crazy builds, and important moments in automotive history.”

Excuse me for getting too deep, but permanence is a seriously hard concept to grasp these days. It’s so easy to jump from one thing to the next, but think about it this way. Compared to all of the new content coming out on a daily basis, how excited do you get when you find an old magazine you used to read, hidden away somewhere? It’s great, right?

LC: “Turnpike is our future; a place for us car enthusiasts to gather and, most importantly, a platform to help preserve this culture in this online space. I’m so happy to call this place a home for all of my images in high resolution moving forward. Everything we shoot from now on will be archived on this site, available for the world to enjoy – forever.”

So what is Turnpike? It’s the freshest car content, it’s you, it’s the lesser-heard voices shouting the loudest, it’s an archive for the greatest hits of our lifetimes and beyond. It’s Turnpike, and we love it already. We hope you do too.